May This Church Be like a Tree

 

May This Church Be like a Tree – what a beautiful prayer and blessing for the church.

This blessing was written in the form of a hymn by Pablo Sosa and was his contribution to the Lutheran World Federation’s 500^th Commemoration of the Reformation, which was held in Namibia. It is common practice in Namibia to gather for worship and meetings under trees, just like in his part of the world, the Apostle Paul would go to the water the place people gathered to pray.

 

May This Church Be like a Tree is hymn number 1042 in All Creation Sings. It is a suggested hymn for today, as it echoes the imagery from Jeremiah and the Psalm of the day, Psalm 1.

Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.

They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leave shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. Jer. 15: 7-8

 

The World Council of Church’s in memorial piece for Sosa refers to him as the “grandfather of what became known as ‘ecumenical worship.’ …He was engaged in a creativity that not only learned from other traditions and cultures, but formed new liturgies so that the ecumenical community might participate with one another.”

Sosa believed that singing and music is “embodying the theology of another, and in the process understanding more clearly how we were shaped by our presumptions.” Sosa also believed that by embracing global song and singing together, “God was accompanying the people in the song, living within their history. Even the rhythm of the song brought God closer, incarnate within the beat of the street. The music itself was part of song’s theology.”

The 500^th Commemoration of the Reformation and the song May This Church Be like a Tree, emphasized to the Lutheran World Federation what a tree the global church has grown into and what abundant fruit there is yet to bear. The hymn calls the church to be a joyful place of feast (communion) and simple prayer; to be about justice, acts of love, and compassion; a resting place, a welcome shelter, open arms and an embrace for the pilgrim and stranger; a place of self-giving and abundance sharing.

Take a moment to think about this – the Lutheran expressions of church around the world that we represent, or ministries we have been connected with. Since WWII, especially, the church has changed their leaves, and grown new branches, letting other branches to be pruned and discarded. Branches of social awareness have abounded, and the theology of the church has become more expressive in contemplating the connection between faith life and worship life, the biblical connection between worship and justice. Sosa reflected much on this and the lifting up of hope with song. Sosa delightfully described worship as “the fiesta of the faithful.”

 

But this ‘fiesta of the faithful,’ was – is - born in and through the pains of a weary world.

Pablo Sosa grew up in Argentina. As an adult he became a composer and a pastor of a large Methodist Congregation in Buenos Aires. He taught liturgy and hymnology at a seminary. He served in Argentina during a period known as the Dirty war, Guerra sucia, 1976-83. During this period, Argentina experienced military dictatorship and a state of terrorism. Political dissidents, students, young professionals, intellectuals, trade unionists, writers, journalists, artists, citizens suspected of being left-wing activists, anyone associated with socialism or having left-leaning sympathies were subject to harassment, detention centres, torture, concentration camps, or death squad. Others were simply ‘disappeared.’ It is estimated that 22,000 to 30,000 people were murdered or disappeared.

 

Pastor Sosa and his congregation experienced the atrocities of the regime when two girls from the congregation were ‘disappeared’ because they worked among the poor. … Because they worked among the poor - Compassion and mercy- faith living threatened the regime. Churches both Protestant and Catholic were conflicted on how to be under and in this state of terrorism and military regime. How was the church to be? Was it to speak out, be silent, support the government, subversively undermine authority? Continue to openly resist by offering compassion and work for justice, or to only speak in house building resilience and hope among the people? During this time many people lost faith. As the Dirty War continued it caused economic meltdown and plunged the middle-class into poverty.

 

There have been and always are places in the world where God’s faithful question what it means to live faithfully. The Church – even from those who do not profess the faith of the church – is looked to for statements, answers, or action; and if none are forthcoming the church is vilified. Today we have an inkling of what it is to personally, as a community, and as a larger church body, understand living in a place and time where the church is seriously contemplating and discerning what faithful living is amid an aggressive world, where those in leadership only make this weary world wearier. Do we speak or stay silent, does the church support the powers that be or blatantly defy orders? With whom does the church stand, work, support?

