Sermon: Where

Photo by Benny Jackson on Unsplash

Sermon Preached on July 29, 2018

Proper 12B RCL

The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse,

Director of the Whitaker Institute, 

Episcopal Diocese of Michigan

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brighton, MI

Good morning.  My name is Rev. Vicki Hesse.

I serve the Diocese as the Director of the Whitaker Institute.

The Whitaker Institute is the educational arm of the Diocese.

Ask: Who here has taken a class from the Whitaker Institute? 

Our overall purpose is (slowly)

to form disciples to carry on the ministry of Jesus Christ.

(that’s a big mission, but we have a big God!)

We do this through about a dozen Dio-wide programs for

members of our faith community as lifelong formation.

Three programs you may know include:

Safe Church courses (now being revised),

“Academy for Vocational Leadership,” a local school for ordained ministry and

“Exploring Your Spiritual Journey,” aka EYSJ,

for anyone (lay or called to ordination) to learn how God is calling them.

These are only three of several programs.

Perhaps there will be time at coffee hour

to learn more about learning and working together

for mutual transformation.

So thank you, Fr. Deon, who is on vacation this week,

for your invitation to be here today. 

Now we gather our minds and hearts and breathe into this space

as we reflect on our gospel message today.

(Prayer)

During my last year of seminary,

my bishop (of WNC) required us seminarians

to complete the GOE’s, the General Ordination Exams[1].

These were six on-line essay questions

scripture, history, theology, ministry, worship, ethics.

offered over three days. And it was timed. 

We felt our lives depended upon answering these correctly.

During the preparation season, we developed a mantra,

“answer the question, the whole question,

and nothing but the question, so help me God.”

What we learned from previous GOE test takers was

that the more you wrote,

the more likely you’d write yourself out of an effective answer. So

“answer the question, the whole question,

and nothing but the question, so help me God.”

I’ve been thinking this week about questions. 

And here’s why.  In today’s gospel text,

Jesus went up the mountain, sat down

and when he saw a large crowd coming toward him,

he asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”

Notice, the question: “where” are we to buy bread for these ppl?

Not, “can you give me a budget

for how much it would cost to buy bread”

nor “how much food do you think we need

to feed all these people?”

nor even, “can you see if there is anyone

who has any extra food in their picnic basket

to help feed those ppl who brought nothing?”

Answer the question, the whole question and nothing but the question, Philip. 

Jesus asked “where,” Andrew, not how much. 

See, Philip and Andrew offered an answer

from their context, their conventional perspective. 

They focused on money. They focused on food.

They tried to solve this under their own power.

They didn’t see any part of “the question behind the question.”

How often in our world today,

is a response offered not for the question asked? 

With so much uncivil discourse in our political bantering

that we are tempted to forget the real question,

to notice what is really at stake. 

And in our emotional response,

we sometimes lose perspective of what is the truth.

And so we answer in conventional binary ways –

that person is “right” or “wrong.” 

Or that opinion is “factual” or “fake.”

Opiod crisis? Affecting us or not affecting us?

Poverty among children? In our community or not in our community?

But wait – what is the question, the whole question, nothing but the question?

Our societal dependence on scientific fact

can blind us from God’s overarching command

to care for the earth anyway. 

Sometimes a neighborhood’s “not in my back yard” approach

prevents us responding to a national crisis

of health and poverty that affects our neighbors

and the children all around us anyway. 

Human’s traditional binary categories

cannot comprehend in advance

what Jesus has to offer to our context, our lives, our world.

“Answer the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question, so help me God.”

Remember that little sentence, just after Jesus asks Phil about bread,

“He said this to test him,

for he himself knew what he was going to do” ? THERE is a clue.

Jesus knew that there was enough food,

regardless of Philip and Andrew’s poorly articulated answer

to their GOE question. 

That was the astonishing thing:

Turned out - Jesus was the source of food enough, as the Son of God. 

Jesus knew that to feed people, to ensure they were satisfied,

he had to anticipate their needs. 

He knew that to fill people’s bellies

would require a good ambiance. 

“Make the people settle down[2] and sit on the grass,” he commanded,

alluding to the line from Psalm 23,

which of course Jesus, as any good Jewish rabbi would know.

So then he took the loaves and the fish,

gave thanks and what did he do?

Astonishingly, He himself was the one to feed them.  

For Jesus knew that he himself was the gift of life – the source of life -

through this feeding by the five loaves and two fish. 

