Like a Mustard Seed . . .

PASTOR'S NOTE

originally published by Schweitzer Church

16 June 2022

In Matthew 13.31-32, Jesus uses an illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches."

This past week my family hosted some friends for dinner who will be relocating soon to North Carolina. As we laughed and talked I thought about the journey of our friendship. We met soon after my family moved to Springfield. My girls were very young and interested in ballet. Miss Cathryn was their first teacher in Springfield. Soon after meeting her, she married Mr. Andy, and we were at the wedding. Along the way, Anna and I took a trip out of state, and this young couple came to stay with our four kids. When we returned, Mr. Andy asked if our kids could be in one of the shows he was directing through Springfield Little Theatre. (That one show has turned into more than we can count.)

Along the way Mr. Andy and Miss Cathryn gave life to three boys. Those boys are young adventurous souls, and when we are together, much revelry ensues. In their presence, there is joy. In their presence, they also give me a gift, of imagining a next chapter of my life, what being a grandfather might be like. From one small act. . .of taking ballet classes unrolled a good kind of life we had no clue awaited us. There is a panoply of joys - especially on that night when I took the boys for tractor rides. (See pic)



Reflecting on this relationship, I was drawn into Jesus parable of the mustard seed and how it reveals God’s kingdom. Starting out small, and then growing into a profound blessing to countless birds and beloved creatures of God.I’ve been reminded of stories many of you have shared with me about small steps of faith and how God has taken you on an incredible journey. I think about the events and ministries taking place around the Schweitzer campus; of people loving and being loved by Jesus in small ways, and then the incredible fruit of the Spirit that emerges in their lives. The Kingdom of God, of joy and peace, of restfulness in Christ, of sacrificial compassion, and investing in community; most often starts with something small and non-descript. 

The kingdom lies ready, like a seed awaiting soil and rain, and when we take up and read the Bible in a regular routine, or we begin to pray, or we start having Christian conversations, or we sing along with the songs of worship, or we take pictures at church, or become a reading buddy, or make an offering to God . . . God’s good and beautiful Kingdom begins to take root in our hearts, and before long, the small seed is a tree. I encourage you to notice and name the gifts of the Kingdom God has planted and grown along your way. In doing so, we give a witness to God’s faithfulness and goodness, to others and ourselves, for those moments when life is hard and overwhelming.

May you rejoice in the countless trees that surround you. I also encourage you to take what may look like a small step of faith today - you never know where Christ may be leading you, or the treasures of the kingdom that will unfold. This I know is true, with small seeds of faith, the Lord creates incredible joy.

I hope you are looking forward to Sunday, when we gather in worship. Something special awaits us!

Pastor Jason

Grandma Markel - A Tribute

In early December I went to the land of my youth to celebrate the life of my maternal grandmother, Catherine Elizabeth Markel. She was born in 1927 and died on the last day of November 2020. 

Catherine was an only child, her dad passed away when she was a young girl from appendicitis. As a young girl her mom would often work as an in-home nurse; this meant that Catherine would spend a significant amount of time with aunts, uncles, and cousins. In the last couple years of her life she stayed at a care facility and she often asked to "go home." When we asked where home was, it was not the place she had last lived in, it was one of the houses where she stayed with her mom and other family. The exact location was a bit of a guess to the rest of us.

Catherine and I graduated from the same High School, separated by a few years. She graduated in 1945 and me in 1991. In July after graduating she married my grandfather, Lawrence Calvin Markel. Lawrence had been drafted into the US Army. The story he told me was that he had been in training in Texas. He received leave to make his way to Michigan and marry Catherine. He said that he got to Michigan by wearing his dress uniform and using his thumb as a hitchhiker. Following their marriage they reported to his next duty station, the Army Air Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. They moved to Dayton and their first home was a converted chicken coop close to the Army base. 

I have one of the mementos from that day, a set of 4 spoons stamped with the mark "USA MD." These spoons were markers of life at Grandpa and Grandma's house. When I was older I asked Grandma for one. She said I should take one. When I graduated from Asbury Seminary's Beeson program, she sent the ones that remained. 

Following Dayton, Catherine and Lawrence returned to Michigan. Over a 9 year span they would have six children. They would also embark on a career in agriculture. They, like many others, started as share-croppers. In the course of several years they lived on three or four different farms. They finally bought their own. 

In the 1950's and early 60's farming was tough economically; it has always been tough. Grandpa said that Grandma did not like the fact of sending her kids to school in patched clothes and she did not see an end in sight given their farm income. She took action. She went to Bryan, Ohio, to the Spangler Candy Company and secured a job. She worked at Spangler for 28 years. It was a thrill as a little kid to take a tour of Spangler's, my eyes bulged as I watched the arms that stretched the candy that would eventually become candy canes. 

