Reflection March 24, 2019

Isaiah 55:1-11/ Luke 13:6-9

As the Seeds are Meant for Growing…

I’m not sure if you remember this day, but one Sunday, for the story time, I brought a tiny pot with a bean planted and watered. That day, I said to the children, “Let’s see how this bean grows!” I didn’t do a follow-up because that bean was a dud; nothing happened. It didn’t grow into anything. I thought of what I could have done to help it grow, and there may or may not have been a way. Correct me if I’m wrong because I’m not much of a gardener, but I think some seeds are just not meant to survive and grow. I want to ask those of you who are master gardeners; was there something I could have done to help the bean grow?

Today’s scripture readings are full of farming and gardening metaphors. Today’s Isaiah and Luke passages teach us that our relationships both with God and with each other are like growing plants or crops. First, Isaiah 55 talks of God’s vision of equality and justice and God’s expectation for God’s people to yield the fruit of justice according to God’s will. God’s kingdom is where those with no money can come and be fed; this is the beginning part of the chapter about God’s vision of a just society. Now, listen to verses 10 and 11; “ For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” If we have heard God’s words, we are expected to live by them and work towards bringing God’s justice to the world. The positive changes we make in the world are the fruit we are expected to produce. 

In the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree, we meet a gardener pleading with the owner of the vineyard to let him give his barren tree another chance. He will take extra care to help the tree produce fruit before the owner decides to cut it down. There is something we don’t know while reading this parable, but this parable came out of the context of some people asking if the Galileans who were killed by Pilate were worse sinners than those who didn’t get killed. We often ask this question, don’t we? “Why do bad things happen to certain people?” I remember, whenever a big natural disaster hits a region and a lot of people die or get displaced, somewhere someone claims that it was God’s judgement. Anyway, Jesus telling this parable came from a context where people wondered if the victims of Pilate’s massacre were punished for being bigger sinners than those who survived. 

That was the context of today’s parable. Now, moving away from the tragedy talk, let us think about privilege and those with privileges in our world. Why do some people have more privilege than others? Why do some people suffer more than others? Why are some people more marginalized than others? Is it because they are more or less worthy than other? According to the story Jesus tells today, “No.” More fragile trees receive more care. Maybe this is to teach us that having more privilege means having to do more and produce more fruit than those who don’t have the same privilege. Let us listen to James 3:1 that says those who teach will be judged with greater strictness. It means those with more privilege have more responsibilities, and since they have more responsibilities, they are expected to do more and better than others. If we have received more from God than others, it means God is giving us more responsibilities. 

Starting from this Lent, and throughout our lives, let us grow and become strong and healthy trees that produce a lot of good fruit. Let us grow in our faith and turn into faithful disciples who live by the teachings of Jesus. We are called to grow in faith and be the hands and feet for Christ in the world. Later, we will sing the hymn “As a Fire Is Meant for Burning”. It says, “As a fire is meant for burning with a bright and warming flame, so the church is meant for mission, giving glory to God’s name.” As the seeds are meant to grow into trees and fruit, we Christians are meant to grow in faith and become the embodiment of Christ so that our Christian lives can give glory to God’s name by bringing God’s love and justice here on earth. God gave us the responsibility to bring the reign of God here on earth. This Lent, let us focus on growing in God’s Spirit to produce the fruit of God’s reign of love, humility and justice for the all people. 

Rev. Sunny Kim

Reflection Feb. 24, 2019

Isaiah 43:18-19/ Matthew 5:13-16

Let Us Build a House Together

Once there was an old king with three beautiful daughters. He decided to give the most beautiful of his three kingdoms to the daughter who loved him the most. The first daughter said, “I love you, dear father, like a dove loves good grain.” The second daughter said, “I love you as a hot summer day loves a cool breeze.” The youngest daughter said, “I love you like people love salt.” “What do you mean salt? You ungrateful child! Is this what I raised and loved you for all these years? Get out of my sight!” She was shunned from the palace. She hid in the forest and survived by collecting nuts and berries. One day, a prince from a neighboring kingdom found the princess in the forest, fell in love because of her beauty, and brought her back to his palace, and married her. Years have passed, and one day the prince asked her why her father chased her away. After listening to her, he had the idea to invite her father over for a visit, without telling him that his daughter was there. The prince served the king food with no salt. The king got upset about it. The prince said, “I heard that you don’t like salt, sire.” “Who told you that?” “Why, your daughter, sire.” And then the daughter appeared, the king shed tears of joy, and gave his most beautiful kingdom to his youngest daughter. And they all lived happily ever after. 

There are so many things that are wrong in this Hungarian folk tale, which I will not mention; I just want to focus on the power of salt. We think of salt as adding flavours to our food, but it does so much more than that. It prevents food from going bad, especially when refrigerators didn’t exist. Salt even enhances the sweet flavour in sweets; so much so that salty chocolate and caramel became a thing. Salt does all this without boasting, melted and not seen. 

