William H. Willimon - "Some Way to Run a Farm" (July 22, 1990)
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(organ music) | 0:00 | |
Reverend Nancy | Grace and peace to you in the name | 2:32 |
of the Lord Jesus Christ. | 2:33 | |
We welcome you to this service of | 2:35 | |
worship here at Duke University Chapel, | 2:37 | |
on the seventh Sunday after Pentecost. | 2:39 | |
If you are a visitor to the Duke Campus, | 2:42 | |
we wish you a very pleasant stay and | 2:43 | |
if we may be of any assistance to you, | 2:45 | |
here at the chapel, | 2:47 | |
please feel free to let us know. | 2:48 | |
Our Preacher for this morning's service | 2:51 | |
is the Reverend Doctor William H. Willimon, | 2:52 | |
Dean of the Chapel, and our lector is | 2:54 | |
Ms. Miriam Hage, member of the congregation at Duke Chapel. | 2:57 | |
I'm pleased to introduce to you this morning, | 3:02 | |
two members of our undergraduate student body, | 3:04 | |
Miss Allison Best and Miss Caroline Light, | 3:06 | |
who are Co-Directors of Project BUILD. | 3:10 | |
Today's offering, will go in its entirety, | 3:12 | |
to Project BUILD and I've invited them to | 3:15 | |
tell you briefly about their program. | 3:17 | |
Allison | Project BUILD is a one week | 3:20 |
pre-orientation program for incoming new students | 3:21 | |
that's based on community service. | 3:23 | |
The program is in its second year and | 3:25 | |
this summer it will involve about 70 students. | 3:26 | |
We'll all be working with Habitat for Humanity | 3:29 | |
and the North Carolina Land Trust doing | 3:30 | |
construction work and also in smaller groups | 3:32 | |
we'll be working with eight other agencies | 3:34 | |
in Durham addressing a wide variety of needs | 3:36 | |
from child care to the needs of chronically, mentally ill. | 3:38 | |
Caroline | BUILD is actually an acronym. | 3:42 |
It stands for building undergraduate involvement | 3:43 | |
in the Durham community. | 3:45 | |
Basically that's a pretty good summary | 3:48 | |
of the goals of the program. | 3:49 | |
Project BUILD encourages these students to | 3:51 | |
become informed about the city they live in | 3:53 | |
and to take an active role in | 3:54 | |
trying to better the community. | 3:56 | |
Reverend Nancy | Thank you. | 3:59 |
Hope you'll give generously. | 4:01 | |
And now let us continue our worship. | 4:03 | |
♪ Blessed Jesus, at Thy word ♪ | 4:12 | |
♪ We are gathered all to hear Thee ♪ | 4:19 | |
♪ Let our hearts and souls be stirred ♪ | 4:30 | |
♪ Now to seek and love and fear Thee ♪ | 4:38 | |
♪ By Thy teachings sweet and holy ♪ | 4:49 | |
♪ Drawn from earth to love Thee solely ♪ | 4:58 | |
(organ music) | 5:15 | |
♪ Glorious things of Thee are spoken ♪ | 6:05 | |
♪ Zion, city of our God ♪ | 6:10 | |
♪ Thou whose word cannot be broken ♪ | 6:16 | |
♪ Formed thee for his own abode ♪ | 6:22 | |
♪ On the Rock of Ages founded ♪ | 6:29 | |
♪ What can shake Thy sure repose ♪ | 6:35 | |
♪ With salvation's walls surrounded ♪ | 6:41 | |
♪ Thou may'st smile at all thy foes ♪ | 6:47 | |
♪ See the streams of living waters ♪ | 6:55 | |
♪ Springing from eternal love ♪ | 7:01 | |
♪ Well supply thy sons and daughters ♪ | 7:07 | |
♪ And all fear of want remove ♪ | 7:13 | |
♪ Who can faint, when such a river ♪ | 7:20 | |
♪ Ever flows their thirst t' assuage ♪ | 7:26 | |
♪ Grace which, like the Lord, the giver ♪ | 7:32 | |
♪ Never fails from age to age ♪ | 7:38 | |
♪ Round each habitation hovering ♪ | 7:47 | |
♪ See the cloud and fire appear ♪ | 7:52 | |
♪ For a glory and a covering ♪ | 7:59 | |
♪ Showing that the Lord is near ♪ | 8:05 | |
♪ Thus deriving from our banner ♪ | 8:12 | |
♪ Light by night and shade by day ♪ | 8:18 | |
♪ Safe they feed upon the manna ♪ | 8:24 | |
♪ Which God gives us when we pray ♪ | 8:30 | |
♪ Blest inhabitants of Zion ♪ | 8:39 | |
♪ Washed in the Redeemer's blood ♪ | 8:45 | |
♪ Jesus, whom their souls rely on ♪ | 8:51 | |
♪ Makes them kings and priests to God ♪ | 8:57 | |
♪ 'Tis His love His people raises ♪ | 9:04 | |
♪ Over self to reign as kings, ♪ | 9:10 | |
♪ And as priests, His solemn praises ♪ | 9:17 | |
♪ Each for a thank off'ring brings ♪ | 9:23 | |
Reverend Nancy | Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, | 9:36 |
you know our necessities before we ask, | 9:41 | |
and our ignorance in asking. | 9:44 | |
Have compassion on our weakness, | 9:47 | |
and mercifully give us those things | 9:49 | |
which for our unworthiness we dare not | 9:51 | |
and for our blindness we cannot ask. | 9:55 | |
Through the worthiness of your Son, | 9:58 | |
Jesus Christ Our Lord, who lives and reigns with you | 10:00 | |
in the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever, Amen. | 10:04 | |
Miriam | Let us pray. | 10:17 |
Congregation | Open our hearts and minds oh God, | 10:20 |
by the power of your Holy Spirit, | 10:23 | |
so that as the word is read and proclaimed, | 10:26 | |
we might hear with joy what you say to us this day, Amen. | 10:29 | |
Miriam | The First Reading is taken from | 10:35 |
the Book of Exodus. | 10:37 | |
