Last weekend, on a crisp October morning, a dozen members of the church that Gathers, Grows and Goes met at Reiman Gardens. We arrived, in groups of ones and twos and fours. We were then given a how-to on what we were there to do.

The task at hand? Planting tulip bulbs.

Our equipment was simple; gloves, trowel, foot-long foam mat.

Hands now gloved, mat now on ground, we kneeled.

Technique for our task was then shown.

Point trowel toward dirt.
Grip trowel, thumb-side up.
Thrust trowel down, six inches deep.
Pull toward you, creating a hole.
Place bulb in hole, pointy side up.
Fill hole with soil.

Make the earthy canvas flat, once again.

Point, grip, thrust.
Pull, place, fill.

One bulb now planted, then move to the next. Which ideally is 4-6 inches away.

Point, grip, thrust.
Pull, place, fill.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Until the job is done.

Reiman Gardens has offered this annual volunteer tulip planting event for years now. And it showed: this crisp morning had been planned to perfection.

The equipment was ready. The flower beds cleared. The bulbs sat atop the soil, evenly spaced, row upon row upon row. Everything was prepared. What else was needed? Just us.

Point, grip, thrust.
Pull, place, fill.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

It was a daunting task, admittedly. Thousands of bulbs lay ready for planting as we got to work.

I watched as husband and wife kneeled down to plant, side by side. Their two young children ran nearby, making joyful noises. Helping a bit, then running and laughing some more.

Not too far off a father and son worked together on another section. Dad became the instructor, of this crew of two, as they made progress toward a mutually-agreed-upon goal.

I listened as a mother told of her husband and kids off at a youth soccer game. I found myself sharing that my wife and children were also at another game, doing the same.

We were busily improving on the world around us. Some with trowels, others with goalkeepers and cleats.

As talk and running and laughing continued bulbs were planted. A row was completed, then two, then three. A section was finished here, then there. And it wasn’t just our group. Volunteers from several Iowa State groups helped too.

An hour in it started raining, making the already saturated soil even wetter. Making the task at hand a bit more of a challenge. Thirty minutes after that the instructor, sounding dejected, told us the soil was now too wet to plant.

Because of that our work that morning, planting bulbs, was now done.

But not complete. We’d made progress, yes, but there was still so much yet to do. Curious about this now unfinished project I asked the instructor what would come next.

“We were supposed to top off the soil on these beds Monday,” he replied. “But this season has been really difficult to plan for, there’s just been so much rain. We’ll get these bulbs planted, one way or another,” he assured me.

“We always do.”

Sowing
Today’s text, from 2nd Corinthians 9, the apostle Paul names a concept familiar to any farmer or gardener.

If you sow sparingly, so goes your crop.
If you sow greatly, so goes your crop.
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Goodness
Put another way, you reap what you sow.

The author then continues: give as if you’ve made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

But really? Who doesn’t love a cheerful giver?

As a pastor I’m blessed to run across cheerful givers all the time.
– From the planters at Reiman, trowel in hand, dropped into soil, to
– the givers at church, check in hand, dropped it in the plate, to
– our food pantry and clothing closet volunteers, happily meeting the needs of God’s children, regardless of who those children may be, to
– our facilities team, scurrying about, beautifying this space with assorted tools and gifts too numerous to name.

All of them giving, in so many ways. And doing so cheerfully.

All of them bringing people together, in right relationship with our Creator. In right relationship with each other. Helping, in ways great and small, to remake this world.

Reforming it closer to Eden.
As originally designed.
As promised, once again.

God is able to provide you with every blessing, in abundance, the scripture continues. So that, always having enough, of everything, you may share, abundantly, in every good work.

It sounds like we’ve been blessed, mightily.

It sounds like we’ve been called to share, mightily.

Generosity
In preparing this message I noticed a difference in the language used for the fruits of the spirit. While many modern translations use the word goodness to describe this fruit, many others opt, instead, for generosity.

This difference caused me to go back and check the language as recorded in the original Greek. The Greek term, agathos, is translated active goodness, or generosity. It connotes actively doing good deeds.

