April 26, 2009 - Easter 3

Jesus Sends Us to Witness
Luke 24:36b-49
Easter 3 – April 26, 2009

It would be hard to find a more bewildered, confused group of people than the disciples Luke tells us about this morning. As the story begins, they hardly know which way is up anymore – and who can blame them?

Here we are again, on that first Easter Sunday night. The women have found the empty tomb & told the others, who found it a story too hard to believe. Two disciples had encountered Jesus on the way to the village of Emmaus, although they didn't recognize him until they sat down to eat together & Jesus blessed and broke the bread the way he had done so many times during his life with them. So Cleopas & his unamed friend went straight back to Jerusalem to tell the rest of Jesus' followers what just happened.

And when they get there, they find everyone talking excitedly, saying “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” (That would be Simon Peter.) So they start to tell their story of how they had walked and talked and eaten with Jesus, and while they are in the middle of telling their story, Jesus himself comes and stands among them.

Well, Luke tells us that they are startled and terrified. Despite the fact that Jesus had told them more than once that he would die and be raised from the dead, despite the fact that they were just talking about how Jesus had appeared not only to Peter, but to two of them at the same time, they can't believe their eyes! They just aren't expecting to see their living, breathing Lord in front of them – it must be a ghost! And so even after Jesus shows them his hands and feet & proves that he is flesh and blood, even as they start to realize that this is really happening and are filled with joy, Luke says they were disbelieving & wondering. The fact of the physical resurrection seems too good to be true – even with Jesus standing there.

They hardly seem like the best candidates for the job of witnesses, because if there's one thing that I've learned from my many years of watching Law & Order, it's that it's not enough to have seen something happen. If you're going to be called as a witness, you have to be willing to go in front of other people and tell them what you have seen. That's what witnesses do – they tell others what they have seen. And Law & Order has also taught me that witnesses can have a hard time up there on the witness stand. Chances are good that they'll be grilled by the other side, that they'll be challenged and pushed. The opposing attorney will try to poke holes in their story, to find the inconsistencies, to catch them off guard with questions they weren't expecting or don't know the answers to.

It's what makes so many of us a little uncomfortable, a little hesitant to be witnesses to Jesus. If the disciples wondered and disbelieved while Jesus was standing in front of them asking if they had anything to eat, how can we be sure that the resurrection is true and not just some old tale passed down and exaggerated the way stories are? And so we worry about how our testimony of what we have seen and experienced of Jesus will hold up to the questions that others will inevitably ask if we get up there on the stand. We wonder how we will be able to answer the questions that we just don't know the answers to, the ones that no one seems to have a good answer to. Even in our best moments of faith, when we are filled with joy at what Jesus has done, we may find ourselves disbelieving and wondering and doubting our abilities as witnesses.

But even though that bewildered, confused group of disciples seemed the least likely ones you would want to take the stand as witnesses, that is exactly what Jesus says they are. Jesus says to them, “You are witnesses of these things.” You are the ones who will be called to tell the story, to share what you have seen. And as hard as it might be to believe from their initial reaction here, that's just what they did. It's exactly what we see Peter doing in the first lesson today: standing in front of the Israelites in the temple and preaching to them, telling them the story of Jesus, who was raised from the dead, encouraging them to repent so that their sins would be wiped out. The whole book of Acts – which is Luke part 2, really – tells the story of how this group of disciples became witnesses to all nations, sharing the good news of Jesus and proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name.

So what happened? How did they become witnesses? How do we become witnesses?

Well, first, Jesus comes and he eats with them. That seems so simple, but in those days eating a meal together was about a whole lot more than just the food. All through Luke, we have countless stories of how Jesus ate with people. He invited them to join him at his table. With all of the dietary laws and rules about who was clean and unclean, eating a meal together was a sign of welcome. It said that you were accepted and acceptable. And so here, just before he ascends into heaven, Jesus eats with them again just as he had done so many times before, letting them know that they have been forgiven, and nourishing them for the road ahead.

And then, like any good attorney, Jesus preps them to take the stand. He goes over what their testimony will be. He explains the scripture to them, opening their minds to understand it, to see what God's plan of salvation had been all along & how Jesus had fulfilled that plan. He
And finally, as Jesus sends them as witnesses, he reminds them that they don't go alone. He will be sending what the Father had promised – power from on high that will clothe them. Whenever they witness, whenever they share the amazing things they have seen and heard, the power of the Holy Spirit will be with them. The Holy Spirit will give them the words to say, whether they are testifying before the authorities in open court or just sharing their story with someone they meet along the road.

