“What is the Kingdom of God Like?”

150  Years of Service, Outreach, and Witness

When Jesus was teaching he asked, “‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it?’

He went on, ‘It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’ And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’” (Luke 13:18-21)

“And the kingdom of God is like 1,000 teeny tiny onion plants, lovingly placed in the soil by the young ones that people with limited access to fresh food can be fed.”

Okay, that part is not actually in the gospels. But I do think that Jesus would agree that what our Youth Group and their faithful adult co-laborers did recently when they spent a day planting a thousand onions and weeding at the Garden of Health to make fresh food available to those who are food insecure is Kingdom (or “Kin-dom”) work.

There is a long (150 years!) history of service, outreach, and witness at St. John’s. Noticing that our neighbors were in need of food led to feeding people in the basement of the church and community Thanksgiving dinners (which continue to this day). This led to the creation of Manna on Main Street which was founded at St. John’s in 1981 and went on to become one of the most respected local organizations, working to end hunger, build community, and transform lives. As Tom Allebach shared with us recently, Manna was like a child who grew up and flew the nest to do great things. Praise God!

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We Belong to God and to One Another

“And he walks with me, and he talks with me,
and he tells me I am his own.”

I sang this hymn, “In the Garden,” more times this past week than I have in the last few years! During the beautiful “cluster visits” that Pastor Elaine organized with residents at Dock, Peter Becker, and Brittany Pointe, this was the first song folks wanted to sing. We gathered with members – most of whom who are unable to be physically present at church – who have tender stories, rich memories, and deep commitments to St. John’s. (Pictured above)

We sang together. We prayed. We heard stories about how St. John’s has shaped lives – weddings, baptisms, raising children, Sunday School, beloved pastors, and friendships forged over many years. We broke bread and shared in Holy Communion together. We affirmed our belonging not only to God, but to one another.

As that beloved hymn reminds us, we are God’s own. We belong to Jesus.

But we also belong – through Christ – to one another. Our circle is always wider than what we think we see. There are always more people in the room than the number of bodies in the pews.

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How to Live in this Time, Center, and Pray
(maybe even with your feet!)

A lawyer, trying to trick Jesus, asked him which was the greatest commandment. And Jesus said,

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:34-40)

This Lent, I am inviting us to a collective Lenten Practice – Praying for Our Neighbors – on Tuesdays at 2:00 pm (or whenever you are able). If you’re in the midst of your daily routine, I invite you to pause at 2:00 on Tuesdays (2 on 2s-day!) and pray.

Pray for the neighbors you know – the people next door, the woman who brightens the neighborhood with her flowers, the ones who put trash in your cans and dump snow on your side of the sidewalk, and the kids who live nearby. And pray for the neighbors you don’t know – the family on the next block with the star math student whose father is undocumented, the shopkeeper from Bangladesh, the woman who runs the halaal takeaway restaurant, the family not far from us in Eagleville who were asleep when federal agents burst into their bedrooms, or the students bravely expressing their hopes and concerns about the world we have handed down to them.

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Roots & Branches

I am writing this message over the din of chainsaws as a large Horse Chestnut tree is being taken down in my back yard. Maggie, our big red Irish Doodle, is unraveled, sure there is imminent danger to us all. It’s sad to see this beloved tree come down, as it has given us welcome shade on our back porch and its broad, spiky leaves create beautiful dappled patterns in the sun. Despite it looking healthy (at least to me), the tree guys said that there are problems at the roots and down it must come.

Roots matter. Sometimes the roots of our trees and even our institutions and systems are too far gone to mend and must be taken down or dismantled – even if they look sound to an outsider. But as any tree lover will tell you, there are ways to tend to roots before the damage cannot be reversed. Trees need water, good soil, and nutrients.

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