After seeing this distinction I can no longer decouple the two. Goodness is generosity. It is active, not passive. God gives us goodness. We are then called to be generous with that, sharing our abundance with others.

Not out of obligation. For that only causes bitterness. But by giving, cheerfully.

Goodness is in the doing. Whether it’s with our hands or our wallets. When we act in goodness we follow the heart of God.

Reiman
For the many of you familiar with Reiman Gardens you know the ending to this story. Those thousands and thousands of tulip bulbs will get planted, one way or another. The master gardeners there will care for those beds with precision, making sure the soil, water and sunlight are mixed together with just the right blend.

And when spring comes you’ll drive, or bike or walk by and see the result.

You’ll appreciate the pop of newness coming from dormant earth.
You’ll be met with awestruck wonder, at a tapestry of brilliant colors.
You’ll experience, firsthand, death to life Easter resurrection.

And for those that gathered for the planting, with gloves and mat and trowel, you’ll look upon this flowery landscape even more fondly. Knowing you’ve given, both as individuals and as a community, generously, to beautify God’s world. Helping make it possible for others to be renewed as well.

Garden
Our faith tradition teaches God is the creator of all that is, caring for all our needs. Providing the sun, the soil, the rain, the tulip bulb seeds. Providing everything needed to reclaim this world’s beauty, as it was in the beginning, and shall be again.

God then sent a Son, the master instructor, the Christ. The instructor showed us, in the flesh, how to plant the seeds of love, joy, peace. Patience, kindness, goodness. Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Christ then shared with us God’s Spirit. She who leads us back to the garden, if only we will follow.

God’s work is happening in, and through this place. And God’s work, to reclaim this world that God so loves, one way or another, will happen. The work has been planned, to perfection. The divine job, of reclamation, will get done. Tho God could certainly use some gardeners, to help plant all these live-giving seeds.

Will you be one?
Will you be active in goodness and generosity?

If so –

Head out to the garden.
Get on your knees.
Grab a trowel.
And cheerfully begin. Amen.

One morning, in early 1971, on a Steinway piano, in a bedroom in Berkshire England, Beatles alum John Lennon composed a song.

The song’s word count is less than grand, clocking in at a mere 129 words. The song’s length, at just over three minutes, is nothing grandiose either. The song didn’t even take that long to produce. A handful of musicians practiced for a few hours, recording only three takes before choosing one for release.

Tho quick to compose, short in length and simple to produce, the song has left quite a mark these past five decades. It became the best-selling single of John Lennon’s solo career. It’s topped multiple music charts globally. And more than 200 artists have recorded cover versions of it, to date, including the likes of Elton John, David Bowie, and Queen.

Heck, the original music video was digitally remastered a couple of years ago, and has already been viewed on YouTube almost 125 million times. Pretty impressive for content almost fifty years old.

So what makes Lennon’s inspiration that 1971 morning so memorable?

Perhaps it’s the song’s title, a lyric repeated six times in the tune, more than any other word.

Here Lennon asks us to imagine a world of different design. One with nothing to kill or die for. One with no greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man. All the people, sharing all the world.

Can you imagine?

The song even asks us to imagine a world with no heaven or hell; theological constructs that won’t be challenged or explored here. Those are questions worth pondering and expanding on separately, for sure.

Yet when asked about the song’s meaning during an interview, Lennon says he was given a Christian prayer book that inspired the concept behind the song.

The lyrics contain a depth of Christian ethos that simply can’t be ignored.

“Imagine all the people, living life in peace,” he envisions.

Can you imagine?

Marks
Romans 12:9-21 has a heading, in many modern biblical translations, of Marks Of The True Christian. A quick count among these thirteen verses reveal no less than twenty-three separate marks. Each imperative an important aspect of Christianity, that, when applied as not merely belief but behavior, provides a visible sign, for all to see, of your faith in action.

Bless those who persecute you;
Rejoice with those who rejoice;
Weep with those who weep;
Contribute to the needs of the saints;
Extend hospitality to strangers.

