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 Green Trees Bear Spiritual Gifts |
15 July 2007 This is the day that the Lord has made! What joy to gather today in worship as we celebrate God’s living presence among us, as we celebrate the gift of this day, as we celebrate the gift of Kaye Silverwood at her 100th birthday! We are so blessed. And when we read responsively the call to worship, based on psalm 92, beginning with thanksgiving, then lifting up the image of trees transplanted to God’s courtyard, where even “in old age, they still produce fruit; lithe and green and full of sap,” how perfect is that? We know beyond any doubt that the psalmist didn’t have Kaye Silverwood in mind, but here we are here in thanksgiving, and at 100, Kaye can safely be said to have achieved old age. But Kaye is so lithe and green—and full of sap!—that she puts sixty-somethings to shame. We have a pear tree that grows at the end of our back porch. We planted it there for two reasons—one, because we love fresh, tree-ripened pears, and two, because we needed some shade in just that spot. When we first planted that tree, it wasn’t much bigger than a toddler. It produced no fruit, and very little in the way of shade—except maybe for the local rabbits. Now the pear tree is mature and produces so much fruit that, come fall, many of you will enjoy its produce. I thought of that tree as I read this morning’s call to worship. And I thought of that tree as I read our scripture for the day. Katie reminds us that our reading from Corinthians comes from the hand of the apostle Paul, writing the first of two letters to a divided and quarrelsome congregation in Corinth. Corinth is known for its hard living, prostitution and heavy drinking. And because conversion to the Christian faith doesn’t automatically give the Corinthians impeccable manners and appropriate morals,[1] it isn’t long after Paul leaves Corinth that members start returning to old habits; deep divisions develop within the church. The extraordinary part of the letter is that Paul doesn’t ream out the congregation. Here he’s just spent 18 solid months with them, and this is how it turns out. Instead, he reminds them that they are a body. He reminds them that as a body, they each have particular God-given gifts, particular contributions to live into, specifically, especially, as members of that body. It’s something like the fruit on our pear tree. The tree’s purpose and its gift is to produce fruit, specifically pears. The tree at the end of our back porch isn’t given the gift of producing kumquats or bananas. Those gifts belong to other trees. But the gift, the fruit, can’t even come into being without the tree. I can’t walk over to the chair on our front porch and expect it to produce a pear, no matter how many years I wait for it to mature. Isn’t going to happen. The pear needs the pear tree, just as the pear tree’s whole purpose is to nurture and produce the pears. Kaye Silverwood, child of God, lives her spiritual gifts. Born 20 July 1907 in Chicago, Illinois, she and her brothers grew up in a warm and happy home. By the age of three, Kaye had acquired the nickname “Tata”—her childish version of Kathryn. Any of you on Kaye’s e-mail address book will recognize that nickname embedded in her address: tatathefirst. That she even has an e-mail address testifies to one of Kaye’s many gifts—her ability to grow with the opportunities of the present, and to do so with relish. Not that she didn’t have personal challenges along the way. By the time Kaye was twelve, she’d endured a kidney ailment called Bright’s Disease, diphtheria, and a lung infection that was treated as tuberculosis. And Kaye is quick to point out that this is before the days of antibiotics. My hunch is that the seeds of another two of Kaye’s gifts were planted during those illnesses. One gift is Kaye’s adaptability; a second gift is her ability to live fully in the present while maintaining an abiding hope for the future. Other gifts abound as well: her gratitude and joy, her spirit of adventure, her interest in the world around her, her sense of humor. So whether she was taking her first airplane flight in 1931, just four years after Lindberg’s solo flight to France, camping and canoeing in Green Bay, Wisconsin, parenting Tom, Pam, and Jim, coaching her son’s eighth grade basketball team, looking for a hotel in Seville, visiting son Tom in Japan via Europe—with stops in Europe, Egypt, India and Thailand along the way, or riding out an earthquake in Yosemite, Kaye was growing into her spiritual gifts. As she and her husband Ralph became involved in different Congregational churches along with their various moves, where Kaye provided leadership to women’s fellowships and rummage sales, Kaye was growing into her spiritual gifts. There are other gifts that arguably are less spiritual, but add immensely to Kaye’s appreciation of life. Golf, bridge, of course. Yoga for a number of years—she even moved into her empty apartment at Asbury with her Yoga mat, a blanket and pillow, a cup, plate, knife, fork, spoon, and one glass, prepared to camp out until her furniture arrived. And who could fail to mention Kaye’s love of opera? Small wonder that she’s one of Trevor’s hardcore fans. Kaye clearly is richly gifted with blessings that go far beyond advantage of birth or place. Her gifts of talent and interest mix with gifts of the Spirit in a combination that is uniquely Kaye’s. But talents and abilities, even interests, can diminish over time. Not so with spiritual gifts. Just as the pear fully develops only when it is connected to the tree, Kaye’s spiritual gifts continue to bear fruit because she remains connected to the body. A couple of years ago, one of our guest preachers said that one of the first responsibilities as a member of the church is to show up. It’s next to impossible to stay connected to one another, to be the body of Christ, the church, if we do not gather to support one another in the discovery and nurture of our gifts, if we do not gather in worship, if we do not gather to share the word and reflect on its meaning for our lives. The pear never has a chance to develop into its golden, blushing perfection without the tree. In fact, to carry the analogy just a bit further, the pear can continue to grow only as long as it is sustained by the tree. If some wayward squirrel picks it prematurely, its growth stops right there, green and small and hard, its promise never realized. So thank you, Kaye, for staying connected, for showing up, for continuing to grow with us, and bringing to this body the fruits of your spiritual gifts. * * * [1] “Introduction 1 Corinthians,” TheMessageRemix, Eugene Peterson. |