Weeds Among the Wheat
A Sermon by The Rev. John M. Barrett 7/20/08
Welcome
This morning we are presenting the third in a series of four musical extravaganzas for you. The music this morning was composed by The Rev. Al Carmines, a UCC minister, and a creative genius -- in the pulpit, at the piano, and in the theater.
Al Carmines was the Associate Minister at Judson Church in
Carmines marshaled his gifts as a showman, composer, singer and actor to turn the sanctuary of a
In 1982 Al left Judson and founded a new church, Rauschenbusch Memorial UCC, which has since merged with Trinity Presbyterian Church on West 57th Street in
Al may have passed away, but he lives on in the hearts and minds and spirits of those of us who love his music and are committed to seeing that his music continues to be played, so that new people and new generations can continue to be moved and inspired by Al’s genius – and the truths that he tells about both God and humanity in song and story.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Al Carmines was a musical genius. By his own count, he wrote about 80 musicals, operas and oratorios. Most were performed at Judson Church, and ten graduated to off-Broadway houses. A number of his shows continue to be performed today. Among these is his masterpiece, “Christmas Rappings.”
Prelude
Our prelude today is from Al’s show “Peace,” which he wrote in 1969. The song is called “Things Starting to Grow Again.” It talks of a day when “Water, nothing but water (rather than bombs) is falling out of the sky.” May it be so, O Lord.
Gospel Witness Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43
Our Gospel witness continues the planting metaphor that Jesus used last week. But today, instead of talking mainly about seeds, Jesus is also speaking about weeds --- weeds and wheat.
The kind of weed that Jesus is referring to is most likely darnel, a type of rye grass which looks like wheat, but harbors a poisonous fungus, which was thought to cause blindness.
A problem with darnel is that the roots of the darnel and the roots of the wheat intertwine, so that if you pull out the darnel, you will also pull out the wheat. So the farm workers must wait for the harvest to get rid of the darnel by burning it, while gathering the wheat into the barn.
The Witness of
In this reading St Paul explains how the Holy Spirit brings a spirit of adoption to our own spirit. Because we have been adopted by god, we can call God “Abba” or “our Father,” or even the more familiar “Dad” or “Daddy.”
Sermon
Have you ever thought of the difference between a weed and a plant? At first glance, the difference may seem obvious. A plant is something you plant, when and where you want it, and a weed is something that just grows, when and where you don’t want it.
Some people might say that a weed is ugly, while a plant is beautiful; and that a weed is useless, while a plant that grows something for us to eat is useful.
I picked some things for an arrangement this morning next to the pulpit. Some came from a flower bed and others from a weed patch. Can you tell which is which? How do you think they look together?
Sometimes the distinctions between weeds and plants cannot be so clearly drawn. I think that milk weed is beautiful in its own evolving way (especially when the pods open and the seeds take flight on tiny parachutes). Its seed pods are essential food for monarch butterflies. No milkweed means no monarchs.
Some weeds may provide essential animal habitat. And some species that we buy and plant become invasive. Colorful bittersweetm, imported from Japan, climb trees and kills them, even mighty oaks. So maybe it is not for us to judge what is a weed to eradicate and what is a plant to cultivate (except on our own little patch of earth).
The parable that Jesus tells and explains in the Gospel reading for today is telling us just that. The parable teaches that God is the judge and that we are not to judge and condemn others.
At first reading it seems that this parable is designed to encourage faith and action through fear: the angels will throw the evil ones into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (not simple grinding of teeth, but gnashing!) “and then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.”
This impending judgment does not sound very good, and it may even be unbelievable to our ears. Why? For over two thousand years we have learned that God has forgiven us in Christ, and like Jesus, we can call God, “our Father,” as heirs of God.
It is interesting to note that the Gospel of Mark does not use Matthew’s scare technique. And the Gospel of Luke has only one reference to fiery torment, whereas Matthew has several.
So this fiery interpretation of the weeds and wheat may tell us more about Matthew than it does about Jesus.
