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Date: August 29, 2010
Scripture Lesson: Matthew 7:15-20
Sermon: Bearing Fruit
Pastor: Rev. Kim Wells

On our recent trip to Scotland, we visited the beautiful island of Iona. It is a small island, about a mile and a half wide and three and a half miles long, off the island of Mull, on the western side of Scotland. The water around Iona looks like the blue of the ocean around the Bahamas. Sheep graze on the hillsides. It is an idyllic paradise. But what makes Iona particularly special is not just its beauty but its religious significance. First a significant site to pagans in pre-Christian Scotland, it is the site where Christianity first came to Scotland. So it is hallowed as a sacred place, the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland.

Now, how did Christianity arrive at this tiny, remote spot? That is quite another story. Christianity was brought to Iona in 563 by St. Columba who is revered there and throughout Scotland. There are shrines to him, stained glass windows commemorating him, and he is referred to again and again. He is ever- present. And how did he come to found a Christian community on this remote island? Columba was from Ireland, which had a very well educated, advanced society at that time. Columba was of royal Irish blood. He had dedicated his life to the church and was trained by the wisest leaders of the church. Columba was a missionary in Ireland from the time he was 25 until he was 40. He established churches and monasteries. Then a local chieftain violated the sanctity of one of his churches. The church was giving sanctuary to a noble fugitive. And the chieftain pursued the nobleman into the church. Columba got the support of his powerful family and went to war against the offending chieftain. In the ensuing battle, it is said that Columba lost only one man, while his army killed 3,000 of the enemy. He attributed his victory to his Christian faith. Other leaders in the church were jealous of Columba and his power, and they arranged for him to be excommunicated for the 3,000 deaths that he caused. Columba was eventually reinstated and told to go and save as many souls as had been lost in the battle. He felt great remorse and decided to redeem himself through self-inflicted exile. He would leave his beloved native land and serve God elsewhere. He left Ireland in a small boat with 12 others and headed east. Iona was the first land that he came to from which he could not see Ireland. He felt that if he could see Ireland, he would not be able to resist the temptation to return. So, he settled on Iona, and established a monastery which brought Christianity to Scotland and beyond. [From “Welcome to Iona” by John Brooks, 1982]

It is quite a story of commitment and redemption, but I found myself disturbed by the violence involved. Christianity spread as the result of violence? This just doesn’t sound like the faith and values of the Jesus we know from the New Testament. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Bad fruit.

And then, as we traveled around Scotland and visited various churches and cathedrals, the veneration of another religious figure emerged. John Knox, noted Protestant Reformer, responsible for the establishment of the Church of Scotland, and revered as the patriarch of the Presbyterian Church. In many towns and churches there were plaques commemorating that “John Knox preached here.” But as we learned more about his legacy, from museums and churches, a pattern seemed to emerge: John Knox preached here and following the service the people rushed out and attacked the Catholics. Knox was known for preaching such a stirring sermon that the congregation was incited to violence. Again, I found this disturbing. Is this how Jesus spread love of God and neighbor? I don’t think so. Bad fruit.

And before we relegate this perpetration of violence by the church to Europe, we want to remember that Christianity has been a source of much violence on our shores as well: Beginning with the killing of the indigenous peoples and going on to the banishing and executing of heretics in Puritan New England, the Salem witch trials, the endorsement of slavery and more. More bad fruit, on our continent.

This week there are several anniversaries of important events in American history. On August 29, 1758, the first Indian reservation was established in this land, in New Jersey. And did the church of the time decry that injustice? No. On August 26, 1920, voting rights for women were endorsed by the US Congress. Did the church offer wholehearted, vociferous support for this initiative? No. On August 29, 1957, the Civil Rights Act was ratified. And did the Christian church across this nation support that justice effort? No. And on August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the “I have a dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And ask people of the time. The Christian community of the US did not wholeheartedly support King’s movement, it was not even supported by the majority of African American churches in the US. Bad fruit.

And violence and intolerance continues to be supported by the church in many of its expressions in our country today. Either overtly or through silence, the majority of churches in this country support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. You have to wonder. If these countries were Christian countries would these wars be so well-supported? And we cannot resort to saying, “Well, a Christian country would not have had such an evil dictatorship as that of Saddam Hussein, or the Taliban.” But what about Nazi Germany? A Christian country, led by a heinous dictator who perpetrated genocide using the church as an ally to further his aims, and with very little dissent from the church of the time. Bad fruit.

Much of the violence and hostility being directed toward Muslims in this country today is the by-product of the teaching of churches that Christianity is exclusively right and superior to other religions, and Islam is violent and evil. The Christian church produces its share of bad fruit.

