Epiphany 2, 2014: God's garden

Lectionary: Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-12; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
Preacher: The Rev Dr Valori Mulvey Sherer, Rector



En el nombre del Dios, Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.

Today’s reading from Isaiah is the second of the four Servant Songs, and this one defines the Servant’s mission: “The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me… And he said to me, "You are my servant… in whom I will be glorified."

It’s a bit odd for most of us to consider that God had a plan for us from before we were born – and that God continually forms us for that purpose - but it’s true. Who we are, when we live, where we live, even the gifts and weaknesses we possess reflect an intentional action by God.

Everything about us, how we look, how we perceive the world, what motivates or demotivates us… all of it is intentional. And everything about us fits together with everything about everyone else for the accomplishing of God’s will on the earth.

God leads us into the presence of people who will affirm us or challenge us to grow. The situations of our lives, even those times when we sin or when someone sins against us, cause us to grow and mature spiritually and otherwise. They cause us to remember the continuing presence and power of the redeeming love of God as they call us to use our gifts, which you’ll remember, God gave us for a purpose God from before we were born.

Last summer our congregation enjoyed a workshop on the Enneagram offered by Gus Boone, a retired priest in our diocese and an Enneagram expert. The Enneagram workshop was great fun and we learned so much about ourselves and one another, and how to notice and value the gifts of the other while remembering things that would challenge them (and us) as we interact so that we can maintain harmony and peaceful unity within our diversity. Over and over again we would hear someone in the room say, “Ohhhhh! Now I understand….”

For those of you unfamiliar with the Enneagram, it’s a kind of personality assessment tool that identifies what motivates a person. The Enneagram has it roots in antiquity. It is said to have been developed by Pythagorus and employed by Plato.

Here’s how Gus Boone describes it: “The Enneagram is a helpful tool of universal insight into human nature which offers us a means for deepening our awareness as having been made in God’s image! It helps us better understand ourselves as spiritual presences in the world. Often our personalities mask the essential qualities God gives us for living and serving in the world. [The Enneagram] enables us to identify the things standing in our way, to truly know our spiritual gifts and to develop patterns of awareness for growth and transformation from self-deception to real self-knowledge. It provides us with an important framework for lifelong learning of what it means to be blessed and for living more compassionately with those who differ from us … like a spouse, children, grandchildren, siblings, co-workers, others at church, even our best friends!”

There are nine motivational descriptors in the Enneagram system. I’m an 8 (also known as The Challenger). Deacon Pam is a 9 (also known as The Peacemaker). My husband is a 1 (also known as The Perfectionist). Together, our differences provide a wholeness in our lives we couldn’t know alone.

At the workshop we learned that while each of us is motivated differently, together we can form ourselves into an amazing faith community because our differing strengths and weaknesses will complete and balance one another.

Some of you have heard me mention an African bishop from Uganda I worked with years ago. He is dear to my heart and in the short time we spent together, he affected how I perceive the world. The bishop and I come from vastly different cultural experiences and perspectives, but we worship the same God, pray from the same Prayer Book, and serve God’s people with the same commitment and passion.

One day as we ate breakfast together the bishop’s wife remarked - with no small amount of shock – how the food on her plate alone would have fed a family of seven at home, and she marveled at the variety of food on our breakfast table: eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, toast, fresh fruit… She informed me that in their part of Africa they ate only what was in season and available, so one would have the same food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for months at a time.

Breakfast never looked the same to me after that – and I give thanks to God for it. The bishop and his wife learned from their time in the US about the abundance that is real, even though it is out of reach for them. He told me it gave him hope, anticipating the day when the world’s resources would be shared equally among all people.

When he preached at our service of Holy Eucharist at my church (part of a fund raiser we were doing for African missions) the bishop spoke of humanity in terms of God’s garden. I heard this sermon seven years ago but the image remains powerfully present with me.

Here’s how this seed the bishop planted has grown in me: there are roses and violets, dandelions and tulips – all flowers, all beautiful in their own way, but very different; each flower having its own purpose for being and gift to offer. When the world judges one flower to be more beautiful or valuable than another, it just isn’t true.

The dandelion, for example, is considered by many to be a weed, a nuisance – but God made the dandelion, which makes it beautiful and valuable, and it has an honorable purpose. The dandelion has a long history as a medicinal herb used for stomach, kidney, liver, and gall bladder issues and many people enjoy dandelion tea, dandelion wine, and even dandelion beer!

Imagine a garden that had only one kind of flower. What a boring garden that would be!

What if daisies were judged to be the only worthy flower and all other flowers were destroyed? Imagine how that would affect bees, birds, and insects. The whole balance of nature would be affected.

And what about the colors? We would lose the passionate redness of the rose and the gentle paleness of the lilac.

The same is true of the people in God’s garden. Each of us is made by God with gifts and weaknesses, passion and gentleness, and a purpose that is honorable and important in the plan of God. Those the world judges as worthless or a nuisance are not judged so by God and should not be judged so by us.

That’s why being a part of the body of Christ is so important. It takes all of our gifts, strengths, and weaknesses combined to make us whole – to make us holy – and able to do our part in God’s plan of salvation for the whole world.

And our part is this, as described by the prophet Isaiah: "I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." …because… the LORD, who is faithful… has chosen you."

God has chosen each of us, formed us in our mother’s wombs, continues to form us every moment, every day; gifted us differently, and birthed us in the time and place God has chosen for us to accomplish our purpose in the divine plan. It is my prayer that together, as a family of faith, we trust God and God’s plan and honor the diversity and dignity of every flower in God’s garden.

I close with a portion of a prayer from medieval mystic, Mechthild of Magdeburg. The prayer is called: God Speaks to the Soul:

“And God said to the soul:
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now
As you desire me.
And when the desires of two come together
There love is perfected.”

Amen.