Last week I preached about the ground and humility and I felt that I got a dose of humility as that sermon did not flow like it normally does.

So I had to sit with why that was true, and maybe the reason is that I, too, have a difficult time believing that the ground we walk is sacred all the time, rather than just when a miracle occurs. Even though I look for God’s mysteries and graces in nature, I also take much of it for granted.

I wonder if this is why there are more creation stories in the Bible than the first two chapters of Genesis. Just as we needed four gospels to begin to understand who Jesus was, what he taught, and the difference he made to the world, we need multiple creation stories to remind us that this world is not just about us and what we want.

They remind us that we are a piece in the web of life that is God’s creation.

Psalm 104 reminds us to be grateful to God for all that is created, and to recognize that God is also the one who sustain us through it.

“All creatures depend on you to feed them at the proper time.” v.27 “Take away your breath – they die and return to dust.” V.29b

And how does God feed us at the proper time? By creating a system that creates more life, sustains it, and then, as it dies, creates new life in its place. Every plant and animal can reproduce not for itself but for the benefit of creation. The oak tree produces acorns, which can create other oak trees to supply needed shade on hot days as well as cleaning the air, but they also supply food for the rabbits and squirrels which supply food for larger creatures, including us.

The Genesis scripture gives a bit more detail on this process as we hear God command the Earth to produce vegetation – “Plants that scatter their own seeds and every kind of fruit tree that bears fruit.” In this, we see the abundant potential of God’s creation. The Earth’s vegetation will produce enough food for all its creatures – including us. And God saw that it was good!

But, we have always had a mindset of scarcity and never believed in the abundance of God. So, we have hoarded resources and are still trying to deny folks of food, water, shelter and safety. We are told that groups of people – Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, and the LGBTQ community are to blame for our pain rather than realizing that all people – regardless of who they are, where they live or how they live are created by the same God and are entitled to the same gifts of creation that we are. And for those who are struggling, we say their lack of hard work puts them there rather than acknowledging that we have created systems to protect the white, straight people out of our fear.

Metaphorically speaking, we too are God’s seeds with abundant potential to care for creation and all its creatures.

We were created to reproduce, care for each other, and the rest of creation. So I’m wondering what seeds within you do you nurture through your relationship with God? What are the “seeds” you plant with those around you? Within each of us is a call from God. That call wants to help us be the best version of ourselves. If we are struggling or hurting, God wants to heal us. If we are unsure of our way, God hopes we will listen for God’s guidance Which will lead us to abundant life now and for eternity.

Hear this quote from former President Jimmy Carter – “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. I’m free to choose what that something is, and the something I’ve chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands—this is not optional—my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”

This means the types of “seeds” he tried to plant with others – Seeds of patience, kindness, generosity, and faithfulness – Come to my mind when I think of him.

Yesterday we had our first booth at the Lancaster Pride festival, and we were planting seeds.

We were planting seeds with people who did not know us and were unsure what kind of church we were. The booth directly next to us reminded us that there are a lot of people with religious trauma, they were a counseling service that offered services for religious trauma.

In our booth, we had this beautiful mural that was designed and painted by Deklan, Monica, and Monica’s brother, which had the tree of life on it, but just the branches. We invited attendees to put something on the tree, and they did! Once this mural is finished, I hope you’ll take time to really read what people wrote. Because we asked them to share the ways they’ve been hurt, and some people did. We also asked them to write their hopes for the whole community, LGBTQIA+ and beyond.

I want to share with you just one interaction I had while I was there. A woman and her young child came up, and her child had just the biggest smile, so I said, “What a beautiful smile you have.” The mom then asked what our booth was doing, and I explained. She looked at me, a little concerned, and asked if her child could just color on one. I said, of course, so I handed him a flower, and he used his markers to decorate it. When he was done, I asked if I could put it up on the board for him. He ripped up his flower, and the mom looked scared. I just put out my hand and asked, “Would you like me to take the pieces?” To ease the mom’s mind, I said, “It’s okay, this is what this is about. It’s about making space for everyone, however they need to be here and express themselves.” I think she was afraid I would be angry that the child didn’t do it right. She thanked me because I knew they just needed some grace. So what if the child didn’t do it the way we planned? It’s about knowing that her child was accepted and that she was accepted and cared for.

That’s what PRIDE is about. That no matter who you are, you are a child of God. You are loved and worthy of God’s love and grace just as you are. We had a chance to make a difference in that mother and son’s lives, just in that short interaction. But hopefully, they got a different sense of the church. There was a different sense of the church in the parking lot, telling attendees they were going to hell for going to Pride and bringing their children to Pride. But inside, there were people, like us, who just offered them grace.

