We Are Each Other s Harvest Sunday, May 1, 2016 Reading: From Concerning the Book that is the Body of the Beloved by Gregory Orr Did any of you go out early this morning to wash your face in the morning dew? Ancient tradition says that the dew on May Day morning has magical properties and will keep your skin fresh and free of blemishes for the coming year. If you missed the opportunity today, there s always next year. May Day, traditionally, was full of magic. May Day falls six months from All Hallows Eve, and these two turning points in the wheel of the year share similar traditions. On May Day, as at Halloween, people believed that the wall between the worlds thinned. But at this time of the year, as the earth in our hemisphere turns towards summer, the thinning brings life, light, and joy, not death, darkness, and fear. On May Day eve, fairies danced in forest rings, and the spirits of the dead returned, not to seek vengeance, but to enjoy a night of wild partying. At Halloween, people prepared to hunker down with meager food, long hours of darkness, and shivering temperatures. On May Day, people celebrated the approach of fresh food, longer daylight, and lighter clothes. It is a season of growth, a season of liberation from the bonds of winter. This year, unusually, May Day coincides with two other celebrations of liberation: the Jewish festival of Passover, which ended yesterday, and the Christian festival of the Ascension, this coming Thursday. Last week in our Seder, we told the ancient story of the Jewish people s liberation from slavery in Egypt but we also remembered the ways people today are still enslaved, both literally through human-trafficking, and metaphorically in the structures and assumptions which hold us captive. As Rabbi Arthur Waskow put it, In every generation, Pharaoh. In every generation, Freedom. The first two nights of Passover are the biggest nights for celebrations that s when families and friends gather to break matzah, dip greens in salt water, and read through the story of the Exodus. But some people gather again on the seventh night and focus then on one particular aspect of the story: After Pharaoh said the Jews could leave, he had second thoughts and sent his army to follow them and bring them back. The troops didn t rush, because they knew that their slaves would end up at the shore of the Red Sea, and would be trapped there. And so seven days later, there they were. The story from Exodus just says that Yahweh told Moses to have the people start walking into the sea, and that once they did, Moses should raise his walking stick, and then the waters would part, allowing the refugees to walk through. It makes it sound pretty simple and easy. But later tradition has added to the Biblical story, imagining the people s response to these instructions. The Midrash goes something like this: Moses: The Lord says you should just start walking into the ocean. The people: Are you crazy? We will drown! Moses: No. The waters will stop flowing and you will be able to walk across this inlet on dry land. The People: Yeah, right. You first! And so they waited in a stalemate, for Moses couldn t go first, while the Pharaoh s army got nearer and nearer. Finally a man named Nachshon ben Aminadav took the plunge (pun 1
intended). He walked in up to his neck; Moses raised his staff; the waters parted, and the rest of the people followed. In celebrating this story on the seventh night of Passover, participants remind themselves of Nachshon s example. As Rabbi Rachel Barenblatt put it, The seventh day is when we take a deep breath and walk boldly into the waters, not knowing for certain that they will part. No amount of advance preparation can truly ready us for taking that leap. Finally Ascension Day. As I say every year, this may be the most important holy day you ve never heard of. For our Universalist ancestors, All Souls Day and Ascension Day were the two biggies. Forget Christmas and Easter. Christmas and Easter are about Jesus. But All Souls and Ascension are about us. Only the gospel writer known as Luke told the story of Jesus s ascension. According to him, 40 days (there s that number 40 again), 40 days after Jesus first appeared to his followers on Easter, he joined them for a final meal and conversation. He begins by asking them to give him something to eat notice that he s not feeding them anymore - and then tries one last time to communicate his message. He talks about how to read the Hebrew Scriptures and to see in them God s desire for all people to live together in freedom with kindness for one another. And then he tells them that now it s up to them to take up the work of spreading that good news to the world. Specifically he tells them to announce to everyone that they are to turn their lives around, or literally, take on a new mind, and to forgive sin. Over the centuries, Jesus words have been twisted to teach that each person is to go before God and beg for forgiveness of our individual failings so that we might not lose out on our chance at life after death, but if you read Luke s gospel closely, that s not what Jesus was trying to say. In his gospel, when Luke talks about sin, he doesn t mean our individual wrongdoings. He is talking about systemic sins, especially in his time, the sin of economic inequality. In those days of Roman occupation, the ancient Jewish practice of Jubilee had been lost. According to the book of Exodus, when Yahweh brought the former slaves into the promised land, Yahweh told them that part of their practice of gratitude for their freedom was to keep every seventh year as a year of Jubilee, a year of a big Sabbath. Every seventh year, they were to let the ground lie fallow. They were to remember that life is about more than working, more than amassing goods. If someone had taken on an indentured servant or a slave, in the seventh year, the slave was to be freed forever. If someone were in debt to you, in the seventh year you were to forgive that debt. And every 50 th year all lands which were held by creditors had to be returned to the family which originally owned them. It was a reminder that all the land and all the profits from it, all human success, was a gift from Yahweh, and could not be truly owned by human beings. And just as each person was called to forgive other people s debts, so Yahweh would forgive their human failings, keeping them together in their covenant of justice and lovingkindness. But by Jesus day, Jubilee was not being observed, and the disparities between rich and poor had grown so harsh that the law specified the one thing that couldn t be taken from a poor person to settle his debts was the tunic which covered his nakedness. 2
