My Kind of People
“My Kind of People” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
This morning, as you have already seen and heard, we are highlighting the work of Creekside’s Bee Team. The bees do great work for us, gathering nectar, pollinating, doing their work of making honey — which we’re going to harvest in the next month or so. Kurt Vardaman estimated that with the seven active supers we have at Creekside, we may have 70-80,000 bees involved in that ministry. Of course, what makes it a ministry and not just bees doing their bee thing is the people who are involved in that ministry, and some of those people are Steve Barton, Scott Harney, Ron Nicodemus, Irene Rassi, Kurt Vardaman and Deana Ward. We have even attracted some neighbors, Jessica and Lloyd Kauffman, who are learning more about beekeeping and about Creekside.
This morning’s text from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is not about bees — it is about people. Specifically, about people who claim to be followers of Jesus, and how they should behave in community with each other. I said “behave” not “beehive,” but there may be some things which bees know about working together that could be helpful for human beings to remember.
[Slide 1] Bees get some pretty good working conditions — at least in the summertime in Indiana. There is a whole field of wildflowers just to the East of this building, which was planted for our bee friends, and for us to enjoy and celebrate the beauty of God’s creation. It’s a good reminder that Creation is a gift which is given equally to all and which we are care for the good of all. In the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells the gathered crowd to consider the lilies of the field, who do not toil or spin, but are gloriously attired. A field of flowers is a beautiful workspace, but it is an egalitarian one: there are no corner offices or penthouse suites. In God’s Creation and every bee is welcome and there is work for every bee, regardless of their species or where they come from.
[Slide 2] Gathering nectar can be hard work — bees work from sun up to sundown, and fly miles, to get what they need. But although they long hours and travel must be tiring with little tiny wingbeats, they don’t have to work alone. There’s no room and no reason for bitterness, malice, wrangling and slander when you’re all working for the same cause. Every bee has a role to fulfill, so their work is not about ambition or competition. If every bee is playing for the same team, then what benefits one is good for the whole hive.
[Slide 3] And of course, the whole hive is a LOT of bees — as you heard, around 10,000 in each super. For bees to make honeycomb, the worker bees have to develop special glands in their abdomens to secrete the wax and form it into the distinctive structure of honeycomb. Without those bees doing their part at the right time for the process, there wouldn’t be any place to put the honey, which is the goal of the process.
[Slide 4] The purpose of a community of bees is pretty obvious: it is to make honey and to keep making more bees with the special roles needed to keep making more honey. As you probably know, honey is not only valued for its sweetness for flavoring food and drinks, it has also been used an antibiotic to treat wounds and burns, as an anti-inflammatory, an antibiotic to treat infection, and consumed to reduce stress. Bees store honey in their honey stomach and regurgitate it into honeycomb when they return to their hive. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no evil talk come out of your mouth, but only what is useful for building up.” Honey bees take this to the literal level: what comes out of their mouths is sweet and healing.
It seems like there are a lot of slogans out currently for kindness: Kind people are my kind of people; or Human Kind: Be Both. And while I agree with those statements and others like them, it makes me wonder how we gotten to the place where kindness needs a marketing campaign. I know that harsh words and belligerent actions have always been with us. I’d like to think there was a time when kindness was the norm and gossip and bullying were the exception, but maybe I’m remembering something which never actually existed. You certainly don’t have to look far in this country — especially in an election year — to find wrangling, slander, and malice. You can even find this kind of hurtful and hateful speech in the church; directed at other people in the church. This cannot be a recent development, because here is what Paul writes to the church at Ephesus: “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
Although the words BEE Kind make a great t-shirt, I think Paul’s message is more than Be Nice, or Be Polite. If you listen to the end of that verse and of this passage, they reason we are to Be Kind and Be Forgiving is to Be Imitators of God. This may sound like a tall order, but here is Paul’s instruction to the Ephesians: Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love as Christ loved us. There is a bit of a good news/bad news vibe her. Being imitators of God is a pretty lofty goal; even if we think it’s worth trying, we have to know we’re never going to be God — we’re human. The good news is that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, was human too, and showed us how humans can be imitators of God. Not only that, like Jesus, are also beloved children of God we are to live in love toward one another in the same way that Jesus lived in love toward us.
I believe the way to live in love is the same as the way to get to Carnegie Hall. You know that joke, right? A well-dressed concert-goer stops a street musician in New York and says, “Pardon me, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?” and the musician says . . . Practice, practice, practice. There may be people for whom kindness comes naturally: they see only the good in people, they don’t get defensive, they accept criticism with equanimity and grace. This is the equivalent of a musician with absolute pitch — it puts you way ahead of the pack. But for the rest of us, who have issues, who have history, who have triggers, and who have been burned before, kindness takes practice. Everyone’s patience wears thin, and all of us have said things which were not intended to build up another person. This is why we have to practice kindness — repeatedly.
Paul may not be limiting his instruction only to the words we use, but that’s what he means when he says “let no evil talk come out of your mouths” (or your email, or social media) and let “your words give grace to those who hear” (or read). I am fond of a Jewish proverb which says Words are so powerful they should be used only to bless, to heal, to prosper. Jesus, the Word of God, came to teach and to heal, to bless us and give us shalom — wholeness and well-being. So as followers of Jesus and imitators of God, I have a modest proposal of how we can practice kindness in the coming week:
Choose a day — early in the week is better — to fast from, or abstain from negative speech or writing about anyone, including yourself. If you think this will be easier of you limit or abstain from news outlets or media posts, consider taking a break from those for a day. If self-criticism and shame are vices you indulge in, consider how you could be kinder to yourself. What would that look like for you? Notice that I’m not suggesting that you not think anything bitter or angry about anyone, just that you don’t say it or write it for at least a day. If this comes easily for you, stretch it to several days in a row. If it is very difficult, begin with half of a day. It’s about being aware of what we actually think and say about others and to others. Practice means starting with where we are and we keeping at it until we get to where we hope to be. This is not simply an exercise in making the world a kinder place — although it’s fun to imagine what the world would look like if everyone tried it at the same time — it is an exercise in imitating God. Here’s another way to think about being kind: how would you like God to consider you? Could you consider other people like that? If you can’t, or won’t try, why not? What would you have to give up in order to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving to other people?
I want to end by going back to the bees. I don’t want to make too much of their industry, community, acceptance of their role, and purpose. Human life would be a lot less complicated if we didn’t have emotions and were fine with accepting the role of a drone or a worker — and everybody was OK with just one queen. But the glory and the downfall of being human is that we have free will. We aren’t obligated to work together and be kind because we aren’t capable of imagining alternatives. We get to choose whether or not to be kind, and it’s a choice we have to make over and over, multiple times a day. We have been made in the image of God, but it is up to us whether we practice being are imitators of God.
May our words be as sweet as honey, and may God give us the grace to offer words which bless, heal, and prosper. Amen.