When I was a kid, sick days were for going to my grandma’s house, resting on her couch underneath the “sick blanket,” and watching The Price Is Right hosted by Bob Barker. There might be some ginger ale or soda crackers involved, or a cool compress for my forehead if I had a fever. Even though none of these things were “cures” for what ailed me, I remember the comfort and healing I felt at my grandma’s house. 

The sick blanket was a tied quilt that normally sat on a shelf in the coat closet at Grandma’s house. If anyone ever felt under the weather, Grandma would cover you with the sick blanket, and you would feel wrapped up in all the love and care shown to people who needed the sick blanket over the years. There was nothing magical about the sick blanket. The blanket didn’t heal viruses or soothe upset stomachs. But, it was a kind of medicine anyway. It was the kind of medicine that comforted you with love, made you feel secure, and let you know that everything was going to be ok. No one ever wants to be sick, but if I had to be unwell, I wanted to be covered with that old, tied quilt at Grandma’s house.

We’ve undergone a spiritual check up, and the diagnosis is that we are all in need of a little TLC and healing. All three Scripture passages this morning point to a deep need for healing, in our hearts and in our world. The prophet Isaiah shared God’s invitation to all those who were poor, hungry, and thirsty to come drink their fill and eat plentiful food without cost. In the reading from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a parable about a fruitless fig tree and about nourishing the tree with fertilizer for a year to see if that might heal what the tree is lacking. And the text from Ephesians talks about the armor of God, and about the way we are nourished and equipped by immersing ourselves in the Scriptures and by working daily for peace in the world. 

I can’t think of any better Scripture texts for us to explore on this Mr. Rogers Sunday. Today is the birthday of Fred McFeely Rogers, best known by the name Mr. Rogers. I grew up watching Mr. Rogers on his beautiful, heartwarming show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and all these years later, I’m still inspired by the way he communicated simple, yet profound messages to children about how important each one of them were in the world. He taught kids how to manage strong emotions, how to be kind to others, and what it means to be part of the neighborhood of humanity. His messages like “It’s you I like” and “I like you just the way you are” spoke to the deepest need each one of us has – the need to be known and loved by someone. 

Today, as we continue our lenten journey through with the book Good Enough, we are reminded that lots of things can bring healing. Lots of things can be medicine. Now, none of the things we are going to talk about today are substitutes for proper medical care. Medicine is medicine, and I’m thankful for the way medical care allows us to treat physical and mental illnesses. That’s not the kind of medicine I’m going to talk about this morning. Instead, I want us to explore the kind of medicine that nourishes the soul, that heals the heart, and that encourages healing in the world. I want us to look at these three Scripture passages, specifically the parable from Luke about the barren fig tree and the Ephesians passage on the armor of God, through the lens of Mr. Rogers and from the perspective of a broken and hurting world that is desperate for the healing touch of God.

In Luke 13, Jesus tells the parable of a man who had the gardener plant a fig tree. For three years, the man went to the tree in the hopes of harvesting figs, only to find the tree fruitless. From a practical standpoint, a fruit tree that doesn’t produce fruit is a waste of good soil, and so the man tells the gardener to cut it down. The gardener knows that things are not so simple. Perhaps the tree would never bear fruit and would need to be cut down, but it was also possible that the tree was lacking some vital nutrients. Rather than jump to the quick fix of cutting the tree down and planting something new, the gardener urges a slower solution. He says, “Let’s fertilize it for a year and see if that helps.” Let’s feed it, nurture it, and give it time to grow. 

I don’t know about you, but I tend to prefer quick solutions, and I can become easily frustrated by how long change really takes. When I decided to start training to run a 5K, I was surprised that I couldn’t even run for 30 seconds at first without stopping to gasp for air. When I decide to make healthy food choices a priority, I am frustrated by how long it takes for the cravings for junk food to go away. When I’m organizing a closet or a whole room, I can become easily overwhelmed as I usually have to make a bigger mess before it can get any better. Meaningful, deep, lasting change takes time, and we have to chip away at it little bit by little bit. We have to take things one step at a time. But, it’s hard not to lose patience and determination in our fast-paced world.

The man who was impatient for figs was ready to cut the tree down. I love the way the gardener responded. He said, “Sir, let it alone for one more year.” Leave it be. Let’s give it what it needs and let growth happen. The word for “let it alone” can mean to release it, to let it go, and even to not hinder it. In other words, “Let me feed it, and then let’s get out of the way.” 