 

In 1977 in Argentina, Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo held their first vigil for the ‘disappeared.’ A group of women gathered in the Plaza de Mayo, in a demonstration requesting to have their young adults returned to them alive. The women, and others, have gathered in solidarity every Thursday afternoon thereafter. They pursued details of the fates of their lost relatives. They named the disappeared as ‘fighters for the people.’ Their justice work in human rights continues today, until, in their own words, there is a “defeat of imperialism and the sovereignty of the people are achieved.” Faithful acts of love, compassion and mercy. A continued persistence in seeking justice.

 

ELCA pastor and professor Mary Hinkle Shore wrote: “With the beatitudes, Jesus announces that the provision of God is trustworthy when the world is offering poverty, hunger, grief, and rejection. With the woes, Jesus announces that the provision of God is even more trustworthy than acting in what we imagine is self-interest. The Messiah embodies a whole way of being in the world that is better and more basic to life than either eking out an existence or building barns and filling them.”

 

This is what I feel it is to be like a tree – embodying a whole way of being in the world that is better and more basic to life than either eking out an existence or building barns and filling them – some form of middle ground where no one has too much and no one too little.

This is what I feel it is to be like a tree – embodying a whole way of being in the world where worship and justice are connected. Where worship is the fiesta of the faithful. A place to be connected with God and each other, to be filled with a zest and power, to go and be the embodiment of hope in everyday life.

This is what I feel it is to be like a tree – embodying a whole way of being trusting in the provision of God. Where this principle is the root that waters discernment and decision making; our love, compassion and action. May we – the Church- be like a tree.

 

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, who trust is the Lord.

They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. Jer. 17: 7-8

Three Epiphanies

 EPIPHANY

An epiphany to the ancient Greek was a manifestation, a striking appearance. Today an epiphany is considered an aha! moment where a new insight or clarity of thought comes upon a person. There is an element of surprise to an epiphany. An Epiphany doesn’t just happen, pre-work -sometimes years of study, work, or searching are required before a discoverer experiences an epiphany.

An Epiphany is a feeling of enlightenment that positions one in a new headspace and/or heartspace.

 

In Christianity an Epiphany is a realization that Christ is the Son of God; the aha! moment is a new insight into the nature of God. The scripture texts in the Season after Epiphany provide examples of the manifestation of God: the wisemen seek and find the infant Jesus – Emmanuel (God with us), at Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit comes and God’s voice calls “you are my beloved and in you I am well pleased”, and Jesus’ powers are witnessed in the turning of water into wine.

 

This morning’s scripture from Luke is one of Epiphany. Jesus’ showcase of power wasn’t simply a miracle of providing a large catch of fish on a day when there were no fish to be had. It was an event that caused the disciples, Peter in particular, to recognize the transcendent and name Jesus as Messiah.

The experience of Epiphany positioned Peter in a new headspace and heartspace. It was such an aha! moment that he and his colleagues left their nets and followed Jesus.

 

As I reflected on the story of the calling of the fishermen to be disciples, while focusing on the idea of epiphany, I noted that there are ideas in the text to spur epiphanies for readers like us. This morning, I highlight three truths from the text that when taken to heart will transform and change a person’s life.

 

 

Epiphany #1 – EVEN WHEN BUSY, BE OPEN TO THE MIRACULOUS

The disciples are hard at work. It was not an easy task to be part of the fishing industry on the Lake of Gennersaret. Writing about Jesus and his part in the movement to transform the food economy, pastor T. Wilson Dickinson, describes the squeeze put on fishermen. The elite had control of the seafood economy. Fishermen paid an imperial official for the right to fish in the emperor’s lake– a fishing license so to speak. Then after the catch was brought to shore, the fishermen paid a toll or a tax on what they had caught. Fishermen were marginalized labourers working in an oppressive economic system. To pay to be on the Lake, meant that one needed to work hard and have a catch big enough to pay both the license fee and the surcharge on the catch.