Recently writer Anne Rice has made a public declaration about leaving the church. In a posting on her Facebook page, she said: “I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”

Sure, the faith community has its problems. That’s what Jesus was talking about in the scripture lesson that we heard this morning. There were problems in his day, too. This is nothing new – this using religion for personal gain, to promote a political agenda, to pursue power and control. It has ever been thus. Bad fruit.

But religion is also responsible for good fruit. Most Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Bahais, etc. seek to be dedicated to compassion and service. We are trying to be good people. Honest, generous, caring, etc. We desire to bear good fruit.

And while religion has the potential for harm, it also has at least as much potential to foment good. We need the community of support, the focus beyond ourselves, the encouragement to live for others, the values of community over individuality, and the access to our deepest spiritual resources, all of which Christianity provides, to bear good fruit. We need the church in the true spirit of Jesus to tend and nurture us so that we can bear good fruit. Left to our own devices, this is not likely to happen.

Jesus faced the challenge of the corruptibility and abuse of religion leading to bad fruit as we do today. But we want to remember that Jesus’ goodness, his compassion, his dedication to service, all came from his religious context, his religious tradition, and his religious community. His commitment to anti-violence, his sense of justice, his investment in forgiveness and mercy, his trust in redemption, his creating of community – all of it came from his religious roots. Without the Jewish religion, there would be no Jesus. Religion has the potential to produce good fruit.

Jesus shows us the dangers and abuses that plague religion, but he also shows us the good it can do. Despite the problems with the religious leaders of his day, Jesus does not start a new religion. Christianity only emerges as a separate religion several decades after Jesus’ death. Jesus does not abandon religion. He continues to be an observant, devout Jew until his death. He shows us all that religion can be. How it can foster the bearing of good fruit.

Through religion and religious teachings, Jesus shows us how to bear good fruit in all aspects of our living: our personal lives, our families and relationships, our lifestyle, our use of resources, our advocacy, our business practices, our work and our play. He shows us that every aspect of our living can be an opportunity for the bearing of good fruit.

Yes, Scotland has a very violent history. And our guide at the Glasgow Cathedral, told us rather abashedly, that Scots like to fight. Their national motto amounts to, Hit us and we’ll hit you back. (So much for turn the other cheek and love your enemy.) But at least they are honest about it! And we were told by a reputable source that Scotland is rated as one of the most violent countries in the developed world. But they also have the image that the US is very violent. The US-initiated war in Afghanistan is very unpopular in the United Kingdom. And the US is renowned in the UK for personal violence as well. A guide at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh mentioned to our group that everyone in the US carries a gun. Obviously that is a ridiculous caricature. But, the US is a very violent society. The solution is not to get rid of religion. Cut down the tree. Then where will the good fruit come from?

In a wonderful letter to the editor responding to Anne Rice leaving Christianity, LUCC member Mark Gibson suggests, “I encourage Anne Rice and others who feel alienated and berated by Christianity to consider joining a progressive congregation. Don’t abandon the church altogether, but join with others to create a new version of church.” [St. Petersburg Times, 8/21/10]

We are needed to tend and nurture the vision and values of Jesus because what the world needs now is more good fruit! Amen.

A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.

Date: July 25, 2010
Scripture Lesson: James 2:14-17
Sermon: Love Pray Eat
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

