One of my all-time favorite poems is by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I probably quote this one line at least 3 times a year in my sermons:
“Earth’s crammed with heaven
Every common bush is afire with God
But only those who see, take off their shoes
The rest just sit around and pluck blackberries.”
One of the craziest responses I have ever had to this poem was here in Washington! One of the first times I preached at Bear Creek UMC in Woodinville, one of the wonderful elders of the church came up to me after I preached and she said, “Pastor Brook, I love that poem…but what’s wrong with sitting around and plucking blackberries. I’ve done it with friends and it was one of the most holy and sacred events in my life. God can be in the blackberries, too!”
I could not agree more! Why is it that when we talk about spirituality and getting close to God we almost always take the fun out of it! Look, I get Elizabeth Barrett Browning's point here...there needs to be some intentionality to our spiritual journey. Taking some time to developing ways to notice God in the everyday is critical to our journey.
But...and this is a big one...let's not be so "holy" that we don't see that God is also present in the plucking of the blackberries; in the laughter that happens when we just purely let God's wonderful creation embrace us with a smile!
Next week, I am going to Camp Indianola to help out with an Elementary camp. While we are there we will pray, and sing, and read scripture. We will take 15 minutes every morning to be silent and watch for God. And all of these things will be wonderful ways to encounter God. But for the rest of the time? We are just going to sit around and pluck blackberries! We are going to play games and sing silly songs and tell jokes and who knows someone will probably even make fart noises and burb. We are just going to have fun!
And guess what? In doing all those things, we are going to grow closer to God!
Some of my favorite stories about war are the stories are those wonderful stories when a seize fire was pronounced and soldiers from both sides of the conflict got together to play games and eat food together! They played soccer or baseball, drank beer, and sang songs right smack dab in the middle of a war! And you know what? My belief is that if they had done that for a week...they might have stopped fighting all together! There is something holy and sacred about laughter and games and just being together. There is something holy and sacred about just sitting down together and plucking blackberries. And when we do it with people who are different than we are...who might even be our enemies...it's actually hard to keep being enemies afterwards!
In fact, I wonder if we shouldn't send both the Republicans and the Democrats to church camp before each year of the campaign trail...maybe just maybe we'd come back and be a country again!
Below are some pictures of old camps and Bible Schols that I've been at. Take some time to just enjoy the pure joy that we had at these camps! God was present fully in these smiles. And if you get a chance...send me one of your favorite pictures of you and yours just sitting around plucking blackberries! God can be in the fun too!
Your friend and pastor, still plucking blackberries with the best of them, Brook
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