Don't judge others too quickly

The Gospel lesson for Sunday is the parable of the wheat and the weeds. Jesus says that an enemy has sown weeds into a field of good wheat. He warns the disciples not to root out the weeds, but to let them grow alongside the wheat until the harvest.

How easy it is for us to judge other people! We come to judgment after a quick assessment of the facts and we condemn others in our minds summarily. Then we bask in the glow of our own self-righteousness.

But Jesus says to withhold judgment. Don't root out the weeds but let them grow alongside the wheat. I think Jesus means that we should be slow to judge others, not just publicly, but also in the privacy of our own thoughts. When we're tempted to condemn another person in our minds, Jesus asks us to hold off. Often, time reveals that our initial judgment was superficial and hasty.

The Psalm for Sunday expresses the nature of God:

But you, O LORD, are gracious and full of compassion, *
slow to anger, and full of kindness and truth.

May we also be slow to anger.
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The people God sends to us

Someone once said to me, "Churches are like families - you can't choose the members of your family and you can't choose who goes to your church."

I'm embarrassed to admit there have been times when I've thought to myself, "So and so is such a problem person in our parish. Why can't she find another church?" And just then God has said to me, "I gave her to you to love, and why can't you love her?"

We don't get to choose the people who come to our church. Although we do get people who agree with us, people who are like us, people who affirm us and support us, we also get people who challenge us, who disagree with us, who annoy us and even hurt us. God sends all kinds of people to us, and we are to welcome them in and make them part of the family of God.

The people who come to our church are like seeds that God is sowing in us. Some people thrive in our parish; some people wither and fall away; some just get too busy to attend. But all of them are God's people, God's seeds. Our job is to receive them all and nurture them as best we can, so they might thrive and grow as children of God, and produce abundantly for the kingdom, some a hundred fold, some sixty, and some thirty.
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The mystery of spiritual growth

When I came to Silverdale looking for a house to rent, I had two things on my list. I wanted to find a place for Katy to have a garden, and I wanted a place close enough to the church so I could bicycle to work. I got both!

Katy planted her garden when we first got here, and last night we had the first salad made from lettuce she planted. It was delicious, and it tasted even better because we knew it was home-grown.

Katy loves working in her garden. She's spent many happy hours in the garden digging, planting, weeding and watering. It's such a wonderful mystery to put seeds in the ground and watch them come up and become food for eating.

In the Gospel parable for Sunday, Jesus talks about sowing seeds. He says, "A sower went out to sow." Some of the seeds the sower sows are lost to birds, dryness, or thorns, but some of the seed grow up and yield bountifully: "some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty."

Jesus explains to the disciples that the seed is the word of God. The word of God takes root and grows in some people; in others it doesn't. The growth of a seed is a great mystery. How does a seed know when to send out its shoot? How does it know to grow upwards toward the sun? Why do some seeds grow and not others?

This tells me that the working of the word of God is a mystery. We can't force it; we can't control it; all we can do it receive it and let it do its work on our souls. I think of James 1:21, "Welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls."

I'm not sure how God's word has worked on me in my life. There were times when I had no good soil, and the word didn't grow in me. Other times there was tremendous growth in my spiritual life and in my relationship with God. Why sometimes and not others? It's a mystery.

Oh God, let the seeds of your word fall in the earth of my soul and grow abundantly.
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Reassurance for exiles

Bread for eating

The Old Testament lesson for Sunday is the beautiful passage from Isaiah in which God promises that his word will not go empty:

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty."

Isaiah is writing for the exiles in Babylon. They've been forcibly deported from their homeland and undoubtedly feel that God has failed them. Why did God let this happen?

But Isaiah writes to reassure them that God's plans never fail. The words that God speaks will come to pass, as sure as rain and snow bring forth grain for eating.

When we feel anxious and unsure, it's helpful to remember that God's words never go empty. We can trust that somehow, in some way, God will bring us through every difficult time. We don't need to control everything; we can let God take care of things.
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Fourth of July and patriotism

Last night Katy and I went to some friends' lake house for barbecue and fireworks. All around the little lake there were explosions and aerial starbursts as each of the neighbors attempted to outdo the others. Driving home along Dyes Inlet, we saw fireworks lighting the sky for miles and miles along the Kitsap peninsula.

It was as if everyone wanted to put on a display of great joy and fervor. Fireworks are high-energy bursts of color and noise...what better way is there to show excitement?

I've been reading about patriotism the last few days. One commentator suggests that conservatives view patriotism looking back at the past. They have a reverence for what our country has accomplished, and they understand patriotism as a matter of honoring our heroes. Liberals, on the other hand, tend to look to the future. They're critical of our country's past mistakes, and they consider it our patriotic duty to maintain our country's high ideals for the future.

Ronald Reagan, with his serene belief in American goodness, exemplifies the conservative side, while John F. Kennedy, with his stirring speeches about what we could do for the future, exemplifies the liberal side.

As a good Anglican, I say it's both: we honor those who have given of themselves to make our country what it is today, but we also remind ourselves of our high ideals for the future. I love my country both for what it's been and for what it can become.
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Psalm 145, a daily prayer

A portion of Psalm 145 is appointed for our reading this Sunday. This Psalm is well-loved by Jewish people who have recited it as part of their morning prayers for generations. The Psalm is meant to be recited slowly, lingering on each phrase, tasting the flavor of each word.

Psalm 145 is an acrostic; that is, each verse in Hebrew begins with another letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It weaves back and worth with praise and glory to the all-loving and compassionate God.

This Psalm reminds us especially of the universality of God. Sometimes I think we Christians tend to forget that God is God of the whole creation. "The LORD is loving to everyone and his compassion is over all his works." (v. 9)

God cares for every living thing -- all animals and plants, the whole creation. God loves all that he has made, and his compassion extends to all people: "The Lord is loving to everyone."

Not only that, but the creation responds to God with praise: "All your works praise you, O LORD, and your faithful servants bless you." When we pray this Psalm, we join in the chorus of praise coming from the creation.

I think it's a good idea to emulate the Jewish practice of praying through this Psalm. We can enter the praise of God as we let this Psalm wash over us and fill us with God's love. "Blessed are you, Lord God, King of the universe!"
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Emergent church

Today I attended Clergy Day at Fremont Abbey in Seattle. The speaker was Ian Mobsby, a priest from the Church of England who spoke about his work with the "emergent church".

The emergent church is an attempt to make the Gospel accessible to people living in a psotmodern age. Ian reminded us how many people say, "I'm spiritual but not religious". That's a classic expression of postmodern society. People today are skeptical of authority and institutions, and they reject church structures. People in a consumer society think they should be able to shop for their spirituality, and so they create their own spiritual practices with a grab-bag attitude - a little of this, a little of that.

People today want experience over doctrine, and the emergent church tries to reach back to earlier forms of Christian worship that were highly experiential, like chant, incense, candles, and sung prayer. They try to live close to their neighborhoods, bringing social change close to home. They do their theology in coffee shops and bars, not in classrooms. Building community is a high priority for them.

I like the ideas I heard expressed. The Church of the Apostles, based at Fremont Abbey, is composed of twenty-somethings, and it's exciting to know they're finding new ways to follow Jesus. I think I may be too old to really understand the emergent church, but I'm glad someone's doing it.

After lunch I went outside and made a sketch of the church (above).
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