Conflicts And Blessings
Stories
Object:
Contents
"Conflicts and Blessings" by Keith Wagner
"Free to Make a Difference" by Keith Wagner
"The Hope Business" by Keith Hewitt
* * * * * * *
Conflicts and Blessings by Keith Wagner
Genesis 25:19-34
Birthrights in Canaan and other Near Eastern countries meant that the first-born son had preferred inheritance and status. He received a double portion of inheritance and was given a seat of honor amongst his brothers (see Genesis 43:33). Those records were kept both orally and in writing. Here, for example, we can trace Esau's birthright through his ancestors "Abraham's son was Isaac. Isaac married Rebekah and she gave birth to twins, Esau and Jacob."
Rather than claim his birthright or use it to any economic, political, or religious advantage, Esau sold it to Jacob, his younger brother. He sold it for a mere meal of bread and lentil stew. This historic, traditional, and sacred record was given away to satisfy his apparent urgent need for food.
Esau had to live with the consequences of his actions and although he tried to receive his father's blessing later (see Genesis 27), he was unsuccessful because Jacob tricked him by pretending to be Esau. Ironically, Esau had the opportunity to receive his father's blessing by hunting for food and making his father a tasty meal. Twice now, for food, Esau has forfeited his rights. There would be no social security for him, and he also had to marry outside his faith tradition.
Jacob, on the other hand, got it all: the birthright and his father's blessing. First, he took advantage of his brother by giving him food when he was vulnerable. Second, he used some trickery to secure his father's blessing by masquerading as his brother. Isaac blessed him by saying, "May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you" (Genesis 27:28-29). Jacob then becomes the primary focus of the biblical story, goes on to become Israel, and eventually the father of twelve sons by four different women.
I believe that God was very intentional here, breaking the traditional understanding that the firstborn would be the automatic leader of the family. Jacob, who found himself with inferior status, had to resort to crafty measures to secure his position as the next leader of the faith community. This story overturns traditional customs and understandings and opens the door for new possibilities. In other words, there are times when God works outside the limits that we deem to be normal.
It has been the practice in the church to keep records of all baptisms, confirmations, deaths, and marriages. One time a woman came to our church office to retrieve the baptism record for her son. He was getting married to a woman who was Roman Catholic. The priest who was presiding at their wedding needed to verify that this man was in fact baptized. Although the record was from a Protestant Church, it was recognized as legitimate.
I have also experienced a time when a woman about to reach age 65, needed evidence that she was eligible for Social Security. The government will accept a record of baptism from a local church as long as it is certified to be authentic. I then submitted the record of birth which I found in the Church records. That record was the only document the woman had to prove her birth. Fortunately it was accepted and she started to receive her Social Security payments.
Although rare, there are times when the sacred rites of passage in the church are used in compassionate ways. Thankfully others are helped when government welcomes the historical documents of the church.
Conflict within families is often thought of as a bad thing. People think everyone has to think and act alike, but as this story clearly illustrates, these two brothers were completely different. Also family conflicts can have far-reaching consequences, some religious, some political, some economic, and some personal.
Tommy Smothers always used to say to his brother, "Mom always liked you best!" It was a saying that symbolized a relationship where one brother was superior to the other. Tommy amused us with his stuttering and ignorant statements. He made us laugh and most everyone sided with him since he had the uncanny ability to be more authentic and touch our hearts. Dick Smothers frequently corrected and chastised Tommy because of his ridiculous reasoning. But in the end the two brothers would find a way to reconcile and sing a song.
Not all of us who have siblings are able to do that. Rather than find common ground and maintain peace, we often hold grudges or remain bitter because of family disputes. There are families who remain in permanent conflict because of the unfairness of a family will. There are those who literally can't wait to claim their inheritance based on the fact that they are the "rightful heir."
We have a tendency to get legalistic with our religion, loyal to specific traditions, and ignoring the fact that history does not always follow a prescribed pattern. There are many examples within the Hebrew culture where God defied culture and law. "Many of Israel's great men came to their prominence because God took them out of their inferior natural position: Joseph, Ephraim, Moses, and David were all second or late born. Though Jacob's acquisition of the birthright is given a legal basis, the story is primarily one of spiritual blessings rather than legal advantages."1
The television career of the Smothers Brothers took some twists and turns also. Their first sitcom was canceled. But CBS gave them a second chance by creating a variety show. They packaged their irreverent style into a network variety format that worked. Even though they were competing with Bonanza the show captured a large share of a younger audience and became a hit. They ended up in 16th place in the 1966-7 season.