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his | 10:38 | |
father-in-law, Jethro, the Priest of Midian, | 10:41 | |
and he led his flock to the west side of | 10:45 | |
the wilderness and came to Horeb, | 10:48 | |
the Mountain of God. | 10:49 | |
And the Angel of God appeared to him in a | 10:52 | |
flame of fire out of the midst of the bush, | 10:54 | |
and Moses looked and low, the bush was burning, | 10:57 | |
yet it was not consumed. | 11:01 | |
And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this | 11:04 | |
great sight, why the bush is not burnt." | 11:07 | |
When God saw that he turned aside to see | 11:11 | |
God called to him out of the bush, | 11:14 | |
"Moses! Moses!" | 11:17 | |
And he said, "Here am I." | 11:19 | |
Then God said, "Do not come near. | 11:22 | |
Put off your shoes from your feet, | 11:24 | |
for the place on which you are standing, | 11:27 | |
is Holy Ground." | 11:29 | |
And God said, "I am the God of your ancestor. | 11:31 | |
The God of Abraham. | 11:35 | |
The God of Isaac. | 11:37 | |
And the God of Jacob." | 11:38 | |
And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God. | 11:40 | |
Then God said, "I have seen the affliction of my people | 11:46 | |
who are in Egypt and have heard their cry | 11:49 | |
because of their taskmasters. | 11:52 | |
I know their sufferings and I have come down | 11:55 | |
to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians | 11:57 | |
and to bring them up out of that land | 12:01 | |
to a good and broad land. | 12:03 | |
A land flowing with milk and honey, | 12:05 | |
to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, | 12:08 | |
the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. | 12:11 | |
And now the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, | 12:15 | |
and I have seen the oppression with | 12:18 | |
which the Egyptians oppress them. | 12:21 | |
Come, I will send you to Pharaoh, | 12:23 | |
that you may bring forth my people, | 12:25 | |
the Children of Israel, out of Egypt." | 12:27 | |
But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should | 12:30 | |
go to Pharaoh and | 12:33 | |
bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt?" | 12:35 | |
God said, "But I will be with you and | 12:37 | |
this shall be the sign for you, | 12:40 | |
that I have sent you. | 12:43 | |
When you have brought forth the people | 12:45 | |
out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain." | 12:47 | |
This is the Word of the Lord. | 12:51 | |
Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 12:55 |
Reverend Nancy | Please stand as we join | 13:00 |
together in singing responsibly, | 13:02 | |
Psalm 103 verses one through thirteen. | 13:03 | |
♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ | 13:19 | |
♪ And all that is within me ♪ | 13:23 | |
♪ Bless God's holy name ♪ | 13:26 | |
♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ | 13:30 | |
♪ And forget not all his benefits ♪ | 13:34 | |
♪ Who forgives all your iniquity ♪ | 13:40 | |
♪ Who heals all your diseases ♪ | 13:44 | |
♪ Who redeems your life from the pit ♪ | 13:49 | |
♪ Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy ♪ | 13:54 | |
♪ Who satisfies you with good ♪ | 13:59 | |
♪ So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's ♪ | 14:02 | |
♪ The Lord who works vindication ♪ | 14:11 | |
♪ And justice for all who are oppressed ♪ | 14:15 | |
♪ Has made known God's ways to Moses ♪ | 14:20 | |
♪ God's acts to the people of Israel ♪ | 14:25 | |
♪ The Lord is merciful and gracious ♪ | 14:31 | |
♪ Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love ♪ | 14:36 | |
♪ The Lord will not always chide ♪ | 14:43 | |
♪ Nor harbor anger forever ♪ | 14:47 | |
♪ The Lord does not deal with us according to our sins ♪ | 14:52 | |
♪ Nor repay us according to our iniquities ♪ | 14:59 | |
♪ For as the heavens are high above the earth ♪ | 15:05 | |
♪ So great is the Lord's steadfast love toward the faithful ♪ | 15:11 | |
♪ As far as the east is from the west ♪ | 15:18 | |
♪ So far does he remove our transgressions from us ♪ | 15:23 | |
♪ As a Father shows compassion to his children ♪ | 15:32 | |
♪ So the Lord shows compassion to the faithful ♪ | 15:37 | |
(organ music) | 15:45 | |
(chorus singing) | 15:53 | |
Miriam | The Second Reading is taken from | 16:51 |
Paul's Letter to the Romans. | 16:52 | |
I consider that the sufferings of this present time | 16:55 | |
are not worth comparing with the glory that | 16:59 | |
is to be revealed to us. | 17:01 | |
For the creation waits with eager longing | 17:03 | |
for the revealing of the children of God. | 17:06 | |
For the creation was subjected to futility, | 17:09 | |
not of it's own will, | 17:12 | |
but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope. | 17:14 | |
Because the creation itself will be set free | 17:18 | |
from it's bondage to decay, and obtain the glorious | 17:21 | |
liberty of the children of God. | 17:25 | |
We know that the whole creation | 17:28 | |
has been groaning in travail together until now. | 17:30 | |
