Let the Pollen Rain Down

May 5, 2024

Year B; 6th Easter

1 John 5: 1-6

Psalm 98

John 15: 9-17

Psalm 98

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, *
for he has done marvelous things.

2 With his right hand and his holy arm *
has he won for himself the victory.

3 The Lord has made known his victory; *
his righteousness has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

4 He remembers his mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel, *
and all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

5 Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands; *
lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.

6 Sing to the Lord with the harp, *
with the harp and the voice of song.

7 With trumpets and the sound of the horn *
shout with joy before the King, the Lord.

8 Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it, *
the lands and those who dwell therein.

9 Let the rivers clap their hands, *
and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord,
when he comes to judge the earth.

10 In righteousness shall he judge the world *
and the peoples with equity.

John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

Homily by Rev. Megan Limburg

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our
hearts be acceptable in your sight,
O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

After yesterday’s rain, I could not resist going out and taking a few pictures of my irises in full bloom, now glazed by, bejeweled really, by raindrops.

Purple, yellow and white all radiant, despite the drab day.

And I could hear our Psalm this morning:

“Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things!”

I love this psalm as it was one that we used regularly in chapel services when I served as a school chaplain at St. Christopher’s in Richmond. This psalm is vivid and imaginative in calling on not just we humans, but all creation to sing out in response to God’s marvelous ways….God’s creating, of you, of me, of spring, and yes, of irises!

The young boys I ministered to loved to picture the rivers clapping their hands, the hills ringing out with joy, and the sea, the ocean and all the creatures in the water making noises in response to God’s marvelous, beautiful mercy filled love!

And even we perhaps a bit more calcified grownups, can still let go and see the Rappahannock or the Corrotoman clapping its hands as the waves grow and the praise for God roars from the river!

The writer, The Rev. Katherine Willis Pershey, a UCC minister and writer in Wisconsin speaks of Psalm 98 this way and draws us to Holy Week, as does our gospel today:

“(Psalm 98) is delightfully imaginative. All of creation is commanded to join in the song of worship. I can’t help but recall when Jesus makes his triumphant entry into Jerusalem and encounters Pharisees who are offended that the people are worshiping him. They tell Jesus to forbid his followers from praising him. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus retorts that if these people were to be silent, even the stones would cry out.”(Christian Century, May 2024)

The stones on the path as Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, as folks laid palms in his path, if they, if we, are silenced, Jesus says, the creation, the stones would cry out and speak of the wonder of God, of the mercy of our Savior.

And our Gospel today on this 6th Sunday of Easter, draws us back too to Holy Week and the Last Supper, and the gathering darkness as Jesus and those he now calls friends, sit at table, and bread is broken and shared, wine is passed, feet are washed, and a new commandment is given. Jesus telling his friends, above all else, to love one another. And yes, here comes that word again from last week, to love one another and to abide in God’s love, to live together, to be the church together, founded on above all else our love for one another, our love for all.

In all this talk of creation, and the rocks shouting and the lands singing, I have noticed over the past weeks an aspect of nature less often focused on as a blessing, as a new song to God: pollen.

Now that our allergy/pollen rating is finally down to “moderate” I thought I might be able to share my holy thoughts about pollen.

But first, I’ll gladly acknowledge how maddening pollen is! Taking walks with my eyes weeping tears from the green fuzz in the air! Tim and I coughing, and the dog coughing more, from the clouds of pollen blowing about. And the clean-up, sweeping, vacuuming, hosing off of everything!

And Tim and I have it easy, we are only mildly irritated by pollen, not allergic or asthmatic or sickened by it.

But as I watched the pollen fall from the trees, blow in the wind, and settle in intensely green puddles after rain and in the shallows of the creek, I kept thinking of God and God’s creation. Though we moan about pollen we know it is needed, actually crucial. Without pollen nothing blooms, without pollen, there are no leaves, no plants, no green canopies of summer shade.

So every time I grumbled about the pollen I tried to remember all it does for us, all the wisdom of God in the creation, that moves us from winter to spring and such beauty and growth, food and flowers.

And strangely enough, as I contemplated pollen on my morning walks, while blowing my nose and mopping the tears away from my eyes, I thought of you all.

And I realized that your churches are in a season of pollen right now, a season of transition and change, as I complete my ministry with you all, and as you have been wrestling with the steps needed to look ahead to the future.

A pollen season can be irritating, and upsetting, a pollen season can make your eyes weep, and, a pollen season is absolutely crucial, necessary, for without it, the spring can not come, the season of growth and trees and plants and shade to rest in, can not be, without the pollen.

And thankfully even during pollen season for churches, we have God’s love. And we echo back to the Last Supper, and can hear Jesus telling his friends: “Abide in my love.” Stay in my love, rest in my love, live in my love, abide, abide, abide.

And in our gospel today too, Jesus tells his friends, even as evening falls and he faces the cross:

“You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last……”

And fruits come only after the pollen! So, we can join Psalm 98 and sing out our own song:

“Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things….Let the trees and plants clap their hands, and let the pollen rain down and ring out with joy before the Lord!

Amen.