Life At An Angle

The first time over a field in the Springtime, especially since we haven't moldboard plowed for ages, is usually at an angle. Working a field at an angle, whether with a disc, a heavy field cultivator, or chisel plow, opens the ground in a new way and reduces drive wheel compaction from working a field the same way every time you drive across it. Working a field at an angle is also helpful in allowing the water paths which occur throughout the year to find new ways of flowing, reducing erosion and increasing percolation of the rains which (hopefully) will follow. One side benefit that few farmers will publicly acknowledge is that working the fields at an angle is an effective way to reduce 'end of winter waistline bulges' which have grown in direct proportion to the number of months since last the farmer was in the field . . . but, that is topic for another day. Suffice it to say, working fields at an angle the first time over them in the Spring isn't always the easiest thing to do: It is not easy to 'draw a straight line' from one end of the field to the other when you are doing it at an angle (and you know that every other farmer that drives by is keeping mental tabs on how well it is done); and, if you are working at an opposite angle to the angle with which you worked the ground for the last time in the Fall, what the 'up and down' of the tractor doesn't do to you from one end to the other, the 'side to side' will. Working fields at an angle is not for the feint of heart.

Yet, that is exactly what Jesus did in His ministry: He worked the fields at an angle. He observed how faith had been compacted by religion, with heavy burdens being driven over it the same old way year after year until those who were called of God to care for the human family became so stiff-necked they couldn't even begin to imagine doing anything different, regardless of the vision or the benefit. Jesus saw the erosion of hope, the washed away mercy, and the windblown barrenness of unoffered grace, all wearing away the very soul of the people God's love was sent to save. The big waistedness of those who consumed the good the land had to offer at the expense of those whose labors fed the presumed landlords of the Temple did not miss His eyes either. Jesus saw all, then He put His hand to the task and turned God's community in a different direction: He worked the fields at an angle; He invited the people to an alternative vision; He stewarded the planting with a new determination. He regarded His work as holy . . . and the ground He walked, and the people with whom He journeyed, as sacred. His words aerated the soil of belief. His touch opened the hearts of God's children that the Spirit could percolate and nourish. His care for creation changed the landscape of the human endeavor for life abundant. His life, death, and resurrection charted the course of a new way of working the fields, from one end to the other, regardless of the ride on the way.

I am grateful for Jesus the Farmer, the Steward of human faith and community. The Church would be well served to listen, even today, for the lessons He teaches calls us to work the fields at an angle: Not just for the sake of being different, but for His sake to be dynamically transformative in doing God's will wherever we are. It is who He is and it is who His disciples are striving to become in His grace. Thanks be to God for Life at an angle.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don