I wonder if I can ask this question. It’s a personal one, but know that I’m asking it to myself as well. I wonder: How is your spirit today? Are you weary? Are you struggling? Are you feeling filled up to the brim? Or, maybe you are somewhere in between. Imagine that your spiritual life is a fig tree, and you are walking through your land, and you stop to check it out. Is it bearing fruit? As you examine it, are you finding the fruit of the Spirit–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Or maybe you are finding inner turmoil, impatience, bitterness, passive-aggressiveness, and impulsiveness. Whether you are finding good fruit, a barren tree, or a tree that isn’t growing quite as you had hoped, we can check the soil and add in the good things we need for growth.

What are some things you do to feed your spiritual life? Maybe spending more time in prayer or studying Scripture, taking a walk through the world God created, spending some time with a spiritual friend–someone who helps you grow and offers you needed words of challenge and encouragement, making a rhythm of gratitude, singing songs or dancing with praise in your living room. What are some things you do to feed your spiritual life?

Sometimes, what we need is to nourish the soil, to add in the things that are needed, and then get out of our own way. It’s not up to us to bring the growth and the change. God does that work. We just need to soak up the good stuff and then let God do the growing. The gardener asked for another year for the tree. Meaningful change takes time. Little by little. Day by day. Until one day, the tree is covered with fruit and we can hardly remember the day when we weren’t sure if we should cut the tree down and start over.

In our Scripture passage from Ephesians 6–often called the Armor of God passage–we find instructions from Paul on putting on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and taking up the sword of the Spirit. But, the part I find the most curious are the shoes. In verse 15, it says this: “As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.” Isn’t that an interesting instruction? In the middle of using imagery about weapons of war and the armor a soldier would wear, Paul says that we should put on our feet whatever makes us ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 

Imagine getting up in the morning and choosing your clothes for the day. Or, maybe you are one who lays your outfit out the night before to reduce the time you need to get ready in the morning. You select your pants and your shirt. You might accessorize with a tie or a scarf, or maybe you put on a blazer. You step in front of the mirror and ask yourself, “Huh. What shoes would go best with this?” (Or, maybe you’re a person who has one pair of shoes that works for everything, but just work with me here.) Should I wear the black shoes? The brown ones? Something more casual, or something more durable or more formal? 

“As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.” Lace up your shoes, and love your neighbors. Select your sneakers, and then get out there and share peace. Leave on your fuzzy slippers or slipper socks, and transform the world one act of kindness at a time. Ultimately, this is our mission. When we get ready to head out the door in the morning, yes we are heading out to our jobs, or our tasks and appointments, and we have things we need to do. But, the most important thing on our daily list is to be a representative of Christ in the world, to share the love of God with people who desperately need it, and to plant seeds of peace wherever we go.

On every single episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Mr. Rogers would come in the door and change his shoes. The word on the street is that he did this because his dressier shoes made too much noise on the television set, but I think there was more to it than that. As he took off his work shoes and put on his house shoes, Mr. Rogers communicated to the people who were watching that he intended to be fully present with them. He wasn’t going to go anywhere. Once he walked through that door, he was there for a purpose–to let you know how very loved you are and how much you matter.

That small act of intention meant the world to children around the country who watched Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. They knew he wasn’t going to go anywhere for that short time, and for many kids, that may have been a rare moment of knowing that someone was going to be there for them. I could offer so many different quotes from Mr. Rogers to talk about the importance of the small things we do over time, but this is one of my favorites: “Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.” Can you imagine? If every single one of us offered a kind word to someone else, and that inspired them to go out and do the same, how would those small words, those little acts, transform the world?

Last week after church, a few of us in the Good Enough study made “Good Deed Beads.” This little chain of 11 beads was designed by St. Therese of Lisieux. She contracted tuberculosis at a very young age, and she knew that she would likely not survive it. Before she died in her 20s, she committed her life to doing little things, small acts for God. She called this the “Little Way,” and I think we would all do well to follow in it.

This week, let’s take inventory of the soil in our lives. Are our spiritual lives finding the nourishment they need? How might we fertilize the soil, and then get out of the way so that God can produce the growth? And then, let’s take the growth God gives us and transform the world one step at a time, with our feet equipped with whatever will make us ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. Amen.