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Frequently, word will reach me that someone whom I’ve never met, but in one way or another has impacted or influenced my life, has died. This week, I was saddened to learn of the death of author/poet/environmentalist/activist/thinker/Kentucky farmer, Wendell Berry.
I’d written the Wednesday Morning Office for 2nd September several weeks ago and included in it Wendell’s poem The Peace of Wild Things to aid our reflection on Matthew 6:25–34 about not worrying. This seems all the more poignant now.
Key to all of Wendell’s writing, be it his novels, essays, or poetry, are the ideas of place, soil, and planting. His love for the land he farmed was not sentimental, but worshipful as he understood the deep connections between God as creator, and how this flows into our understanding of place, how we tend the soil, what we plant in the earth, and what we allow to be planted in our souls.
These themes of Wendell’s life and writings drew me back to Iain’s sermon on Sunday and in particular his section on “Take ground: The Soul.”
Soul Soil
Taking ground through caring for our soul makes me think of the parable of the sower and the soil (Matthew 13:1 – 23; Mark 4: 1- 20; Luke 8:4 – 15).
I don’t know about you, but more often than not, when I’ve read this parable I’ve read it evangelistically, i.e. as about sharing the gospel with someone. But that is only half the story, for the parable is about discipleship.
Eugene Peterson called discipleship “a long obedience in the same direction.” He even wrote a book with this as its title, read it, it will nourish your soul!
Discipleship includes evangelism, our sharing the good news of Jesus is a key way we grow in our faith. Yet, growing in our faith, also requires care of the soil of our soul, care which includes obedience and faithfulness (i.e. in the same direction). It is not either/or but both /and.
Obedience
Yet, obedience to the commands of Jesus does not always come easy. Sticking with the imagery of Jesus’ parable, often we are like soil which is rocky, dry, full of thorns. That results in obedience to Jesus which is patchy or sporadic.
Wretched man that I am!
It can feel that we are caught in a bind given obedience cultivates good and rich soil, yet obedience needs good and rich soil to flourish. No wonder the apostle Paul cries out “ I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me?” (Romans 7:24 The Message).
Paul answers his own question for us by exclaiming, “The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does.”
Keeping in Step
That the Bible tells us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus lays bare the truth that even while we desire to follow Jesus, we can be easily distracted and not fix our eyes on him. I’ve really appreciated and benefited from learning a slowed down spirituality through Emotionally Healthy Discipleship (EHD) which prioritises being with Jesus before doing for Jesus.
To stick with the imagery from the parable, EHD has given me some tools to get rid of some rocks, break up some hard ground and pull out some weeds.
A good number of you have already done either Part 1 or Part 2 of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, and I know from some of the feedback that many of you have also found it incredibly helpful in tending to the soil of your life that Christ may grow richly in you for the sake of his mission in this world.
I’m planning to run Emotionally Healthy Spirituality which is the first part of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship this autumn. So far, we’ve run this on a Saturday morning, but that excludes many people. In a move to try and make this available to those who can’t make a Saturday morning it will run on a weekday evening and take place on Zoom which saves on travelling time and hopefully makes it a possibility for those who need childcare. Details about this will be in the update soon, so watch this space.
This Sunday
Our new Autumn preaching series formally kicks off Sunday 13th when we will pick up the “Let’s Go” theme Iain introduced last week. This week we are sticking with “Let’s” and a word beginning with “G” Let’s Grow. So, basing ourselves in Acts 2:42 – 47 we are going to think about “Let’s Grow” and how three key practices of the Christian life help us grow in Christ and witness to Christ as saviour, so others come to Christ, know the life he gives, and grow in him also.
Let me end with a poem from Wendell Berry. If you click on the title you can listen to Wendell read the poem for you.
The grower of trees, the gardener, the man born to farming,
whose hands reach into the ground and sprout,
to him the soil is a divine drug. He enters into death
yearly, and comes back rejoicing. He has seen the light lie down
in the dung heap, and rise again in the corn.
His thought passes along the row ends like a mole.
What miraculous seed has he swallowed
that the unending sentence of his love flows out of his mouth
like a vine clinging in the sunlight, and like water
descending in the dark?
Grace and peace. Brodie
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