So Luke s story of Jesus life and ministry offers the good news of Jubilee. He begins it with Mary s song offering praise to a God who has kicked the power mongers out of office, and lifted the downtrodden back to their feet. [who has] put on a feast for those who were hungry, and slam[med] the door on the rich without giving them a bite. And he ends it with Jesus telling the disciples to go out and tell everyone they need to turn things around: stop crushing the poor, forgive debts, and live now and forever in a state of Jubilee. Then, in the story, Jesus disappears from their sight into a cloud, leaving them now in charge of this story and its power. So in this convergence of May Day, Passover, and Ascension Day we have stories of liberation from the bonds of winter, from the bonds of slavery, and from the bonds of debt. But what do those stories say to us today? How do they help us deal with our society s current problems with inequities of race, gender, income, and power? First, all the stories offer us the wisdom to just do it. Plant a seed. Walk into the ocean. Start spreading the good news. Don t worry now about the harvest, about getting to the other shore, about overturning all the oppressive structures. Just get on the bus and go to the march, as Jean and Carmel did. Stand up for peace, as Daniel Berrigan did, even as he despaired that his actions would make no difference. Second, the stories remind us not to grasp at the outcome. You don t know what will come of your action you can t know that s where the faith comes in, and this is the time to set out in faith. Trust that when you act out of an unselfish love, things will work for good. The seeds you plant may feed others, not you or those whom you thought would eat their fruit. As with Moses and Jesus, you may lead the way, but not get to the promised land yourself. For the stories all point us to take the long view. We plant now for harvests months or sometimes years in the future think of asparagus, rhubarb, and fruit trees. The Israelites spent forty years in the desert after leaving Egypt. Jesus s teachings still haven t been put into practice fully: as G.K. Chesterton wrote, Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried. So what seeds might we plant? We could increase our involvement with the UU Urban Ministry and through them with groups like the NAACP, to work for justice and equality for all people regardless of skin color. We could work with UU Mass Action on the Jobs Not Jails Initiative, on ending mass incarceration, and on initiatives supporting refugees. We could join area congregations who are protesting to stop the West Roxbury Pipeline. We could support the new Massachusetts Bail Fund for Plymouth County which raises money to allow people who can t afford it to post bail and not spend needless time out of work, separated from their children and families. Many of these people are found not guilty, but spend time in jail anyway while they await their hearings. It was through the efforts of some local south shore UUs that the fund has expanded to helping people in Plymouth County and these same people are also the first 3
volunteers, driving to Framingham and Salem and Cambridge to post bail and bring women and men home. Perhaps some of you with some time might be interested in volunteering. But really it doesn t matter what seeds we plant as long as we contribute to the harvest which shall be for all people, as long as we remember that the secret of life is love. So on this May Day, step out for justice. Forgive a debt whether it s money owed or thanks or a favor. Nurture the shoots of peace started by those who went before us. As Moses and his company realized, as Jesus and his followers knew, the work of saving this world is up to us, all of us, all of us together. Hear in closing these words from Gregory Orr: This is what was bequeathed us: This earth the beloved left And, leaving, Left to us. No other world But this one: Willows and the river And the factory With its black smokestacks. No other shore, only this bank On which the living gather. No meaning but what we find here. No purpose but what we make. That, and the beloved s clear instructions: Turn me into song; sing me awake. Let us pledge ourselves now to carrying that song as we sing The Fire of Commitment. - Pamela M. Barz 4
From Concerning the Book that is the Body of the Beloved by Gregory Orr Who wants to lose the world, For all its tumult and suffering? Who wants to leave the world, For all its sorrow? Not I. And so I come to the Book, Which is also the body Of the beloved. And so I come to the poem. The poem is the world Scattered by passion, then Gathered together again So that we may have hope. The shape of the Book Is the door to the grave, Is the shape of the stone Closed over us, so that We may know terror Is what we pass through To reach hope, and courage Is our necessary companion. The shape of the Book Is dark as death, and every page Is lit with hope, glows With the light of the vital body. When I open the Book I hear the poets whisper and weep, Laugh and lament. In a thousand languages They say the same thing: "We lived. The secret of life Is love, which casts its wing Over all suffering, which takes 5
In its arms the hurt child, Which rises green from the fallen seed." 6