as for my inflammatory writ
Prayer: Lord, may the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts add luster to the shine of our beauty in your eyes. Amen.
Intro: Good morning, it is a pleasure to be here with you this today. My name is Ryan Cosgrove and I am a seminary student studying to be an ordained pastor like Erik and Laurie. Part of that training is a year-long internship, and that is what brings me here today.
I am the lucky Iowan studying at the Lutheran seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania who got to go to the other side of the United States and intern in beautiful Seattle, and actually live in the apartment you all have.
My internship location is split between St. John United and the former Lutheran Public Policy Office. After a recent merger between the Lutheran Public Policy Office and the Washington Association of Churches, we are now the Faith Action Network.
It is my work with the Faith Action Network that brings me here. Today I am here to talk about our call to advocacy for the most vulnerable.
On behalf of Paul Benz, Alice, Kathy, David and all the other congregations of the Faith Action Network, I send greetings and thank you for the opportunity to worship with you all.
On a more personal note, I thank you. I have lived above you all for the entire year. After a while I began praying for you all, and I have felt a deep connection with you ever sense. When I would walk to go somewhere and see one of you gardening or cleaning the property, I felt so grateful to be a part of your community, if even in only a little way.
And, I want to say a personal thank you for the one of the greatest Christmas gifts I have ever received. St. John United has a Christmas Eve service, as do all of you. However, yours is later. On that December 24th, coming back tired and a little lonely, you all were belting out Christmas hymns. That night I slept above you, rocked to sleep by the beauty of your voices and your love for that incarnate God who always spoke in parables.
Thank you, and since this introduction has gone on long enough, on to the parable:
Today’s parable is one that rewards its listener just as much, if not more, as it demand.
While upon first listen this parable may not seem like one having anything to do with advocacy, that however, is not the case. The reason is because, like the disciples, we’re all too prone to miss the point.
Jesus begins this parable by telling us exactly what it is about, the reign of heaven.
The reign of heaven, then, is what Jesus tells us this parable is about. The disciples, however, betraying their Northwestern United States heritage, can’t focus on the reign of heaven as long as those weeds are among flowers in their garden.
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“Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field,” they say.
We too are like the disciples. Jesus may be interested in telling us about God, or grace, or the reign of heaven, or promises, we, however, can’t seem to focus on those things as long as there are weeds in our garden.
Let’s get those weeds taken care of, and then we will sit and listen to the parable as Jesus would tell it.
And, really, it may be a little silly but it is also relatable.
After all, as these debt ceiling talks have been going on, who wouldn’t gladly uproot those who would rather jockey for an political points than work to solve these problems of a budget that have seemed to be following us for so long?
Who wouldn’t uproot those who would rather argue about strict ideologies while parks close, services are cut and people starve?
This desire to uproot what seems to impede our pursuits is as common as it is understandable. This desire to uproot is a perennial concern then. It is also one, apparently, Jesus is telling us not to fuss about.
In this parable Jesus is telling us, telling you and me, that all we need to do is simply be the good seed Jesus has spread into the world. All we need to do is what comes natural to us, bear the fruit of a gracious and caring God.
There is a line in the old African American spiritual, “We shall overcome,” that affirms those disenfranchised African Americans would overcome after all because God was on our side.
This parable calls us to that kind of radical faith, that even among what may seem to detract from God’s work, our work is blessed because it is faithful to the love we’ve seen in Jesus. This parable calls us to the radical trust that even amidst weeds, God sees us for the beautiful plants we are, and God will not let anything happen to our work.
This parable is a promise and a call to the children of God, not a threat to the world. This parable calls us to be what we are, God’s seed in the world that bears fruit which pleases God. This parable reminds us that uprooting others has never really suited us anyway. Should uprooting need to be done, God will do it. And, better yet, God will do it in such a way that God’s good seed will not be harmed in the process.
Apparently, God finds us most beautiful when we’re doing what comes natural. Just as seeds cannot help but to bear fruit, neither can you and I. That is what this parable is about, not weeds.
This parable calls us to be what we can’t help but be, and to trust that even amidst weeds, God is pleased and our acts of love will come to completion in harmony with God’s work.
How is it that you bear fruit? How?
Honestly, I want to know. That is a huge part of what the Faith Action Network does; we find out about how congregations are already bearing the fruit of God’s reign. We celebrate that harvest with congregations, and we empower and challenge congregations to expand on that work. We do this by connecting you all with other congregations also involved in similar pursuits, by helping you meet with your representatives to talk about these concerns, and the like.
In this parable the seeds are grain and when they are harvested they are gathered to become one bread, one bread to feed the world. That is what advocacy is all about, sisters and brothers. It is about advocating for programs that provide coupons so single mothers and their infants can shop at farmer’s markets in Washington. Advocacy is about speaking out for the importance of programs that ensure our children in school get healthy meals, that all the vulnerable, young are feed.
This is the fruit of advocacy. This is the work of the Faith Action Network. Advocacy is also the work of organizations such as Earth Ministry, which I understand you are all a part of. Advocacy is also a part of the work of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps. And really, it is also the work of opening an apartment you have to anyone working for the church to help these people live in affordable housing. Thank you.
Like these seeds, you all are quite naturally already bearing the good fruit of God’s reign of heaven.
You are all involved in advocacy, and it is such a pleasure to be here with you. I commend you on this work. In the spirit of this parable I tell you that this work of yours is beautiful in the heart of God, regardless of any weeds. In the spirit of that promise, I encourage you all to continue this work.
This parable promises us that all we need to worry about, really, is that we continue to be what we are, and trust that God finds that beautiful. The spirit compels us to be God’s fruit, stop worrying about those weeds and be what you are, it is beautiful in the sight of God. For our sisters and brothers in the world starving, lacking housing, suffering from pollution, it is more beautiful than we know, I think.
You are all such wonderful seeds of God’s field. And you know what? I don’t think I can see a single weed in here.
Amen.
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