Needed: Virus and Weeds

Pentecost 7a14, July 27, 2014 (Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

What does God's influence in our lives and the life of the world look like? ( 2x)

 

Might God's influence be like dandelions: the love and forgiveness of God just keeps turning up, even though people may not want it nor expect it to?

 

Or, might the influence of God upon or lives and the lives of the world function somewhat like a virus: there really isn't any cure or protection against it- it just keeps spreading within ourselves and beyond?

 

Or, might the influence , the love of God just be "out there, moving" seeking us, to change our hearts and minds, our affections and priorities each and every day – so that we cannot escape what really matters and then live with great joy and sacrificial love in seemingly the most ordinary and yet profound way?.

 

Might God's influence and direction in life be like any of this, or even all of this?

 

There is a woman who grew up in the church. Well it is even more than that. She grew up attending a parochial school. Let me tell you. She is strong-willed and strong minded! When she was quite young, she fell in love. Her father warned her about this particular man – but his warning concern was like water running off a Labrador's coat. The resulting marriage wasn't good. He beat her. He sought to control her through fear and criticism. Eventually she managed to leave him. For a long while she stopped going to church. She even stopped talking to God. But then one day feeling a strong "tug" she went back to church. She spoke to the pastor. The Pastor told her, "It's more than OK for you to question God, to wrestle with God, even to yell at God"... Once again she began to speak to God, to wrestle with God. She still does.

 

Now, there was a second woman. This woman loved her children beyond the description of any mere words, however articulate. This woman lived in a country where armed conflict was ever present. Government, police forces and those who saw the government as corrupt and the police as simply embodying whatever the corrupt government instructed them to do were at odds. Both sides recruited boys, as young as 12 to become violent, to take part in the dirty work of hurting, threatening and even killing the "others". This mother knew she had to leave. She must get her children away from all such influences. To escape she had to travel hundreds of miles, swim across a river, enter a country illegally and find work under the table. She did all this. Then she applied for immigration to our country, Canada. Upon arriving she worked very hard. Her hands literally flew over her sewing machine both by day and night. One by one she brought  4 of her 5 children. What celebrating there was. As her children arrived she brought them all to church. She wondered out loud to her pastor, "Why do Canadian Christians seem so reserved in their worship of God? Why isn't there more dancing and more singing and more eating? Why do we stop worshiping after only 75 minutes? "In my country people," she said, "people walk miles to the church every week. We stay hours, singing and praying and then singing and praying some more. Only when darkness falls do we begin to go home". She couldn't understand Canadian's obsession with time. How she enlivened that congregation. Her smile lit up the room. The piñata she would bring to the children's Christmas concert had everyone standing on their tip toes and all the children scrambling for candy. That concert became a fiesta – a feast, a festival of joy. Many of the people loved her. But a few couldn't or just wouldn't understand.

 

One day she told her pastor something that made him weep. She said, "I have cancer!" The congregation prayed and prayed and prayed. The cancer grew. The pain of her family and the people of the congregation increased. She cried, laughed and sang. She said, "I am sad, but not afraid for me."  As her illness spread within her body the need for her to have increased care in a respectful place became more pressing. In that city it cost about $150 per day to stay in such a car facility. This was money that neither she nor her family had...  That's when another woman took action.

 

This woman came to the pastor's office and said, "Pastor, I would like to help my friend with cancer. I want to write a check to cover all of her expenses at the hospice house for as long as she needs to be there. But I don't want her to know who the donor is. I don't want her dignity or the dignity of her family to be compromised at all." The pastor smiled and said, "Done".

 

The mother of the children, battling with cancer lived nearly 3 months in the hospice house. She was surrounded each day by her children and grandchildren, by an entire host of people from the church and the community. Very early on the staff of the hospice house also came to love her. She died amidst tears of loss, of hope, of joy...

 

Let me ask again: What does God's influence on our lives and the lives of the world look like? Might it look like any of the people whose lives I have just told you about? Like dandelions that keep springing up in the most unexpected places? Like a virus that spreads and spreads, crossing boundaries that no one thought possible?

 

Is it possible that the first woman I told you about – the strong willed stubborn, argumentative person with God is also the third woman who writes a blank check in order to love the mother of all these children unconditionally?

 

Jesus says that the reign of God is like a tiny weed that becomes a huge shrub and then instead of being destructive like weeds often are – can bring life and protection to creatures who so desperately need that. Jesus says that the reign of God is like something that often is seen as destructive or even dangerous but then becomes transformative bringing new life to everyone and everything that surrounds it. Jesus says that the reign of God, this love of Christ has so much value that once it "gets inside of us" we realize that everything else is of secondary importance. This love, this guiding influence of God becomes that which shapes and directs us – calling us to great joy, great passion and sometimes great sacrifice.

 

Do you see the reign, the very love of God around us and within us – even in such seemingly ordinary things like piñatas, children, friends and neighbors, those who irritate us, illness and birth, suffering and death?

 

Do we realize that we (personally and collectively) are being called to be part of this very influence and reign of God here and now?

 

O God give us eyes to see, ears to hear, open minds and generous hearts to be set on fire, for Christ's sake, and the sake of the world that you love so much! Amen.