To think that our lives will not encounter twists and turns is to live in a fantasy world. We're on a journey and what worked in the past will not always work in the future. The lives of Esau and Jacob go in opposite directions but ultimately there is reconciliation. Following years of opposition and hate, the two come back together. "Esau ran to meet him (Jacob), and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept" (Genesis 33:4).
Hopefully we too can rise above our disputes and be reconciled like Jacob and Esau. Or to take it a step further, we can celebrate our diversity and sing in harmony like the Smothers Brothers did.
________
1. The Torah, A Modern Commentary (New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1981), p. 175.
Free to Make a Difference
by Keith Wagner
Romans 8:1-11
Paul's purpose here was pastoral, not legalistic. He intended to strengthen the faith community by encouraging their faith and unity. We are sinful but "the spirit lives within us." In other words, we can live in grace not by the law.
God's first priority is to keep the faith community together and provide quality spiritual leadership. Our faith is not limited to traditional norms. Our faith transcends what we know as "normal" and extends beyond our finite understandings of how God works.
We can't always undo the damage we have caused, but the good news is that we can still be forgiven. By embracing God's Spirit with us we can change and move forward. As Paul said, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."
In February 1960, Adolf Coors III was kidnapped and held for ransom. His body was found seven months later on a remote hillside. He had been shot to death. His son, Adolf Coors IV was fifteen years old at the time. He lost his father and his best friend. For years, Coors hated Joseph Corbett, the man who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murdering the elder Coors.
Fifteen years later Coors became a Christian and his life was transformed. He realized his hatred for Corbet hindered his growth as a person of faith and alienated him from other people. He prayed, asking God to help him. Finally Coors decided to visit his father's slayer at Canon City Penitentiary in Colorado. Corbett refused to see him so Coors left a Bible for him with an inscription. It read, "I'm here to see you today and I'm sorry that we could not meet. As a Christian man I am compelled to forgive you and ask you to forgive me for the hatred for you I have held in my heart." After fifteen years, young Coors was free.
At some point we have to let go of our guilt and get on with our lives. On the other hand there are times when folks are trapped, even unjustly, for their actions. Unfortunately, the rigid laws of our faith can keep us trapped. And when we aren't free we can't live in grace.
Nelson Mandela, the leader of the African National Conference was imprisoned for 27 years because he spoke out against apartheid in South Africa. All he wanted was equal rights for black South Africans. Although separated from the outside world, he never lost his dedication to the cause. He worked in mines and studied and organized his fellow prisoners.
To survive prison, Mandela started a garden. For years he asked the authorities for some seeds and a place to create his garden. Finally, they relented and Mandela spent months cultivating the soil and nurturing his plants. His first harvest was poor but he continued to make improvements each year. Eventually his garden produced wonderful vegetables and he would present them to the prison guards and officers.
Mandela was a prisoner who had a passion for equal rights. But while in prison he was limited in his efforts to continue the cause. So he used his prison time to do something constructive. His garden gave him a sense of purpose during the time he was separated from his family and friends. While in prison the one thing he could control was his garden and it gave him a sense of liberation.
I believe Paul was telling the early church that God wasn't finished with them. In spite of overwhelming circumstances they could still keep the faith alive by embracing the power of the Spirit within them and live in grace.
Rev. Dr. Keith Wagner is the pastor of St. John's UCC in Troy, Ohio. He and his wife, Lin, live in Springfield, Ohio.
The Hope Business
by Keith Hewitt
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
On the first surveys, it was noted as 45.39422260000001/-92.14342440000001.
When the first local survey crew came through, it was designated Hill 17.
After Jessica Pike set foot on the land that would be her farm, it was Pike's Peak.
From the top of Pike's Peak, one could see flat, rolling plains to the south and west, a band of intensely deep blue to the north that might be the ocean -- or could just be a trick of the atmosphere -- and the saw tooth peaks of the Rocky Mountains guarding the eastern horizon. Beyond the Rockies was the Great Inland Desert, and Jessica knew that would be the next frontier... but that would be for another generation. For now, there was plenty to do here.
To the west, sowing machines were rolling along pre-programmed paths, faithfully tilling the soil, depositing seeds, and burying them again. There was surprisingly little dust and almost no noise. As the primary sun dropped ever closer to the horizon, leaving only the dimmer secondary sun still high overhead to cast its yellow-tinged light on the scene, Jessica Pike smiled and sipped the tall, frosty drink in her hand.