But not only the creation, but we ourselves, | 17:34 | |
who have the first roots of the spirit grown inwardly, | 17:38 | |
as we wait for adoption as children of God. | 17:42 | |
Redemption of our bodies. | 17:46 | |
For in this hope, we were saved. | 17:49 | |
Now hope that is seen is not hope. | 17:52 | |
For who hopes for what is already seen? | 17:56 | |
But if hope for what we do not see, | 17:59 | |
we wait for it with patience. | 18:02 | |
This is the Word of the Lord. | 18:05 | |
Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 18:08 |
♪ O Holy Spirit, Lord of grace ♪ | 18:29 | |
♪ Eternal source of love ♪ | 18:36 | |
♪ Inflame, we pray, our inmost hearts ♪ | 18:42 | |
♪ With fire from heaven above ♪ | 18:49 | |
♪ As thou in bond of love dost join ♪ | 18:56 | |
♪ The Father and the Son ♪ | 19:04 | |
♪ So fill us all with mutual love ♪ | 19:11 | |
♪ And knit our hearts in one ♪ | 19:25 | |
- | [Reverend Dr. Willimon] The Gospel from Matthew. | 20:01 |
A parable he put to them saying, | 20:04 | |
"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man | 20:07 | |
who sowed good seed in his field." | 20:10 | |
But while they were sleeping, | 20:14 | |
his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, | 20:15 | |
and went away. | 20:19 | |
So when the plants came up and bore grain, | 20:20 | |
then weeds appeared also. | 20:24 | |
And the servants of the householder came and said to him, | 20:28 | |
"Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? | 20:31 | |
How is it then that there are weeds?" | 20:35 | |
He said to them, "An enemy has done this." | 20:39 | |
The servants said to him, | 20:43 | |
"Then do you want us to go and gather them?" | 20:45 | |
But he said, | 20:49 | |
"No. | 20:50 | |
Lest in gathering the weeds, | 20:51 | |
you root up the wheat along with them. | 20:54 | |
Let both grow together until the harvest and | 20:58 | |
at harvest time I will tell the reapers, | 21:01 | |
"Gather the weeds first and | 21:05 | |
bind them in bundles to be burned, | 21:07 | |
but gather the wheat into my barn."" | 21:09 | |
Here ends the lesson. | 21:14 | |
Thanks be to God. | 21:16 | |
I would wager that the two predominant reasons | 21:25 | |
that I have heard people give for why they are | 21:31 | |
not active in a church are these: | 21:35 | |
One, | 21:40 | |
people in the church seem just as lousy as everybody else. | 21:42 | |
And here they will cite some sin, | 21:47 | |
which they assume they are innocent of | 21:50 | |
(like racism, or materialism, or hypocrisy) | 21:52 | |
and ascribe that to people in the church. | 21:55 | |
Or, two, | 21:59 | |
they say something like, | 22:01 | |
"With the world in the shape it's in, | 22:04 | |
"with so much evil and suffering in the world, | 22:08 | |
"I think that belief in a good and loving God is silly." | 22:11 | |
And here they cite some evil, | 22:17 | |
which then is ascribed to God's ineptitude. | 22:20 | |
And the implication of both of these charges is, | 22:26 | |
"Just think of all the wonderfully, morally sensitive | 22:29 | |
"people we could get in the church-- | 22:34 | |
"if we could just clean up our act." | 22:36 | |
If God could clean up God's act. | 22:39 | |
And from time to time, | 22:43 | |
we have certainly tried to clean up both God | 22:44 | |
and our act as the church, | 22:47 | |
but we've never been quite able to pull it off. | 22:51 | |
Throughout church history, there have been times | 22:55 | |
when we've tried to purify the church. | 22:57 | |
Let's get rid of the dead wood and | 23:00 | |
pare this thing down to the really committed, | 23:02 | |
really good people. | 23:04 | |
And yet, such attempts often end up with a church | 23:09 | |
full of people that look like more those who | 23:13 | |
crucified Jesus than those who followed Him. | 23:16 | |
You know the old saw about the two Puritans | 23:19 | |
talking to each other, and one says to the other, | 23:22 | |
"There is none so righteous as me and thee. | 23:26 | |
"And sometimes I worry about thee." | 23:30 | |
I know I greatly admire the tiny Mennonite churches. | 23:34 | |
I admire their tight discipline and | 23:38 | |
their pacifism and their courage. | 23:40 | |
And I said out in Kansas about how much I admired | 23:43 | |
the Mennonites and this Mennonite Pastor | 23:46 | |
comes up to me, and says, "Look, | 23:49 | |
"we Mennonites look a lot better at a distance. | 23:51 | |
"We're pacifists except when it comes to fights | 23:54 | |
"with other Mennonites." | 23:57 | |
And in a way that describes everybody's church-- | 24:00 | |
it's a mess. | 24:03 | |
Untidy, | 24:06 | |
always only partly faithful. | 24:08 | |
And then we've tried to defend God against | 24:14 | |
the charge of moral ineptitude | 24:16 | |
against those who wondered why if God | 24:20 | |
is both all-loving and all-powerful, | 24:22 | |
there is so much heartache, pain and evil in the world? | 24:25 | |
We've tried a variety of defenses, | 24:29 | |
but they're inevitably unsatisfactory. | 24:33 | |
Philosophers call it theodicy, | 24:36 | |