On this particular fishing day, after catching nothing, how could the disciples be anything but disheartened? It would be reasonable for them to worried about paying their bills, feeding their families, keeping their jobs. It would be understandable for if they were considering side hustles to make a few denarii: patch a few nets, repair a dock, deliver someone else’s catch. They were busy making ends meet to provide for their families, when Jesus arrives.

 

Peter, whether needing a distraction or so done with the pressures, decides to take a huge risk and takes Jesus out in the boat. Maybe that day Peter had an inkling to hope in this Jesus who had been traveling to the small towns around the area. Although busy, there was an openness to change the script for the day. And what a script change - Once again, Luke is inspired by his favourite stories, the prophets Elija and Elisha, and the miraculous provisions of food provided in times of or in places of scarcity. The big haul of fish is representative of the abundance of God and God’s kindom.

Now if you were one of the fishermen on the boat, and you witness the great catch, what would your first words be? If you only experienced a miracle you would ask something like, “how did you do that? How did you know?” Peter had an epiphany brought on by the miraculous, the power of Jesus, recognizing Jesus’ power Peter forgot about the fish and how important a big catch was, and focused completely on Jesus.

EVEN WHEN BUSY, BE OPEN TO THE MIRACULOUS

 

Epiphany #2 – EVEN WHEN YOU THINK YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH- GOD SEES OTHERWISE

Jesus gets into Peter’s boat on a day when the fishermen couldn’t catch a fish. There were no fish stories to be told. No fish to share for supper. This though is the least of Peter’s self-esteem woes. Peter’s encounter with Jesus has given him a profound awareness and sorrow of his sinfulness – an unworthiness. He says, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Peter’s expression is also an epiphany of the power of Jesus. Jesus does not go away but stays. Peter’s full epiphany is that sin does not disqualify him from being in Jesus’ presence or disqualify him from God’s invitation to be more.

 There is a poster in church hall that reminds those who see it that – Noah was drunk, Abrahm was too old, Isaac was a daydreamer, Moses stuttered, Joseph was abused, Sampson was a womanizer, Jonah ran away, Elijah was suicidal, Job went bankrupt, David had an affair, Martha worried, Paul was too religious, Lazarus was dead. --- all things that humans consider make one not good enough. Yet, all were loved by God, all were given invitations by God to work for God’s kindom. Whatever busy-ness was going on in their lives, each was open to the miraculous, because each said ‘yes.’

EVEN WHEN YOU THINK YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH- GOD SEES OTHERWISE

 

Epiphany #3 - EVEN JESUS NEEDED HELP

In the story Jesus needed to borrow a boat. Jesus is popular and the size of the crowds are pushing on him, so Jesus climbs into a boat and asks the skipper – Peter - to put it out a little way from shore; Peter does. Jesus needs helpers – the crowds are getting too big to handle all alone. This story in Luke, although centred on Peter, tells of three others who helped Jesus in bringing in the miraculous catch. They are told, do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people. They too had epiphanies for they say ‘yes’ to the invitation and become the first disciples to follow. In future stories in Luke, more help is needed and 70 more are sent out in pairs to work for Jesus – sharing the Gospel, the Good News, doing miracles and healings. By the time of Acts, even more helpers are recruited. In each instance those experiencing the power of Jesus, hearing God’s invitation,

left what they knew – everything – and worked in the kindom of God. Their headspace and heartspace had been transformed and that changed their whole lives.

EVEN JESUS NEEDED HELP

 

My prayer is that these three truths from the text will be reflected upon and taken to heart.

Even when busy, be open to the miraculous.

Even when you think you are not good enough – God sees otherwise.

Even Jesus needed help.

And in taking these to heart, may your headspace and heartspace be transformed, changing your whole lives.