This was her favorite time of day... when she could look back at the day's work and count what had been done, marking the progress in wrestling this place into submission. On this day so many acres of corn had been planted, which would yield so much corn when the harvest came in February.
There was a science to it and over six years the numbers had always worked out just the way they said they would in the Planetary Agronomy Briefings: X pounds of seeds planted = X bushels of corn... the climate was well-regulated enough to make such calculations nearly an exact science, within a few percent on either side. Not like the old days, back on Earth, when inconsistent rains, insects, and disease always waited in the wings to destroy or diminish a crop.
Here the climate in the temperate zone was regular enough to make a greenhouse envious, and the local planetary pests had not yet figured out how to attack the imported Terran corn. It was very nearly a matter of poking the seed into the ground and jumping back before the corn hit you in the eye.
And that, of course, was the problem of the day...
"...so you can see why we're confused, Miss Pike," the wiry, older gentleman to her right concluded, and she nodded as though she had been listening. He'd been going on for almost ten minutes, turning what could -- should -- have been a simple question into a legal brief. Then just as though he hadn't spent the last ten minutes explaining the problem, he recapitulated it... as she had known he would.
Bureaucrats were all the same.
"Under the Planetary Stabilization Act, the Import Bank subsidizes your purchase of seed corn from approved sources on Earth," he said in a no-nonsense tone, "To process the seeds, lift them from Earth, and land them here costs something on the order of $1,000 a pound, of which we subsidize about 98%, with the understanding that the seeds will yield a specific amount of corn."
"That's my understanding," she agreed, taking another sip. Her eyes narrowed -- was Number Two running a little wobbly, out there? She made a mental note to check the drive train when it reported back to the machine shed. The self-diagnostic and fault prediction systems on these things wasn't always the best, and she didn't want to have to try making repairs in the field.
"The benefit to us is that we can predict how much surplus we will have to go toward redundancy here and export. Those are both tangible and intangible benefits to the government -- redundancy improves our security and exports we can tax."
"Yes you can," she agreed and turned her eyes slightly north where a lone sowing machine was following a course that set it apart from the others. Her lips parted slightly as she smiled to herself.
"So with that in mind, Miss Pike, can you tell me why your farm is consistently yielding --" he paused to look at his pad, confirming numbers he had known by heart three weeks ago -- "nearly 10% less corn than it should be? Consistently, for the last five years?"
She looked at him for the first time in almost a quarter of an hour and nodded slightly. "Yes, I think I can."
"Hmmph! Well I know I can," he answered and touched a button on his pad. Numbers faded replaced by a map that she could recognize as her farm. As he touched arrows to move from screen to screen, different splotches of colored patches seemed to move around the farm. "From year to year, you plant about 33% of your land --"
"Following the approved rotation schedule from Planetary Agronomy," Jessica interjected.
"Following the approved rotation schedule," he agreed and appeared slightly annoyed that she had spoken. "Or should I say almost following the approved rotation schedule. Because in any given year, about 10% less of your land is tilled than we would expect. This has been confirmed by looking back at surveillance photographs from the satellites."
She chuckled. "You didn't need to do that, Oscar. You could've just asked."
He snapped the cover closed on the pad and shoved it in his pocket. "I'm asking now. Why are you tilling less land than is recommended? Are you hoarding the seed corn?" He lowered his voice. "Are you selling it on the black market?" He tried to sound suddenly intimate, as though it would be safe to tell him such a thing.
"Let me show you," she answered simply and set down her glass. She pointed toward the north where Number Four was nearing the end of its route, apart from the others which were working like faithful drones more directly to the west of Pike's Peak. "See that?" she asked. "That's my fallow land, this cycle. It's not being farmed."
The bureaucrat frowned. "Then what is that seed sowing machine doing out there?" Wordlessly she handed him a pair of binoculars. With a puzzled look, he put them to his eyes, focused, then zoomed in. Still distant, he could see the autonomous machine rolling down a preprogrammed row, spilling corn out of the hopper, letting it fall, unprotected, on the ground.
The ground!
He gasped, "You're just dumping it out on the ground at $1,000 a pound!"
"Oscar, for most of humankind's farming history, that's the way planting was done. The seeds were just cast out on the ground. Some grew, some didn't."