which means justifying the ways of God to humanity. | 24:39 | |
And there's never been any theodicy that really worked. | 24:42 | |
Because evil remains evil, | 24:47 | |
and the very essence of evil is it's a mess. | 24:50 | |
Things are still in a mess. | 24:55 | |
One day Jesus told a parable, | 24:59 | |
which, while it may not offer much help to people | 25:03 | |
who question the messiness of the church-- | 25:06 | |
or the messiness of life-- | 25:10 | |
may be of some help to those of us who've got to live | 25:12 | |
with the mess in the church and in life, | 25:16 | |
and in ourselves. | 25:20 | |
"The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared | 25:23 | |
"to a man who sowed good seed in his field. | 25:25 | |
"But while they were sleeping, his enemy | 25:29 | |
"came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. | 25:31 | |
"When the plants came up and bore grain, | 25:34 | |
"weeds appeared also. | 25:38 | |
"Servants of the householder came and said to him, | 25:40 | |
"'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? | 25:43 | |
"'How is it, then, that there are weeds?' | 25:49 | |
"He said to them, | 25:52 | |
"'An enemy has done this.' | 25:53 | |
"The servants said, | 25:56 | |
"'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' | 25:58 | |
"But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds, | 26:01 | |
"'you root up the wheat along with them. | 26:06 | |
"'Let them both grow together until the harvest.'" | 26:08 | |
Now, what kind of farmer is this? | 26:15 | |
Is this any way to plant a garden? | 26:19 | |
This parable of the wheat and the weeds is preceded | 26:22 | |
by another agricultural fiasco. | 26:28 | |
"A farmer goes out to sow seed," says Jesus. | 26:32 | |
"And this farmer | 26:36 | |
"cultivates the ground, | 26:40 | |
"and then he makes the rows, all in straight rows, | 26:42 | |
"one right after the other. | 26:46 | |
"He prepares his furrows and | 26:47 | |
"then he puts in one little seed | 26:49 | |
"and then six inches beyond he puts in another seed, | 26:51 | |
"and then another, and then he carefully covers it up." | 26:53 | |
- | -No! | 26:55 |
Jesus said, "A sower went out to sow, | 26:58 | |
and he just started slinging seed everywhere. | 27:00 | |
And he's just throwing seed everywhere, | 27:03 | |
and of course some of the seed lands on rocks. | 27:05 | |
And most of the rest of seed is gobbled up by birds, | 27:11 | |
but amazingly enough, some of the seed, | 27:14 | |
considering this sloppy method of sowing seed, | 27:17 | |
hits on good soil and it grows up. | 27:21 | |
Now what you'd think is a careful farmer would | 27:27 | |
cultivate the earth and be a bit more careful in the sowing. | 27:29 | |
But no, Jesus said, this sower just comes out and | 27:34 | |
just starts slinging seed everywhere. | 27:37 | |
And it falls on earth both good and bad. | 27:39 | |
And if that parable did not confuse you enough, | 27:44 | |
Jesus follows it with another. | 27:48 | |
And I think it's a parable about the very same farmer. | 27:50 | |
He sows seed in his field, but when the seed germinate, | 27:54 | |
and the wheat first appears, | 28:01 | |
weeds also appear-- | 28:04 | |
darnel, which I am told looks like wheat at first, | 28:06 | |
but as it matures, | 28:10 | |
it bares nothing. | 28:14 | |
It's just weeds. | 28:15 | |
"Well, what happened?" asked the farmer's servants. | 28:18 | |
"Sir, did you not sow good seed?" | 28:21 | |
The farmer says, "An enemy must have done this. | 28:25 | |
"It must have come in at night and sowed these weeds | 28:29 | |
"in this perfectly good wheat." | 28:33 | |
Enemy, my eye. | 28:36 | |
I mean, you've watched this farmer at work before. | 28:38 | |
Last field he planted, | 28:41 | |
there were a lot of weeds in that field, too. | 28:42 | |
And birds, and rocks. | 28:45 | |
You get that kind of result when you get | 28:47 | |
this slinging seed in every direction. | 28:51 | |
Here's a farmer that doesn't need enemies | 28:55 | |
sneaking around at night to ruin his harvest; | 28:57 | |
he's perfectly capable of ruining it himself. | 29:00 | |
And then the servants ask, "Okay, Master, | 29:03 | |
"do you want us to go out and try to pick up those, | 29:06 | |
"pull up those weeds so that that wheat can grow?" | 29:09 | |
And the farmer replies, "No, no, just let the weeds | 29:14 | |
"and the wheat grow together. | 29:18 | |
"I just love to see stuff grow and | 29:20 | |
"it's too much trouble. | 29:24 | |
"You go out there weeding that garden, | 29:25 | |
"you're gonna slip up, pull up some wheat with the weeds. | 29:27 | |
"Just leave it, we'll try to sort it all out in September." | 29:31 | |
Can you believe this kind of agriculture? | 29:36 | |
Well of course you can, because you've watched | 29:40 | |
this farmer at work before slinging seeds | 29:42 | |
all over everywhere, rather than | 29:45 | |
taking the time to do it right. | 29:47 | |
And as it turns out, he's not much better | 29:49 | |
at hoeing than he is at sowing. | 29:51 | |
"Just let them all grow together, | 29:54 | |
