Fruit Trees

Today, I'm going to remain with the same text from yesterday, but with a different perspective.

This is a wonderful passage that speaks to the diversity present among those that are part of God's family.  Sometimes there is a tendency in the church to lump all people of faith together, to try and make them all the same.  Have you ever been to a church where there seemed to be an unofficial dress code?  What about an unofficial requirement of income?  All too often, the folks that gather together to worship and praise God together all look and act remarkably the same.  Which makes those places more than a little uncomfortable for a visitor or searcher who wanders in and looks, acts, or comes from a different place than the "norm."

I love how this passage declares that the righteous grow like a palm tree or a cedar.  These are not the same.  They are different.  There is few things of similarity other than they are trees.  Yet, they are both used to describe the righteous.  Do we need to look and act the same to be righteous?

What I think is even more interesting is how the Psalmist declares that the righteous bear fruit.  Last I checked a cedar tree doesn't bear fruit, at least not in the way we might normally think of fruit.  And perhaps that's the lesson that we need to learn today.

God doesn't have one vision or desire for what the "righteous" should look like.  They are just to grow.  Perhaps they grow tall and strong, perhaps shorter and fuller.  Perhaps they are quiet and solid in their faith, perhaps they are loud and boisterous, perhaps their faith is private.  Regardless, they are growing.  And the fruit is being produced, each in his own way.  The fruit from the palm tree and cedar are very different from the fruit of the apple or peach tree.  Each tree bears it's own fruit according to its tree.  An apple tree cannot produce peaches no matter how hard it tries to make itself.

In the church maybe we need to focus less on trying to get us all to be the same; to have the same views and theologies, the same "faith", producing the same fruit, and instead celebrate the many ways that God grows us, and the many ways that we produce fruit for the glory of God.

God has no unrighteousness

Psalm 92:1-4,12-15

It is good to give thanks to God,   to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,   and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,   to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O God, have made me glad by your work;   at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
The righteous flourish like the palm tree,   and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of God;   they flourish in the courts of our God.
In old age they still produce fruit;    they are always green and full of sap,showing that God is upright; 
God is my rock, and has no unrighteousness.

Righteousness in scripture is very closely related to justice.  In many places they are interchangeable - the one who is just is righteous, and the one who is righteous is just.  Does this passage change at all when you replace the word righteous with just or justice?  "Those who are just (concerned and focused on justice) flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon...they flourish in the courts of our God."  In God there is no injustice.

In our culture, when we think of justice we tend to think of the court system.  The pervasiveness of crime and law dramas on television have caused us to form our vocabulary and understandings in that realm.  But, there is more to justice than determining between right and wrong, making sure that those who are "wrong" receive their due punishment, that justice is delivered.  Justice is also about making sure that all are given the respect they deserve.  In the court of law, the ideal is that the rich defendant and the impoverished plaintiff both get equal treatment.  That's the ideal, how well that actually works out is another conversation.

In God, they get equal treatment.  In God's eyes there is nothing to make one person receive better treatment or respect, or whatever, than anyone else - except justice.  How you think of and treat those around you.  God's grace extends to all in equal measure.  God's love is available to all.

Is your love extended to all?  Are justice and equality an important part of your life and faith?  Is there any injustice in you?  Are you flourishing in the courts of our God?  Are you loving (and seeking the justice for) your neighbor in the same ways (and with as much energy)as you are fighting for your own justice?

I know I can do better.  Thanks be to God that our God is not only full of love, but also patience and grace.  Each day is a new one, and in each day may we seek to live our lives in the ways of God, seeking to follow in the steps and ways of Jesus.  May the Reign of God, the reign of justice and peace, the reign of love and servanthood, be not only our place of residence but the focus of our life and actions.  

Trinity Sunday

John 3:1-17

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

            When I was in Seminary, one of the most interesting and animated discussions we had in our Systematic Theology class involved the nature of God being Triune.  It became obvious very quickly that we all came at it in different ways.  Some people simply shrugged their shoulders, said they would never be able to understand it.  Others, went through mental gymnastics seeking to put forth one metaphor after another seeking to explain it.  Still others, it seemed, discounted the idea of the Trinity completely.  Our understanding of God being Triune in nature is without question one of the most difficult to understand and mysterious aspects of our faith.  How is it that something can be three fully formed, unique persons, separate and distinct from each other, yet at the same time be one that is not divided in any way?  No matter the mental gymnastics we perform, the metaphors and analogies we make, it’s likely that we will never truly understand it.  And that’s okay.  Our individual understanding of specific doctrines and theologies of the church is secondary to our recognition of Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  I’m one of those, who though I love to try and come up with ways of understanding this confusing nature of God, accept and embrace the mystery; exclaiming with wonder and surprise at each new insight I receive into who God is.  Faith, knowledge and mystery are in their own Trinitarian relationship when it comes to who we are as the people of God.