"For most of humankind's farming history, they made sacrifices to the sun and the moon too!" he sputtered, "But that doesn't mean you have to do the same barbaric things now! This is insane!"
"Is it? Look, when an ancient farmer spread seed, he didn't know what was going to happen. Some would sprout, some would get choked out by weeds, some wouldn't get enough water... he never knew what would happen, but he kept sowing seeds, every year. Do you know why?"
The man just stared at her.
"Because he was in the hope business. We call him a farmer, but what he was really doing was planting hope... hope that this year, enough of his crop would find the nourishment it needed, be able to sink roots deep enough, to grow and feed his family. Given everything that could happen to it, it may seem hopeless -- but he did it every year, because he had hope for the future. We would look at what he did and see dirt and seeds... he would see tall corn, wheat, or barley... enough of it to keep him and his family alive... eventually, enough of it to share with others."
"Other than trying to make some point about stone-age farming, I don't see --"
"Then look again," Jessica said gently, touching him on the shoulder and pointing toward the field, where Number Four was just finishing. The primary sun was down below the horizon, now, and Jessica knew what came next. As though following some prearranged schedule, flocks of birds -- well, they called them birds, but with four wings and prehensile toes, the name didn't quite fit -- arrived from the north and began to circle the field Number Four had just sown.
In great, swirling swoops they spiraled down and spread themselves over the land as the man with the questions watched, and they eagerly gobbled down the seeds that had been spread just hours and minutes before. He was nearly purple when he turned to her, and his voice had risen to a high squeak. "You're feeding -- birds?"
Jessica smiled and arched her eyebrows in the affirmative.
"My God, you really are insane! How did you ever pass the screening? I have to call --"
"Before you call anybody, just listen," Jessica said quietly, repeated herself until it seemed as though he actually might. When he was quiet, and not reaching for his phone anymore, she said, "Do you know what the birds do, Oscar?"
He shook his head.
"They spend the day out over the ocean, mostly, soaring and looking for fish and those little things that look like crabs, but are most all shell. When Sun One sets, they come in here -- they fly to a spot farther inland, but they fly over my farm. And I discovered by accident, when I spilled some seeds, that they love corn."
"I can see that," he said quietly, trying to decide between prosecution or hospitalization. The stockholders would want blood, but...
"I know. But tell me this, Oscar -- what happens when they eat those seeds?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, what happens? What do you suppose happens when they eat those seeds?"
Her visitor just shrugged.
"They come out." She smiled. "Eventually, they come out. Happens to all of us, more or less, but in this case the undigested seeds come out in their night nesting grounds, about a hundred miles inland from here. And they come out accompanied by what's left of the fish, and those crab shells that are rich in several different chemicals that corn needs to grow..." She trailed off, looked at him hopefully.
"You mean --?" he said slowly, the idea dawning gradually, with some effort.
"I mean," she agreed. "Can I borrow your pad?" He handed it to her wordlessly; she entered her own information, pulled down some pictures and held it out to him. "That's their nesting place," she said, as he studied what looked to be a field of corn. "Those are satellite images taken by the survey satellites in the last year, but nobody ever bothered to look, because it's just supposed to be grassland. But over the years, the wild corn has continued to grow -- to expand, between what I give them, and what the corn itself does, naturally."
When he looked up from the pictures, she was still smiling, but her eyes seemed to be seeing some far-off place. "I think in another ten or fifteen years maybe, we might find that the whole Southern Plain is mostly corn, growing on its own. Can you imagine what that kind of abundance will be like?"
Her eyes focused back on him, then, and she raised an eyebrow. "So do you understand, Oscar? I suppose I should have told you, but I knew what you would say. You're just in business, but I'm in the hope business... the future business. The corn that I plant, water, and fertilize, it flourishes and I'm thankful. But then I realized that even if you sow the seeds and it looks hopeless, you can never be sure they won't grow -- they just may not grow when and where you expected. You can only be sure of failure if you never try. But if you don't sow in the first place... they'll never even have the chance."
Oscar studied the pictures for a while, his mind churning furiously, then he closed the cover again and put away the pad. "No," he said simply, "I don't suppose they would. And where would be the hope in that?"
Keith Hewitt is the author of three volumes of NaTiVity Dramas: Nontraditional Christmas Plays for All Ages (CSS). He is a local pastor, former youth leader and Sunday school teacher, and occasional speaker at Christian events. He is currently serving as the pastor at Parkview UMC in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin. Keith is married to a teacher, and they have two children and assorted dogs and cats.