When Jesus says we are the salt of the world, we could understand it in different ways, but the most important thing we should understand in us being the salt of the world is that we should get into the world, be melted in, and make the world better like salt prevents food from going bad. As the salt of the world, we fight social evil and heal the people. Salt is essential to us and good for a lot of things, even though too much salt can kill us according to the doctors. Salt is meant for melting, while light is meant for shining and revealing. The whole point of light is to shine so it can be seen. I remember the story of a Christian man during WWII who saved hundreds of Jewish children’s lives. He was like the salt, saving lives in secret. Then some decades later, the list of the children he saved was discovered, and his good deed was revealed through a TV program where he was invited as well as the children who were saved by him. He was invited to the show under false pretenses. They just surprised him. This event where his good deed was revealed to the world is like light. We learned about what he did and were inspired by it. As the salt of the world, we should heal; as the light of the world, we should inspire. 

As the church, we are called to be the salt and the light of the world. Today, we will have our Annual General Meeting. You might feel hesitant or intimidated by the idea of participating in the church leadership. The society has changed so much that we don’t know how to be the church anymore. Our United Church of Canada is going through a major change by which all the pastoral charges are affected. Actually, we are not called pastoral charges anymore; we are now communities of faith. In this time of change and confusion, what we need the most is a new vision for our ministries. For a new vision, we need to trust in God more. Let us trust in God who is doing a new thing; God who makes a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Let us not fret and be anxious because God helps and delivers, as we read in Psalm 37. With our meeting today, let us trust God, pray for a new vision, pray for our leaders, and support our leaders and our ministries with our love for God. Let us build a house together where all are welcome and the members live as salt and light in the world into which God sends us.

Rev. Sunny Kim

Reflection Feb. 10, 2019

Isaiah 6:1-8/ Luke 5:1-11

Encounter with the Sacred

A teacher of the spiritual way was walking along a path near a river when he noticed a crowd of people a short distance ahead. When he reached the place where they were gathered, he realized that they were looking with awe at one of his students who was crossing the river by walking on water. Incensed, he called the student back to the shore, and put him on a ferry that was tied to a nearby dock. “This,” he said emphatically, “is how you cross a river!” This story, which is quoted in Tom Stella’s book CPR for the Soul addresses our common misconception that spirituality belongs to a realm above and beyond everyday life. The student’s immaturity made him think that a flashy act like walking on water was a sign of great spirituality. But the maturity of the teacher knew that a mundane thing like crossing a river in a boat, and all normal things, are sacred. 

Likewise, we tend to think that the encounter with God happens through supernatural ways. Well, why not? The stories we read from the Bible have God’s people meeting the divine in a burning bush, through an angel’s visit telling you that your son will be the saviour, or in a blinding light on the road to Damascus, which is what the Bible says that happened to Paul. Today, we met two men who encountered the divine. We met Isaiah and Simon Peter being called. Isaiah’s story has all the elements of supernatural appearance of the divine, with the angels. If God met with everyone in this fashion, there would be no doubt, would there? But in a lot of cases, this is not how it happens. Think of Simon Peter who needed some time until he could recognize the divine. It took a while because he encountered the divine in an ordinary town near the lake, in his ordinary fishing boat, and in a poor man named Jesus. 

These two men encountered the divine in different manners, but their reaction and response at realizing they were face-to-face with the divine was the same. Facing the divine, they were filled with awe and fear; fear that they were unworthy. Isaiah confessed his unclean lips; Peter asked Jesus to leave him because “I am a sinful man.” God asked, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me.” Jesus told Simon, “From now on, you will be catching people.” You see, this fishing metaphor makes perfect sense to Simon because he is a fisherman. His response to the call of Jesus was that he left everything at the height of his career and followed him. 

As we can learn from these two men’s stories, there are certain things that happen to us when God comes to us and calls us. The first step is awe because we are only human. The second step is fear because we realize how small and unworthy we are in the face of the divine. The third step is God telling us, “I think you are worthy, so do not be afraid.” Jesus told Simon not to be afraid and called him. He was encouraging Simon that since he’s a good fisherman, he will do well “catching” people too. Isaiah’s unclean lips got cleansed, ready to go out and proclaim God’s words. God doesn’t call us and send us out, wherever we are sent, unprepared; hence, “do-not-be-afraid.”

From Simon’s story, we learn two things; first, it takes time and discernment to recognize the presence and call of God because God meets us through ordinary and unexpected things and people. Second, Jesus demands radical discipleship. His disciples, not only Peter, abandoned everything to follow Jesus. Think of Zebedee whose two sons James and John left everything to travel with Jesus; how is the father going to carry on with the fishing job now? They all had to give up their life security to follow Jesus. I also felt scared and insecure when I quit my comfortable teaching job and moved to New Jersey to study theology. God’s work requires unrelenting commitment and sometimes we have to make a radical change in our lives, from having to move to a new place to changing job situations. In turbulent and unjust societies, it could include going to jail or being persecuted in other scary ways while you work for justice. 

It seems all serious and solemn following Jesus when we hear of the possible sacrifices we might have to make, but if there is one thing I want you to remember today, it is that God tells us not to be afraid. God who calls us knows that we will need all the help we can get in living as disciples. As we go through changes as the church, listen for God’s call for you to be a part of our church’s ministry. Listen to God’s words, “Do not be afraid.” For the next two weeks until the Annual General Meeting, I invite you to look and listen for God’s presence in the ordinary and mundane, and ask God, “Into which part of our church’s ministry do you call me?” I pray that you will listen for God’s call and have the courage to respond like Isaiah did; “Here am I. Send me,” in the knowledge and assurance that God who calls you will also help and equip you.

Rev. Sunny Kim