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September 24, 2006
James 3:13 – 4:3; 7-8a
A Bountiful Harvest

It is just about time to harvest the fruits of the summer. Juicy plump red tomatoes are already coming in. Tasty corn on the cob is a staple at dinner tables. Farmers will be bringing in grains and grasses to store up to feed the cattle through the winter. What are you harvesting this summer?

Some of us will be having a disappointing harvest. Having sowed the seeds of discontent and division, we will be reaping the sad fruits of that misguided planting. Others of us will have a rewarding harvest. Having sowed the seeds of peace, we will be reaping the wonderful fruits of such thoughtful planting. You didn’t plant anything this summer? Oh, I think differently. We all are planting all the time, year round, and the harvest is constantly coming in.

James offers us in today’s scripture text two kinds of harvest. In chapter three, he speaks of a harvest of righteousness, sown in peace. But then in chapter four he turns to a more ominous kind of harvest and asks abruptly, “Where do all those conflicts and disputes among you come from?” and then answers his own question: “from the cravings that are at war within you.”

Now, this word interpreted in the NRSV as “cravings,” is translated in many ways. If you were reading in the King James you would hear the familiar and tantalizing “lusts.” In other versions you might read “passions” or “desires for pleasures.”

I must say, I far and above prefer the word “cravings” because it speaks to the modern temperament so much more powerfully. We are loathe to admit we have “lusts,” and we relegate such feelings to things below the belt. “Passions” almost has a theatrical quality. But “cravings” forces us to admit that our distractions from God’s will and way are many and constant. One almost hears K.D. Lang mournfully crooning in the background her “Constant Cravings.”

What are these cravings, these bad seeds you plant in your life? They are the things we believe we need, without which we think we will curl up and die, which, in fact, are not as important as we make out. Whether it is a person we think we can’t live without, an addiction that keeps us beholden to false gods, a way of life we have allowed to define our very identity, or whatever else – cravings (and we most likely have several) are bound to be at war with each other and distract us from our true purpose in life: to love and worship and serve God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strengths and to love and serve our neighbors as ourselves.

These cravings are bad seeds that produce a harvest of conflict, dissension, and disputes. James cuts us no slack: “You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. You covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.” Pretty strong language, yes, but this ruinous farming technique is not so unfamiliar. Let me offer an example. This example is about nations, but it could just as well be about individuals.

I have never hidden the fact that ever since our government indicated that a unprovoked war with the sovereign nation of Iraq was imminent that I was ardently opposed to such an action. I believed then, and it has been proven to be correct, that while the regime of Saddam Hussein was corrupt, tyrannical, and bloodthirsty, it was not involved in the September 11th attacks on our country, was not supportive of the people who did attack us, and held no weapons of mass destruction, or even significant destruction. These truths have been made painfully plain and we have reaped the terrible consequences of our government’s misguided attempts to get revenge for the atrocities done to us.

My father, Wesley Dalton Harris, was a decorated Lt. Colonel in both World War II and the Korean Conflict and I am proud of my father. I have always supported and honored the men and women serving our country, in both military and civilian roles, and believe, for the vast majority of military personnel, their intentions are pure and actions are commendable.

But if our democracy, born out of the blood, sweat, and tears of so many over the years, is going to mean anything, then it is going to have to mean honest critique of our politicians and leaders who set the stage for and then engage us in such wars. If the sacrifices of the soldiers on the fields are going to truly be honored, then our democracy must be allowed to flourish back home. I believe that it was the cravings of our leaders and our country as a whole that led us into a war we should not be fighting. Let me explain:

• Our nation is addicted to petroleum, and all the by-products that fuel an industrial nation that has allowed itself to become dependent upon oil. We crave gasoline, and this summer has proven that we will pay any price to get it and use it in whatever way befits our lifestyle. Iraq sits on one of the world’s largest remaining reserves of petroleum, and this war is, in large part, an attempt to maintain control of that desperately needed supply.

• Our political leaders crave retribution, for both the unfulfilled war in Iraq of the early 1990’s and the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001. Using the very real and raw emotions of a nation mourning its vulnerability, our leaders chose to try to fill that void with a misguided attack. Rather than focusing our time and energies, over the long and tedious haul, on the nations of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the real mastermind of the September 11 attacks was hiding, we redirected our anger to an old grudge in Iraq, hoping for a quick victory, and pulled back on finding the person responsible.

• And finally, our culture is addicted to a self-image of being in control of our world and being the strongest bully on the block. This cold-war mentality is not only outdated, but extraordinarily dangerous. We live in an intricately interconnected world, and those who engage in terrorism have that figured out. It is a world where carefully nurtured alliances and deep trust and cooperation across the traditional dividing lines of race, ethnicity, language, culture, and even nationality will be necessary to confront evil and support goodness. By craving the need to be and have the biggest and the best, we have offended nation after nation, tribe after tribe, and allowed our enemies for forge alliances intent upon our destruction.

My beloved congregation, the author of the book of James is right: these conflicts and disputes are from cravings that are at war within us. Truly, we want something and do not have it, so we commit murder. We covet something and cannot obtain it, so we engage in disputes and conflicts. It is a terrible harvest that we are gathering this fall.

But lest I do a disservice to scripture, let me back us up a few verses, for James has given us the answer, a way to address our cravings and begin again to plant seeds that will produce abundant harvest of righteousness.

James hands us packets of seeds that he, and history and tradition and reason, can verify bring good and decent and life-nurturing fruit to our personal lives and our world. Hear his words again:

Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom… the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. (3: 13, 17-18)

 

There are no words that are more inspiring to me than “Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.” Gentleness is a misunderstood quality. It is neither weakness nor sentimentality, but one of the most demanding and difficult to obtain traits. I appreciate the definition one professor gives the word “gentleness” as “perfect strength under perfect control.” (1)   Saint Frances de Sales said, “Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing so gentle as real strength.” (2)

The gardening metaphor is apt here. Try telling a farmer he or she is “weak” or “sentimental” and you’ll get a rebuke. Those who plant seeds and tend them until they produce fruit are patient, yes, wise, yes, and gentle, certainly but never feeble nor fragile.

James tells us that gentleness is born of wisdom. So if you plant wisdom, you will reap gentleness. That makes sense, and we would do well in the tradition of the founders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to put more time and effort into gaining wisdom and education because we are each individually responsible to God for our faith.

Then, James tells us the fruits of wisdom that comes from God: it is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. These are seeds well worth cultivating: wisdom, purity, peacefulness, gentleness, a willingness to yield, mercy, impartiality, and sincerity. Whether on a personal level, as we seek to be better individual Christians, or on a communal level, whether in our neighborhoods or cities, our state, our nation, or as world citizens, these characteristics, planted often and nurtured carefully, will lead to a true and bountiful harvest of righteousness and, ultimately, peace.

And then, truly, may we reap what we sow.

Amen.

(1) http://reclaimingmanhood.wordpress.com/2006/07/30/gentleness/  (Please note: as with any link, I do not necessarily agree with all that is posted on this site.  I did find the quote quite helpful.  AVH)

(2) http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/saintfranc193305.html

Copyright 2006 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096