That’s who we are called to be, people who offer love and grace.

May it be so. Amen.
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Last weekend I graduated from the Foundations Training Course for Gestalt Pastoral Care that I have been taking this past year, and as part of that work we looked at our ancestry.

Many of my ancestors, both Celtic and German, were farmers. So, I shouldn’t be surprised that working the land, getting my fingers in the dirt and watching things grow, is “in my blood.” I know that both sets of my grandparents always had gardens and fresh produce was a normal part of life with them.

Today, I want to focus on the soil and what it means to work with it. Our scriptures for today reminded us that God created the earth.

This means it is sacred! It is holy! And when I work the earth, particularly when my hands are in the soil, I recognize that I am just a small piece in the ongoing story of God, the land, and humanity.

The Bible is rich with agricultural stories as the first peoples relied on the ground for all their food. Even in Jesus’ time, he used so many agricultural metaphors because that was what the people knew –that was what made sense to them.

When I work the land, I am also often barefoot. Yes, it means my feet get dirty – but there is something about being that close – that close to what is real and that close to what touches the inner parts of my being. You see, I am a panentheist, which is a big word that means that I believe God is in or with everything.

The land is not God, and God is not the land, but God is with the land, and the land is with God.

So when we work with the land, when we touch the ground with any part of our body, we are connecting with God through our bodies and the land.

A farmer, Forrest Pritchard, in his book Gaining Ground¹, described it this way: The soil…was soft and dark. I slid my fingers into the dirt, cupping a handful of earth to my nose. The aroma of the broken ground was profoundly rich, at once mysterious and inviting. In the depths of winter – with the pastures grazed low, the sycamores stark and leafless, the creek banks rimmed with ice, and the sky a gray blanket spread from mountaintop to mountaintop – here the earth abided. The soft warmth spoke to me saying, “I’m waiting now, but I will be ready. We are mutual participants, you and I, intertwined.” Indeed, the ground was waiting and now it is beginning to share it bounty.

The definition of soil is: the loose, dynamic layer of Earth’s surface consisting of a living, complex mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, water, and microorganisms.

The living matter is a combination of worms and bacteria decaying plant and animal matter or humus – “of the ground or lowly.” Humus is where we get our spiritual discipline of humility – not thinking more highly of ourselves – recognizing that we are a small part in God’s great creation.

Humility is also a trait exhibited and valued by Jesus, who was known to lift up those considered to be “lowly” – who said, “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” (Mark 10:31) He also said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5)

Humility is not self-deprecation, but rather it is acknowledging what is real and true – as human beings, we are selfish and make many mistakes. In Paul’s words, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15) So we acknowledge this and ask for God to remove our failings. Because the reality is: “It’s not about me!”

In April, the Board invited the Rev. Dr. Matt Lenahan to speak with us from The Wittel Farm Project in Elizabethtown which is part of The Lutheran Camping Corporation.

In his presentation, he encouraged us to create a land management program for Rader Park and the area around the main building. He also asked us a profound question: What does the land need? Which changes the conversation.

We have been looking at the ground, the land, and what could happen here as if it were ours. And yes, from a political position, we own the deed to it. But this is bigger than that conversation. This is about remembering that the land is God’s – it always has been and always will be – it is just ours to care for during this time. Before us the Brubaker family tended it. Before them, Native Americans tended it. And someone will tend it after us as those of us in the room will not be here forever.

So what does the “long view” look like? Remembering what it has been over the last centuries and what it could be over the next century. What does the land need so that it not only meets our needs but will meet the needs of generations to come?

May it be so. Amen.
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Today, we began with a scripture reading from Genesis 1, as I think this is the creation story most people know, and we will continue to use it as we also read other creation stories in the Bible.

But in this, we are reminded that water was an element in God’s creation, right after light, according to Genesis 1. We have already recognized the importance of water to life for us, other creatures, and the natural world. Knowing that water is a creation of God, how do we then consider water? Is it holy? How do we steward it – or care for it?

In 2014, we realized the importance of clean water with the water crisis in Flint, MI. But we have our own water issues in Lancaster County. In 2021, Penn State researchers found that 50% of our streams are impaired, primarily from agricultural runoff (fertilizers, sediment, and animal waste) as well as legacy contaminants from heavy industry along urban waterways. Brubaker Run, which travels through Rader Park, is on this list as is the Conestoga River, both of which eventually feed into the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay.

