Today we go off script for a week as we take a break from our reading of Mark’s gospel and pause to honor the life and legacy of St Francis. Most of us know Francis as the great lover of animals, the patron saint of pet blessings and gardens the world over, but there’s a lot more to Francis than just his love of plants and animals.
He was a real-live person of faith. He put his money where his mouth was. Or, in this case, he put his father’s money away and turned his back on wealth and privilege to live with the exiled and excluded of the world: the poor, the sick, the needy. His tremendous faith attracted many followers in 13th century Italy and soon an order of monks was established in his name, and not too long after that, an order of nuns was also formed, both following his rule of life. The Franciscan rule of life is pretty simple and is aptly summed up in the prayer attributed to Francis (although written by a follower several generations after his death-- if you care to follow along turn to pg 833 of the BCP):
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
It’s a powerful prayer that, I think, exemplifies the spirit of Francis and gives us all a roadmap for living faithful Christian lives.
You see we ARE God’s instruments on this earth. We’re stewards of God’s creation, caretakers, oversee-ers, nurturers of what God has entrusted to us. And as vigilant and loyal stewards we are called to be more than bystanders, more than spectators. We are called to be involved, we are called to get our hands dirty, we are called to leave creation in better shape than we found it, because that’s what good stewards do.
Francis was a great steward of creation and, by following the directives of this simple prayer, we can be too.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love.
There’s a lot of hate in our world—there’s the big hates: religious, social and cultural intolerance resulting in the killing of thousands upon thousands the world over: the murder of girls by the Taliban for wanting an education, a gay man in Uganda lynched for expressing his identity with honesty, Christians killing Muslims, Jews killing Christians, Muslims killing Jews all in the name of God--there are big capital H hates in our world. We must pray for all that hate to stop, we must pray for the victims, we must pray for the perpetrators. But there are also lots of other more subtle hates going on. Some right in our back yard. There’s the ever-present issue of bullying, evident in our schools and on our playgrounds, but also playing out in work places and at the family dinner table. Anywhere someone uses their position of power to intimidate, threaten, demean or demoralize a person---child or adult---bullying is occurring. It used to be said that bullies could be stopped if we ignored them. But as we’ve learned in the past year, since the death of Jamey Rodemeyer and the witness of so many others is that bullies need to be confronted by those of us sitting here today. We must identify and name the bullying, we must become more than bystanders we must be sowers of Love.
For where there is hatred, we must sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon;
we make mistakes. We hurt others. And others hurt us. When we’ve been hurt we must learn to forgive. Not forget, but forgive. Pardoning someone means we stop punishing them. It doesn’t remove the hurt, it doesn’t excuse the hurt, but it stops the cycle in it’s tracks. Our burden is lessened when we off load the piles of resentment we carry around. Where there is injury, sow pardon.
Where there is discord, union---have a relationship that needs mending? Try mending it…if it can’t be mended, if it’s too risky to mend it then move on….stop feeding the discord, stop opening the wound…..
where there is discord, sow union.
Where there is doubt, faith;--we all have doubt. Anyone of faith has times of doubt…but, as I’ve mentioned before when you’re feeling faithful, carry the doubt of those feeling faithless. You see, by carrying the burden of doubt on your broad shoulders of faith, you’re giving that other person a chance to see faith in action. Seeing faith at work is the surest way of finding one’s way back to it.
Where there is doubt, sow faith.
Where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
Our job, as Christians is to shine the light of Christ wherever we go, to help those in the depths of despair know that there is a way forward, there is light at the end of the tunnel there is at least one person in the world who, through their own acts of prayer and service, cares that you are hurt, that you are mournful, that you are sad.
Where there is darkness, sow the light of Christ.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Folks, this prayer isn’t simply a suggestion, this prayer is more than a guide, this prayer is deeper than platitudes. This prayer is the Gospel message. This prayer is always the way to the Good news. This prayer is the heart and soul of our faith journey. These words are our marching orders. Let’s get busy sowing the legacy of Francis and reaping the gifts of God. Amen.
[1]
This idea was gleaned from the writings of Jaimie Marzullo, “Writings from the
City Line,” firstcityline.wordpress: CALL
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September 30, 2012, 8:17 pm
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