These three gifts that Jesus gave the first disciples for their lives as witnesses are the same three gifts he gives us today. Here in worship and in our daily lives, Jesus feeds us and teaches us and clothes us so that we can share what we have seen. Together, we share a meal with Jesus, the host who invites us to come and join him at the table. He feeds us with bread and wine, his own body and blood, reminding us that we are forgiven and accepted, and in this meal, we are strengthened for the journey ahead of us.

Jesus also gives us the gift of the scriptures too. We read the Bible and hear it proclaimed in sermons and songs, and as we listen and study, Jesus opens our minds to understand what we are reading, helping us to live our lives and speak our words at witnesses to what God has done and is doing in us and in the world.

And finally, after we have been fed and taught, Jesus sends us on our way, saying to us, “You are witnesses of these things.” Even in our doubts and disbeliefs, Jesus chooses us to share what we have seen and heard. That's all he asks us to do. He never says we need to have all the answers. He never says we need to be 100% ready. Because the power to be a witness doesn't come from inside us – it comes from the Holy Spirit, who clothes us and speaks through us.

You are witnesses of these things – so go tell somebody!
Amen.

Easter 2 - April 19, 2009

We Have Seen the Lord
John 20:19-31
Easter 2 – April 19, 2009

The real world is a scary place. There's no escaping it – the news reminds us every day of all of the things we have to be afraid of. The world we live in has the power to strike fear into our hearts. For so many of us, anxiety is a regular companion on our journey through life. Sometimes we can point to the source of that anxiety and sometimes it goes unnamed, resting just below the surface of our conscious minds – we know that something is bothering us, but we can't quite put our fingers on what it is. We live in a culture of fear that fills our imaginations with all of the horrible diseases we could catch, the many possibilities and methods of meeting our untimely demise. For months, our nation has been filled with financial fears – And many of us or people we know are afraid of not having enough, afraid of losing our jobs or our retirement money, afraid of losing our homes because of a mortgage that is more than the house is worth, afraid of not being able to pay our bills because the credit card debt has gotten out of control. It is a scary world out there because we are never sure of what can happen.

This atmosphere of fear reminds me in some ways of the story The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. When Lucy and Peter and Edmund and Susan first come to the land of Narnia, they come to a world that is caught up in fear. As the story opens, they find Narnia under the power of the White Witch, whose magical abilities make Narnia a place where it is always winter and never Christmas, a place that has no hope for the future, no hope for spring, no hope for change and new life. The White Witch loves no one but herself, values nothing but her power and control of the kingdom. She rules with an iron fist and a magical wand that can turn her enemies into stone, leaving those who would oppose her living in fear, hiding out, daring to meet only in secret, knowing what happens to the Witch's enemies if they are caught.

It's no wonder to me that Easter Sunday evening finds the disciples locked away in fear. The real world, then as now, was a scary place. It was a dangerous place, and the past 3 days of their lives have proved that to them. Jesus, their Lord and Master, their teacher and friend, faced off against the powers of the world – and Jesus lost. He was dead and buried - and as a character on Lost said just a few weeks ago, “Dead is dead.” No one expects a dead person to come back to life. And so even though Peter and the Beloved Disciple have seen the empty tomb; even though Mary Magdalene has seen and talked to the risen Jesus & come back telling them all, “I have seen the Lord,” Sunday night finds the disciples still gripped with fear, meeting in secrecy, huddled together behind locked doors. They have seen what happens when you oppose the powers of the real world, and they don't want to be next in line. No one wants to be turned into a stone statue; no one wants to be hauled off to certain death.

And so even though the disciples are trying to stay free from their enemies, the irony is that they have already been captured. They are held hostage by their fear, turned into stone – not by a magic wand, but by the power of that fear. They are immobilized, unable to live the full, abundant lives that Jesus promised.

And so on that night, Jesus comes to them. He walks straight through the locked doors, straight into the heart of their fear, and says “Peace be with you.” He shows them his hands & his side, and when they realize who it is, the disciples rejoice. Again Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” Jesus gives them the gift of his peace & he sends them on a mission: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And then he does something kind of strange... he breathes on them.

I've often thought that CS Lewis, author of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, must have been thinking of this story from John when he was writing the story. Because after Aslan, the great & noble lion, has been killed, he too is raised from the dead. But no one expected that. It seems that the White Witch has won, so when he returns, Aslan finds his people filled with fear and despair, certain that the White Witch will rule forever.