we'll worry about it later." | 29:56 | |
And Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven | 30:00 | |
is just like that. | 30:02 | |
Now it's a surprising story, and it's particularly | 30:06 | |
surprising to hear a story like this from Matthew. | 30:10 | |
Because Matthew is not a gospel of permissiveness, | 30:13 | |
it's a gospel of judgment. | 30:17 | |
There's never any permissive little pat | 30:19 | |
on the head in Matthew. | 30:21 | |
His gospel is just full of stories about | 30:24 | |
judgment and the separation, | 30:26 | |
the separation of good trees | 30:28 | |
from those that don't produce fruit | 30:31 | |
and the perils of building a house on | 30:33 | |
the sand as opposed to building a house on rock. | 30:35 | |
And choosing God or mammon, | 30:39 | |
and entering the narrow gate, | 30:42 | |
and sorting out the goats from the sheep, | 30:44 | |
and not throwing pearls before swine... | 30:48 | |
Wheat and weeds. | 30:53 | |
In Matthew, it's when first meet Jesus for the first time, | 30:56 | |
through the words of John the Baptist, | 30:59 | |
who says of Jesus, "His winnowing fork is in his hand, | 31:02 | |
"and he will clear his threshing floor and gather wheat | 31:06 | |
"into the granary, but the chaff he is going to throw | 31:10 | |
"into unquenchable fire." | 31:13 | |
Separate. | 31:16 | |
Purify. | 31:18 | |
Purge. | 31:20 | |
But the maddening thing that is also in Matthew's Gospel, | 31:24 | |
that we're told about a marriage feast. | 31:28 | |
Where the servants are sent out to invite to the feast, | 31:32 | |
"As many as you find, both bad and good." | 31:35 | |
And it was Matthew who told the story about | 31:41 | |
these fishermen who have this great dragnet | 31:44 | |
and they pull it to shore. | 31:47 | |
And when they pull it to shore, tied between two boats, | 31:48 | |
they dragged in "fish of every kind." | 31:52 | |
"Master, you want us to make up an invitation list | 31:59 | |
"on the basis on the New York social register?" | 32:02 | |
"No, just send an invitation to everybody who's | 32:06 | |
"listed in the Manhattan telephone book." | 32:10 | |
"Master, you want us just to fish for tuna this time?" | 32:14 | |
"No, sting rays and sand dollars taste good, too." | 32:18 | |
What kind of way is that to party? | 32:24 | |
What kind of way is that to fish? | 32:26 | |
I believe these parables originally spoke | 32:31 | |
to the messiness of the church. | 32:34 | |
The messiness involved in a Lord who says to the church, | 32:40 | |
(Matthew 28) "Go, make disciples of all nations. | 32:45 | |
"Go, preach this gospel" (Matthew 24) | 32:52 | |
"throughout the whole world." | 32:56 | |
And you go do that kind of thing | 33:00 | |
and you'll be surprised at who shows up for baptism. | 33:02 | |
The church casts its dragnet across the whole world, | 33:06 | |
and look at the creatures we caught. | 33:11 | |
The invitation to the party was issued, | 33:15 | |
and look who showed up to party. | 33:17 | |
It's a mess! | 33:20 | |
But I think the story says, it's God's mess. | 33:23 | |
Because when this God starts to sowing, | 33:27 | |
or inviting, or blessing, or calling, | 33:31 | |
this God just doesn't know where to stop. | 33:37 | |
And it is not for us to judge | 33:41 | |
which seed will take root, | 33:42 | |
which tree will bear fruit. | 33:46 | |
It's not for us to distinguish between wheat and weeds-- | 33:49 | |
that's God's business. | 33:54 | |
And yet I expect this parable also spoke | 33:58 | |
to a larger issue. | 34:01 | |
The larger issue of the messiness, | 34:06 | |
not just in the church, but in life, in the world. | 34:10 | |
If you think it's a mess in the church, | 34:15 | |
then you look at the mess in the world. | 34:17 | |
If this is God's world, | 34:21 | |
then one would expect that maybe God would have | 34:23 | |
done a better job of making it seem | 34:25 | |
more like God's world. | 34:27 | |
Here we've got war, we've got injustice, | 34:30 | |
pain, suffering, sickness, | 34:33 | |
you can make your own list. | 34:37 | |
And I think that's the question | 34:41 | |
caught up in the servants' query to the Master: | 34:45 | |
"Lord, did you not sow good seed in your field? | 34:48 | |
"Lord, on that early morning of creation, | 34:55 | |
"when you looked at your world, | 34:59 | |
"and you said, 'That's good, that's real good.' | 35:00 | |
"Were you talking about this world? | 35:07 | |
"Why are there weeds?" | 35:13 | |
"Well this enemy, this enemy slipped in at midnight | 35:16 | |
"and he probably sowed these weeds among the wheat." | 35:19 | |
And that's possible, but you gotta admit, | 35:23 | |
that's rather improbable. | 35:25 | |
Nowhere in Near Eastern Literature | 35:28 | |
is there any story about somebody | 35:30 | |
getting back at somebody else | 35:32 | |
by sowing weeds amidst their wheat. | 35:34 | |
There were quicker, cheaper, nastier ways | 35:38 | |
to get even with somebody. | 35:41 | |
But how alike that is to try to pin | 35:44 | |
evil that we experience, | 35:46 | |