            In this morning’s Gospel text we heard what may be the most widely known verse in the Bible, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  It’s a verse that all have us probably memorized in Sunday School.  It’s a verse we see displayed on banners at athletic events.  It’s a verse that we see on billboards and bumper stickers.  We all know it; we see it all the time.  So, it’s no surprise that when we hear or read this passage we focus on that verse about how much God loves us.  .It’s comforting to hear it, and so we focus on it.  That’s natural.  But, there is so much more happening in today’s lesson than verse sixteen.

            Here in the Midwest, many of us have experienced the power of the wind.  We have all seen the damage that can come from tornadoes and strong storms.  We also have felt the comfort and calm of a gentle breeze on a steamy hot summer day.  We know how just a gentle breeze can take the temperature down, and bring a sense of calm.  In recent years anyone who has driven the roads of north-central Iowa has seen the large windmills that are now being used to produce electricity.  For a long time, similar windmills were used to bring water up from far underground.  The long voyages of our early explorers across the seas would have been impossible but for wind.  Anyone who lives in an older home knows the occasional frustration of having a “leaky house”, where windows and tiny gaps allow the wind to make entry.    The first verses of the Bible speak to the spirit of God moving across the face of the deep.  We remember stories in the Bible of the voice of God being heard in the wind.  When the Spirit came on Pentecost, it did so with the sound of a rushing wind.  The wind has ever been seen and understood as one of the ways in which God’s presence is felt by us.

            Just as in a “leaky house” it often seems as if the wind seeks out those gaps, going every-which-way looking for an entry point, so too does the Spirit of God seek to make entry into the lives of humanity, into your life and mine.  “The wind blows where it chooses,” is a powerful image of how God is ever seeking us out, ever seeking ways to be in relationship with us.  God chooses to turn toward us, chooses to be in relationship with us, chooses to reveal Himself to us in that search.  It is the nature of God to be in relationship.  On this Sunday, on Trinity Sunday we embrace the reality that God is in relationship within himself.  “God the Father is with the Son who is with the Spirit who is with the Father, self-communicating, self-giving, self-receiving.”[i]  When we think of God, we must do so in terms of relationship, and do so recognizing that that relationship always finds its starting point with God.  God is the one who moves first, who takes the initiative and reaches out to us, to pursue us, to come to us.

            God comes to us, seeking us, pursuing us, desiring for us to be in relationship with him.  God’s seeking doesn’t depend on our situation, our individual or communal worthiness, our understanding of theology or doctrine.  God seeks because that’s who God is, and what God is about.  God wants, desires, for all creation to be in communion with God and with one another, and God seeks, pursues and comes to us to make that happen.  Jesus was not sent by God with a message of condemnation and judgment, but in order that the world might be saved; the world that God created, the world that God loved.  It was God’s love that brought salvation and life through the lifting up of Jesus on the cross.  In faith we are recipients of God’s love and grace.

            It is in faith that we receive God’s salvation.  Faith is not about having to believe in a certain way, about having to have the correct theological understanding, the correct doctrine; it’s about turning to God trusting that God will deliver.  During the years following the Exodus, the Israelites were beset by poisonous snakes because they had turned against God, and questioned God’s ways.  God provided a way of life.  Moses lifted up a golden snake on a pole, and all that looked to it when they had been bitten by a poisonous serpent lived.  In faith they looked to the pole, in faith they claimed the promise that they would live, and they lived.  They didn’t have to know how it worked, why it worked.  They didn’t have to look to the pole with a specific doctrine, a specific theology.  They didn’t have to go first to the priests, go to temple, be accepted into community.  They looked to the pole, claimed the promise of God, and were saved.

            We also look up in faith.  We look to the cross and are saved.  We look to the cross, claim the promise of God that we will have life, and are saved.  God’s desire and intention is never to condemn, but to save, to bring a fullness, a wholeness, a completion to life itself.  God’s love is ever reaching out, ever spreading, ever pursuing.  God’s love is ever inviting and is ever hoping for a response, a movement on our part to complete the circle to complete the action.  Just as the Israelites needed to look to the pole to be saved, we need to look to the cross to be saved.  Just as Isaiah had to respond to the call of God, we too need to respond, “Here I am Lord.” Amen.

           

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[i][i] P. 47; Feasting on the Word; Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary; Year B, Volume 3; Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2009