Taking a job in town meant that Grandpa was pinched on the farm. He decided he could not farm without Grandma and her contributions throughout the day. They sold the farm, and he was always glad to report, that at the end of the day, they paid all their debts and had a little money left over. Grandpa told me this story in the 1980's when many banks were forcing farmers to sell.  He always said, "it was my decision and not the bank's."  

After leaving the Army it became clear that Lawrence was struggling with bipolar disorder. Catherine would find close friends and confidants in Lawrence's sisters and brother-in-laws. Together they worked  to get him some much needed help. Lawrence would struggle the rest of his life, sometimes going great spans of time without massive incidents. While she seldom conveyed it to me or my cousins, I am confident that she was in a constant state of managing the illness. 

In 1968 another sadness would greet Catherine and Lawrence. Their eldest son, Ron, had joined the Marines and was stationed in Vietnam. Near the end of the Tet offensive, Ron and his company were involved in a fierce fire fight. Ron became memorialized on the Vietnam wall in Washington. His death was a great loss and has marked the family since. 

Catherine was not an outspoken person, but she was steady, kind, merciful, inclusive, and a partner in business. In the early 1970's Lawrence learned of Haflinger horses. They traveled to Temple Farms in Wadsworth, Illinois where they acquired a stallion named Stacey (1973). A couple of years later they acquired two mares, Ann and Sadie. This threesome would produce a significant line of horses. Lawrence would say over the years that Stacey always "paid for his keep." While it looked like Lawrence and my Uncle Don were the two main interests in the horses, when registration papers were filed, they were listed as LDCM - Lawrence, Donald, & Catherine Markel. Catherine's money was invested in the horses project, as well as her energy. She went to shows, she hosted visitors, and she baked stacks of cookies and mixed gallons of ice tea for her grandkids and other helpers as we gathered to make hay, clean the barn, and a host of other tasks. She was a full business partner and was actively involved in the decisions to buy the horses in the first place, and when it came time to sell. Catherine and Lawerence also helped establish the Great Lakes Haflinger Association. Following the sale of their own horses, they were honored to be made lifetime members of the association.* 

After working at Spangler Candy Company for 28 years she decided to retire. In retirement she would take up knitting and crocheting. She was involved in Bible studies at church. She visited the library frequently. She seemed to always have a book near by, or a puzzle sitting atop one of her tables that she was working on putting together. 

Reflecting on how I interacted with Grandma, it dawned on me that at her house, as a kid and teen, we often interacted with our cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandpa. Grandma was present, but quiet, and in the background. She once said to my sister, "you can learn a lot when you're quiet." She did learn a lot, a lot about her grandkids. One thing she learned about me was that I liked the circus peanuts that Spangler made. Following her retirement Spangler would send her a box of goodies near Christmas. For several years in my adulthood she would forward the circus peanuts onto me. I welcomed her thoughtfulness. 

Another privilege I had of interacting with Grandma was to have her as the first Sunday school teacher that I remember. I was four or five and she taught my class for a couple of years. It was in that Sunday school room that I remember looking at her and really seeing her and hearing her. It was a joy to live out the experience of a Timothy, in the act of learning and growing in the faith of Jesus from one's grandmother (2 Tim 1.5).

In 2003 Lawrence was in declining health. My cousin Christopher was getting married in Oregon. Many of us flew to Oregon to take in the festivities. Upon arriving we received word that Lawrence had passed away in Michigan. Christopher's initial reaction was to put the wedding on hold and return to Michigan for a funeral. Catherine would not hear of it. We live into the future; Lawrence's body could wait. Honoring  his life meant moving forward with the creation of a new family, and new chapter. 

In 2013 my youngest brother, Byron, married Holly, and the event was in northeast Ohio. As the family gathered at the hotel we talked of many things. One of those things we talked about was a beloved pet that Connie and Bob had in their freezer. Connie & Bob had moved to Wyoming for work, but kept their home in Michigan. When their beloved dog died, Connie had it returned to Michigan by one of her sons. It was placed in her deep freeze until Connie had a chance to come to Michigan and give her dog a proper burial. I wondered aloud why Connie didn't have her dog cremated, and then had the remains pressed into a diamond? Then I noticed Grandma wearing her broach - a broach that contained the birth stones of her kids and grandkids. I said, "Grandma, you could have done that with Grandpa; had his remains turned into a diamond and attached to your broach." Grandma, not missing a beat looked at me and said, "I carried that burden long enough." I laughed, she laughed. 

While she was quiet, she knew how to live and tell the truth. Much of her life did have its certain, long, and heavy burdens. It also had joy, delight, promises, and dreams to be lived into. Her life was ultimately a life full of faith. Reflecting on that comment from my brother's wedding, she didn't shy away from living into the invitation of Jesus in Matthew 11.28ff - "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

Catherine showed us how to lay down our burdens and carry the yoke and burdens Jesus gives us. She walked in faith with Him, and kept faith with her family and community. She was a gift and I celebrate Catherine; Grandma Markel.   