Some months ago we watched the movie “Food, Inc.” Well, by the time the movie was over, it seemed to me that I would just never eat again. To be deeply be ethical and environmental, etc. there’s nowhere near by to get food that fits the bill. The only option seemed to be back to the farm which is not practical for most of us, either!
There are so many moral, ethical, political, health and environmental issues related to food!
There are food issues around genetic engineering. I don’t think you can get a tomato that is not genetically modified, unless you grow it yourself with seeds that you have saved for decades or have gotten from another country.
And while we’re talking about tomatoes, there are the labor issues around the farmworkers who are working in the fields to see that we have produce in the grocery store.
Then there are the issues around pesticides. This relates to the safety of the workers and also to the consumption of the food. Eating organic is an option, but there are limited choices, limited places to buy, and it is often more expensive.
And there are transportation issues. Buying food grown around the world is linked to usage of energy and fossil fuels, as is driving a distance to get food that is more ethically grown and produced. So there are issues around transportation and energy. There are issues around the environmental effects of farming, relating to pesticides, fertilizer, waste, and land use. That is another dimension to be taken into consideration when deciding what to eat.
There are ethical issues around corporate farming and the take over of the family farm. Families who have farmed for generations basically being driven off the land due to economic pressures from multinational food corporations.
There are issues around the ethical treatment of animals in food production – the pigs, cows, chickens, and other animals that are used for food.
There are environmental issues around meat production – the deforestation to create grazing land, top soil erosion, and the waste and methane produced in the meat industry. It is said that you can do more for the environment by giving up meat than by giving up your car.
There are issues around the packaging of food and the plastic and styrofoam and the trash being created by the packaging. So there are land fill issues, and energy issues around packaging.
With seafood, which I have never liked, there are issues around fish populations as well as chemicals such as mercury in the seafood. There are issues around seabed damage from certain types of fishing and drag net fishing and the way it is effecting populations of other sea life like turtles.
There are issues around the chemical, preservatives, hormones, and pesticides used in food production and their safety for human consumption. Remember Red dye number 4? So for health reasons, we need to be concerned not only about fat and salt and calories, but also what other substances we are ingesting and the health issues that are involved.
And there are food issues around world hunger. The grain used to feed the animals that are used for meat could feed many more people than the meat will feed. So world hunger could be significantly diminished by using grain for people, not animals, if we had the will to produce and distribute the grain accordingly.
Are you loosing your appetite? Do you think about these things when you stand in front of the produce display? I do when I am buying, preparing and eating food. It has gotten quite complicated.
Our nephew has a masters degree in food science. He is working for a company developing new food products. A company wants to add so many grams of protein to each serving of cereal without increasing calories or effecting taste. He comes up with the new formula. I asked him about all of the ethical issues and political issues that are related to what he does – he said he has nothing to do with that. He doesn’t think about it and doesn’t involve himself with that side of food production. He ignores it. Yes, I think that is a cop out, but I can also see that it could be simply overwhelming to take all of these things into consideration. We add this ingredient to get the desired result. What if that ingredient happens to be- genetically modified, picked by under paid workers in dangerous working conditions, involve significant transportation costs, etc. You could be paralyzed by the implications of each project.
When it comes to food, food politics, food guidelines, the Bible has a lot to say. What you can and can’t eat. When you can and can’t eat it. What you need to leave for the poor. What you have to offer as sacrifices. Who can eat those sacrifices and when. How they need to be prepared. The ethical obligation to leave food in the fields for the poor. The need to see that the hungry are fed. There are many, many food instructions in the Bible.
There are countless instructions about what is clean and unclean, what combinations of foods can be eaten, and not eaten. These laws involved ethics – seeing that everyone was fed. They involved respect for the land. They involved ritual purity to keep people of one religion separate from people of other religions. They also were a way of keeping life focused on God as the giver of all food. And there were health issues related to the food laws. Here’s one example from Leviticus chapter 11:
Our God spoke to Moses and Aaron, and said to tell the Israelites these things: These are the living creatures you may eat: Among all the domesticated animals on the earth, you may eat any that has cloven hooves and chews its cud. However, these animals which only have cloven hooves or only chew the cud you must not eat: camels, which chew the cud but don’t have cloven hooves; rock badgers, which chew the cud but don’t have cloven hooves; hares, which chew the cud but don’t have cloven hooves; and pigs, which don’t chew the cud but do have cloven hooves. You are not to eat their flesh or touch their dead bodies. They are ritually unclean for you.
Of all the creatures that live in water, you may eat anything with fins and scales, whether it lives in seas or streams. But anything in the seas or streams, fresh water or salt, that does not have fins or scales, small creatures or large, you are to treat as detestable. And because they are detestable to you, you are not to eat their flesh or touch their dead bodies. Every creature in the water that has neither fins nor scales is detestable to
you.
You get the idea and the chapter goes on from there about flying animals and crawling animals and insects, and so forth.
It’s interesting, even biblical literalists don’t seem to be taking the eating instructions in the Bible literally. The first instruction about eating in the Bible tells us that we were given plants as the source of our food. Not animals. Only plants. Genesis 1:29-30 tells us: “God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant or food.’ And it was so.”
So, biblical literalists should all be vegetarians. Vegans, even. And some Christians, are vegetarian in response to biblical teaching.
