MORE THAN PEANUTS
1
Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 Galatians
5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62
Maybe, like me, you remember some of the Bible stories you thrilled to as a child – David
slaying Goliath, Joshua fighting the Battle of Jericho, or strongman
Samson bringing down the pillars of the temple. These were
larger-than-life characters every bit as much so as Paul Revere riding
through the night to give his warning or Florence Nightingale nursing
bloody soldiers in the Crimea.
As children, we learned about heroes
and heroines, both Biblical and historical. Today’s Collect
affirms their importance by reminding us that the church was built upon
the foundation of those who have preceded us – including apostles, prophets, and just plain folks – and that our own Christian journeys benefit from their examples.
What sets most heroes and heroines apart is that they listen to God and are willing to follow wherever He leads.
Just this morning we have the example
of Elisha plowing in the field, when suddenly the prophet Elijah
approaches. As he passes by, he throws his cloak over Elisha, a
symbolic act which signifies he will succeed Elijah as prophet.
With no further need of his oxen, Elisha slaughters them, feeds the
people, and then, without hesitation or question, follows Elijah and
becomes his servant.
By contrast, in the gospel reading
from Luke, we have a different set of examples. Along the road to
Jerusalem, Jesus meets several potential followers, seemingly committed
to joining him and sharing his destiny. Yet despite their fervor
and well-intentioned promises, life intrudes. Earthly concerns
supersede the spiritual.
Admittedly, it is difficult to make
the sacrifices necessary to embark upon a new way of being. Some,
like Elisha, follow willingly; others, like the “wannabes” Jesus
encounters on the road mean well, but cannot commit. Then there
are the Samaritans, who want nothing to do with Jesus and his ragged
band of followers.
Do we recognize ourselves in any of
these examples? Amid the tugs and pulls of modern life, how do we
stay the course as Christians, or, in Luke’s words, put our hand to the
plow without looking back?
Paul, in his powerful and eloquent Letter to the Galatians, provides direction:
For freedom Christ has
set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a
yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and
sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for
self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.
For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.” [5:13-14]
Paul is not talking about political
or institutional slavery, but the self-imposed chains by which we limit
and imprison ourselves. And the freedom he espouses is not the
flag-waving variety, but freedom of the spirit – a freedom grounded in loving our fellow human beings unconditionally.
The Galatians struggled with their
identity as Christians. Their Jewish background constrained them
to be strict followers of the law, but Paul invites them to a new and
holy liberty in which the only law is that of love.
But what is the cost of such
freedom? It requires facing and overcoming any self-centered,
misguided behaviors which oppose the Spirit, such as jealousy, anger,
envy, quarrels, drunkenness, and the like. Each action born out
of these works of the flesh, Paul says, further enslaves a person.
He is inviting his listeners – and us – to
embrace the freedom Christ has bought for us. In other words, to
make a conscious decision to be guided by the Spirit and amend those
mindsets and behaviors which cripple us and harm others.
When we commit to living so that we
are guided by the Spirit, Paul promises a rich harvest. Our
surrender to the Spirit produces the very fruits for which we
yearn: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
To which apostles, prophets, and
teachers, then, do we turn for inspiration? If we seek such
models, they may be found all around us.
As an example, some of you know that
my husband has recently set the goal of visiting as many national
parks, monuments, and historic sites as he can. Since early
spring, we have taken in all of them in Arkansas, and in July we will
undertake that same mission in Colorado.
It was only natural, then, that
before a recent trip to Kansas City, Larry consulted his Missouri
list. And what should he discover, but a site in Diamond, just a
few miles south of Carthage. Maybe you know about it – The
George Washington Carver National Monument. I was surprised,
assuming that Carver had always lived in Alabama where he spent his
adulthood teaching at Tuskegee Institute, a Negro college founded by
Booker T. Washington.
However, Carver, born into slavery,
actually spent his boyhood in Missouri and from there went on to become
a famous scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor, known primarily
for his research concerning the uses of peanuts.
The interactive visitors’ center at
the monument is impressive, well worth the trip, and the exhibits
highlight Carver’s remarkable work.
But it was not his scientific
achievements that most moved me. The George Washington Carver I
recently met was a deeply spiritual human being who unfailingly said
“yes” to his Lord and who, from boyhood, lived by the Spirit. The
important lessons from his life, believe me, are about much more than
peanuts.
Reared by slaveholders as their own
child, Carver developed a hunger for education that ultimately led him
to what we know as Iowa State University, where, as its first
African-American student, he earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s
degree in agriculture.
Because he had been a somewhat sickly
child, he enjoyed free time to explore his environment, studying the
native flora and fauna with an interest that bordered on the sacred
even from those early years. Listen to his words:
As a very small boy
exploring the almost virgin woods of the old Carver place, I had the
impression someone had just been there ahead of me... I was practically
overwhelmed with a sense of some Great Presence... I knew even then it
was the Great Spirit of the universe...
Carver was a humble man of deep faith who made it a point to listen to the Spirit, as he himself testified:
All my life I have
risen at four o’clock and have gone into the woods and talked with
God. There he gives me my orders for the day.
Those “orders” led him to encourage
farmers to plant alternative crops in the depleted cotton fields of the
South. Over the years, he developed well in excess of a hundred
uses for peanuts, including cosmetics, dyes, paints,
plastics, gasoline, and nitroglycerin. He refused to patent
his ideas or enrich himself from them, saying that his discoveries came
from God so how could he take money for them.
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford both
sought him out for his knowledge of the industrial uses of
plants. However, always humble, Carver remained a career teacher
at Tuskegee Institute.
It won’t surprise you to learn that
he is also regarded as a man who blazed new pathways of racial
understanding and helped pave the way for integration.
Among the lessons taught him by the Spirit was this: How
far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and
tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life,
you will have been all of these.
Another of his beliefs? Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough.
Well, there he is – George
Washington Carver, my hero and an example of one who emerged from both
literal and spiritual slavery to love his neighbor as himself.
And what were the fruits of his decision to follow God’s orders?
A reputation as a productive and inspired scientist, an outstanding
teacher, and a selfless humanitarian.
All around us in Scripture and in
life are such examples of those who live by and are guided by the
Spirit. We, too, have the same choice of spiritual freedom that
Paul gave the Galatians.
God grant that one day it may also be said of us that our lives were about much more than peanuts.
Amen.
Laura Shoffner
St. James' Episcopal Church
Eureka Springs. ARSunday, June 27, 2010
Return to
St. James' Home Page
06.10