The Rev. Noah Van Niel

June 17^th, 2018

St. John the Evangelist

Proper 6 (B): Ezekiel 17:22-24; Psalm 92: 1-4, 11-14; 2 Cor 5:6-17; Mark 4:26-34

Of the many great adventures of Frog and Toad, the beloved Children’s Book series written by Arnold Lobel, one of my favorites has become “The Garden.” In this story Frog, ever the sensible one, lends Toad, ever the insensible one, some seeds so he can start a garden, cautioning him that gardening is “very hard work.” Toad plants the seeds, and expects them to grow…immediately. “Now seeds,” says Toad, “start growing.” Toad walks up and down a few times. The seeds do not start to grow. Toad puts his head close to the ground and says loudly, “Now seeds, start growing!” The seeds do not start to grow. Toad puts his head very close to the ground and shouts, “NOW SEEDS, START GROWING!” Frog comes running, thinking something is wrong, but once he finds it’s just Toad being impatient, he tells him to relax: he’s frightening the seeds. So that night, assuming that the seeds are afraid to grow Toad brings out candles and a book to keep them company all night long so they will not be afraid of the dark. Then all the next day he sings songs to the seeds. All the next day he reads poems to his seeds. And all the next day he plays music for his seeds. Eventually, exhausted Toad falls asleep.  “Toad, Toad, wake up,” says Frog. “Look at your garden!” Toad looks at his garden and lo and behold the seeds have sprouted. “At last,” shouts Toad, “my seeds have stopped being afraid to grow!” “And now you will have a nice garden too,” says Frog. “Yes,” said Toad, “but you were right, Frog. It was a very hard work.” Continue reading →

The Rev. Noah Van Niel

June 10^th, 2018

St. John the Evangelist

Proper 5 (B): Genesis 3:8-15; Ps 130; 2 Cor 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35

Mark’s is the shortest Gospel. It’s the least refined; most direct. It wastes neither time, nor words. And the focus, for the vast majority of it, is not Jesus’ birth, death, Resurrection (you know, the big stuff) it’s Jesus’ daily life and ministry. From the second half of Chapter 1, all the way to Chapter 14 it’s all about Jesus’ work in this world: healing, calling, preaching, teaching, leading, feeding, saving. In Chapter 14 we get the Passion story and then by chapter 16 it’s done. I tell you this because in this extended season of what the Church calls “ordinary time,” this time when we go green from now until December, we will be dwelling in these chapters of Jesus’ ministry. Just like the splendor of spring blossoms on the trees gives way to the green leaves of summer, which hang on until fall, in the church the radiance of the Resurrection fades and we get down to business; we get on with the daily work of following Jesus as he makes his way around the countryside, changing lives all along the way. Continue reading →

The Rev. Noah Van Niel

June 3^rd, 2018

St. John the Evangelist

Proper 4 (B): Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Psalm 81:1-10; 2 Cor 4:5-12; Mark 2:23-3:6

What do you think the most frequently broken commandment is? I would wager that the most consistently and flagrantly violated commandment of the 10 that we have is number 4, “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” Imagine if we treated the other commandments like we treat that one. We’d have people lying and stealing and killing and coveting all over the place. Thank goodness we’re pretty on solid 6, 7, 8, and 9: most of us don’t murder, commit adultery, steal or bear false witness. We try hard on numbers 1 and 2: keeping faith in one God, not making idols. At least we know better when we break numbers 3 and 5: not taking the Lord’s name in vain and honoring our father and mother. Number 10 can be tempting to break—coveting the things that belong to our neighbor, like their sweet house or fancy possessions, but generally I think we know being jealous of other people’s stuff is not something to aspire to. But number 4…I’m not even sure we want to keep this one, and if we do, we certainly have some room for improvement. Continue reading →