October 13, 2024 | Rev. Loren McGrail
I want to start with a story about wild blueberries. It’s a true story. A few years ago, I was hired to be the minister in charge during a minister’s sabbatical. The story takes place in Grand Marais Minnesota---a small town full of retirees, artists, and bears. The office manager of the church asked if I wanted to go blueberry picking. She said she knew a good spot that was not known to others. You see wild blueberries grow best after a fire. They like the ashen soil and the fallen tree limbs to hide under. She was a serious vegetable gardener and fed her family from the garden plot at the Pastor’s house where I was staying. I knew that blueberry picking was not just something fun to do but that it would require literally filling the whole bucket so she could make pies and jams for her family. When we got to the secret place, she noted sadly that most of the berries had already been taken. Others had gotten there before us leaving nothing behind.
That Sunday at church I brought in my greed chalice and filled it with berries. I was going to use this story as an example of what happens when people take more than they need and how it leaves others with less. But just as I was about to launch into my rebuke, I saw one of the women noisily handing out baggies of blueberries she had picked for the people who couldn’t go picking anymore due to arthritis or bad knees. I couldn’t go on with my message of rebuke, so I emptied the greed cup onto the communion bread and then shared, blueberries, bread, and grape juice that day. Blueberries and broken bread will always be one of my most favorite shared meals.
This story connects to another story about berries. This story comes from the Indigenous writer Robin Wall Kimmer who wrote the novel Braiding with Sweetgrass and a wonderful essay about how serviceberries are loved by birds and people alike and how they make for great pies---pies which are then shared with others. Before continuing let me say something about the name. These delicious berries are called serviceberries because they first appear when the ground has thawed, and one can then have burial services again.
Indigenous wisdom sees the plant world as our elders who gift us with their fruit which then is expected to be shared with others. Kimmer explains the cycle like this: “I accept the gift from the bush and then spread that gift with a dish of berries to my neighbor, who makes a pie to share with his friend, who feels so wealthy in food and friendship that he volunteers at the food pantry. You know how it goes.”
The first step is believing that Spirit, God, is the original gift giver who has made a world that is enough if it is shared. This is what Kimmer calls “the economy of abundance.” It begins by seeing everything as a gift and not as commodities or products. Dear Ones, are you able to do this? Imagine how different our world would be if we began here.
When we are in the presence of gifts and gift giving, gratitude is our first response. So today Dear Ones, I would like to lift up our own Holmdel UCC gift making operation from our crafty women who have been working hard to create gifts that you didn’t know you needed or that would express your love for loved ones. Since they haven’t baked their pies yet, we can’t share them together like in Kimmer’s story, but there will be a sampling of the berry jams in coffee hour to remind us of how delicious and grateful we are to have folks in our congregation who have taken the time to make things for us not only to consume only but to share with others. Dear Ones, let us give thanks for our crafters who out of love have created our very own gift economy which has the added bonus of supporting our church so it can continue to be a place that manifests God’s love in the world. We are a church that gives through sharing the fruits of the vine both as wine and now jams and pies.
In this same spirit, Eric, inspired by this story of sharing, gifted me with a box of wonderful chocolates that are made from ingredients found in pies. These are chocolates of the finest quality. I will be sharing them at the back of the church. Thank you, Eric for sharing your love and extending your love of chocolate to us.
So, Dear Ones, what does this have to do with the rich young man who couldn’t give up his wealth and give it to the poor? Everything. We miss the meaning of this story about wealth if we see it only as a story of how we must sell everything and give it to the poor if we want to get into heaven. Some have done this, taken a vow of poverty. Saint Francis is one who literally stripped off his expensive robes and walked naked through the streets of Assi before founding his Franciscan order. Giving all to the poor can take many forms, Dear Ones, not only giving everything a way. Instead of spending your wealth on expensive rides to space, once could spend their wealth on helping or supporting others. Take Dolly Parton for example who has spent 150 million dollars on books for libraries for children. This is on top of her large charitable donations to Ukraine and other humanitarian aid organizations.
The young rich man in our Gospel thought the key to heaven was being good, following the commandments. He even addressed Jesus as “good master” because he thought this was the measuring stick used to earn eternal life. Jesus immediately and patiently rebuked him reminding him that only God was good, God our creator. He then pointed out to the young man who he loved that he who had everything lacked one thing---trust in God, God’s love to provide. You see it wasn’t only that he needed to give away his wealth to the poor; he needed to shed his attachment to his wealth so he could have a more dependent relationship with God which then allow him to share his wealth with others as a sharing of God’s abundance. This is the Christian version of what Kimmer is talking about.
Dear Ones, our charge this morning, is not to give it all away but to find ways to share what we have especially with those who are without or lacking. Eternal life is not up in heaven but possible here on earth when we share God’s gifts with others as gifts not charity. The kin-dom of God is here when we share the harvest of berries; when we break bread together; when we share our lovely sanctuary with others to affirm love and marriages; when we take only what we need, and then share the gifts of creation with others by gifting them forward so all may have enough. In God all things are possible. And then, Dear Ones, all of God’s beloved children will experience gratitude and go out smiling, whispering, shouting, singing, and dancing thank you, thank you, thank you.