From WHERE will the bread for these people come?

From Jesus himself.

Who offered food for their bellies until there were even left overs?

Jesus himself.

What is the answer to the question, the whole question, nothing but the question?

Jesus himself.

That was the good news then and it is still the good news today. 

Jesus anticipates our needs

and provides more than we can ask or imagine. 

But we do resist Jesus. Why is that?

We resist because society poses the wrong question.

We resist because we want to control.

We resist because we value security over love.

We resist because we are afraid.

We resist because we are strange, unique, distinct creatures

who doubt that Jesus knows us *that* well.

What would it be like to truly

“answer the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question”?

We can  ask, what is at stake?

Then we live into what Poet Rainer Marie Rilke says,

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart

and try to love the questions themselves.”

Today, Jesus invites us to know from WHERE…

“we are to buy bread for these people to eat?”

WHERE is the whole question of our lives.

From WHERE will our bread come?

From Jesus himself.

Okay, confession time. I have been watching

– binging, really – the new season of Queer Eye. 

In this 2018 TV reality show, Queer Eye features the “Fab Five”

– five gay men who (on the surface)

“make over” a clueless protagonist

in the areas of grooming, fashion, food, culture, and home decor.

As Sojourner’s magazine recently wrote[3],

“… each episode becomes more than a makeover

as the … fab five breaks through the hero’s [inner] walls

and reach the root of their low self-esteem.”

As the real-life person integrates improved choices,

they ultimately find a deep confidence

to be exactly who they are: distinct, exotic, quirky, and joyful,

bringing their whole lives into question.

What does this show have to do with

answering Jesus’ question, “From WHERE will the bread come?”

This show offers a glimpse of the astonishing power of Love.

God’s Love disguised in these ministering Fab Five.

From WHERE will your bread come?

From Jesus himself  - his grace and astonishing presence.

It is Jesus himself that is

the inspiration behind your “Second Sunday” food drive for Gleaners.

It is Jesus himself that is

the inspiration for your own “Loaves & Fishes” ministry that

continues to provide free, nutritious meals

in a caring environment with special concern

for families and senior citizens.

It is Jesus himself that guides all the people gathered here at St. Paul’s

          To love and serve each other: as you know –

people who are in need

and people who are struggling

to experience God’s love in active, tangible ways.

Today’s good news is about Jesus’ grace for all people, the source of life abundant.

In the last part of the gospel text today we read that

Jesus walked across the water to the disciples’ boat.

They were terrified.

When Jesus says, “It is I, do not be afraid,” they recognize him,

and they reach their destination. 

Notice: When they recognize him, they are already WHERE they were going.

When recognize Jesus, we arrive.

And, when we arrive, Jesus recognizes us.

We are WHERE we are supposed to be.

So for the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question,

The answer is – IN JESUS. In his grace and glory.

Do not be afraid.

Amen.

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[1] The GOE aims to evaluate the perception and analysis of issues in the several areas; the application of training and resources; the demonstration of knowledge and pastoral sensitivity; and the articulation of views. For more info, see http://www.episcopalgbec.org/index.php cited on July 28, 2018.

[2] David Bentley Hart, “The New Testament: A Translation” (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2017), p. 181

[3] Cited at https://sojo.net/articles/surprising-ministry-queer-eye on July 28, 2018

Sermon: Soul of Soil

A Sermon preached in Christ Church, Grosse Pointe, Michigan
by The Reverend Vicki Hesse, Associate

The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

(RCL Proper 10, Year A)
16 July 2017

In the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Listen here

The book, The Soul of Soil, used to teach Organic Farming, opens with this quote by Helen Keller[1] :

What a joy it is

To feel the soft, spring earth | under my feet once more

To follow grassy roads | that lead to ferry brooks

While I can bathe my fingers

in a cataract of rippling notes,

Or to clamber over a stone wall

 into green fields that

Tumble and roll and climb | in riotous gladness!

I say, “Let Anyone with Ears Listen!”

My partner is an Organic Farmer. When we first moved here in 2015, Leah’s first “nesting” activity was to get the garden going.  She pulled out the weeds that had grown waste-high double-dug the earth below, laid down cardboard, covered it in 5 cubic yards of compost and covered all that with leaves. Then winter happened.  We waited.  The soil rested.

