Proper 6 B + Viriditas + 6.13.21

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(From the Earthseed website)

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos Oxnard

(1 Samuel 15:34-16:13; Psalm 20; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10,[11-13],14-17; Mark 4:26-34)

 

I received an interesting email this week. It referred to an article on the Roman Catholic Church and whether people were going to return to in person worship post-pandemic, now that many have been vaccinated.[1] Those of you who are formerly Roman Catholic know that Sunday mass attendance is considered an obligation for practicing members and soon the church will no longer see online attendance as filling that obligation. But regardless of that people’s lives have changed during the pandemic. Now they have new routines and attendance of church in person may or may not fit into that. The person who referred the article to me suggested that we cannot simply tell people that God loves them and expect them to attend church for that bit of news. He said that God loves you whether you walk on the beach or whether you are in church. There needs to be something more.

Jesus observed the Kingdom of his time- a dual Kingdom of a cruel King of the Jews who was not even seen as fully entitled to his throne, and a distant and seemingly equally cruel Caesar in far-off Rome but very much in control via his leadership in the ancient Near East. And he thought of the traditional image of the monarchy, a tree of life. A tree that shelters creatures in its boughs just like a good monarchy will shelter its people from chaos, at least in theory. And then, as he was wont, he turned it all on its head.
What is the smallest seed that you could see with your eye? The humblest plant? The Mustard seed and plant, of course. It was a weed, what some have called the “kudzu” of the Ancient Near East.[2] Yet in comparison to its seed, it grew big indeed. Did it grow into a huge tree? That might have been an overstatement. But it grew big enough that creatures could take shelter in its shade. So that was the Kingdom of God. Both something small and humble, but something that could grow way beyond itself and shelter others. And that is something we only experience in community. Which I might add, can be online, as long as it is participatory and folks actively build the community / the Kin-dom rather than being passive recipients only.

But this Kingdom is adorned with something only God in God’s merciful love can give. And it can save the world.

Hildegard of Bingen, a medieval abbess and musical prodigy who lived in what is now Germany, put it thus: “Humanity is adorned with a variety of virtues as with the flourishing ([or] viriditas) of flowers, so that those who had fallen might rise again through repentance and be renewed in a holy way of life. In Humility her God bends himself towards the earth and through her he gathers together every virtue.”[3]

This viriditas is God’s greening of creation. I think it has something to do with the first part of our gospel passage: Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” He does not know how. As God-centered humans, without knowing it, God has given us humble seeds to spread and we do so without knowing it. God is in charge of the harvest, but we are the humble sowers. As Octavia Butler says in Parable of the Sower: “All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change.”

God touches us and we can do more. We give ourselves like the little seed and in God’s rich soil we grow bigger. Individually but even more so in community. In community a little band of disciples became a movement that spread the good news all over the world. We are the seed but we also spread the seed by acts of kindness that bring joy.

This viriditas is given to us – and we green creation when we worship but also when we give others a meal or study the Bible together or pray – That is Viriditas. We make everything new. In Judaism they call this Tikkun Olam, or the mending of creation. But we can only do it well together.

And it can be done online- this past year has shown us much online worship is generative. We have new participants who pray and give us feedback and an contribute to our worship and church life.

But it is most effectively done in person. In the flesh. We are physical people. Receiving communion physically is a different experience than spiritual communion. Sharing a cup of coffee in the flesh feels different. You cannot hand out a bag of food virtually. You can certainly give virtually to help that happen. But something about our faith must be incarnated. Our God became human in Jesus. Came and showed us about a reign of God that could only be accessed by humility. Jesus talks about our need to be humble and human and fleshly everywhere – in the smallness of a mustard seed for one. But also in describing how for the rich to get into heaven, they needed to bow to God’s will as much as the camels had to kneel to enter the narrow passage called the “eye of the needle.” Another example is how Jesus told us that in stooping to pick up a child, in humbling ourselves like them, we could enter the Kingdom of God. Again and again, Jesus makes it clear that humility and a connection with our humanity are prerequisites for an experience of the Kingdom.
Bending down to creation, pitching a tent among us, God humbled Godself and came among us as Jesus. Though he was divine, he took on all the messiness of humanity, but without sin. And more than that, he took on the form of a humble person under an occupied empire. And amazingly in that he reminded us that in our down to earth humanity we actually have access to the Kingdom. If we get humble and are able to join together and trust God to work through us to green and renew the earth.

Jesus said that we will be capable of greater works even than he had done (John 14:12). How is that possible? Only by acting in kindness and together spreading the seeds of joy even where Jesus in his earthly form could never reach.

So, whether you attend online or in person this week, know that your faith must have some embodied response. That can be as simple as giving to a good cause or as complex as volunteering to be that healing hand reaching out to someone in need. Let us know what you are doing so we can support you at the church. And either way, place your little mustard seed in God’s hands and it will grow. Spread your seeds to bring another person joy!

                                                  


[2] With thanks to the Working Preacher Podcast for this analogy.

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