The Nurturing Darkness

The Nurturing Darkness - Sermonette

So, today I’m going to share with you a verse from the Bible, Luke 8:15, which is taken from the New Revised Standard Version. I changed the word “soil” to “earth” for thematic reasons. In this verse, Jesus is speaking to his disciples, or close friends and students. Here we go:

But as for that in the good earth, there are ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.

The context of this verse is that Jesus is talking about how to listen to teachings, but there are echoes of one of the first Creation stories in the Old Testament here. First, Tova is the word used here for Good when Jesus is talking about the Good Earth. It shares the same root that is in Genesis 1 when God declares Creation to be not just good, but “VERY Good!”, according to the Biblical Scholar Donovan Ackley III. Second, the word for earth is Adhamh, translated in present day English to the male name Adam. That’s because Adhamh literally means earthling or earth-being - gender-neutral. So, in a way, Jesus is instructing his disciples to be like the Good Earth - like the Original Creation from which they came.

Ackley also emphasizes that, in Genesis 1, God brooded over Creation like a bird caring for its offspring, preoccupied with raising its small family until they could fly on their own. But it’s a fact of life that not all birds fly and not all ground is fertile. Jesus then goes into a this/good that/bad mode, but really, I think it’s beautiful - and relatable - that we contain the seeds of the origins of the universe within us, and that we can return to that nutrient-rich state of being if only we make ourselves so. And part of that can be through listening.

The Nurturing Darkness - the cross-section of a seed is on the front page of today’s Order of Service. When I think of that image, I think of both warmth and vulnerability. I imagine the warm earth embracing the seed just as it needs to be embraced, like a hug! Soil wrapped snugly around the little germ of life, ready to give it what it needs. Not so different from an eagle parent providing for its young. The seed, gradually reaching out for more - more discovery, more life, more growth. And growth is scary! But in the right environment, it happens, organically. Teachers know this. The earth and the seed, almost symbiotically responding to one another like a gestating parent responding to the baby they’re carrying inside of them. Listening is a beautiful method for returning to the original state of Creation. Especially when we remember that, in the Hebrew Bible, the earth was formed into being by its Creator's speaking.

In the coming darkness, I encourage you to listen. Listen to what needs to grow within you, and listen to who or what you need to nurture. As you do so, you might experience discomfort, but with your listening, you’ll be bringing Love. And in that, you’ll be making things new. Even if your process is the timeless process of Creation.