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StoryShare, July 13, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Conflicts and Blessings" by Keith Wagner
"Free to Make a Difference" by Keith Wagner
"The Hope Business" by Keith Hewitt
* * * * * * *
Conflicts and Blessings by Keith Wagner
Genesis 25:19-34
Birthrights in Canaan and other Near Eastern countries meant that the first-born son had preferred inheritance and status. He received a double portion of inheritance and was given a seat of honor amongst his brothers (see Genesis 43:33). Those records were kept both orally and in writing. Here, for example, we can trace Esau's birthright through his ancestors "Abraham's son was Isaac. Isaac married Rebekah and she gave birth to twins, Esau and Jacob."
Rather than claim his birthright or use it to any economic, political, or religious advantage, Esau sold it to Jacob, his younger brother. He sold it for a mere meal of bread and lentil stew. This historic, traditional, and sacred record was given away to satisfy his apparent urgent need for food.
Esau had to live with the consequences of his actions and although he tried to receive his father's blessing later (see Genesis 27), he was unsuccessful because Jacob tricked him by pretending to be Esau. Ironically, Esau had the opportunity to receive his father's blessing by hunting for food and making his father a tasty meal. Twice now, for food, Esau has forfeited his rights. There would be no social security for him, and he also had to marry outside his faith tradition.
Jacob, on the other hand, got it all: the birthright and his father's blessing. First, he took advantage of his brother by giving him food when he was vulnerable. Second, he used some trickery to secure his father's blessing by masquerading as his brother. Isaac blessed him by saying, "May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you" (Genesis 27:28-29). Jacob then becomes the primary focus of the biblical story, goes on to become Israel, and eventually the father of twelve sons by four different women.
I believe that God was very intentional here, breaking the traditional understanding that the firstborn would be the automatic leader of the family. Jacob, who found himself with inferior status, had to resort to crafty measures to secure his position as the next leader of the faith community. This story overturns traditional customs and understandings and opens the door for new possibilities. In other words, there are times when God works outside the limits that we deem to be normal.
It has been the practice in the church to keep records of all baptisms, confirmations, deaths, and marriages. One time a woman came to our church office to retrieve the baptism record for her son. He was getting married to a woman who was Roman Catholic. The priest who was presiding at their wedding needed to verify that this man was in fact baptized. Although the record was from a Protestant Church, it was recognized as legitimate.
I have also experienced a time when a woman about to reach age 65, needed evidence that she was eligible for Social Security. The government will accept a record of baptism from a local church as long as it is certified to be authentic. I then submitted the record of birth which I found in the Church records. That record was the only document the woman had to prove her birth. Fortunately it was accepted and she started to receive her Social Security payments.
Although rare, there are times when the sacred rites of passage in the church are used in compassionate ways. Thankfully others are helped when government welcomes the historical documents of the church.
Conflict within families is often thought of as a bad thing. People think everyone has to think and act alike, but as this story clearly illustrates, these two brothers were completely different. Also family conflicts can have far-reaching consequences, some religious, some political, some economic, and some personal.
Tommy Smothers always used to say to his brother, "Mom always liked you best!" It was a saying that symbolized a relationship where one brother was superior to the other. Tommy amused us with his stuttering and ignorant statements. He made us laugh and most everyone sided with him since he had the uncanny ability to be more authentic and touch our hearts. Dick Smothers frequently corrected and chastised Tommy because of his ridiculous reasoning. But in the end the two brothers would find a way to reconcile and sing a song.
Not all of us who have siblings are able to do that. Rather than find common ground and maintain peace, we often hold grudges or remain bitter because of family disputes. There are families who remain in permanent conflict because of the unfairness of a family will. There are those who literally can't wait to claim their inheritance based on the fact that they are the "rightful heir."
We have a tendency to get legalistic with our religion, loyal to specific traditions, and ignoring the fact that history does not always follow a prescribed pattern. There are many examples within the Hebrew culture where God defied culture and law. "Many of Israel's great men came to their prominence because God took them out of their inferior natural position: Joseph, Ephraim, Moses, and David were all second or late born. Though Jacob's acquisition of the birthright is given a legal basis, the story is primarily one of spiritual blessings rather than legal advantages."1
The television career of the Smothers Brothers took some twists and turns also. Their first sitcom was canceled. But CBS gave them a second chance by creating a variety show. They packaged their irreverent style into a network variety format that worked. Even though they were competing with Bonanza the show captured a large share of a younger audience and became a hit. They ended up in 16th place in the 1966-7 season.
