St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
May 22, 2022
Year C: The Sixth Sunday of Easter – Rogation Sunday
Deuteronomy 11:10-15
Psalm 147:1-13
Romans 8:18-25
Mark 4:26-32
God’s Great Art Project
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Our Alleluia call and response is a reminder that, yes, it is still Easter.
But, today, in addition to continuing to celebrate the Resurrection, we are also observing Rogation Sunday.
The word “rogation” comes from a Latin word meaning “to ask.”
For many centuries, on rogation days Christians have asked God to bless us with a temperate climate and a bountiful harvest.
And, in more recent times, rogation days have been opportunities to reflect on the ways we have damaged the earth, to repent of our destructive ways, and to ask God to help us take better care of creation.
Now, at first, it might seem like Easter and Rogation Sunday don’t have much to do with each other. But that would be a mistake.
The Risen Christ is not a ghost, not some kind of disembodied spiritual being. Actually, that would be much easier to believe, right?
But the truth is both harder to believe and much better news.
The gospels insist that the Risen Christ is still a flesh and blood human being – mysteriously transformed, yes – but, as Thomas saw for himself, still bearing the wounds of the cross – still very much the Jesus that his friends knew and loved.
The Risen Christ is a most powerful sign that God cares about our bodies and loves this physical world.
You know, I assume that God did not have to create anything at all.
I assume that God could have just gone on forever all by God’s Self, perfectly content and at peace.
But, I suspect that the God who is love almost couldn’t help creating the universe – or maybe many universes – almost couldn’t help creating all that we see hear, smell, touch, and taste - and all that we still have no idea about.
I suspect that God almost couldn’t help creating this beautiful planet and all of us.
It’s hard to contain love and creativity, maybe even for God.
And, creation didn’t have to be as beautiful and diverse and complex as it is, right?
I suppose God could have just created in black and white, rather than the riot of color that’s all around us, all the color of the galaxies that are sprinkled through the universe.
I suppose God could have created in straight lines and right angles, rather than the infinite number of shapes and sizes and designs that make up the world.
I suppose God could have been very economical with creation, creating only the bare minimum, only what was absolutely necessary, but instead God is very much like the sower in Jesus’ parable, spreading seeds, always hoping against the odds for new and abundant life.
I suppose God could have made us all the same, instead of the rainbow of colors and cultures that enrich the world and our church, instead of the different personalities with different ideas and beliefs that make life so interesting and, yes, sometimes maddening.
Creation did not have to be as beautiful and diverse and complex as it is, but God is the Great Artist and the world is God’s great art project.
And, so of course God the Artist cares about God’s great art project.
But, there’s another twist to this story:
God invites us to work on the great art project, too.
God invites us to be co-creators, to be assistant artists.
God invites us to see and appreciate God’s art, and, not only that, God wants us to add our own touches, organizing plants into a beautiful garden – mixing colors to paint a beautiful picture – arranging sounds to make beautiful music – carving wood and stone into beautiful sculpture – and, most of all, caring for creation and sharing its bounty with the hungry and the lost.
Now, let’s be honest, considering our rather poor track record in this department, God’s invitation for us to care for creation might seem unwise, at best.
This weekend’s broiling heat is an uncomfortable reminder that we have made a terrible, terrible mess – and, unless we change our ways fast, we face a bleak future indeed.
But, Easter is a reminder that God never gives up on us, a reminder that suffering and death do not get the last word.
God the Great Artist is still at work.
And, one of the true joys of being here at St. Thomas’ is that we don’t have to look hard or far to see plenty of people accepting God’s invitation to work on God’s great art project.
Each week, super-talented volunteers adorn our altar with beautiful floral arrangements. Our fellow parishioners are God’s assistant artists, indeed.
And the co-creators and assistant artists on our Green Team created and tend our pollinator garden, giving us beauty, and feeding lots of buzzing bees and all different kinds of beautiful butterflies.
The Green Team have also seen to it that trees have been planted on two and a half acres across our church property, each of those fragile saplings in their protective tubes is a little art work, a small co-creation with God, a very real way to restore and care for creation.
And then there is our Preschool and Kindergarten.
As most of you probably know by now, the school has entered a time of transition, preparing to say thank you and good-bye to Kristin Morrow who has led our school with so much dedication, skill, and heart – and getting ready to welcome our next director, Nicole Norris, who I am confident will build on our school’s strong foundations, leading us into an exciting future.
You may not know that our school is very much nature-focused.
Just about every day, the teachers and students are outside, exploring our expansive grounds. The children learn in and from creation, probably without even realizing they are learning.
But, it gets better: these children who are so familiar with God’s creation are also co-creators. Just like last year, the kids have been carefully growing plants from seed – plants that are available for us to take home and plant in our gardens.
And our children are also assistant artists. They’ve been using their God-given imaginations, their sense of wonder, and their uninhibited creativity to make some truly beautiful art – work that you can see for yourself in the Parish Hall today.
And so, despite the terrible mess we have made of things, there are reasons to hope.
It is still the Easter Season, the time when we especially remember and celebrate that God raised from the dead the flesh and blood Jesus.
The Risen Christ is a most powerful sign that God cares about our bodies and loves this physical world.
And, today, Rogation Sunday is a reminder that God invites us to be co-creators and assistant artists, playing our part in God’s great art project.
May it be so.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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