Let us prepare our souls to receive the sacred myth of scripture.
Breathe deep, keep a moment of silence; release any preconceptions you might have about the meaning of the passage, open your heart to new revelations that may arise.
Then read aloud:
Burklo bird
Photo courtesy of Jim Burklo.
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened. (Jesus, Matthew 13: 31-33, NRSV)
Read it aloud again a few times.
Let the seed of scripture sink into the soil of your soul.
Let the yeast of scripture knead its way into every fiber of your being.
Let holy mystery, enveloped by scripture, incubate within you until it transforms you as you most need to be transformed.
Christianity is a tiny, hard, round mustard seed, packed densely with scriptures, writings, doctrines, art, music, liturgies, history, and practices. Amazing to behold. But observing this seed, you won't necessarily see the selfless compassion and sublime wisdom that can grow from it after it is planted in the human soul. Christianity is a pinch of smelly yeast: messy, strange, complicated - outrageous in so many ways. But folded into the human heart, and with the right nurture and conditions, it can swell into divine goodness.
Christianity, in and of itself, is funky. Christianity, incubated, empties itself into new being. Some folks wear crosses on chains around their necks to mark them as members of the Christian tribe. There's nothing wrong with wearing the cross. But until the cross wears us, until we incubate the myth of the crucifixion and resurrection within our souls, we're not letting the sacred story liberate us from self-absorption.
Christianity is not a knick-knack to show off on a shelf. It's not a special club for the cool kids. It is a packet of seeds meant to be planted within us. It is a packet of yeast meant to be folded into us.
Within the mustard seed is a structure called the apical meristem, consisting of stem cells, each of which has the potential to morph into any specific cell in specific organs of the future mustard plant. The whole Christian religion is an apical meristem. It has no fixed meanings. Each myth and story and hymn and liturgy and artwork within it has infinite variable potential to positively transform the human soul, if nudged and nurtured in that direction.
Open your heart to the mustard seed. Let it drop all the way in. Water it with time and contemplation.
Make way in your soul for the pinch of yeast. Warm it with open, mindful, prayerful attention. Let it be whatever it is, on its terms. Wait for it to do whatever it does within you.
May the delicious aroma of fresh bread rise from the sacred story planted deep within you. May birds of the air make nests in that which sprouts from your incubated Christianity...
The Rev. Jim Burklo serves as Senior Associate Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. This post is republished with permission from his blog, Musings, on the Progressive Christianity website. Rev. Burklo's own website is Mindful Christianity.org.