Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 9 Pentecost - July 17, 2005 The Rev. Diane Livingston, Deacon Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi Where do our weeds come from? Who among us has not lamented - maybe several times within one day - how did these bad things get among us? People die of hunger because others have forced them from their homes and made them refugees; governing bodies pass legislation that restricts money from the very people who most need help from the those with the most resources in the world; in settling a family inheritance a family member suddenly makes decisions that are selfish without consulting other family members who also loved and were loved by the deceased relative; the church becomes a battleground for something petty like where to position a new altar hanging; a child conscientiously raised by loving parents commits criminal acts and harms others. "Where do these weeds come from?" is a perennial human cry. It shocks us when these things, and more, happen and we are reminded that the world, the family into which we were born, that even the church is not an entirely trustworthy place. The world has places of wonder but alleys of cruelty too. Families cause deep pain as well as great joy. The church can be inspiringly courageous one moment and petty and faithless the next. This is because the church is a human institution and there will be weeds among the wheat. Each of us at times will act like weeds. Good mixes in with the bad. When the master in the parable forbids the servants to go and weed out the field, this is not to be interpreted as a call to passivity in the face of evil. It is not a divine command to ignore injustice in the world, violence in society, or wrong in the church. It is rather a realistic reminder that the servants do not finally have the ability to get rid of all the weeds and that sometimes attempts to pluck up weeds cause more harm than good. This is the way it is. Are we lost forever, then , in a hopelessly compromised world? No, the parable contains the promise that, in the wisdom of God, the weeds will ultimately be destroyed. Evil is temporary; only the good endures. The parable leads finally, then, to a place of joy and hope. We live in an imperfect world, and no human effort can eradicate that fact. But removing the imperfections was never our job anyway. We are given the task of living as faithfully and as obediently as possible, confident that the harvest is sure. (Repeat) We are given the task of living as faithfully and as obediently as possible. The past several days I know at times that I have approached life more from, "Where did all these weeds come from and how can I go about removing them?" Possibly some of this stemmed from having my family scattered to far corners of the world: though that is not unusual for some of our family it was very different not having Bill, who was in Colorado, close by to assess things with and to gain his help to stay centered. One son and his wife have lived in Great Britain for a long time but of course the scare last week in London where they go fairly regularly was unsettling and I appreciated his quick e-mail to say that neither he nor Eleanor were in London that terrible day of the bombings. Lee, who usually is in Texas or at least the United States, is in Malawi, Africa, for 2 1/2 weeks on a mission trip with St. David's Episcopal Church which has a relationship with that diocese. Another son and his wife in Virginia are trying to settle in with their 2 year-old and a new baby who had to stay an additional 2 weeks in the hospital with complications but who is fine now. Our parish family has had its share of ups and downs too with illnesses and unexpected hospitalizations and injured family members. I have spent hours with one of our churches adopted families who seem to be in the midst of "weeds" - the un-Godlike ways of the world that thwart their good growth. Now all of these examples are personal or relate to this community but go further. Those bombings, that initially I related to personally, are global issues too. Where did those weeds come from that hurt so many innocent? Then I am reminded that what happened that day in London is what happens regularly in Iraq - often with even higher numbers of casualties. Like a heart beating, we are surrounded with concerns, with weeds, from global to personal to global to community to global. Is it every morning or even every hour that someone may say, "I thought you planted good seed. Why are there weeds?" Consider the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. Some in our parish have become greatly concerned about the situation there - I hope that you will look at some of the items prepared by Donna Stark about the people of Sudan displayed in the narthex and in the Student Center. The children, the women, the men who love family as much as you and I do, are dying because militia and government forces conduct indiscriminate attacks throughout Darfur. It would not be unrealistic to spend all of one's energy and concern wringing our hands and asking how the weeds of this world got here and what shall we do about these weeds? Jesus teaches us something to ponder today. He tells us not to go and pull up the weeds but rather to live as faithfully and obediently as possible. The harvest will happen - the end of time will come. If our concentration is on living God's word and strengthening our claim to be gathered in by the reapers at the end of all things, we will do fine. Let us focus on BEING the good seed sown by God. Of course, because we are human we will worry and we will lament and we will continue to be shocked by the evil seed sown by Satan but it doesn't have to do us in. It won't consume who we are and what we can offer in this world. Our gifts and talents and our passions weren't given to us to gaze at and feel a sense of being different from the rest of the world - maybe making us pure or saved in some way because WE do not see ourselves as weeds. Our gifts and talents and passions and our brainstorm ideas and our energy and our intellect - if all directed to living God's word, living faithfully and obediently - will lead us to specific actions, of being the good seed. It is haunting to think of the Darfur area of Sudan - which was labeled a year ago as a genicide and yet most of the world goes from day to day without thinking of it or doing anything to help the people there. A pastor wrote that in listening to a news report in which a congressperson who had been to Darfur, Sudan, pleaded, "Where in God's name are the churches on this issue? What are the churches' leaders saying to them?" he realized that he must do something. He and his congregation have decided to give generously to support relief organizations. Another example is Rwanda and the congressman who stated that had every member of the House and Senate received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, when the crisis was first developing, then he thinks the response would have been different. If we are to move beyond blaming the weeds of the world, we best look at how we can be the good seed. If we are parents (and remember, when there is a baptism all of us vow that we will do all in our power to support persons in their new life in Christ) we can make the hard decisions that indeed will be unpopular with some in our culture. We can decide within our family about where our focus will be. Will it be on spiritual growth and development? Will we make sure that our children are part of the church family where we learn to care about others beyond our own family, where we are encouraged to hear the word of God and grapple with it, and where different ages and political perspectives all share at one table, one altar every Sunday? Or will our focus be on the acquisition of things that the culture tells us will make us a great family? If we teach children that God and Jesus are important, how will they see that lived out in our lives? We can decide about how to model respect for others starting right inside the walls of our home and we can decide on those issues about violence and the media whether it be movies, video games, activities and if and how our children will be guided on these things. Each of us can decide what will be modeled within the walls of this space. Quite logically the next step then is how we will plant the good seed outside the walls of this church in the community and in the world. I must pause to mention that there are times when the struggles of our own lives are so difficult that we must devote being good seeds to taking care of ourselves. But thank goodness this in not always the case with everyone all of the time. Most of the time we can devote some of our time and energy to helping others, even strangers who may live on the other side of the world. This week I had the privilege of meeting Zachary Thomas Luccasen, son of Kathleen and Andy. As it should be, his parents are in awe of him and we marveled as he turned his little head to a new voice and looked with wide open eyes. We looked for resemblances to his parents and his own uniqueness. I thought of a prayer of Desmond Tutu when I pondered Zach's features and I thought of each of you too. I thought of the faces of the Sudanese people. Desmond Tutu wrote: "O God, all holy One, you are our Father and our Mother and we are your children. Open our eyes and our hearts so that we may be able to discern your work in the universe and be able to see Your features in every one of Your children. May we learn that there are many paths but all lead to You. Help us to know that you have created us for family, for togetherness, for peace, for gentleness, for compassion, for caring, for sharing. May we know that You want us to care for one another as those who know that they are sisters and brothers, members of the same family, Your family, the human family. Amen." Are we living as faithfully and obediently as possible?