and particularly--the evil we do--on somebody else. | 35:49 | |
"The devil made me do it." | 35:54 | |
I think that's a rather lame explanation for this evil. | 35:57 | |
I don't buy that bit about the nocturnal enemy. | 36:03 | |
I think though that this a parable which struggles | 36:08 | |
with the problem of evil. | 36:11 | |
I mean maybe evil does come from some | 36:14 | |
supernatural force set loose in the world, | 36:17 | |
sneaking around at night and making mischief. | 36:19 | |
Some Satan, who roves about in the darkness, | 36:21 | |
working mischief in this otherwise benign creation. | 36:25 | |
Perhaps. | 36:29 | |
But whether or not that be the source | 36:32 | |
of suffering, and evil, and pain of injustice, | 36:34 | |
one thing we know, and that is: | 36:38 | |
evil is real, it's here. | 36:39 | |
The world is a mess. | 36:42 | |
There is bad seed growing right alongside the good. | 36:44 | |
Weeds germinate just as well as wheat. | 36:49 | |
And often you can't tell the weeds from the wheat, | 36:54 | |
until they are full grown, | 36:58 | |
and then it's too late to do to much about it. | 36:59 | |
It was out of this mess that came | 37:04 | |
the ancient biblical cry, "O Lord, how long, | 37:07 | |
"O Lord, how long shall the wicked exult," Psalm 94. | 37:11 | |
And we look at this, these weeds and this wheat, | 37:19 | |
and that's our question--how long? | 37:22 | |
When Duke lost the national basketball championship | 37:27 | |
to a school, somewhere out in the desert. | 37:31 | |
(laughter) | 37:34 | |
I wrote our coach and advised him to look up | 37:36 | |
Jeremiah 12:1 in his Bible. | 37:38 | |
Jeremiah 12:1, "Lord, why do the wicked prosper?" | 37:43 | |
(laughter) | 37:48 | |
"Why do the treacherous thrive?" | 37:50 | |
But, of course, it's no joking matter when it's your life, | 37:55 | |
and evil sometimes flourishes and goodness withers. | 38:01 | |
It's not funny. | 38:07 | |
When those cancerous cells spread throughout the body. | 38:10 | |
And good cells starve. | 38:15 | |
When defenseless students stand before tanks in Beijing | 38:19 | |
and are crushed. | 38:23 | |
When drugs despoil our youth and enrich those who sell them. | 38:25 | |
At such times, we're apt to ask, | 38:30 | |
"Lord, did you not sow good seed in your field?" | 38:33 | |
It's a mystery, and even by the end of the parable, | 38:40 | |
it remains a mystery. | 38:45 | |
By the end of the parable there are still weeds, | 38:48 | |
just growing right along side the wheat. | 38:51 | |
And you wonder what's gonna happen. | 38:55 | |
We don't know, we got to wait. | 38:59 | |
We've got to wait until the harvest, according to the story. | 39:01 | |
Maybe what the farmer is doing is a good strategy. | 39:06 | |
Yet everything dear to agriculture suggests | 39:10 | |
this farmer is taking a big risk. | 39:13 | |
He is headed for a tough harvest. | 39:17 | |
He's putting a lot of good wheat at risk. | 39:22 | |
"Do you want us to go gather up the weeds?" | 39:28 | |
ask the servants. | 39:31 | |
"We suspect that makes most sense." | 39:34 | |
"No, no, let's wait," says the farmer, | 39:37 | |
"Let's just wait, I'll risk it." | 39:42 | |
Isn't that wasteful? | 39:48 | |
Especially for conscientious, | 39:50 | |
ethically sensitive religious people like us? | 39:52 | |
Isn't that wasteful? | 39:55 | |
What kind of way is that to run a farm? | 39:58 | |
"Well", says this farmer, | 40:02 | |
"I don't only do sowing, | 40:05 | |
"I'm also into animal husbandry. | 40:08 | |
"And I remember the time I had this one sheep that was lost, | 40:11 | |
"this one sheep, and I went out and left | 40:14 | |
"all the ninety-nine sheep in the wilderness, | 40:16 | |
"risked that, went after one sheep, | 40:18 | |
"and searched till I found him. | 40:20 | |
"And then last year I gave this dinner party and | 40:23 | |
"I told my servants, 'Go out and bring in | 40:27 | |
"'everybody off the street, anybody you can | 40:29 | |
"'lay your hands on, both good and bad.'" | 40:31 | |
"It was rough on the furniture, but man, | 40:34 | |
"did we have a party. | 40:36 | |
"And then I had these grapes to harvest | 40:41 | |
"and I went out and I needed other | 40:43 | |
"people to harvest 'em. | 40:45 | |
"I went downtown, I got people. | 40:46 | |
"Went back downtown again, | 40:48 | |
"End of the day, I was feeling so good, | 40:49 | |
"I said heck, 'I'll pay everybody the same wage, | 40:51 | |
"'even those who've only been here one hour." | 40:54 | |
"And they grumbled and I said, | 40:58 | |
"'Hey, (chuckles) this is my farm, isn't it? | 41:00 | |
"'I'm gonna run my farm the way I run my farm, okay?' | 41:04 | |
You can read about it in Matthew, | 41:08 | |
but I tell ya, it takes patience to work on such a farm. | 41:11 | |
It takes patience to endure such a wait, | 41:17 | |
such a risk. | 41:21 | |
At my last church, | 41:26 | |
at the end of long day, | 41:29 | |
I was tired. | 41:32 | |
And one this that gets you as a preacher, | 41:34 | |
you know, seems like there's so little results. | 41:36 | |
So little progress. | 41:40 | |
