It’s our congregation’s birthday today! Holy Trinity Sunday is the anniversary of Faith Lutheran Church’s official organization in 1961 when we were still meeting at Fisher Heights Public School. Happy birthday, Faith!

Birthdays are about gifts. On our birthday we receive gifts. So, what gifts do we receive today? And what gifts do we already have? And what are they for?

At this time of year, many are planting seeds, flowers, crops. The gardens and flowerbeds are being cleaned up and prepared for new growth. We have lots to learn from farmers, people who work the land, who are busy at this time of year because of their unique connection to the earth. And we have lots to learn from different ways of farming, because each offers insight and reflects wisdom about gifts.

Nicodemus is a teacher of the law and a respected leader of the faith. Jesus challenges him, however (John 3:9-10). Using a rhetorical question (“Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?”), Jesus basically suggests Nicodemus appreciate another way of knowing. Jesus is not condemning Nicodemus’ way of knowing; it’s not bad. But, from Nicodemus’ perspective, he would do well to learn another way and seek its wisdom; that is, the way of the Lord.

By way of analogy, we can do the same and practice thinking outside the proverbial box. Let’s explore Indigenous wisdom when it comes to their relationship with the earth. For example, when colonists settled in the northeast centuries ago and saw First Nations gardens, they were surprised. To the settler mind, a garden meant straight rows of a single species. But that’s not how, for millennia prior to the white man’s arrival, people farmed here.

Robin Wall Kimmerer (2015, pp. 128-140) describes this gardening style as “The Three Sisters”, where three different seeds were laid in the ground, all in the same square foot of soil (I adapt her words here):

“Once planted in the May-moist earth, the corn seed takes on water quickly. It is the first to emerge from the ground, a slender white spike that greens within hours of finding the light. Corn is the first sister. It is all alone at first, while the others are getting ready … Making a strong stem is its highest priority at first. It needs to be there for its younger sister, the bean.

“The bean seed is the second sister. Only after the root is secure does the stem bend to the shape of a hook and elbow its way above ground. Beans take their time unfurling their leaves out of the two halves of its seed. The leaves then break the soil surface to join the corn which is already six inches tall … The bean focuses on leaf growth, all low to the ground, until the corn stalk is knee high. Then, the bean shoot changes its mind.

“Instead of making leaves, now the bean plant extends itself into a long vine, a slender green string with a mission. The tip can travel a meter in a day until it finds what it’s looking for – a corn stem or some other vertical support, to wrap itself around in a graceful, upward spiral. Had the corn not started early, the bean vine would strangle it. But if the timing is right, the corn can easily carry the bean.

“The squash or pumpkin seed is the third sister which takes its time. They are the slow sister. It may be weeks before the first stems poke out of the ground. It steadily extends herself over the ground, moving away from the corn and beans. Its leaves and vines are distinctly bristly, giving second thoughts to nibbling caterpillars. As its leaves grow wider, they shelter the soil at the base of the corn and beans, keeping moisture in, and other plants out.

“The lessons of reciprocity are written clearly in a Three Sisters garden. No leaf sits directly over the next, so that each can gather light without shading the others … Each plant has its own pace and the sequence of their germination is important to their relationship and to the success of the crop.”

So, what gifts does each offer?

“The corn takes care of making light available. The squash reduces weeds. But what is the gift beans offer? To see her gift you have to look underground … Beans are members of the legume family, which has the remarkable ability to take nitrogen from the atmosphere and turn it into usable nutrients for all the plants. This process occurs on the beans’ roots.

“The Three sisters teach us the important lesson of knowing our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because, in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others. Being among the three sisters provides a visible picture of what a community can become when its members understand and share their gifts …

“The message of this garden is: respect one another, support one another, bring your gift to the world and receive the gifts of others. And there will be enough for all.

“The Three Sisters embody, in leaf and vine, the knowledge of relationship. Alone, bean is just a vine, squash an oversize leaf. Only when standing together with corn does a whole emerge which transcends the individual. The gifts of each are more fully expressed when they are nurtured together, rather than alone. In ripe ears and swelling fruit, they counsel us that all gifts are multiplied in relationship.”

Listen to Saint Paul’s words:

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. (Saint Paul, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

And, may we be like Isaiah who responds to the Spirit’s nudging, saying, “Yes, Here I am. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8). May our prayer rise: Bless the gift you have given to me, to share with the Body of Christ and the world. Empower me, and everyone else in their gifting, to let your gift flourish in and through me, for the sake of the common good. Let this be our Pentecost season prayer.

May the words of Jesus resonate in our hearts this day as the greatest gift we receive, the message that it is God’s love and grace that holds all relationships together. For God so loved the world, that in Christ and in the dance of the Holy Trinity, like the Three Sisters, all will be saved (John 3:16-17). All will have enough. All will share with each other their gift, in Christ, forever.

What is the gift you have received? And what will you do? How will you share it for the common good?

Reference:

W. Kimmerer. (2020). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Penguin.