Taking food and issues around eating seriously from a religious standpoint and an ethical standpoint and a devotional standpoint is not new. In fact, it is ancient. We have gotten away from this, we modern, industrial people who no longer grow our own food, but now in this information age, we are being driven back to considering food issues in relationship to our faith commitment.
So what does our faith say to us about how to think about food issues and respond in a way that is in keeping with our mission, vision, and values as Christians? We have an overarching framework for this discussion. James is a book advising Christians about how to put their faith into practice in concrete ways. The writer tells us, “be doers of the word and not hearers only.” [James 1:22] The writer gives a concrete example in the verses we heard this morning: “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has not works, is dead.” [James 2:15-17]
Given the myriad issues that surround what we eat, we are compelled to put our faith into practice around food concerns. If we say we care for the earth as God’s creation and ignore the environmental effects of food production, what good is that? If we say God loves everyone and ignore the human cost of food production than what good is that? If we say that we are to feed the hungry, but continue with a diet that diverts resources away from food for people, what good is that? If we say we are stewards of creation and all forms of life, but continue habitat destruction for meat production, what good is that? If we say that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit but ignore the implications of what we put into our bodies, than what good is that? That is faith without works. And it applies to our choices around food.
Frankly, as responsible human beings and as Christians, we cannot just take the easy way out like my nephew and put our heads in the sand and ignore the ethical and moral implications of food production and consumption. And it is also not practical to follow my first impulse after watching “Food, Inc.” and just not eat. A path, as you can see, that I have not followed. So how can we put our faith into practice around food issues in a realistic, meaningful way? How can we make our eating devotional? An expression of faith?
For one thing, we want to note that Jesus put his faith into practice around food and eating. The issues were different, but his faith extended to food. He ate with those who were unclean, defying the laws of his religion. We are told that he defied the dictates of his religion by picking grain on the sabbath, a day that no work is to be done. But a day, like every day, when people need to eat. He also was known for making sure that the hungry were fed. So he did not just offer spiritual consolation, but met the physical needs of people as well. The stories about Jesus eating and drinking emphasize his corporeal humanity. It is a witness to love embodied in human flesh; his and ours. Jesus lived his values through food.
So recognizing the importance of eating and food as an area of life in which to practice our faith as Jesus did, let’s look at some ideas about how to do this.
Here, we borrow from the title of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Eat Pray Love When it comes to a Christian approach to food, I would like to suggest, Love. Pray. Eat.
Let’s start with love. Christianity is about love: Our capacity as human beings to manifest divine love. We talk about love for God. Love for the earth. Cherishing creation. Love for life. Love for all of God’s children. Love your neighbor. Love yourself. Love your enemy. Love is the heart of our faith tradition. Our spiritual path. Indeed, scripture reminds us, God is love. So we are all about love.
How do we express love? With care. Compassion. Respect and consideration. With generosity. So a Christian approach to food and eating can start with love. Love for the land. Love for the workers. Love for all life forms. Love for the poor and hungry. Love of beauty. Love for generations to come and preserving the earth for them. Love for our bodies as manifestations of divine love. So, a Christian approach to food and eating can start with the pre-eminent characteristic of the way of Jesus – Love.
Now, how do we manifest love? How do we convey love as it relates to food and eating? Here I suggest prayer, reflection, contemplation. Mindfulness. Assess information. Consider consequences. Examine your heart. Give thanks. That old grace for meals invites us to consider the food production process. Maybe you know it: “Back of the bread, the flour. Back of the flour, the mill. Back of the mill, the sun and rain, the earth and the Father’s will.” Prayer invites us to consider deeply where our food comes from, who is involved in seeing that we have it, what processes and resources are used, and who does and doesn’t have access to it. Through prayer we examine what effect our food choices have on ourselves, on others, and on the environment, which is necessary to produce food to sustain us.
So when we think about putting our faith into practice around food and eating, let’s love. Then pray.
Then, let’s eat! The need for food unites us with all living things. Food is a source of beauty and creativity. Food is a delight. Eating with others is a joy and an opportunity for connection and community. Food invites us to relish the gifts of the earth. Rejoice in the circle of life.
Jesus tells many stories about the reign of God being like a banquet. Our faith invites us to feast! We have stories of Jesus feeding the multitudes and turning water into wine. It’s a party! Our faith invites us to eat, and drink, and enjoy the company of others around food. A celebration of God’s abundance and love. A central sacrament of our faith involves eating and drinking for just this reason. Food and eating are a celebration of our oneness with creation, with God and with one another.
The joy is all the greater when we are intentional and thoughtful about what we are eating so that eating and food become an expression of our faith, and not an abandonment of our moral and ethical commitments.
Some years ago, I followed our daughter’s lead and became a vegetarian. People say that it must be so hard. First of all, if I found it hard, I probably wouldn’t be doing it. No self-righteousness here. Being vegetarian is actually very easy for me. And every day as I eat and make the choice not to eat meat, I feel that I am celebrating life and cherishing the environment. It makes me feel good. It is a wonderful sacramental reminder each and every day of the gift of this amazing earth, and of life, and of the opportunity to love it.
So when it comes to food and faith, follow Jesus: Love, pray, and then eat! Put your faith to work. Make the choices that seem right for you. Make it a feast. Celebrate the goodness and abundance of God and the earth! Amen.
A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.