And at the end of some days, | 41:43 | |
I'd be so tired, I'd just sit down, | 41:45 | |
you know, I'd pour a cup of coffee, | 41:46 | |
and then I'd pour the Lord a cup of coffee, | 41:48 | |
and I'd say, "Now Lord, let's go over this one more time. | 41:51 | |
"Why did you think it was a good idea to have a | 41:55 | |
"Methodist Church up here on Summit Drive in Greenville?" | 41:57 | |
And then I'd listen, but I'd never understand. | 42:01 | |
I'd say, "All right, okay. | 42:03 | |
"But why would you try to build a church with these people? | 42:05 | |
"If I were going out and calling people | 42:09 | |
"to be part of a church, | 42:11 | |
"I could've done a better job than these people." | 42:13 | |
And then the Lord would say, | 42:17 | |
"Hey, wait, look, this is my farm, right? | 42:19 | |
"And I'm gonna run my farm, the way I run my farm. | 42:24 | |
"It's my farm." | 42:29 | |
(organ music) | 42:41 | |
♪ Be still, my soul, the Lord is on your side ♪ | 43:33 | |
♪ Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain ♪ | 43:42 | |
♪ Leave to your God to order and provide ♪ | 43:51 | |
♪ In every change God faithful will remain. ♪ | 44:01 | |
♪ Be still, my soul, your best, your heav'nly friend ♪ | 44:10 | |
♪ Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end ♪ | 44:20 | |
♪ Be still, my soul, your God will undertake ♪ | 44:30 | |
♪ To guide the future as he has the past ♪ | 44:40 | |
♪ Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake ♪ | 44:49 | |
♪ All now mysterious shall be bright at last ♪ | 44:58 | |
♪ Be still, my soul, the waves and winds still know ♪ | 45:08 | |
♪ His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below ♪ | 45:18 | |
♪ Be still, my soul, the hour is hast'ning on ♪ | 45:28 | |
♪ When we shall be forever with the Lord ♪ | 45:38 | |
♪ When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone ♪ | 45:48 | |
♪ Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored ♪ | 45:57 | |
♪ Be still, my soul, when change and tears are past ♪ | 46:07 | |
♪ All safe and blessed we shall meet at last ♪ | 46:17 | |
Reverend Nancy | The Lord be with you. | 46:32 |
Congregation | And also with you. | 46:34 |
Reverend Nancy | Let us pray. | 46:35 |
Everlasting God, | 46:47 | |
so often we bow our heads | 46:50 | |
only in quiet meditation, | 46:53 | |
when we also should be jumping for joy | 46:56 | |
because you come to us as rescuer, | 46:59 | |
as Savior, | 47:02 | |
to find us when we are lost. | 47:04 | |
Help us to rejoice in the miracle | 47:08 | |
of your everlasting love for us, | 47:09 | |
your wayward children. | 47:12 | |
And so acknowledging our utter | 47:16 | |
dependence on you we pray for the Church. | 47:18 | |
Help us O God when we confuse absence of conflict | 47:21 | |
with the peace of God. | 47:26 | |
Help us when we imagine that our task is to preserve, | 47:28 | |
at all cost, rather than to take a risk for your sake. | 47:31 | |
Help us when we behave as though your presence in life | 47:36 | |
were a past event, rather than a present encounter. | 47:39 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 47:44 | |
Help us redeeming God in the world. | 47:50 | |
Help us when we use meaningless chatter | 47:53 | |
to avoid real dialogue. | 47:55 | |
Help us when we confuse privilege with responsibility, | 47:58 | |
and claim rights when we should be acknowledging duties. | 48:03 | |
Help us when we rationalize sinful behavior | 48:07 | |
with deceptive reasoning. | 48:11 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 48:13 | |
Help us reconcile in God in our homes. | 48:17 | |
Help us when exhaustion and preoccupation | 48:22 | |
blind us to the needs of our loved ones. | 48:25 | |
Help us when stubbornness and inflexibility | 48:29 | |
prevent us from forgiving. | 48:32 | |
Help us when a careless word or thoughtless action | 48:34 | |
inflict hurt or pain. | 48:38 | |
Help us when we are unable to recognize our own selfishness. | 48:41 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 48:46 | |
Oh eternal God, you have past through the test | 48:51 | |
of suffering and are able to help those | 48:53 | |
who must endure their own time of trial. | 48:55 | |
We pray for all who suffer. | 48:59 | |
We pray especially for those who suffer | 49:02 | |
through their own folly or the folly | 49:04 | |
or malice of others. | 49:06 | |
May they know you as one who shares their | 49:09 | |
agony and enables them to share your triumph. | 49:11 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 49:15 | |
We pray for those who cry out desperately for justice, | 49:20 | |
for tyranny to be overthrown, | 49:24 | |
for the despised to be given dignity, | 49:26 | |
for the poor to receive a proper share | 49:29 | |
of the earth's resources. | 49:31 | |
You are the source of hope | 49:34 | |
and the inspiration to action. | 49:35 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 49:39 | |
God of mercy you have promised to hear | 49:43 | |
what we ask in the name of Jesus Christ. | 49:45 | |
Accept and fulfill our petitions, | 49:49 | |