But Aslan has a plan. Taking Lucy & Susan with him, he goes straight to the Witch's lair, to her castle which is littered with the stone statues of her enemies in every corner. They were caught by the power of the witch & it seemed that they would be paralyzed forever. But then Aslan does a strange thing... he breathes on the statues, one by one. And as soon as he does this, each creature comes back to life. When Aslan breathes on them, they are set free from the power that held them immobile. They are transformed from statues to living, breathing beings. And they have been brought back to life for a purpose, for Aslan has a mission for them: they are to follow him back out into that scary real world and join him in the battle against the White Witch and all of the evil that seeks to rule their world forever.

That's what I think of when I read this passage in John. The disciples are afraid of what a world without Jesus holds for them, and they are frozen in that fear like stone. But Jesus cannot be contained by the powers of this world! Even death cannot hold him down, and Jesus has a plan. He comes to find the disciples, despite their fear, and breathing on them, he brings them back to life. He gives them the Holy Spirit, filling them with the faith and the courage to face whatever dangers the world holds. Jesus does this because he has a mission for them. Just as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus now sends his disciples. They have a new purpose on this resurrection day: to follow Jesus back out into the real world, a world held hostage by the powers of sin and fear and death.

And you know what? They did! Having seen the risen Lord and received the gift of the Holy Spirit, the disciples are set free from their fears, set loose as changed people out to change the world, to declare to the powers of this world that there is a greater power, and his name is Jesus Christ!

Jesus is still living, and he is here with us today. He comes to us through the locked doors of our fears, speaking peace into our hearts. He comes in the renewing waters of our baptism, reminding us that we too have been raised to live a new life. He comes to us in the meal we share, feeding us with his very self. He comes to us in the power of his resurrection, breathing the Holy Spirit into us, giving us courage and faith to live lives freed from the fear that would hold us captive. When we leave this place this morning, we leave as changed people, sent to change the world. As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us – to say to the world that we follow the one who has power to bring life even out of death, to shout out “We have seen the Lord!” and he has come to set us all free!

Thanks be to God. Amen

April 12 - Easter Sunday

The Never-Ending Story

Mark 16:1-8

Easter Sunday – April 12, 2009

Several years ago, there was a movie called The Never-Ending Story. In it, a young boy named Bastian runs into a bookstore one day to escape 3 bullies who have been chasing him & harassing him. And while he's there, Bastian comes across a mysterious book, called “The Never-Ending Story”. He asks the store's owner if he can borrow book, only to be told that the book is “not safe”. But Bastian is so curious about the book that when the shopkeeper is distracted, he takes the book & runs, promising to return the book when he's done with it.

And so Bastian begins to read the book, and as he reads, he finds himself completely drawn in to the tale about the heroic Atreyu & the beautiful Childlike Empress who Atreyu is entrusted with saving. As the story continues, Bastian starts to experience what the characters are experiencing. He goes through what Atreyu goes through, he feels what Atreyu feels. Now maybe that's not so uncommon with a great book; we've all been emotionally caught up in a good story before – but imagine Bastian's surprise when he realizes that the people in the story can hear him & feel his reactions too! Not only is Bastian reading the story, he is becoming part of the story as it unfolds!

It's something very like what the women in the gospel this morning were going through. Throughout Mark's gospel, they have been witnesses to Christ's story. They have walked and talked with him, they have listened & learned from him, they have been drawn into his story. In these last few days, they have watched from a distance as Jesus was crucified and died and was buried. They have waited through the long Holy Saturday that was the sabbath, waiting until they could come to his grave & care for his lifeless body.

All through this saga, they have found themselves drawn, just like Bastian was, ever more deeply into the story. As they followed Jesus, they discovered that they were becoming part of the story. His story was their story. But now the story is over; it ended on Friday when Jesus died. So this morning, they have come to add an epilogue to this sad tale; they have come to the tomb, prepared to find it blocked by a stone; they have come weighed down with spices to anoint the body if somehow they can get someone to roll the stone away.

But as they arrive at the tomb, they suddenly realize that this story is unpredictable. They come face to face with an unexpected twist. Already the stone has been rolled back! And not only that – once they enter the tomb, brave women that they were, they see a young man, dressed in a white robe, just sitting there, as if he has been waiting for them to arrive. Suddenly, the story knows they're there! The young man has a message for them: “Do not be alarmed” (as if that's possible!) “You're looking for Jesus, but he's not here – look, that's where he was -but no body! He's been raised & is off to Galilee. That's where you'll find him, just like he told you! Now go & tell his disciples & Peter.”

