Ron Finley, “Gangsta Gardener” and community leader in South Los Angeles
Here are the readings for today.
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours. — St. Teresa of Ávila
The soil is important, so is the Spirit.
Ann Whitman in her book ‘Organic Gardening for Dummies’ wrote “Before planting anything…prepare … by digging to loosen the soil and adding organic material! This prep work can save you untold disappointment and, perhaps more than any other factor, assure a bountiful and delicious harvest.”
When describing the digging, she wrote “Dig deep” and when describing organic matter, wrote ” Add lots and lots of organic matter!”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable, a story, the Sower spreads the seed and it lands everywhere, this could be a simile for Jesus the itinerant preacher, spreading the Good News preaching to everyone and travelling everywhere. And second part of the gospel Jesus explains to the disciples the soil types and how each received the seed and their ultimate results.
The seed that lands where the soil has become hardened from being repeatedly walked on simply sits on the surface, waiting to become food for the birds.
The seed that falls on rocky soil has difficulty taking root because the soil inhibits the growth of roots, necessary for plants to access the nutrients in the soil.
The seed that falls on ground covered in thorns must compete with already well-established, invasive plants and stands little chance.
The seed that falls on the soil that has been prepared, turned over and loosened until it is fine, replenished with nutrients from the decaying matter, thrives.
The gathered hearing this story, would not have probably seen themselves as trampled paths, the ones that did not understand or resisted the message or its implication like the current religious authorities, or rocky soil, the ones that shriveled up when push came to shove or when faith is being tested, or thorny ground, the ones that are distracted by other loyalties like power or prestige, all of it getting in the way of growth and fullness of life by turning toward Christ and following him.
How do we see ourselves in this Parable Story?
I think we see a bit of ourselves in each type of soil and that we are also each of the other elements of this parable. We are in a constant struggle to make our soil the best soil. We need each other to make good soil. We need each other to continue to enrich each other’s soils.
I just think that so easy in this day and age to just mind your own business, or to go along with “It was there like that when I got there” or ” I didn’t do it ” in other words it is easier to leave obstacles in place for others, instead of removing them. It’s also easy to forget that each of our approaches to different situations is dependent on and influenced by, our own experience and learning on our journeys and what we can learn from each other.
I long for a society that truly makes decisions with compassion and empathy in mind. Imagine a society where everyone is secure against unreasonable search, and authorities acting on behalf of the government, carry out their duties in a fair and reasonable way. In a compassionate and empathetic society everyone calling on the authorities would be treated in the same way. These are some of my stones that I struggle with. Here are a couple of examples, I am in the passenger seat of a car that just pulled into a parking spot on the corner on Sherbrooke in NDG, and I was the one approached quickly by an officer so anxious to get to me that they dropped their nightstick along the way. The conversation started with me about my identification and where I was going and only secondly was the driver who was Chris was asked about using the turning signal when doing a parking maneuver? A second time the car was parked, Chris was having issues starting the car so I was sitting in the passenger seat checking my phone and a cruiser pulled up behind us and just as the car started, the cruiser put on their warning lights and the officers just walked up to our windows after the car started and were about to pull away. How would these scenarios play out in a compassionate society?
How would a compassionate and empathetic society allow some of its members to lack the basic necessities to live. like adequate shelter, drinkable water, Physical and mental health care, education, cultural expressions, a living wage, and leisure time to enjoy it.
When people flee places with intense poverty or political persecution, would a compassionate society treat them as thieves in the night coming to steal everything that they hold dear?
When our fellow siblings miss out on these things, as a society we end up being each other’s stones, weeds or predators.
I believe Today’s reading from Romans gives us our organic material to prepare good soil. Paul wants us to understand that believing in Jesus means at the same time living in Christ. L Ann Jervis a Canadian theologian wrote”
The “flesh” refers not to the skin of our bodies but to a way of living, a reality, that is dominated by death. The ‘Flesh’ seeks to constrain people in a way of life that has everything to do with death and with hatred of the God of life and love.
With that point Paul goes on to write
We as Christians are not in the flesh; we are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in us
So, going back to my desire for a compassionate and empathetic society, imagine when we wholeheartedly throw in all of this flesh of death, all of that organic material over into our soil and use it to support a life in Christ.
Right now, being forced out of our “regular way of doing things” and for some of us it has given us time to really dig deep and examine our hearts and minds to work that soil. We have been given time to clear out the stones, whatever those stones could be, that might be preventing good roots from growing deep, we have cut back all of the thorns blocking out growth up towards the sky and have been given the reminder to mix into our soil’s new organic experiences.
Rev Canon Peter Davidson wrote this question What if this is a wake-up call and an invitation to a new life as we’ve never before imagined it?”
We are here in the midst of the new creation of that life, we are here persevering and giving rise to new life and the Spirit of Christ in our hearts.
We as Paul said ” are not in the flesh ” we are in the spirit” we belong to Christ because we have and are and will still continue to work our soil to show forth and live the risen Christ in the world.
One thing that helps me remember that we are in the spirit, are the words attributed to St Patrick
“Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
Amen.
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