Loading...The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field....
The kindom of heaven is like yeast mixed in with flour....
The kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field....
The dream of God is like a merchant who finds THE pearl....
The vision of God is like a fisherman’s net which catches fish of every kind....
Extravagant, bold, unexpected,
yet, of so familiar.
God at work in our world in the stuff of everyday,
but not in the way we might expect.
Like a seed planted in a field —
a seed that many farmers would consider a weed —
that ends up providing, not food, but shelter for
So. Many. Birds.
Like yeast in flour — a little goes such a long way
(but too much is not good!).
Like treasure which is hidden in a field by a person who doesn’t
OWN the field, but who wants to, who then gathers up all of his
assets from various places so that he can plunk that money down to
buy the field in which he’s buried the treasure but not told anyone
he’s buried it there. So, now the treasure and the field belong to him.
(why did he not just carry the treasure off with him in the first
place?!?)
Like the pearl which is so very beautiful and valued,
that the merchant, again, sells everything he has,
takes those assets and buys this gorgeous pearl.
Like the net which gathers in everything. Everything. With no
hesitation, no second guessing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How do we find God at work?
what do we expect to see?
Where do we expect to find it?
Have there been times when our expectations have been overturned?
How has God been extravagant, bold, and unexpected, even in the everyday, familiar ways of life?
I may have shared this thunderclap of an insight with y’all before,
but it bears repeating.
Years ago, when I was in church youth group,
we went on a bicycling trip together to the San Juans.
As we crested a hill (seemed like one akin to the Alps, but
wasn’t....), we could see before us a beautiful meadow bisected by the
road we were on and the water before us, part of the Puget Sound. I
immediately stopped my bike (for the view, people! The view!) and
thought to myself, “Truly, this is God’s country!”
Ah, I then remembered, truly every place is God’s country, even
the places that people or society might say is godforsaken.
And, I remind myself of that when I drive through the
Continental Basin of Wyoming (that’s barren land!) or through parts
of a city where there are many abandoned and/or falling apart houses
and vacant lots.
In that vacant lot, God buries a treasure,
gathers up all of her assets in order to buy that lot to have the
treasure of community making through a community garden.
In those falling apart houses, God renews them and invites people to
take shelter and to make them home.
In that Continental Basin, in that vast desert space, God gives
enough water to support the largest migratory herd of pronghorn,
and a large and rare herd of desert elk, plus migratory waterfowl and
other critters of all sizes.
How is God using you in unexpected and bold, yet every day ways,
Especially in this pandemic time,
a time a major cultural and societal upheaval
and the recognition of deep seated racial injustice?
“The kingdom of God does not produce cowardice and retreat: it
electrifies people with abandon, courage, and joy.”
(Michael Chan, “Dear Working Preacher”, July 19, 2020)
This poem from Gunilla Norris reminds us of the unexpected,
yet “behind the scenes” way that God works in and through us:
God longs for God
And uses us,
Rises in us...
Becomes in us.
Let us be silent,
A quiet dough
Where God moves
Into every pore...
Where God lives
As God pleases.
Let us rise simply,
A quiet dough.
—Gunilla Norris (from her poem “The Second Rising”)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You are this yeast which God is using to leaven God’s love and mercy
in the world. God is using you in unexpected, bold, and extravagant ways
to spread the hope of life and justice even in a world that seems lost and despairing.
Making bread is such an interesting experience.
If you’ve not had a chance to do so, I hope you will.
Indeed, I invite you to come over;
we’ll make some bread together.
The simplest bread recipes are flour, salt, water, and yeast.
Mix those together, knead the dough, and let it set.
Let the yeast do its work. It is spread throughout the entire
ball of dough and it is working on the flour, water, and salt in which
its gathered.
The dough grows. It expands. And, in a magical, mysterious event,
with some high head added, it makes bread — the foodstuff of
life for so many.
Again, from Gunilla Norris, spiritual director and therapist:
“Making bread is as mysterious as loving and yet it is something
anyone can do. To make bread we know we need some kind of
kitchen. To love we know we must meet each other somewhere. We know that place of meeting is none other than the here and now.
"There is no meeting anywhere else. We cannot live separately from what is.We are given bodies. We are given the world. We are given time. But without attention, without awareness, without true presence, we do not meet, we do not find each other. There is no kitchen.
"Let us meet where we already are, in the elements of our
vulnerability. In this we are together and we cannot do without each other. This is basic. Our neighbor is our self.”
--(Gunilla Norris, from Becoming Bread)