You see, in New Testament times, people believed in the judging, avenging God that they had known before Jesus and his message of God’s love. Religious people were expecting punishment, but they hoped and believed it would be directed towards others, and not at themselves.
The point of the Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat is that good and evil are very close together, even inter-connected.
The important thing in life is to pay attention to your own faith and behavior, and not to judge the faith and behavior of other people. After all according to the explanation of the parable, on the day of reckoning, God’s angels decide who goes where. We don’t. The point is for us to live the way God intends for us to live, being led by the Holy Spirit and loving God and our neighbor.
So, instead of being frightened by the Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat, we can be encouraged by it: we don’t have to worry about anybody’s behavior but our own! Isn’t that a blessing?
And as we grow and bear the fruits of the spirit, as individuals and as the Church, others may come to us, and we can invite them to share in our bounty. Or we might seek others out and offer the gifts of the spirit to them.
Al Carmines lived this way, generously sharing his bounteous imagination. Al was totally non-judgmental. Everything and everyone was grist for his creative mill: Abraham Lincoln, Anton Chekov, Gertrude Stein, Snow White, Adam and Eve, Joan of Arc, Jesus, Mary and Joseph --- as well as more ordinary folks Al knew from his own life.
Everyone has something to teach us, according to Al. In his show, “The Journey of Snow White,” one of Al’s songs is called, “I Love What’s Opposite in You.” Isn’t that a wonderful, beautiful idea?
Al’s enthusiasms were many. Although not athletic himself, Al wrote a show called “A Basketball Oratorio.” “A Basketball Oratorio” was performed in the Judson gymnasium. Although this was before my time at Judson, I heard that Al had trouble finding basketball players who could sing and dance --- or singers and dancers who could play basketball!
After Al suffered a cerebral aneurism in 1977, his creative output diminished in quantity but not in quality. The first show Al wrote after his aneurism was called “In Praise of Death.” Five of us came back to speak and sing of life from the perspective of death. It was like a musical second act of “Our Town,” with Al’s own unique stamp clearly on it.
The song about the high school cheerleader, who died tragically, doing a summersault cheer, was called, “She Was a High Stepper --- for Awhile.”
Al did not judge. Al joined. Al joined all kinds of people and all kinds of things together. Al put people and things together that had not been put together quite that way before.
Al wrote the first musical about homosexuality, back in 1973. Now gay musicals are fairly commonplace, even on Broadway. Some even have won Tony Awards.
But Al was first. He broke down the barrier. And Al was judged and in some quarters, he was condemned for it. And I imagine this reaction surprised Al and may have puzzled him.
Al was judged and condemned not for the music and the book of his gay musical, which were beautiful and true about gay life. Al was condemned because of the show’s title.
The show begins with the house and stage lights going to total darkness. Then cast members start yelling out insulting names for gay people. The last word to be yelled out is “faggot.”
“Faggot” is the name of the show.
Al’s use of this word released a firestorm in the gay community, and people picketed the show. These people may not have known that Al was gay himself. And had they gone in to see the show, they would have learned that the title is used as a contrast to his lively, lovely and truthful portrayal of gay life in the early 1970’s, pre-AIDS.
Among other things, they would have heard Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas sing a duet --- about their ordinary life in a lovely song called “Ordinary Things.” They would have also heard a plaintive song about passing youth, “I’m the New Boy in Town.”
Eventually the storm blew over and “Faggot” had a long, sold-out run.
In closing, what can we learn from the Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat --- and what can we learn from the creative genius of Al Carmines?
We can learn to be open to almost everyone and everything, recognizing our agreements and disagreements, but somehow going on, learning from each other, as part of the same human family, God’s family. We can also learn to leave the judging to God and God’s angels, rather than taking that burden on ourselves.
And if someday we find ourselves being judged and condemned by others, as Al was, we only need to “Go on with the show” believing in our own integrity --- and what we are accomplishing and attempting to accomplish --- as we are led by the Spirit of God within and around us.
Amen.
