Liz Morris – February 20, 2022
Genesis 45:3-11,15
Psalm 37:1-11,39-40
1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50
Luke 6:27-38
Good morning and welcome to our worship together today, whether in person or online. I shall start with a prayer before beginning today’s reflection.
Heavenly Father, thank you for placing us exactly where we need to be. Thank you for the divine wisdom you have over each of our lives right here as we gather in various locations. Let the words I speak be God-breathed as we walk with you today and always. Amen.
A few months ago, I was lucky enough to do a tour on a property in Gundaroo with a farmer, Murray, whose philosophy is in biodynamic regenerative farming principles. It was a fascinating rediscovery of what our land has always know and always been – completely and beautifully made with the synergy of hands from our ancient past. Although the tour looked at many of the farm’s practices, something stood out to me more than the rest. Murray works closely with local Indigenous members and explained much of the traditional farming techniques and exhibited some of the native grasses and plants. There is one plant that he pulled out that is an unassuming native grass. This incredible grass is self-sowing, but not in the way you’d think. Many plants drop seeds and berries to end up germinating, but this particular grass’s seed flies off the grass, to the ground and it walks. Yes, it walks itself to a new spot and spirals itself into the earth. It sows itself in this most intricately spectacular way that my only reaction when Murray explained this was to think “this is exactly why I believe in God”. How else can I possibly explain this seed’s spiral walking?
Last week, Lucy graduated from her Bachelor of International Relations. Her brother and I went along in support of her and a beautiful coincidence occurred. The guest speaker was none other than their Aunty, and Miles Franklin Award winning author, Melissa Lucashenko. She is a proud Bundjalung woman and her speech to the graduating group was powerfully enveloped in deep understanding of our country’s failings and trauma. She called out Australia for what she named its ‘default setting’ of bullying, linking this not to a modern-day phenomenon, but the grounds on which this place was colonised by the British; something which is rarely acknowledged as our modern foundations – something we have “not evolved past”. Listening to a pin drop during this impassioned speech, it is apparent that it and her people embody our Gospel reading. “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” (v27-31).
At this point, I do wish to acknowledge sovereignty has not been ceded, and I am not insinuating our Indigenous brothers, sisters and cousins should not demand it back. However, I see so much of this in their fight. They have blessed when they’ve been cursed, they’ve endured as they have been mistreated and they have loved, and deeply loved, when they’ve been despised, preyed upon and downtrodden.
So where does this all lead us to today? A story about farm management and a story about trauma? Although what links them is the Indigenous spiralling seed walking and Indigenous pain of a default setting of bullying across centuries, where harmony once existed, it is also something that we can see spoken about in the Bible. Our 1 Corinthians reading speaks to this:
35“ But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”
This spiral walking grass is not the body of the plant, but the seed. God determines its body. The default setting of bullying, harassment and assault is not the body. It is the seed, planted by the ignorant and God will take what was sown in dishonour and raise it to glory and power and spirituality in a way that only He can do.
Our Old Testament reading sees Joseph reveal himself to his brothers. It is the most incredible story of acceptance of place and past. Joseph was the favourite son of a man named Jacob. He was known for his dreams (or, visions sown by God) and his brothers were jealous of Jacob’s favouritism over him. One day, Joseph was sold by his jealous brothers to some Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt. Due to his gifts, Joseph was able to interpret dreams for the Pharaoh, and thus, was given a place of prominence. In one dream, it was interpreted that there would be seven years of good harvest and abundance in Egypt followed by seven years of famine. As a result of this, the Pharaoh had commissioners “take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance” and Gen 41:35-36 says “They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.” This all sounds very biodynamic to me!
So, when Joseph makes himself known to these brothers who have sold him into slavery, you can imagine their shock at his position of prominence and the fact that he is still alive. He says to his brothers in verse 5 “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” He exclaims that “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (v7) Joseph understood that God ruled his life, not men (or indeed certainly not the brothers). God was in control of all things the whole time.
Joseph was there at the place where God placed him specifically so that Egypt would have enough grain to last through a famine of 7 years. The smallest things and the tinist seeds that were sown years before that which would be harvested for 7 years but used for 14 years, were intricately designed in a way that would keep the people of Egypt fed and not famished. Just likeour grass that knows exactly where to walk and be planted, God knows where to walk you and to plant you. And when humans get in the way of God, He is still glorified.
We are far from deliverance in this country. Yet Joseph said to his brothers “come close to me”. Our misgivings and failings to come close is because we act like the brothers who “were terrified at his presence”. What Melissa Lucashenko preached was an urgency to “save our only home”. She remarked: “We can choose a radically different path. We can change our ideas, our words and our votes. There is still time. Let’s not waste it on meaningless words by hollow men, but act, and act swiftly.”
Biodynamic regenerative practices in farming are just this: an holistic and ethical approach to farming and the ability to be renewed. Joseph was renewed, his brothers were renewed, and our earth shall be healed and renewed completely in time. For now, there is a reason you, little seed, have been placed here on earth now. When you were sown, you were not the body that will be, but a seed. So, let God walk you, spiral you to wherever He calls you. Let God determine the kind of seed you are and the body you are given. What is required of you? “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Let us pray;
God, just like the seeds that know where to walk, plant us daily by your rivers to be nourished by a stream of your design. Help us to see that we are being renewed and that where we are placed is the perfect position for us right now where you need us. Help us to know that you are in control. Help us to come closer to you and remind us that you are restoring us, especially in our damage. To Christ be the Glory. Amen.