GATHERING AND GREETING
Land Acknowledgement: As we gather, we acknowledge with respect the history, spirituality, and culture of the K’omoks First Nation and the Coast Salish peoples on whose traditional and unceded territory we meet. We also honour the heritage of all Indigenous peoples as we recognize the need to seek a new relationship between the descendants of settlers and of those who were here before colonization. As a congregation of The United Church of Canada, with them, we take responsibility both for past injustices and the need for healing and reconciliation. We love and honour this land upon which we meet and live and all whose feet have trod and will tread upon it.
LIGHTING A CANDLE FOR CHRIST:
As we light this Christ candle, we honour the interconnectedness
of all creation, and our relationship with the Creator and the Cosmic Christ, and we remember “All My Relations”.
All my relations.
Akwe nia’tetewa:neren
A moment of silence.
Light the candle and ring the meditation bowl.
GREETINGS TO THE ELEMENTS/FOUR DIRECTIONS
Call to Worship:
Of God we ask,
What is the time?
There is a time to be born and a time to die.
There is a time to kill and a time to heal.
What is the time?
There is a time to weep and a time to laugh.
There is a time for mourning and a time for dancing.
What is the time?
There is a time to tear and a time to mend.
There is a time for silence and a time for speech.
What is the time?
There is a time to love and a time to hate.
There is a time for war and a time for peace.
What is the time?
Opening Prayer:
We are members of a family,
the human family
which, in the ancient land of Ukraine,
is torn by tension, suspicion, hatred,
hunger, killing and death.
We are troubled by cruelty and disaster
such as we have never known,
and we are unclear of the cause
and unsure of the remedy.
We believe that God accepts confusion
as well as concern,
and has never been deaf to the cries
of anger, fear and hopelessness
in the face of injustice. Amen.
HYMN: VU#34, “Come Now, O God of Peace” (repeat)
Prayer of Truth Telling:
Holy One, we wish we could enter your presence
with songs of rejoicing;
but not here, not now.
Our hearts are heavy, our minds bewildered,
our uncertainty disturbs our faith.
Why?
and why?
and how long?
and what next?
… these are the questions we bring,
not looking for instant answers,
but hoping that we will be heard.
Response: VU#946 (sometimes known as The Ukrainian Kyrie)
Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison.
The Prayer Continues
Gracious God,
quieten our personal anxieties,
so that we may better feel
for those whose land has been invaded
whose towns and homes are ravaged,
and whose lives are under threat.
Quieten us,
so that we may listen for a word
from you.
Response : Amen.
HEARING AND REFLECTING
Luke 13:6-9
6 Jesus told this parable: “A man owned a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 He said to his gardener, ‘Look, I’ve come looking for fruit on this fig tree for the past three years, and I’ve never found any. Cut it down! Why should it continue depleting the soil’s nutrients?’ 8 The gardener responded, ‘Lord, give it one more year, and I will dig around it and give it fertilizer. 9 Maybe it will produce fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.’”
Reader: Holy Wisdom, Holy Word. Thanks be to God!
Reflection: “Still Worthy”
During the season of Lent, I have been joining a weekly reflection group on Zoom with the CRUC minister Sarah Fanning and her friend Alison Nicholson, the minister at Central UC in Port Colborne, Ont.
We have been using a Lenten devotional booklet “Full to the Brim, an expansive Lent”, produced by the Sanctified Art Creative Team. I’m very grateful to the contributors to this resource for helping me find a way into today’s parable about the fig tree.
I’d like to begin by inviting you to take a few moments to gaze on the image on the front of the bulletin. Breathe deeply. Imagine yourself in this scene. What do you see? How do you feel? In the silence, what do you need to say to Spirit or hear from Spirit?…
Now I’d like to share some of the reactions of the contributors to this booklet to the story of the fig tree.
First is a poem by Rev. Sarah (Are) Speed called “What I Forgot”.
Sometimes I wish I was the fig tree.
No fruit here, just soaking up the sun,
growing roots, turning green,
stretching out my branches until
I can hug the horizon.
Sometimes I wish I was the fig tree,
because she doesn’t produce,
and she’s not exhausted,
and she probably gets eight hours
of sleep at night.
And her branches,
unlike my shoulders,
are not heavy with work—
pulled toward the ground,
threatening to break.
