It is not too hard to visualize the story of Frederick on this crisp fall day, surrounded by brilliant reds and oranges of the autumn trees. Driving in this area before, I have noticed the stone walls here in Dartmouth much like the ones in the book and I imagine there are some field mice running around getting ready for winter just outside that door like Frederick and his Friends were, or maybe they were sneaking into the meetinghouse?
While you may be able to visualize the story, I imagine some of you may be wondering why I have chosen a children’s book about a field mouse named Frederick, to use as a reading this morning .
It may seem out of place to some of you, considering I just spent three years at Harvard engaged in exegetical work, scriptural interpretation, and biblical scholarship to choose a children’s book as a reading this First Day morning.
But one of the other things I learned in divinity school was to be faithful to God’s leadings even when they may seem unconventional. And so today I invite you to join me in considering Frederick’s witness, what can we learn from this wee little prophet ?
In this story of Frederick and his friends they are all preparing for the winter. Frederick’s friends are doing this by busying themselves with preparations or work, each has a job to do, and is taking it very seriously, scurrying past him with their arms full of varying kinds of food for the winter. They carry the corn, and the nuts, the wheat and the straw. And we are told that they work day and night. Their work is important, gathering these items which will feed their bellies for the winter.
I imagine these mice are like many of us, focused on the work we must do. Of course we too are busy day and night trying to earn a paycheck to pay our bills and feed our families. We are preparing not for the winter but for the future that often seems like it could be as cold and as gray as a winter if we are not well prepared.
And then there is Frederick...Frederick is seemingly not working; rather he is soaking up the beauty of the earth that is around him...the bright colors of yellow wheat, and red berries, and green leaves. He is absorbing the rays of the sun, warming himself from the outside, filling himself with majestic rays of light. We might say he is witnessing the earth and its gifts, filling up his soul with the earth’s riches.
And so now I must pause to ask am I like Frederick? Are you like Frederick? Do we stop and fill our souls?
I can not avoid the correlation of this story and these queries to the advices of New England Yearly Meeting. In chapter four of the new Faith and Practice, a chapter entitled “Integration of Faith and Life”, the advices read:
Keep your spiritual roots watered and nourished and let the energy which informs your witness be rooted and gounded in love. You will wither if you rely solely on your own energy.
Bear witness faithfully, whether or not others seem to be doing so. It is not your job to persuade them.
Be thankful for and encourage the witness of others in their faithfulness to Truth.
Read those again , so that you can soak them in like Frederick did the sun and the colors.
As I considered these advices, I was reminded of another piece I read many years ago, a pamphlet from “Friends Council on Education” written by Quaker Educatory and Scholar Paul Lacey entitled Running on Empty. In this
essay he reminds Friends that it is important to nourish one’s inner life. Like these advices from NEYM he tells the reader that we must nourish the spiritual life in ourselves and others. “The overarching questions of the spiritual life might be put this way: How and what can I be fed , for my best strength, my greatest health, my fullest happiness? What must I learn about my needs, about the world I live in, about other people, which will help me know and practice the habits which nourish my inner life and make me more serviceable to the spiritual needs of others?”(p3) He goes on to suggest that we should make time, an hour each day, for our own spiritual nourishment.
This also echoes Quaker writer Patricia Loring in Listening Spirituality: Personal Spiritual Practices Among Friends. She states”
Friends. She states “It is part of our formation in a listening spirituality to find which practices, at this time in our lives, are most supportive of our inward listening for the word, the guidance, the challenge, the reproof, the love - or simply intimations - of God’s presence. These can take many outward forms. It is a matter of some listening and discernment to find those which are right for us at any given moment.” (p.8) Paul found that there were three practices he used to keep his spiritual roots watered and nourished: reading, writing and drawing. Patricia in her book suggests others: journaling, meditation, prayer, lectio divino, retreats. In my own life I have found that it is on my runs, or walks with my dog that I have time to listen to that still voice inside of me and water my spiritual roots. I have also found my witness more rooted and grounded in love when I make time to pray for those who are on my heart.
But, these advices are not only about the individual and his or her practices, they are also about how the individual impacts the community: #12 and #13.
This brings us back to Frederick and his furry friends. When his friends saw Frederick not working but simply “sitting there” they questioned what he was doing. But Frederick was faithful to his witness. He continued on soaking in the colors and the sun, collecting words in his head. He believed that the nourishment he was taking in would feed his soul and maybe even the soul of others even if his friends did not believe this.
This can be a challenge bearing witness faithfully when others are not doing the same. How often are we persuaded not to go to meeting because someone in our family doesn’t feel like it, or would rather stay home to get sleep to nourish the body? It can be hard to continue our spiritual practices when others around us are not doing the same. And like Frederick, sometimes we can find ourselves alone, we might be different from others who do not make time to bear witness to the Spirit within us and all around.
But if we are faithful, our Light may just brighten the lives of those around us. When the winter came and the food had been eaten, the mice needed a different kind of nourishment, a fuel that came from within Frederick from the depths of his spirit. Frederick was able to offer gifts of his own to the mice because he had been so faithful to his personal witness. And when he did this his friends recognized his gifts and his faithfulness with appreciation and gratitude. Indeed they were thankful for his witness.
For Frederick watering his spiritual roots was simple, he witnessed the beauty of this earth, he witnessed the beauty of words, the beauty of colors and the gift of friendship.
Nourishing our inner selves could be this simple for us as well. Do we take time to soak in the beauty of this autumn season? The firey reds and the burnt oranges? Do we make time to be out of doors soaking in the warming sun on our body? These are God’s creation, God’s gift to each of us, do we allow these gifts to nourish our spiritual selves?
In closing, I invite you to consider as individuals how you keep your spiritual roots watered? How can you rely on the energy of God, of the Light burning within you to nourish your soul? As a meeting community, I invite you to consider how you can encourage the witness of others in the meeting in their faithfulness to Truth.
Because, like Frederick when one amongst us does the work of witnessing, does the work of soaking up the sun, of replenishing their spiritual well, then he or she is able to return this spiritual gift to each of us whose lives they touch. I invite you to be more like Frederick, find the beauty around you, listen for the voice of God within you, and store up those riches for the winter ahead. Galen Hamann