To think that our lives will not encounter twists and turns is to live in a fantasy world. We're on a journey and what worked in the past will not always work in the future. The lives of Esau and Jacob go in opposite directions but ultimately there is reconciliation. Following years of opposition and hate, the two come back together. "Esau ran to meet him (Jacob), and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept" (Genesis 33:4).
Hopefully we too can rise above our disputes and be reconciled like Jacob and Esau. Or to take it a step further, we can celebrate our diversity and sing in harmony like the Smothers Brothers did.
________
1. The Torah, A Modern Commentary (New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1981), p. 175.
Free to Make a Difference
by Keith Wagner
Romans 8:1-11
Paul's purpose here was pastoral, not legalistic. He intended to strengthen the faith community by encouraging their faith and unity. We are sinful but "the spirit lives within us." In other words, we can live in grace not by the law.
God's first priority is to keep the faith community together and provide quality spiritual leadership. Our faith is not limited to traditional norms. Our faith transcends what we know as "normal" and extends beyond our finite understandings of how God works.
We can't always undo the damage we have caused, but the good news is that we can still be forgiven. By embracing God's Spirit with us we can change and move forward. As Paul said, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."
In February 1960, Adolf Coors III was kidnapped and held for ransom. His body was found seven months later on a remote hillside. He had been shot to death. His son, Adolf Coors IV was fifteen years old at the time. He lost his father and his best friend. For years, Coors hated Joseph Corbett, the man who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murdering the elder Coors.
Fifteen years later Coors became a Christian and his life was transformed. He realized his hatred for Corbet hindered his growth as a person of faith and alienated him from other people. He prayed, asking God to help him. Finally Coors decided to visit his father's slayer at Canon City Penitentiary in Colorado. Corbett refused to see him so Coors left a Bible for him with an inscription. It read, "I'm here to see you today and I'm sorry that we could not meet. As a Christian man I am compelled to forgive you and ask you to forgive me for the hatred for you I have held in my heart." After fifteen years, young Coors was free.
At some point we have to let go of our guilt and get on with our lives. On the other hand there are times when folks are trapped, even unjustly, for their actions. Unfortunately, the rigid laws of our faith can keep us trapped. And when we aren't free we can't live in grace.
Nelson Mandela, the leader of the African National Conference was imprisoned for 27 years because he spoke out against apartheid in South Africa. All he wanted was equal rights for black South Africans. Although separated from the outside world, he never lost his dedication to the cause. He worked in mines and studied and organized his fellow prisoners.
To survive prison, Mandela started a garden. For years he asked the authorities for some seeds and a place to create his garden. Finally, they relented and Mandela spent months cultivating the soil and nurturing his plants. His first harvest was poor but he continued to make improvements each year. Eventually his garden produced wonderful vegetables and he would present them to the prison guards and officers.
Mandela was a prisoner who had a passion for equal rights. But while in prison he was limited in his efforts to continue the cause. So he used his prison time to do something constructive. His garden gave him a sense of purpose during the time he was separated from his family and friends. While in prison the one thing he could control was his garden and it gave him a sense of liberation.
I believe Paul was telling the early church that God wasn't finished with them. In spite of overwhelming circumstances they could still keep the faith alive by embracing the power of the Spirit within them and live in grace.
Rev. Dr. Keith Wagner is the pastor of St. John's UCC in Troy, Ohio. He and his wife, Lin, live in Springfield, Ohio.
The Hope Business
by Keith Hewitt
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
On the first surveys, it was noted as 45.39422260000001/-92.14342440000001.
When the first local survey crew came through, it was designated Hill 17.
After Jessica Pike set foot on the land that would be her farm, it was Pike's Peak.
From the top of Pike's Peak, one could see flat, rolling plains to the south and west, a band of intensely deep blue to the north that might be the ocean -- or could just be a trick of the atmosphere -- and the saw tooth peaks of the Rocky Mountains guarding the eastern horizon. Beyond the Rockies was the Great Inland Desert, and Jessica knew that would be the next frontier... but that would be for another generation. For now, there was plenty to do here.
To the west, sowing machines were rolling along pre-programmed paths, faithfully tilling the soil, depositing seeds, and burying them again. There was surprisingly little dust and almost no noise. As the primary sun dropped ever closer to the horizon, leaving only the dimmer secondary sun still high overhead to cast its yellow-tinged light on the scene, Jessica Pike smiled and sipped the tall, frosty drink in her hand.