And that’s just five of them. They make for great memes; bitesize takeaways of wisdom, readily quoted on the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest.

There’s so much meat in this short passage it well could be a twenty-three-week sermon series. Or a six-hour message. You are hereby absolved of experiencing either ?

Instead, let’s home in on just one imperative from this section. Just one verse, 18. Just fifteen little words.

If it is possible,
So far as it depends on you,
Live peaceably with all.

Peace
Which kind of makes me wonder, at first blush, and second, and third – is it possible to live peaceably with all? I mean if Paul had more confidence we Christians could, his word count in this verse could have been cut by a factor of four.

Live peaceably with all.

That sounds so much simpler.
So much cleaner.
So much more readily memed.

But Paul, as excellent of a God-inspired writer as he is, doesn’t leave it that concise, does he. And we’re left to wonder why.

Paul, of course, had the arc of human history up until that point to reflect on.

A history where Jacob steals from Esau, Israelites enslaved, Christ crucified.
A history where lands are pillaged, people plundered.
A history of oppression, genocide and patriarchies for the few.

Yikes.

No wonder Paul linguistically hedged his bets.

The past two millennia arguably haven’t been much better. Crusades, World Wars and concentration camps, oh my.

If peace were more commonplace in our world, there probably wouldn’t be awards like the Nobel Peace prize. We celebrate the rare and unique, not the normal.

Imagine this unlikely exchange:
Hey man, you living peaceably with all? Yeah bro, you? Totally. Sweet! Wanna grab lunch?
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Heck, John Lennon, he of the vaulted Imagine song, was murdered in 1980, by a self-described born-again Christian, Mark David Chapman.

Oh the irony. What a fate for a musical genius preaching a gospel of world peace.

If living peaceably with all isn’t the norm then perhaps it’s worth looking at exceptions. Places where peace, against all odds, prevails. Here’s one.

Lancaster
On the morning of Monday, October 2, 2006, in a small, rural one-room Amish schoolhouse, in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, hostages were taken. Soon after gunshots then rang out. And by the time the 42-minute ordeal was over gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV had shot eight girls, ages 6-13, killing five, before turning the gun on himself.

On the surface, this is but one more example of the senseless loss of life due to gun violence. One more case among thousands. One more mass shooting. One more symptom, of a fully American illness we have yet to properly diagnose, much less treat.

Is it possible to live peaceably with all?

If this were the end of the story the answer is fairly clear.

But, as you may already know, there’s more to this particular school shooting.

The Amish are best known for their simple living, plain clothing, their reluctance to adopt modern conveniences like cars, television, and the internet.

Less known is how importantly the Amish take their faith, bringing it into practice in all they do. This small Christian sect lives together in tight-knit communities, which makes their faithful belief in grace, forgiveness and nonresistance not abstract concepts, but instead, for the Amish, a daily way of life.

Here’s a few examples of what that looked like, in the midst of this horrible tragedy.

• On the day of the shooting, a grandfather of one of the Amish girls warned relatives not to hate the killer, saying, “We must not think evil of this man.”
• An Amish neighbor comforted the killer’s widow, Marie Roberts and her children, mere hours after the shooting, extending forgiveness to them.
• About thirty members of the Amish community attended the killer’s funeral.
• Marie Roberts was even invited to the funeral of one of the victims.
• Amazingly, the Amish community in Lancaster then set up a charitable fund for Marie’s family. This, for a family that would be forever linked with the killing of five of their Amish daughters.

Reflecting back on the experience Marie Roberts wrote an open letter to her Amish neighbors, thanking them for their response. She wrote:

“Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. Gifts you’ve given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world, and for this we sincerely thank you.”

Is it possible to live peaceably with all? How this Amish Christian community approached the darkest of days, with grace, forgiveness, and mercy suggests yes.

Help
That kind of peaceful response to a violent world can’t happen without some help from above. History suggests that, left to our own devices, our own broken, selfish human nature, peace is virtually impossible.

God knows. So do Jacob and Moses and Paul and the Amish of Lancaster county.