And her trunk,
unlike my spine,
is not fighting to stand tall
while holding it all together.
Sometimes I wish I was the fig tree
because she knows
what I forgot
many years ago.
You are still worthy
even if
you don’t produce.
Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia, in her commentary on the parable, notices something else: What is a fig tree doing in the middle of a vineyard? As a person of colour, she relates to the fig tree in this way: “Many of us experience the world as a fig tree in the midst of grape vines. We are placed in fields not meant for us and yet expected to thrive. People discount and doubt us, threatening to cut us down if we don’t produce in the ways that have been defined on our behalf. We are afterthoughts demanded to bear fruit or to be destroyed.”
I wonder how you feel, what thoughts came to mind for you as you heard the parable and contemplated the image.
I wonder too what Jesus was trying to tell his followers, and what he is telling us?
The story contrasts the impatient judgment of the landowner with the nurturing patience of the gardener. It speaks to the anxiety of those who are unable to perform by the standards of our demanding society, and as Rev. Abazia notes, it also highlights the isolation of those who are different from everyone around them. It speaks to us on a personal level, on a community level, and on a political level.
When I heard the poem “What I Forgot” on our Thursday morning Zoom reflection, I heard this line at a deep heart level: “You are still worthy, even if you don’t produce.”
Here are a few situations where those words might go a long way towards encouraging and healing our wounded souls and wounded world.
I’ll start with the most personal, with folks like me who are at retirement age or finding that various age-related physical limitations mean that we can’t do everything we used to do. I have been having a much more difficult winter this year than last year, and as I reflect on that I realize that last winter I was busy with ministry in Port Hardy while this winter I didn’t have a ministry appointment and consequently spent far more time on the couch than was good for me. I know other ministers also struggling with their sense of self-worth as they leave or prepare to leave active ministry.
The Gardener says to me and my colleagues: You are still worthy.
Next are those whose physical, mental and emotional states isolate them from those around them. For example, in a recent essay on returning to in-person worship, Shannon Dingle notes how people living with disabilities are feeling left behind, yet again, as many churches discontinue the online worship that was more accessible to them. She says, “With online church, disabled people – including me and my family – were welcomed to church in more ways and more often than ever before. Let’s keep that up…”
The Gardener says to Shannon and those who are excluded: You are still worthy.
There are those who have been harmed by the institutional church who still long for spiritual community that includes and nourishes them.
The Gardener says to the wounded: You are still worthy
There are small churches like this that aren’t successful by traditional church standards like number of members and donation income. Our Region is starting to recognize that there is still something in these struggling little faith communities that needs nurturing and time. In the words of our regional minister Gail Miller, we need to do something now or the United Church will become a church of privilege that is only available in large urban centers.
The Gardener says to us at DIUC: You are still worthy.
There are those like the woman in the poem who are simply overwhelmed, exhausted from all the demands on their time and energy.
There are the homeless and unemployed who are unable to support themselves.
The Gardener says to those without resources: you are still worthy.
There are the persons of colour like Rev. Abazia, and the people Indigenous to this land who are surrounded by a hostile culture, who are expected to not just meet but exceed the arbitrary standards set by others.
The Gardener says to the racialized, marginalized and disinherited: You are still worthy
There are small countries like Ukraine, fighting for their very existence against powerful, resource-hungry neighbours.
The Gardener says to all oppressed nations and peoples: You are still worthy.
All of us, like the fig tree, need time and nourishment to flourish. All of us, like the gardener, are called to also nourish others.
All of us need to hear in the Creator’s loving voice, “You are still worthy, even if you don’t produce”, and to share that good news with the world.
As I was working on this reflection, Sheelah sent me a monologue that she wrote based on this parable, in the voice of the gardener talking to the tree. Some of you might not know that Sheelah has quite a background in this type of writing, so I’m very grateful to be able to share part of her monologue as a most suitable conclusion to this reflection. Listen to this as if you are the fig tree:
“I’ll keep you watered and sheltered and make sure as best I can that you aren’t preyed upon by bird or beast or bug. Now, my friend, it’s up to you. Now, it’s up to you to feel your worth; from your tiniest root hairs to the tips of your branches. Feel the worthiness of your design. It’s a good one!