This was her favorite time of day... when she could look back at the day's work and count what had been done, marking the progress in wrestling this place into submission. On this day so many acres of corn had been planted, which would yield so much corn when the harvest came in February.
There was a science to it and over six years the numbers had always worked out just the way they said they would in the Planetary Agronomy Briefings: X pounds of seeds planted = X bushels of corn... the climate was well-regulated enough to make such calculations nearly an exact science, within a few percent on either side. Not like the old days, back on Earth, when inconsistent rains, insects, and disease always waited in the wings to destroy or diminish a crop.
Here the climate in the temperate zone was regular enough to make a greenhouse envious, and the local planetary pests had not yet figured out how to attack the imported Terran corn. It was very nearly a matter of poking the seed into the ground and jumping back before the corn hit you in the eye.
And that, of course, was the problem of the day...
"...so you can see why we're confused, Miss Pike," the wiry, older gentleman to her right concluded, and she nodded as though she had been listening. He'd been going on for almost ten minutes, turning what could -- should -- have been a simple question into a legal brief. Then just as though he hadn't spent the last ten minutes explaining the problem, he recapitulated it... as she had known he would.
Bureaucrats were all the same.
"Under the Planetary Stabilization Act, the Import Bank subsidizes your purchase of seed corn from approved sources on Earth," he said in a no-nonsense tone, "To process the seeds, lift them from Earth, and land them here costs something on the order of $1,000 a pound, of which we subsidize about 98%, with the understanding that the seeds will yield a specific amount of corn."
"That's my understanding," she agreed, taking another sip. Her eyes narrowed -- was Number Two running a little wobbly, out there? She made a mental note to check the drive train when it reported back to the machine shed. The self-diagnostic and fault prediction systems on these things wasn't always the best, and she didn't want to have to try making repairs in the field.
"The benefit to us is that we can predict how much surplus we will have to go toward redundancy here and export. Those are both tangible and intangible benefits to the government -- redundancy improves our security and exports we can tax."
"Yes you can," she agreed and turned her eyes slightly north where a lone sowing machine was following a course that set it apart from the others. Her lips parted slightly as she smiled to herself.
"So with that in mind, Miss Pike, can you tell me why your farm is consistently yielding --" he paused to look at his pad, confirming numbers he had known by heart three weeks ago -- "nearly 10% less corn than it should be? Consistently, for the last five years?"
She looked at him for the first time in almost a quarter of an hour and nodded slightly. "Yes, I think I can."
"Hmmph! Well I know I can," he answered and touched a button on his pad. Numbers faded replaced by a map that she could recognize as her farm. As he touched arrows to move from screen to screen, different splotches of colored patches seemed to move around the farm. "From year to year, you plant about 33% of your land --"
"Following the approved rotation schedule from Planetary Agronomy," Jessica interjected.
"Following the approved rotation schedule," he agreed and appeared slightly annoyed that she had spoken. "Or should I say almost following the approved rotation schedule. Because in any given year, about 10% less of your land is tilled than we would expect. This has been confirmed by looking back at surveillance photographs from the satellites."
She chuckled. "You didn't need to do that, Oscar. You could've just asked."
He snapped the cover closed on the pad and shoved it in his pocket. "I'm asking now. Why are you tilling less land than is recommended? Are you hoarding the seed corn?" He lowered his voice. "Are you selling it on the black market?" He tried to sound suddenly intimate, as though it would be safe to tell him such a thing.
"Let me show you," she answered simply and set down her glass. She pointed toward the north where Number Four was nearing the end of its route, apart from the others which were working like faithful drones more directly to the west of Pike's Peak. "See that?" she asked. "That's my fallow land, this cycle. It's not being farmed."
The bureaucrat frowned. "Then what is that seed sowing machine doing out there?" Wordlessly she handed him a pair of binoculars. With a puzzled look, he put them to his eyes, focused, then zoomed in. Still distant, he could see the autonomous machine rolling down a preprogrammed row, spilling corn out of the hopper, letting it fall, unprotected, on the ground.
The ground!
He gasped, "You're just dumping it out on the ground at $1,000 a pound!"
"Oscar, for most of humankind's farming history, that's the way planting was done. The seeds were just cast out on the ground. Some grew, some didn't."
"For most of humankind's farming history, they made sacrifices to the sun and the moon too!" he sputtered, "But that doesn't mean you have to do the same barbaric things now! This is insane!"
