Winter Wheat
Author: Andrew Comiskey
February 14, 2022
‘Those who go out weeping,
carrying seeds to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with
them’ (Ps. 126:6).
As we prepped for our
‘Integration’ (aka Living Waters Training) course at the Theology of the Body Institute, I was cheered by a
prophetic word given me by a pastor, decades earlier, about Desert Stream Ministries hauling in freshly
cut wheat, distinct from former harvests in its fragrant and oily sheen.
Today, we sing as we
consider the ‘field’ we worked last week. United in ‘seed’—our common love for Pope St. John Paul II’s melding of anthropology, spirituality, and biblical theology and infused
with a love for what is most authentic in each human being— we brought our
pastoral application of how to best integrate JP’s Theology of the Body, honed
over the last 42 years.
Under Christopher West’s
gracious mediation, we plowed the seed of John Paul into 70 saints, each uniquely
creative, willing to go where they had not quite gone before. Courageous. Some highlights:
1. Evangelical gift. DSM
began in the Vineyard Christian Fellowship where we derived two keys: equipping
the saints to do the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12) then to advance God’s Kingdom
by relying on the King’s Spirit to prophesy what is most real in another and to
unite one with that truth. Given the proper boundaries and oversight we
afforded the group, we equipped lay men and women to become witnesses, healers,
and comrades of strugglers aspiring to integrate the true self. We woke up
Catholics who might otherwise sleep through their vocation, looking to others
to do what God asks of them.
2. Integration. John Paul’s
vision of ‘orientation’—an active commitment ‘to the personal dignity of what
is intrinsic to masculinity and femininity’ (TOB 131:4)—united everyone in pursuit
of the same sexual goal. Many different starting points require a great
leveler—the Cross under which we welcomed mercy. Our common disintegration drank
in rain from heaven. Perhaps we fulfilled a true form of integration: men and
women, evangelicals and Catholics, young and old, and persons facing disordered
desire of every stripe (sexual lust to sexual indifference, from slavish
devotion to misogyny) took ground in accepting our gift while recognizing our
need of the other’s.
3. Warfare. Christians who
lay aside pride, rainbow dreams, passivity, fear, religious punctiliousness, and
other divides raise satanic ire. Our enemy hates TOB and Living Waters. He pulled
out all the stops to deride us personally, divide us from each other, and
distract us with minor calamities. We endured prayerfully for the joy set
before us. Holy Spirit overtook the darkness and composed us. I kept seeing
flames surrounding me as God exposed and burned off assailants. These efforts
continue to this day but we unite rejoicing and battle together.
4. Reverencing Body.
Catholics know how to set a fine table; TOB (thanks Jason!) leaders transformed
a humble meeting room into a temple fit for a King. And the tabernacle, seat of
Christ Himself, provided the focus and fire that empowered us throughout the
week. Evangelicals marveled at the reverence Catholics accorded Jesus in this
‘tent of meeting’, and sound evangelical piety infused all with a reverence for
the temple of each participant. Strong and sure was the call to repent and welcome
God’s discipline where we have broken sexual boundaries and desecrated our
fellows. In this one Church, we experienced a hastening of Jesus preparing a
people for Himself. We washed each other’s lowest parts.
Jesus is preparing a
harvest of finest wheat, and harvesters to reap the gold.
‘The harvest is plentiful
but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out
workers into the harvest field’ (Matt. 9:37-38).
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