we pray, not as we ask in our ignorance, | 49:51 | |
but as you know us and love us, | 49:54 | |
in Jesus Christ Our Lord, Amen. | 49:57 | |
As a forgiven and reconciled people, | 50:03 | |
let us our offer our gifts and ourselves unto God. | 50:06 | |
(organ music) | 50:14 | |
(chorus singing) | 51:42 | |
(organ music) | 56:18 | |
♪ Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 56:38 | |
♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪ | 56:44 | |
♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ | 56:50 | |
♪ Praise God, in Jesus fully known ♪ | 56:57 | |
♪ Creator, Word, and Spirit one ♪ | 57:03 | |
♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ | 57:08 | |
♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ | 57:14 | |
♪ Alleluia ♪ | 57:21 | |
Reverend Nancy | Our gracious God, | 57:31 |
creator of the universe, | 57:33 | |
and giver of all good things, | 57:35 | |
we thank you for our home on earth | 57:37 | |
and for the joy of living, | 57:40 | |
for the challenges you give us each day, | 57:41 | |
and for the work we have to do. | 57:43 | |
We thank you for young people who | 57:46 | |
have the vision of the world as a better place | 57:47 | |
and are willing to give of themselves | 57:50 | |
to make it happen. | 57:52 | |
May these offerings assist in delivering | 57:54 | |
your people from bondage and liberate | 57:56 | |
the poor, the hungry, | 57:58 | |
and the neglected from their oppression. | 58:00 | |
We thank you especially oh saving God | 58:03 | |
for your love in Jesus Christ, | 58:04 | |
who was for us the way, the truth, | 58:07 | |
and the life and in whose name we pray, | 58:09 | |
Congregation | Our Father, | 58:12 |
who art in heaven, | 58:13 | |
hallow it be thy name. | 58:15 | |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, | 58:17 | |
on Earth as it is in heaven. | 58:19 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 58:22 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 58:24 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 58:26 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 58:30 | |
but deliver us from evil, | 58:32 | |
for thine is the kingdom, | 58:34 | |
the power and the glory, | 58:35 | |
forever and ever, Amen. | 58:37 | |
Reverend Nancy | The peace of God | 58:41 |
which passes all understanding, | 58:42 | |
keep your hearts and minds and the knowledge, | 58:45 | |
and the love of God, and of God's Son, | 58:47 | |
Jesus Christ our Lord. | 58:50 | |
And the blessing of God Almighty, Father, | 58:52 | |
Son and Holy Spirit, remain with you always. | 58:54 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:04 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:10 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:13 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:16 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:20 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:25 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:30 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:37 | |
(organ music) | 59:48 | |
♪ The Church's one foundation ♪ | 1:00:41 | |
♪ Is Jesus Christ her Lord ♪ | 1:00:44 | |
♪ She is His new creation ♪ | 1:00:48 | |
♪ By water and the Word ♪ | 1:00:54 | |
♪ From heav'n He came and sought her ♪ | 1:00:59 | |
♪ To be His holy Bride ♪ | 1:01:06 | |
♪ With His own blood He bought her ♪ | 1:01:11 | |
♪ And for her life He died ♪ | 1:01:17 | |
♪ Elect from every nation ♪ | 1:01:25 | |
♪ Yet one o'er all the earth ♪ | 1:01:30 | |
♪ Her charter of salvation ♪ | 1:01:35 | |
♪ One Lord, one faith, one birth ♪ | 1:01:41 | |
♪ One holy Name she blesses ♪ | 1:01:47 | |
♪ Partakes one holy food ♪ | 1:01:53 | |
♪ And to one hope she presses ♪ | 1:01:59 | |
♪ With every grace endued ♪ | 1:02:04 | |
♪ Though with a scornful wonder ♪ | 1:02:12 | |
♪ Men see her sore oppressed ♪ | 1:02:18 | |
♪ By schisms rent asunder ♪ | 1:02:24 | |
♪ By heresies distressed ♪ | 1:02:30 | |
♪ Yet saints their watch are keeping ♪ | 1:02:35 | |
♪ Their cry goes up, how long ♪ | 1:02:41 | |
♪ And soon the night of weeping ♪ | 1:02:47 | |
♪ Shall be the morn of song ♪ | 1:02:53 | |
♪ Mid toil and tribulation ♪ | 1:03:01 | |
♪ And tumult of her war ♪ | 1:03:07 | |
♪ She waits the consummation ♪ | 1:03:13 | |
♪ Of peace forevermore ♪ | 1:03:18 | |
♪ Till with the vision glorious ♪ | 1:03:24 | |
♪ Her longing eyes are blest ♪ | 1:03:30 | |
♪ And the great church victorious ♪ | 1:03:36 | |
♪ Shall be the church at rest ♪ | 1:03:42 | |
♪ Yet she on earth hath union ♪ | 1:03:50 | |
♪ With the God the Three in One ♪ | 1:03:55 | |
♪ And mystic sweet communion ♪ | 1:04:01 | |
♪ With those whose rest is won ♪ | 1:04:07 | |
♪ O happy ones and holy ♪ | 1:04:12 | |
♪ Lord, give us grace that we ♪ | 1:04:18 | |
♪ Like them, the meek and lowly ♪ | 1:04:24 | |
♪ On high may dwell with thee ♪ | 1:04:30 | |
(organ music) | 1:04:35 | |
Reverend Nancy | Let us go forth in the name of the Lord. | 1:04:48 |
Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 1:04:51 |
(organ music) | 1:04:59 |