Summer Stuff

Never - ending Blackberry Bush

At the edge of my yard is a large bush that has been taken over by blackberry vines. Every year it seems to produce more and more blackberries. Last year the flood waters from the Wabash came about 2-3 feet into the bush, but it produced great blackberries. This year we have had an abundance as well. My neighbors have picked and I have picked several gallons already. I'm juicing my berries to make jelly as I don't digest the seeds very well. I started picking again yesterday but a storm came up and drove us inside. My sweet Isabelle and Katie help entertain me as I pick! They have planted soybeans in the field behind the house and Katie loves to get in the field and nosh on the lovely grass growing there alongside the soybean plants. The bean plants are still quite small and new. The field had water in it until about a month ago but the Wabash is well down now.

Yesterday was the 6th Sunday after Pentecost and the gospel lesson was about John the Baptist getting beheaded by Herod. Once every three years in the lectionary cycle, John gets served up to us on a platter by Mark's gospel. The story fits right in with the political scandals of late. Can't you see John confronting the governor of South Carolina or John Edwards about their infidelities? The fact that John was martyred for his efforts says more about our lax morals than anything.

Mark puts this gruesome story between Jesus sending out the twelve disciples to teach, preach and heal and their successful return. I wonder what Mark is trying to say here? Is it that ministry continues to happen even when fierce opposition flourishes? Or perhaps it is a warning from Mark that we can expect opposition to the message of the gospel. When I travelled to Israel last year I carried a little notebook with me. At every stop, at every meeting with Israelis or Palestinians who are working for peace, I wanted to document the progress that had been made. As I read back over my notes I realize that what I saw, much more than progress, was faithfulness. In the face of dissension and even conflict I saw Israelis, Palestinians, students, farmers, landowners, and children who continue to be fired up and working for peace. It makes me wonder where the cutting edge of my own commitment to God's work is found? I am pretty comfortable in my seat at the banquet table and that comfort makes it hard for me to jump out there and confront a Herod or enter a situation where I know I will have to expose my deepest convictions.

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church is meeting in Anaheim, CA this week. Those who are delegates have over 300 pieces of legislation before them. It is a smorgasbord of issues and I do not envy them their job. I know, however, that good and faithful people who are called to do that work will enter into it prayerfully and cautiously. It is reported that our Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts-Schori, was heard muttering the word "mission" over and over as she took her seat in the House of Bishops! I believe that the church is in a good place to move forward now into new endeavors of mission in the world. We have recognized the equal gifts of all who come to the banquet table and we are in a stronger place to do the work of the gospel.

And...I am ready to make blackberry jelly and let the juice from our sweet Posey County melons run down my chin... it is summer after all!