My son Walker is a timber framer. What that means is that he takes huge pieces of whole wood timbers and makes cuts and joints often with hand tools in which to join the timbers together to make a structure.
The structures he makes are magnificent and expensive and are most certainly a thing of beauty and a feat of exact engineering that keeps these frames from falling down. When math teachers told us that one day we would need to use geometry and trig, they did not lie!
Two years ago, we visited Walker in Montana. When I asked him how we could find his residence, he said, “Mom, look at a map of Montana, find Yellowstone National Park and then look to the left of its West gate. See that small lake? That is where I am.” Really? Like, he had no street address because there was no street leading to where he was living. He was in the middle of a tumble weed field next to a creek or crick as they say there. He and a small crew were rebuilding 100+ year old log cabins out by this crick… which is where Walker got his water for bathing and cooking.
"Bears?" I asked.
“Of course,” he answered.
Great.
And so while I was worrying about bears and bathing, Walker took my husband to one of the cabins he was working on, and pointed out an evergreen branch bravely and proudly standing up on the top upper most part of the roof.
“Is that something used to scare off the bears?” I asked, hopefully.
“Of course not mom. I have a gun for that.”
Of course he did.
What I learned that day is that placing a branch on a roof is a tradition that timber framers have used for over 100 years… It is called topping off the project with a whetting brush. It is the act of placing a bough on the highest peak of a newly completed frame. Some say it is a symbol of good luck. Some say it is a symbol of thanks for a safe raising of the building. And some say it is a way to give thanks and honor to the trees that produced the wood for the building itself. But all say it is a moment of celebration… A Celebration for a family starting a new life in a new home. It is a time of transition signaling change. And with change comes a bit of the unknown.
Our readings this morning are speaking to this idea of change… of transition…. Of moving from the way things were to something new… The church was in a time of transition and change.. and her members were unsure of what was coming and if they were doing what God wanted.
In our gospel reading this morning, Mark is writing to an early church probably about 50 years after Christ’s death and resurrection. Understandably the church is struggling. Jesus came and turned everything upside down. Sometimes we conceive the earliest church as a fine-tuned machine. Yet it started with strife and conflict …which continued. During the first few years after Jesus ascended into heaven, Christianity mainly existed in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. But just as the church seemed to gain momentum, persecution came and the Christians fled and were scattered across the country. Those who followed Jesus and not Moses or the Roman leaders were persecuted… and many killed. So it became difficult for these followers of Jesus to find others of Christian community…And they felt that maybe they were not doing what God had asked. They were expecting the kingdom to come quickly and here they were a generation later trying to organize what it means to be a community… to grow the church… to stay on the path that God had set for them.
All we can do is plant the seeds…. And then wait to see what happens. Trusting that God will take care of the rest.
I am always amazed at how pertinent scripture is to our modern lives. While we are members of a large world-wide community of faith, we have just experienced a time of great change. And while we could not gather to worship in one space, we continued to do the work of the church outside of its walls. We were faced with the unknown and constant change. Never would I have imagined being a part of a broadcasted service. But here we are. Doing the best we can. Worried about budgets and attendance… and worrying about our brothers and sisters.
But we are reminded this morning that if we plant the seeds of faith, to do God’s work, he will take care of the rest. And if we are disappointed with our progress, just look at the tiny mustard seed that once planted and tended, grows into something large and glorious. We provide what it needs to flourish and then have faith that it will.
We should, as Paul said in his second letter to the Corinthians… obviously the first letter did not work…. Paul writes that we are to walk by faith and not by sight. And Trust in God.
So many times we compare ourselves to others… using others as a measuring stick of our own successes and inadequacies … we may even compare our church or our clergy and leadership to what other churches are doing. And what a mistake that would be. Second guessing our role in God’s plan. Judging our success by what we see and not what Jesus has taught.
Not long ago, I heard a sermon that Bishop Logue gave. When he was elected, he had great plans for the work he wanted to do in and for the Diocese of Georgia. But God and Covid had other plans. He realized that by trying to take on all of the weight of being responsible for the growth of the kingdom in our tiny microcosm of Christianity, was not living into our faith that God has a plan. We must, of course, do our due diligence and do the work of planting the seeds of faith everywhere we go and nurturing the smallest of growth until it is strong enough to stand on its own. And we nurture our own faith. But then, we have to let go and turn it over to God.
I loved our reading from Ezekiel this morning. It is what reminded me of the whetting branch that the timber frames use that signals growth and transition. Ezekiel writes, I myself will take a sprig from the loft top of a cedar; I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit and become a noble cedar.
We are the seed planters…. The sprig tenders…. We are here to see …. not where people are today… but to see and lead others to be made new in Christ.
We are to sow seeds of kindness, and justice, and forgiveness, and joy; trusting that these tiny seeds will burst forth into an abundance of love and community, we know not how. We are to hold each other's hands tightly, trusting the voices that call us forward, leaning into the hands and arms of those who have been this way before and who promise to stay with us and keep us on the path. We are to nurture the tender branches of growth in others.
Recently I read an article in the Huffington Post from 2013 about Pope Francis soon after he was elected to lead the Roman Catholic Church. His Swiss guards confirmed that he was sneaking out nightly, dressed as a regular priest, to meet with homeless and destitute men and women. This was not the first time the Pope garnered attention by his acts of charity. He said, “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”
Just months after assuming the papacy, he invited nearly 200 homeless people to join him for dinner at the Vatican. He also advocated to have showers built in St. Peter’s Square for those without a way to bathe. And I am sure that many of you heard of his going to a prison on a Maundy Thursday and kneeling in front of prisoners to wash their feet.
None of this sounds as if he were doing this for media attention, or to hopefully grow the church. Pope Francis, who took his name from St. Francis of Assisi, is doing what God has called him to do: plant seeds, set an example, live a life that would be what Jesus asked and exemplified. And most importantly, trusting in God to continue to grow the kingdom to what it is meant to be.
I want to leave you with this. We are certainly in a time of transition too. Just like the early church, we may find ourselves asking… are we doing things the way God wants? And if so, why are our churches not filled to capacity? How are we to come back after being shut down for an entire year? How can we best reach others… those who need to hear the promise that life today is about growing into who God wants us to be tomorrow. How can we be Christ to others?
We walk by faith. We plant the seed. We nurture the tender branches of growth. And We trust that God is active in ALL that we do.
Paul says,
“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”
And I say,
"Thank God for new beginnings!
Amen and amen"
Sources
Lectionary Lab, Two Bubbas and a Bible. June 13, 2o21. Podcast twobb.substack.com.
The Huffington Post, 2013.
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