My grandfather’s pond lay like a bluish green jewel down in the woods behind the barn. This pond was one of the magical places of my childhood.
On our weekend visits to the farm, my father and brother and sister and I would wander through the woods, and come upon the pond.
We’d stand there poised on the edge of the still water, breathing in the pond’s musty dampness.
The silence of the woods at midday was broken only by the distant call of a bird.
And then my brother would pick up a stone and pitch it as far as he could toward the center of the pond.
Sometimes the stone sank soundlessly into the water. Sometimes the stone plunked or splashed.
And then came the best part.
We watched as ripples started and spread out across the still lake. They travelled all the way to the edges of the pond, stirring the still reflection of trees and sky on the water’s surface, as if a breeze were ruffling the leaves of the trees ringing the lake.
No matter how large or small the stones we tossed and hurled into the water—they all created these ripples that kept on going until they came to rest at the edges of the pond.
In the reading we heard this morning from Deuteronomy, the Israelites stand poised on the edge of the Promised Land, in a state of expectation, the silence of the wilderness broken only by the voice of Moses.
And as they look out over the Promised Land, Moses reminds them that they must study the ripple effect of their actions over the past forty years. Moses reminds them to watch themselves, and to remember the ripple effects of all that they have experienced in the wilderness, both good and bad.
As they recall the ripple effects of all of their actions, both faithful and unfaithful, the Israelites must remember God’s responses to their actions, both God’s judgment and God’s great mercy toward them, God’s generosity in giving them instructions about how to live faithfully.
They must learn from what they’ve seen and heard and experienced if they are to live as wise and discerning and faithful people in the new land that they are about to enter.
James writes in this same vein to the faithful people of the early church, and his words are just as fresh today as they were when James first wrote them—words for us to hear as if they had just been written for our benefit.
James reminds us that God created each and every one of us, just as God created the vast expanses of interstellar space and the stars that light up the dark, still night sky.
On this tiny blue and green planet, floating in a small galaxy out near the edge of the Milky Way, each one of us stands poised at the edge of each new day, and every action we take in each of our days will have a ripple effect on everyone and everything around us.
In fact, the ripple effects of our actions now have the potential to extend out into the solar system itself.
What we do matters, even after we’re dead and buried, because the ripple effects of our actions will continue –our actions affect our children and our children’s children–until at last human history is gathered up on that last day into God’s heavenly kingdom, come down to earth.
Our actions matter, people!
Because our actions, no matter how small, can become part God’s transforming and miraculous and loving work in this world here and now.
How can this be?
James encourages us to follow God’s two simple commandments that lead to right action for the welfare and the ongoing transformation of this world here and now.
And these facts are the two great commandments—to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind. And the second commandment is like unto the first. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves.
This past week, our mission team practiced these two great commandments during our time on Staten Island as we helped with a large clothing distribution for those who needed clothes.
Along with a Moravian mission team from Minnesota, we started out each day with devotions and prayers from the Moravian Daily Text. When we arrived at our work site, Lynnette, who was in charge of the project, talked to us about the spiritual implications of what we were doing.
Lynnette gave us pocket prayers to carry with us throughout the day as a reminder that our first focus was on God. These practices that shaped the days of the distribution reminded us to love God in what we were doing with all our hearts and souls and minds and strength.
Our second challenge each day was to love our neighbors as ourselves. As we helped people of all shapes and sizes and temperaments to gather up the clothes and school supplies that they needed, we found the advice that James gives in this passage to be quite useful– to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger—so that we could witnesses to God’s love and healing to the people we came in contact with each day.
Mission team, please stand up. Thank you for all you did to help 1086 people receive some material things they needed, but most of all, thank you for sharing God’s love so visibly with so many this past week.
During coffee hour, please check out the mission team display and make sure to see the video that will be playing in Fall Hall. This video covers the entire process of producing the clothing distribution each year—this year, over ten churches, including Episcopalians, Moravians, Baptists, Catholics, Jews, and the Reformed church plus the Boy Scouts, made this project possible.
Any team member will be glad to share his or her experiences with you. Last Sunday in the Moravian service we attended at Castleton Hill, Chris Fisher spoke eloquently about the fact that this mission trip had made him realize how proud he is to be a Christian working alongside other Christians—Christian first, Episcopalian second.
And Wendy Gayle shared the poems that she wrote to summarize each day. You can find the poems displayed in the Parish House as well.
The ripple effects of the clothing distribution were obvious during the three days we worked. Many who came in said that they had heard about the distribution while riding the bus, or walking down the street, or that a neighbor had shared the good news. One woman I helped took clothes to a neighbor who is expecting a baby. Good news travels fast.
And those who came to the distribution were thankful.
And the ripple effects of this trip on those of us who went will continue to shape who we are as Christians.
Now–the good news for all of us here today is that we don’t have to travel anywhere at all to carry out God’s two great commandments.
Every morning, we wake up to a new day.
It is as if each one of us is standing by the side of that still pond on my grandfather’s farm, poised with expectation on the edge of the Promised Land of each new day, and each one of our actions during each day will enter into the flow of our lives and have a ripple effect, touching the lives of every person around us, and those ripple effects will go farther than we will ever be able to fathom.
As Mother Teresa has so wisely said, “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you….not all of us can do great things. But all of us can do small things with great love.”
And so, people of God, please stand now.
And if you feel so inclined, answer this question, with the words, “Yes, with the help of God.”
Dear servants, I ask you now, in the presence of God and these witnesses, “Are you willing and ready to use your gifts to glorify God as you go out to serve in Jesus’ name, to stay focused on God and to care for those who need your help?”
Yes, with the help of God.
I commission you, then, to serve as missionaries in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Remember the words of Deuteronomy: “The Lord our God is near whenever we call to him.” Remember that we can do everything through Him who gives us strength…and God will meet all our needs as we meet the needs of others, according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Amen.