Holy Ground

Where two rivers meet.
"Over there is sacred ground,
unfortunately we stopped in Kansas."

I’ve been interested lately in the concept of a “theology of place.” In Hinduism there is a strong attachment of the sacred to places where two rivers meet (I guess Kansas City and St. Louis are holy places). The Navajo orient themselves based upon the four holy mountains that surround their homeland from the north, south, east and west. As Christians we gravitate around churches and we travel to pilgrimage sites around the world. We hold onto certain places as holy, going so far as to name them “The Eternal City” and the “Holy Land.”

In Matthew 25 Jesus states that we will be judged by how we treat people who are suffering and he says (without reservation) that we should give food and drink to those who don't have them and that we should welcome strangers, and visit people who are sick or imprisoned. We have made this difficult to accomplish because of where we choose to live and whom we choose to associate with.

Generally speaking it is not about a lack of desire to do live out what Jesus asks us to, but more because it’s generally not right in front of us and there isn’t a Lazarus on our doorstep. In the words of Shane Claiborne “The great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor.” Our cities and suburbs are set up where we can be isolated from many of these opportunities to do what Jesus tells us to do.

I’ve found that like most of our experiments in living as a Christian we sometimes do what we are supposed to do and sometimes we don’t. When I lived in Nepal poverty and suffering was in my face all the time. There were ample opportunities to either do what Jesus told us we should do or choose to ignore those who were starving or didn’t have clothing. Sometimes I did and sometimes, well, I had to ask for forgiveness.

We often place ourselves outside of where the poor and marginalized are. These are the places where God resides and wants us to go to. It's going to the other side of Troost (a street in Kansas City that street that is a racial and economic dividing line or north of Highway 40 for those familiar with St. Louis) to be with those who hunger and thirst. It's about reaching out to new immigrants to welcome them, it's getting to know a child or an elderly person through sponsorship organizations like Christian Foundation for Children and Aging that give us better opportunities to more closely follow Jesus. 

Waiting Patiently

The last two years I’ve grown most of my garden from seed or slip (in the case of my beloved sweet potatoes). I think what I enjoy about planting seeds, as opposed to buying seedlings from the local nursery,* is that I get to see the miracle of life happen right in front of my eyes. I derive a great deal of excitement seeing a seedling emerge from the dirt and then helping them along as they do what they were created to do. In this process you have to practice a great deal of patience.

Not quite the work of human hands,
but definitely the fruit of the vine.

When we came back from a five-day visit to St. Louis to see my parents and younger sister I was treated to a nice surprise of several of my rattlesnake snap beans ready for harvest. I planted them in early June, put some bamboo poles next to where I planted the seeds and I waited patiently for them to grow and bear fruit.

I use the phrase “waited patiently” because the song “40” by U2 popped into my head as I was picking the beans from their vines. The song comes from Psalm 40 and many of the lyrics are lifted straight from the Psalm and waiting patiently

is what gardeners often have to do.

Waiting patiently is hard for me to practice! I have multiple task lists. In my haste and desire to “do” I forget to “be.” Just being and waiting patiently give us the space for God to enter into our lives. I know that I miss moments of joy with my wife, children, friends, coworkers, garden, nature, and God because of my impatience and my desire to do. Remembering to spend that time allowing for those moments to happen is what can make the difference in how much joy is in my life.

Jesus, our brother,

Help us to be patient.

Help us to be present to others, to You.

Help us to simply be. Amen.

* I have nothing against buying from a nursery, especially when you are talking about plants like tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. They generally have great plants that can be well worth the money without the investment of time and mess of planting seeds, but really, nothing beats growing from seed!

"... A Sense of Liberation"

"It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church's mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own."

This poem/prayer, which is often attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero, but was apparently written by Bishop Ken Untener, has been a prayer that I often come back to. It is a beautiful summation of who we are as Christians and what we are called to strive for. I've felt like this prayer has helped me to put perspective on my life and helped give me the confidence to move forward when I find myself in fear of starting something that I feel a calling or deep desire to do. 

Over the last few years I've taken a strong interest in gardening in the hopes of pulling pressure off the food system and helping to feed my family (not too mention feeding the need for a hobby!) I've also decided that I should start writing again and spending more time in reflection and prayer. 

This blog came as a fruit of those feelings and then reading this prayer in preparation for some activities at work. It pushed me forward. Of course I'm not the best writer, that does not mean that I shouldn't share my voice. Of course my garden has lots of weeds and has plants (especially the peppers) that have failed to produce any fruit, but that does not mean that I shouldn't keep doing it. It is freeing to remember that we just need to keep trying.