* A correction may be needed. History my be that the "C" was for the middle names of Lawrence Calvin and Donald Charles. Regardless, Catherine was deeply invested in the horses project and they were only present with her approval. She would later give a blessing to several of my cousins and brother to return horses to the barn under the banner of Markel Family Haflingers. She kept making cookies for all these visitors!   

Christ The Lord

I'm reading Anne Rice's book, Christ The Lord; the road to Cana (a novel). 
In chapter 11 Rice has Jesus visiting an old scribe named Hananel.  The conversation is complicated, yet within the conversation are some wonderful quotes that are worthy of reflection on a number of levels. 

When Hananel fires a number of questions at Jesus there is this quote:
"You press me like a grape, my lord, between your thumb and forefinger."  And I knew that when pressed in this manner, I may say strange things, things I don't even think in the course of my day-to-day work, things I don't even think when I'm alone . . . or dreaming. (the italics indicate things Jesus was thinking, but didn't say) (p.94)

"Men scorn what they can't grasp.  They suffer in their longing for it." (p.97)

Hananel asks Jesus "what have you become?  A carpenter - one of a gang of carpenters.  Men who make floors, walls, benches and tables." (this is an indictment against Jesus) (p.98)

Jesus responds:  "Why does the world swallow the Word of God? . . . Are we not a holy people, are we not to be a bright and shining light to the nations? Are we not to bring salvation to the whole world?" . . .
It's where I live, my lord. Not in the Temple, but in the world.  And in the world, I learn what the world is and what the world will teach, and I am of the world.  The world's made of wood and stone and iron, and I work in it.  No, not in the Temple.  In the world.  And I study Torah; and I pray with the assembly; and on the feasts I go to Jerusalem to stand before the Lord - in the Temple - but this is in the world, all this.  And when it is time for me to do what the Lord has sent me to do in this world, this world which belongs to Him, this world of wood and stone and iron and grass and air, He will reveal it to em.  And what this carpenter shall yet build  in this world on that day, the Lord knows and the Lord shall reveal it." (p.99)

Rice's work on Jesus is fascinating, provoking and seeks to be faithful to what we see in the Gospels, in the setting of Palestine prior to Jesus' appearing to John.  I suggest you take up and read, and read the Gospels again, giving thanks for a fresh set of eyes.

A Courageous Couple

Yesterday I was privileged to visit a couple in a local hospital.  The husband has been diagnosed with some kind of severe cancer.  He's been hospitalized since early April.  His wife took a leave of absence from her work and has been with him on this journey. 
I had not met the couple before I walked into the room.  I had seen a picture of the man from fliers describing a benefit auction to be held for the family. 
In the room I saw the effects of cancer ravaging a human body.  That was the first impression.  First impressions however are not the best or proper impressions.  First impressions can be misleading, and that was the case here.
While the cancer has been taking its toll on the body of this man, his wife remained upbeat, steadfast, talking of what's on the other side of this fight. 
The man looked frail.  On this day he had already had two types of therapy.  After being present for 5 minutes, the physical therapist came in the door - do we want to walk today?  As she asked the question I got the impression she thought the answer would be no.  She was sizing up things too. 
The answer surprised her, it surprised me. 
Yes.  A walk was desired. 
The cords had to be adjusted, the urine bag transferred from the bed to the walker.  The physical therapist would hold onto the waist band, the aide would pull the poll holding all the IV bags, the man's wife pushed the chair behind the man as he shuffled his feet, both hands clutching the foam handles of his walker. 
I watched.  I was amazed. 
For thirty feet the man shuffled his feet.  He needed to sit down.  Into the chair he slumped.  Back to the room went his wife for the sponge stick for the moistening of his mouth.  Just like Jesus, thirsting and not able to drink.  She placed the sponge stick into his mouth.  It rolled around in there like a ping-pong ball in an empty Campbell's soup can.  He was too weak to close his mouth.  He had to lift his frail arms to maneuver the stick so the sponge would touch the roof of his mouth, the sides of his cheeks, and against his tongue.   
After a couple of minutes came the question, are we done?
No, not yet. 
Thirty more feet would be covered, from the chair, through some doors, to the foyer where the glass windows are generous.  The sunlight warmed the foyer and the green foliage of spring spread out in an unending canopy.  For a few seconds he stood and looked through eyelids that were almost closed and then retreating back into the chair. 
This was enough for today. 
As he lay in the reclined chair he motioned to me.  I had observed this walk.  I had opened the door through which he walked.  I was a stranger intruding upon this journey of frailty.  He motioned to me and whispered - thank you.  His wife voiced it louder - thank you. 
This gesture of appreciation was surprising.  They were the ones who welcomed a stranger.  They were the ones hospitable and kind in the midst of great pain. 
The real gift that had been given was to me.  I was blessed to observe a hospital staff honoring the desires of a frail human being. I was blessed to witness the courage of a couple who could rightfully be contorted by fatalism.  I was blessed by a thankful person in the midst of great suffering.
I know that this picture of this couple reveals a moment in time.  The fullness of their story is known to others, to themselves and to God.  Yet in this moment their character was strikingly similar to Jesus' on the cross, courageous and full of love.
In their courage I found that the reflection from my morning devotional had profound import:  "The risen Lord is still with me, not always in extraordinary manifestations, but in ordinary day-to-day life.  As only someone who really love me would do."  (The Little White Book, Diocese of Saginaw, littlebooks.org)
 