This is one of the reasons we are connected to the Interfaith Partnership for the Chesapeake. On their website is a kit called “Faithful Lawn Care,” which includes a prayer that states: May the waters from this land flow clean and healthy to sustain all life downstream from me.

Although the stream, as we have encountered it in Rader Park, is healthy because it is home to many aquatic critters, we need to consider what chemicals we may be putting into it, even inadvertently, through what is used on the gardens and what we put on our grass to make sure it is “weed-free.”

Where should our priority be as a congregation that espouses being environmental stewards? Do we want to do anything differently? Do we want to encourage any of our neighbors to be mindful of what runs off their properties and into the stream?

Water is also an important component of my spiritual health. There is something about moving water that soothes me.

It can be the ocean, a babbling brook, or a flowing stream. Maybe the sound is similar to being in my mother’s womb before birth. I don’t know why, but I know it brings a peace that few other things are able to do. When I hear Jesus speak of “living water” in our gospel reading, I equate it with moving water. Water that moves is able to sustain life in and around it. Whereas stagnant water can become poisonous if it doesn’t change. Water without enough oxygen in it prohibits life.

Like Deklan’s sermon last week, I want to say that nothing good grows in stagnant water, except the lotus. But as much as living water helps us, we also try to control it. Raging water scares us, which is why we get a thrill kayaking through rapids. But if the water is a tidal surge from the ocean, we are truly terrified.

If we are honest, we have done things like create dams to provide both control and energy, without considering the effect on the rest of creation. We prefer to be in control of things, including water, and for far too long, we have understood some of the latter verses of Genesis 1 to mean that we can do whatever we want with the water, as it was taught that we have “dominion” over the water and everything else.

And we have let our selfishness and greed decide what we do with the water. We didn’t care who put what into the water until the 1970’s when we realized we were starting to poison ourselves.

Personally, I’m concerned that as the climate continues to change, there will be a shortage of water. It will become an element for which we attack one another. And we can begin to change that future by taking steps now to value the water and the Holy Spirit, which is present in the water too.

I just realized that I’m focused on the water because that is easier to talk about than the Holy Spirit – that which makes it “living water” in Jesus’ words.

But the Spirit is in the water just as it “blows where it will.” It is not to be controlled by any of us. It is here to be helpful to us – to encourage us – to remind us that we do not have to prove our worthiness – and to remind us to think of more than ourselves.

God’s creation is not all about us! God’s creation was made for the benefit of all – without exception!

So, how do we shift to be more aware of creation? In what ways is God calling us to be advocates for creation in our area? Jesus’ “living water” offers us new life. What are we willing to do in return?

May it be so. Amen.
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What happens when someone spends years believing that an important part of who they are is something they need to hide?

For many LGBTQ+ people, fear, shame, and rejection from family, community, or religious institutions have shaped their experiences of faith. Some have been told that who they are is wrong. Others have learned to hide parts of themselves simply to feel safe or accepted.

But sometimes, one person can offer a very different message.

A person who grew up in a conservative community knew from a young age that he was different. He became successful, well-liked, and involved in his community, but he also spent years hiding his sexuality. As an adult, the pressure of keeping that secret contributed to a deep depression. When he sought guidance from both a therapist and his parish priest, the messages he received were very different. One offered some support. The other told him that being openly gay would condemn him to Hell.

Then his Aunt Letty noticed that he was struggling.

She didn’t know his secret, but she reminded him that God never makes a mistake. She told him that because God had made him, he had purpose, and that he was meant to be exactly who God created him to be.

That message gave him hope. It helped him begin living more openly and eventually build a life with the man who would become his husband.

For many LGBTQ+ people, the Church has been a source of deep hurt. That history matters. So does the opportunity to offer something different.

We can ask ourselves:

• Do the words we use about LGBTQ+ people communicate God’s love or reinforce shame?
• Are we creating spaces where people can be honest about who they are without fear of rejection?
• How might our words or actions affect someone who is still figuring out whether it is safe to be themselves?
• What would it look like to remind someone, through our welcome, that they are already worthy of love and belonging?

At Church of the Apostles, being Open and Affirming means more than saying LGBTQ+ people are welcome. It means continuing to create a community where people can worship, serve, build relationships, and grow in faith without being asked to hide who they are.

The words from Psalm 139 offer a powerful reminder: “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.“

What message are people receiving from us about who they are and how completely they are loved by God?