"Is it? Look, when an ancient farmer spread seed, he didn't know what was going to happen. Some would sprout, some would get choked out by weeds, some wouldn't get enough water... he never knew what would happen, but he kept sowing seeds, every year. Do you know why?"
The man just stared at her.
"Because he was in the hope business. We call him a farmer, but what he was really doing was planting hope... hope that this year, enough of his crop would find the nourishment it needed, be able to sink roots deep enough, to grow and feed his family. Given everything that could happen to it, it may seem hopeless -- but he did it every year, because he had hope for the future. We would look at what he did and see dirt and seeds... he would see tall corn, wheat, or barley... enough of it to keep him and his family alive... eventually, enough of it to share with others."
"Other than trying to make some point about stone-age farming, I don't see --"
"Then look again," Jessica said gently, touching him on the shoulder and pointing toward the field, where Number Four was just finishing. The primary sun was down below the horizon, now, and Jessica knew what came next. As though following some prearranged schedule, flocks of birds -- well, they called them birds, but with four wings and prehensile toes, the name didn't quite fit -- arrived from the north and began to circle the field Number Four had just sown.
In great, swirling swoops they spiraled down and spread themselves over the land as the man with the questions watched, and they eagerly gobbled down the seeds that had been spread just hours and minutes before. He was nearly purple when he turned to her, and his voice had risen to a high squeak. "You're feeding -- birds?"
Jessica smiled and arched her eyebrows in the affirmative.
"My God, you really are insane! How did you ever pass the screening? I have to call --"
"Before you call anybody, just listen," Jessica said quietly, repeated herself until it seemed as though he actually might. When he was quiet, and not reaching for his phone anymore, she said, "Do you know what the birds do, Oscar?"
He shook his head.
"They spend the day out over the ocean, mostly, soaring and looking for fish and those little things that look like crabs, but are most all shell. When Sun One sets, they come in here -- they fly to a spot farther inland, but they fly over my farm. And I discovered by accident, when I spilled some seeds, that they love corn."
"I can see that," he said quietly, trying to decide between prosecution or hospitalization. The stockholders would want blood, but...
"I know. But tell me this, Oscar -- what happens when they eat those seeds?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, what happens? What do you suppose happens when they eat those seeds?"
Her visitor just shrugged.
"They come out." She smiled. "Eventually, they come out. Happens to all of us, more or less, but in this case the undigested seeds come out in their night nesting grounds, about a hundred miles inland from here. And they come out accompanied by what's left of the fish, and those crab shells that are rich in several different chemicals that corn needs to grow..." She trailed off, looked at him hopefully.
"You mean --?" he said slowly, the idea dawning gradually, with some effort.
"I mean," she agreed. "Can I borrow your pad?" He handed it to her wordlessly; she entered her own information, pulled down some pictures and held it out to him. "That's their nesting place," she said, as he studied what looked to be a field of corn. "Those are satellite images taken by the survey satellites in the last year, but nobody ever bothered to look, because it's just supposed to be grassland. But over the years, the wild corn has continued to grow -- to expand, between what I give them, and what the corn itself does, naturally."
When he looked up from the pictures, she was still smiling, but her eyes seemed to be seeing some far-off place. "I think in another ten or fifteen years maybe, we might find that the whole Southern Plain is mostly corn, growing on its own. Can you imagine what that kind of abundance will be like?"
Her eyes focused back on him, then, and she raised an eyebrow. "So do you understand, Oscar? I suppose I should have told you, but I knew what you would say. You're just in business, but I'm in the hope business... the future business. The corn that I plant, water, and fertilize, it flourishes and I'm thankful. But then I realized that even if you sow the seeds and it looks hopeless, you can never be sure they won't grow -- they just may not grow when and where you expected. You can only be sure of failure if you never try. But if you don't sow in the first place... they'll never even have the chance."
Oscar studied the pictures for a while, his mind churning furiously, then he closed the cover again and put away the pad. "No," he said simply, "I don't suppose they would. And where would be the hope in that?"
Keith Hewitt is the author of three volumes of NaTiVity Dramas: Nontraditional Christmas Plays for All Ages (CSS). He is a local pastor, former youth leader and Sunday school teacher, and occasional speaker at Christian events. He is currently serving as the pastor at Parkview UMC in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin. Keith is married to a teacher, and they have two children and assorted dogs and cats.
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StoryShare, July 13, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