Some old quotes on Love

Here are some quotes that come from the Ancients (ACCS) as they reflected on Paul's writing in 1 Corinthians 13.

• In other words, Paul says, if I have not love I am not just useless but a positive nuisance. - Chrysostom
• When the Holy Spirit comes upon us it is our human faith that expands to make room for the Divine gift. - Gennadius of Constantinople
• Love is the very head of religion, and someone who has no head is dead. - Ambrosiaster
• Admonition from and enemy often produces in a prudent man the desire for amendment. - Basil
• Sullenness of an angry man is depicted by silence. Regain your zeal and joy in your heart. - Basil

Love

Last night at our evening Bible Study we looked at the scripture from I Corinthians 13 - the famed love chapter.
During our discussion the question was raised why is it that we can exhibit more of the qualities of love, like patience, with our kids, but with our spouses we're more inclined to keep a record of wrongs? Why the disparity. Someone suggested it's based on expectations. We expect our spouse to be equal to us, and thus we judge them, comparing them to ourselves. With our kids, especially in their earliest forms everything shouts that they're not equal except in being fully human, and thus we extend patience, unquestionable charity.
Another person posited that the real hindrance in unconditional love is the comparative that we frequently perform of using ourselves as a standard of expectation and thus judgment. When someone doesn't meet our expectations, then we begin to devalue them and our pride increases, that's when we vaunt ourselves.
I am fascinated with the eschatological framework that Paul places the whole concept of love in. Love isn't about a finished product, or a declaration of completeness, but love is the road that leads through the fog of this world to the place where we can see God, face to face, and finally be known, to the other and to ourselves.

The Blind Side

Last night Anna and I went to see The Blind Side. We found the film engaging and compelling. It's a motivating story.

What surprised us most about the experience wasn't the film itself, but the audience in the theater. The place was packed. For a film that came out in November, I couldn't believe it.

I asked an attendant if it's like that every night. Her reply - it is, every night, almost capacity.

Wow.

What's the difference between this film and a host of others?

Many others tend to tell stories of irrational pantheistic (gross) fantasy, this one reveals a story of realistic human compassion and theistic transformation. It's no wonder the early church rejected gnosticism - it's part of an ug(ly) fest(ival.) Christ in the flesh - that's real beauty.

Christ the Lord - Out of Egypt

Last week I finished reading Anne Rice's work: Christ the Lord; Out of Egypt. Rice writes a novel imagining Jesus at the age of 7 and 8. She introduces us to Jesus and his family as they live in Alexandria, Egypt. In her story the family takes leave of Alexandria and returns to Nazareth. Her lens focuses on Jesus, who is about the business of discovering who he is. The opening chapter has Jesus discovering the power to take life and restore it, as he's engaged in a street brawl. The special gifts he has, are perplexing to him, as well as the conversations that he finds among the adults in his life. They all seem to know something that he's searching for, an explanation of who he is. The story concludes with Jesus hearing the events in Bethlehem after his birth, and the with that story and other events, a great discovery is made.
Rice does a great job of painting the human-divine union present in Jesus.
She does accept and use gospel apocrypha accounts regarding Jesus, which may cause some questions among some of her readers.
She writes of Jesus with much admiration. In her "Author's Note" at the end of the work she describes the journey that brought her to the point of writing about Jesus. (This was an early outline for her later spiritual autobiography.) In that note she makes a confession of surprise that ought to be grappled with by those in the church and seminaries: "I . . . sensed something else. Many of these scholars, scholars who apparently devoted their life to New Testament scholarship, disliked Jesus Christ. Some pitied him as a hopeless failure. Others sneered at him, and some felt and outright contempt. . . . there are New Testament scholars who detest and despise Jesus Christ."
To be sure, Rice's work has no sneering, no contempt, it is written out of adoration and scholarship. She has given to the world and the church a great gift in this work.