As the soil rested, it became nutrient rich, consisting of living, dying, decaying and dead things that make up organic matter.  And that is the work of an organic famer: to tend the soil.  See, I have learned from her that soil is the heart of sustainable farming – not just the seeds, nor the watering schedule, nor the sun.  It’s all soil management.  This experience of living with an organic urban garden opened my eyes to the gospel text in a new way.  What captivated my imagination today is how Jesus teaches his disciples about soil management.  “You gotta have good soil,” you can almost hear him say.

In the parable of the sower, any farmer listening would have been cringing at the wastefulness of this way of farming. 

But parables are dangerous things. They make us think we know how it ends, but then it has a twist.  And in this parable, with Jesus teaching from a boat with the farmers lined up on the seashore, they hear him tell the story….

He gets their attention – he is talking about their livelihood. He’s talking about planting. A farmer goes out to sow and tosses seed everywhere. The farmers think: yes, I know about that. (See, Palestinian farmers sowed before they plowed. The field wasn’t prepared; it was just sown and then plowed and fertilized. Over the winter, paths got packed down, fields tossed up rocks, vines and thorns took over.)Jesus mentions these things. “Yes, I know,” they mumble.  I know all about planting and getting nothing; I know about the year we didn’t even get enough crop to make back the seed, I know about the year the sun scorched and there was no rain.

And we are thinking: yes, I know too about all those places in life that are just like that: hard places, rocky places, places where everything I give gets taken away, places where I felt like I was being choked. I know, I know.Do you know this experience? You start out fine; you sow your seed.You make plans, you start a business, you get married, everything looks bright. But things happen.

Maybe someone gets sick; maybe it turns out the person you put your faith in lets you down, hard. Maybe you start your business with a great plan but the economy falls apart. It’s rocky.There’s no credit, no help, and no money coming in. Maybe something thorn comes into you and your whole life is oriented around some substance, alcohol or another drug. All these are weeds; all these are

shallow ground, rocks, seed being eaten up.

When these things happen, we often ask why; what we can ask is, “What now?”

Jesus isn’t answering why; but he does have an answer for “what now”. His answer is to keep faith. Tend the soil.

“But some seed falls on good ground,” he says. And then, then he goes on to say what can hardly be believed: yields of thirty, sixty, a hundred fold. The farmers are mumbling now, they know that a good yield is five or six times what you plant, ten if you get lucky. Thirty fold? Sixty fold? A hundred? What kind of farming is this? But some of the farmers are thinking too, yes, sometimes you do get it just right, sometimes it seems everything falls into place, and a quiet little miracle happens.

And what are you thinking? Are you thinking about those miracles? Are you thinking about the time a child came to you and climbed in your lap and apropos of nothing at all said, “Mom, I love you” or the time you fell in love or the time a stranger drove by your community garden and said I believe in your work and offers to mow the field around the garden, for free, for the rest of the summer

See, where there are rocks, then there are miracles, where there are things that eat up what you plant, then there are harvests you never expected, where there are thorns, then there are also the bright blooms that surprise and delight.

And, although these days the world seems to be constantly spreading the hard, rocky and thorny news that there is not enough… and although news and politics seems to have created in our hearts and minds a profound sense of scarcity and inadequacy… and although we are tempted to believe not only do we not have enough,but in the end we are not enough,

well actually, today’s good news is that God the sower scatters seeds of grace and love all about.  God does not hold back!  God is not worried if there will be enough seed or grace or love.  Sure, we need to tend the soil of our hearts and do spiritual practices like waiting in the winter while the living, dying, decaying and dead aspects of our inner lives create rich soil. 

And then God, that reckless farmer, continues to let the seeds of love fall where they may – on paths, on rocks, on thorns, on the finely prepared soil of our soul. God doesn’t care about wasting love because there is enough and at the end of the day. God believes in humanity – that we ARE enough. We are enough to deserve love, dignity and respect.  We are enough.  I don’t know about you, but I need to keep hearing that!

Because we are enough, we do know “what now,” because God loves us more that we can ask or imagine and keeps showering seeds of grace. Because God loves us, God calls us to stand up to fear and scarcity that fuels prejudice, racism, homophobia, greed and violence. Because God loves us,

God invites us to live into our baptism covenant to strive for justice and peace. 

As we continue to tend the organic soil of our heart with spiritual practices and tenderness, may we, today, know the unconditional, even reckless, love of God.  Right here, right now – just as we are.

There is enough. You are enough.  God’s love is enough.

Let anyone with ears, listen!

Amen

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[1] Joe Smillie and Grace Gershuny, The Soul of Soil, (White River Junction (VT), Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1999)