Which is why God sent a Son, the Christ. A teacher who modeled right relationship with God, with us. A Prince of Peace who showed us how to live peaceably with all. A savior who shared with us the winds of the Spirit that day in the upper room. Spirited winds that still blow strong, pulling us toward a path of peace we need only follow.

Who
Can you live peaceably with friends, family, coworkers?
With the immigrant, both near and far?
With the poor, the hungry, the homeless?
With the straight, the gay, the trans?
With the black, the white, the brown?
With the church member with whom you disagree?

Living peaceably with all, if it is possible, is, after all, a mark of a true Christian.

Yet in a culture that values taking an eye for an eye, and a tweet for a tweet, we, as a people, find it incredibly easy to weaponize words, and then fire them back at each other.

And we, as a people, find it incredibly hard to practice this way of peace.

Our violence, in this way, is not of God.

Is it possible to live peaceably with all?

Imagine all the people,
Living life in peace.

You may say that I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one,
I hope someday you’ll join us,
And the world will be as one.

With playbook in hand, and guidance right here, living peaceably, with all, depends, ultimately, on you. Amen.

A reimagining of Psalm 98, as delivered at Bethesda’s 2019 Oktoberfest polka worship service

O sing to the Lord,
a new song!
Such marvelous things,
God has done.

Old songs are good,
hear me out,
the Amazing Graces,
and Mighty Fortresses,
and Blessed Assurances –

will be with us,
and treasured
forevermore.

But God is here,
among us,
right here,
right now,

And has done,
and is doing,
will do again,
marvelous, new things.

And that newness,
can’t help
but sound,
well, different.

This new song
turns up the volume,
while it whispers.
And gets your attention
In ways,
That just might surprise.

This new song
stirs from within,
a joy,
for the season,
of life,
we find ourselves in.

This new song
might just cause
you to clap,
or dance,
or even yodel;

to the sounds,
of an accordion?

God is doing new things!

It is easy
to sing
when things go well.

But singing,
when all –
Is.Not.Well.

Can be hard.

When shelter is scarce.
When some go hungry.
With sickness untreated.

Countries look inward,
not out.

We know
in these moments,
we feel
deep within,
God has more
to do,
in our lands.

It is then
where we reach,
to the heavens,
hands lifted high,
to make.some.noise.

A Joyful Noise,
to the Lord,
of all the earth,
breaks forth;
from us,
to our Creator,
we praise.

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Or harp,
or trumpet,
and worship,
the timeless one.

With music of polka?
Yes, even *that*

Sing your praises
to the One above,
to the One among us,
present with us,
right here, right now.

Raise a toast,
celebrate,
a marvelous God,
that hears prayers,
and listens,
when we call.

Cheer a God, that,
sees our flaws,
sees how we harm,
one another,
and points us,
in better directions.

This God sees us,
as.we.are.
And knows,
how much more,
we could be.

And knows,
the chasm,
that exists,
between reality,
and design.

To bridge,
that gap,
once and for all –

God sent a Son
born of human flesh,
yet fully divine,
to live,
and teach,
and die,
among us.

To model
what it means,
to be
in right relationship,
with our Maker;
with each other.

This Son,
The Christ,
Then rose –

From the dead.

And brings new life!

For you,
and you
and you.

So let rivers roar!
Cobs of corn,
clap your hands!
Rolling hills,
sing together,
for joy.

So let us sing!
In good times,
and bad,
knowing God’s work,
here on earth,
isn’t yet done,

So let us sing!
Not because,
we’re happy,
or sad,
instead sing,
for God’s given us,
Song.

Fifteen years ago Elizabeth Gilbert found herself in a pivotal moment. In her mid-30s, by many measures, she was a success. Elizabeth was married, a homeowner, and a published author. Her books were well-reviewed, with good sales, and had even won some awards. But in the middle of all this worldly goodness her marriage failed. And she found herself questioning most everything that had led up to this place.

Feeling lost, confused, and searching for purpose Elizabeth did something drastic. She took a cash advance from her publisher, dropped everything she knew, and embarked on a year-long journey from America to Italy, India, and Indonesia.