Dig deep down into the earth, where it is quiet and dark. Ponder that place. That’s where you will find what you need to be strong. And the deeper you go, the surer you’ll be when the weather gets rough. Don’t worry about using up resources. Nothing is ever wasted or lost. You take care of that, my friend, and before you know it, you’ll be reaching up as well. It’s easier to look up when you aren’t worried about what’s holding you below. And “up”, my friend, is where the energy is. Let it draw you. Soak it up. Spread your leaves and gather the inspiration to grow fruit that is round and sweet and juicy, just as it is meant to be.”
(An excerpt from “The Gardener and the Fig Tree: a Dramatic Monologue” by Sheelah Megill, used with permission from the author.)
HYMN: MV#98: “Like a River of Tears”
WE RESPOND IN PRAYER AND ACTION
A Time for Silent Reflection, Prayer and Offering
You are invited to reflect in silence, perhaps to light a candle or place a stone or shell as an expression of your intention or prayer.
If you wish to make a donation to support the ministry of Denman Island United Church, please follow this link for more information:
https://denmanislandunitedchurch.ca/donate/
Questions for reflection:
What do you need to thrive?
How might you be a gardener for others?
OFFERTORY CHORUS: MV#191, “What Can I Do?”:
What can I do? What can I bring?
What can I say? What can I sing?
I’ll sing with joy. I’ll say a prayer.
I’ll bring my love. I’ll do my share.
Prayers of the People:
Creative and loving God,
because you have the whole world
in your hands,
cradle gently those who are rocked by fear,
shocked to a depth they have never known
and frightened to face tomorrow.
We pray for the people of Ukraine:
their children, their old people,
their vulnerable adults,
their babies soon to be born,
We pray for their defenders, their advocates,
those who care for the wounded,
who sit with the despairing,
who witness and report
on the savagery and destruction,
who bury the dead.
We pray for their leaders
that they may continue to inspire,
in word and by example,
and continue to receive help and solidarity
from across the world.
We pray for the people of Russia,
that they might learn the truth
kept from their hearing;
For the churches in Russia
that they might find
the vocabulary and courage
to speak truth to power,
For the soldiers of Russia
who do not believe
in the carnage they cause.
We pray for the Russian president,
and those who affirm his policies.
We ask for an end to their lies,
scheming and murder.
And we pray for our own nation
we ask for commitment to match conviction
so that the pain of the Ukrainian nation
be shared by us,
their weary people sheltered by us,
their peace assured by us.
We ask all this in the name of the Prince of Peace.
Amen.
THE PRAYER OF JESUS: (an adaptation by Parker Palmer)
Heavenly Mother, heavenly Father,
Holy and blessed is your true name.
We pray for your reign of peace to come,
We pray that your good will be done,
Let heaven and earth become one.
Give us this day the bread we need,
Give it to those who have none.
Let forgiveness flow like a river through us,
From each one to each one to each one.
Lead us to holy innocence
Beyond the evil of our days,
Come swiftly Mother, Father, come!
For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy—
Forever your name is All in One.
WE CARRY THE LIGHT INTO THE WORLD
Blessing and Sending: (By Steve Garnaas-Holms www.unfoldinglight.net)
Be done with the god of demanding,
the god of Not Good Enough.
Be done with the God of No.
Turn to the God of Yes,
the God of Let Me Nourish,
the God of I Believe In You.
The God of mercy, God who gives,
God of what takes time,
God of hidden gifts unfolding.
Let the God of Yes dig around your roots.
Feel the patient fingers.
Feel the disturbance.
(Of course that one is also
the God of Manure
for which there is another word.)
Let the God of Manure
turn waste and refuse into food,
death into life.
Let the God of Yes bear fruit in you,
the fruit of Yes for others,
for nourishing, not judging.
This very day you may have the chance
to lay down your axe
and take up a trowel.
Be a gardener of Yes,
and your own roots
may be nourished.
Response: AMEN!
LEAVING SONG: VU#964 (sung as a round)
Go now in peace, go now in peace,
May the love of God surround you
Everywhere, everywhere you may go.
Unless otherwise indicated, prayers are used with permission from “Words for Worship in a Time of War”, Iona Community, wildgoose@wildgoose.scot
From “Full to the Brim” by the Sanctified Art Creative Team:
“You Are Worthy” block print by Lauren Wright Pittman
Poem “What I Forgot” by Rev. Sarah (Are) Speed