Eat
In Italy she learned to speak a new language, and quickly made friends; sharing, laughing and crying with them like she’d known them her whole life. She ate gelato with nuns, drank good wine, and feasted on figs and salmon. She dove into authentic Sicilian pizza and exotic pasta dishes with wild abandon. She put on a few pounds from these great meals and, perhaps for the first time in her life, decided not to worry about it.

One of the Italian phrases she picked up was Dolce far Niente, or the sweetness of doing nothing. Elizabeth now understood, and could embrace, a personal sabbath. Far away from her problems, in both space and time, she began to heal.

Pray
Elizabeth then went to India to spend some time at a Hindu temple. It was there she learned how to build spiritual practice into daily routines. She clapped and swayed and embraced the temple liturgy, right alongside hundreds of others. She meditated. She scrubbed floors, practicing selfless devotion. She stopped trying, and surrendered, finding herself surrounded by grace. Most importantly she learned how to forgive others. And to forgive herself.

Elizabeth had found something that had eluded her for years.

She was now at peace.

Love
Elizabeth’s last stop on this spiritual journey abroad was in Bali. Somewhat predictably, she fell in love. But it was her friendship with a local single mother and her daughter where the best love story begins.

Elizabeth’s birthday was coming up soon. And instead of planning an expensive birthday party for herself, with friends bringing gifts and bottles of wine, she decided to do something different. So she emailed friends back home, explained the plight of the single mother and young daughter Elizabeth had grown fond of, and explained that they needed a home. Her friends responded, and before you know it $18,000 came in. It was enough for a modest home for this small family in Bali. Elizabeth, while there, had learned how to love others.

After heading home from her travels Elizabeth wrote a book about her year abroad, which later became a major motion picture. You may have heard of it; both the book and movie go by the title Eat, Pray, Love. This title served as an abbreviated set of cliff notes for how she found herself, in those three little words. Eat. Pray. Love.

Beginnings
Two millennia ago the early Christian church found themselves in a pivotal moment too. After his death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus’ time on earth was now complete. And that created some anxiety, unknowns, and uncertainty for his followers.

Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit, the active presence of God in our world, would be with them. As the disciples gathered in the upper room that day the Holy Spirit did just that, descending on the 120, giving them new tongues, new boldness, new purpose.

Peter, the Rock upon which Christ would build his church, then preached. And it must have been a pretty good sermon, because 3,000 were baptized into the community of believers that day. Aka enough to make many a modern-day preacher, including this one, downright jealous ?

With Jesus no longer with them, the Holy Spirit now here, disciples preaching, numbers being added daily, change was in the air. The first congregation had been formed. But what now? How then shall we live?

Before the creeds, crusades and colonialization, before the bloodshed Christianity would later cause, before all this there was, in all its beauty, the early Christian church. An early church documented really well in Acts 2.

An early church, complete with high ideals, that is really is something to behold.

Verse 42 from today’s passage gives this neat little summary of what an ideal church is to be. Early Christ-followers were all about four things – teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. And without too much effort those four traits of the early church could be rephrased into something that more resembles that Elizabeth Gilbert book title, albeit with one more.

Eat, Pray, Love, Learn.

Fellowship is, after all, loving one another through the bonds of shared community.

Those four words, summarizes verse 42, and serves as an abbreviated set of cliff notes as well. It’s how God finds us, in our daily lives, through our local congregation. And it comes from the very earliest list of the marks of the church – characteristics beyond confessing Jesus as Lord that identifies the church as, well, the church.

Eat. Pray. Love. Learn.

Blessed
Today begins a short three-week stewardship sermon series, Blessed To Be a Blessing. Each week we’ll delve into stewardship as seen through the lens of our mission statement to Gather, Grow, and Go.

And yes, this series lines up with our annual stewardship campaign launching later this month ?

Today we focus on what it means to Gather all people into relationship with Jesus.

So what I’d like to do for a bit is to reflect on how Bethesda models this idyllic Acts 2 faith community. And share what that looks like for us, in the flesh. Oh we don’t always get it right, we are merely human after all. Tho we do share these basic building blocks of Christian community with the early church.

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So what does that look like for us? Something like this…

Eat
First, we eat. Oh, do we eat here. From Café Bethesda to Sunday coffee to food on a stick to Oktoberfest brats to Scandinavian kringle, whew, we eat! Gathering, over food, is a central part of what we do. If there’s churchy happening you better believe there will be food.

But it’s more than that. Today’s scripture says the early church devoted themselves to the breaking of bread. That’s a not-too-subtle reference to the Eucharist. This is my body, Christ says, given for you. This is my blood, shed for you. Do this, in remembrance of me. And we do that here, during each of our weekend services. In this way we take Christ into us, becoming one with our Lord.

Pray
Next, we pray. You’re probably most familiar with our prayers during service. Prayer is baked right into liturgy, around our offerings, communion, and during the prayers of the people. But we pray, in so many other settings, together, throughout the week, as well. We pray before meals, and before and after most church meetings. We pray during church council, asking God to guide us to where this congregation should go.

My favorite prayer-time is something unseen by most; we pray in person at hospitals and assisted living communities and hospice settings; we pray for people experiencing all kinds of physical and mental challenges. We make sure people know God is with them, as are we, no matter their needs. This prayer is intimate, often private, and filled with sacred beauty.

Love
We churchy types of course know how to love. Or at least we aspire to in all we do. We love through simply gathering together in fellowship, becoming part of each other’s lives. We do that over coffee hour, and during special events like the Splashfest this past Wednesday, where many of you attempted to soak one of your pastors by dropping them in the dunk tank.

We love, through fellowship, during all sorts of funky gatherings across the year, during Trunk or Treat, Beer & Carols, and the Egg Hunt too. Where two or more are gathered, Christ reminds us, I am with them. At Bethesda we aspire to bring people together, as much as we can, as a visible reminder of how Christ is present with us. A quick look at our church calendar reveals we do an awful lot of that.

Learn
Finally, we gather together to learn. We learn through preaching, through bible study, through the many small groups that meet here. We learn through our Sunday Splash for Elementary kids, Oasis Confirmation for Middle Schoolers, and our Flood High School group too. We learn, together, how to apply ancient biblical tenants into our modern daily lives.

And we learn through our Voyagers Adult forum that meets most Sunday mornings, right after service. The forum explores all sorts of current topics, the first one of the fall is next week; I’d encourage you to check them out.

Give
You may have noticed, that for a stewardship message, we haven’t even talked about money once! That, my friends, is now about to change ?

For in the midst of today’s text is this other, fifth mark of the early church.

“All who believed were together, and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods, and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.”

And there it is: a community that takes care of itself financially, and cares for others, as any had need.

Today’s text suggests this financial giving, this shared sense of caring for one another, is a natural response to being fully immersed in the life of your faith community.

Close
As we begin our Fall stewardship season let me encourage you, people of God, to reflect on this ancient, biblical model of gathering for church.

Eat, Pray, Love, Learn, and Give.

While Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray Love is considered by many a really good book, and at least a decent movie, you don’t have to spend a year in Europe or Asia to find your purpose.

That’s because your purpose, as a beloved child of God, begins locally.

Your purpose, as a beloved child of God, begins with gathering alongside other Christ followers. And you can do so, with great frequency, right here.

We eat, together, sustaining both our earthly vessels and our spiritual souls through the rite of communion.

We pray, in service, in groups, as families, and alone, connecting with God for all our needs.

We love, through fellowship, though joining others in community, through modeling how Christ loves us.

And we learn, through preaching and the study of scripture; applying those insights to our daily lives.

For it is in the eating, and praying, and loving, and learning, that we do through this congregation, that we are led to this next most important of spiritual practices.

With hearts and minds and stomachs and souls now full, we then give back. For it is in this act, of giving, we show thanks to our Creator God, and Savior Christ, acknowledging all that has been done, for us.  Amen.