And go they do – but not to carry the message they've been given. The fact that the story has gone in such an unexpected direction overwhelms them. Terror & amazement seizes them, & they flee the tomb, and they say nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

For us, living so many years after that first Easter morning, these words from Mark may seem like just so many words on a page. We may feel a little bit like Bastian, reading a good story from a good book. We may come, as he did, seeking solace & comfort, looking for an escape from the reality of our lives, a momentary distraction from our anxieties and fears, our regrets and our sorrows, hoping for the happy ending. We may come to this story filled with terror or amazement. Or we may come with disbelief or skepticism. The story may seem too familiar or boring or irrelevant, with nothing new to say to us in a world that has changed so much from the one we read about in the Bible.
But as we read this story of the man called Jesus, we find ourselves drawn in. As we hear the stories of the people in this book, the Bible, we realize that these stories, stories of imperfect people and dysfunctional families, stories filled with joy and pain, with questions and confidence, these stories are our stories.

And because it is our story, sooner or later, we realize that we can't just sit on the sidelines reading this book anymore. We have to go and be an active part of it. That's just what Bastian discovered as he kept reading The Never-Ending Story. Eventually, he got to a point in the book when he realized that the story needed him, too. If the Empress was to survive, if her kingdom was to continue, if The Never-Ending Story was not to come to an end, Bastian had to enter into it. He had to take an active part in the story if the story was to go on.

It's where the women of the gospel found themselves on that first Easter morning too. Just when they thought the story was over, they learned that it was really just beginning. Much to their surprise, Jesus was not where they expected him to be. Jesus has been raised from the dead, and he has gone to Galilee. Just as he said he would, Jesus has gone ahead of them & the disciples, back to their hometown, into the future that waits for them. There at the tomb, in the words of the messenger he left there to meet them, Jesus calls them once again to leave behind all of the world's old stories, and to follow him and enter into his story, the true never-ending story. As scared and confused as they are that day, they leave knowing that they are a part of a new story, & they have a part to play. Jesus' story will never end, but if the story is to live beyond them, these women have to share what they have seen and heard, so that others can know that Jesus' story was not over on Good Friday, that his story is the only one that offers everlasting hope and healing and joy.

Mark's gospel leaves us hanging about whether or not they would tell the story, forcing us to put ourselves into this story. For we too are called by Jesus into his never-ending story, and sent out from this place with a part to play & a story to tell. And we can tell that story with confidence and joy, because our story is intertwined with his story & we know that because Jesus died and lives again, this is a story that will never end. But we have to keep it going! We have to spread the word! If others are going to know this amazing story, we have to enter into it & tell it with our words and in our lives. It's a story that might seem unbelievable, but it's the only story worth telling – and it's too good to keep it to ourselves. Thanks be to God!
Amen.

April 10 - Good Friday

Good for Who?
John 18-19
Good Friday – April 10, 2009

Why do we call it “Good Friday”? I remember asking this question of someone from my church sometime when I was in late elementary school or junior high. With all that happens on this day, I couldn't wrap my mind around how we could possibly call it “good”.

How could it be good when Judas, one of Jesus' dear friends, one of his inner circle, led a bunch of soldiers out to arrest him? How could it be good when he was bound and taken to stand trial before the high priest? How could it be good when his followers abandoned and denied him?
How could it be good when Jesus was interrogated and flogged and crowned with thorns?

How could it be good when he was mocked and struck and rejected by his own people who called for Pilate to crucify him? How could it be good when he was handed over and made to carry his own cross out to the Place of the Skull? How could it be good when he was crucified, hung on that cross between two others? How could we call Good Friday “good” when this is the day that Jesus died?

We who love Jesus call this day “good”, but it is a hard day. We come to worship, and we hear the story of Jesus' Passion, and it is all too easy to put ourselves into the story. We know that we could easily take the place of Peter or Judas or Pilate. We could be the chief priests and the Pharisees; we could take the place of one of the Roman soldiers. In our heart of hearts, we know that we are part of this conspiracy to commit murder; we know that we are complicit in all of the events that led to his execution. And so we come to this place tonight with heavy hearts, grieving over our own role in the events of Good Friday that led to Jesus' death on a cross; we come mourning the loss of the One who loves us better than anyone else ever could.

But despite all of these things, we dare to call this Friday good because we know and believe that what Jesus did on the cross was for us. In dying, Jesus accomplished what he was sent here to do. He came to bridge the gap that exists between human beings and God. He came to make a way across the great divide we created by our rebellion and resistance to the God who created us. He came to reveal how very much God loves us & the whole world and wants to heal us and make us whole. It is there on the cross that we see how far God was willing to go to redeem us, to repair the relationship that we destroyed and could never fix on our own.

We dare to call this day good because Jesus chose this path. Here in John's gospel, Jesus is in control from the very beginning to the very end. Nothing happens by chance. There in the garden, Jesus knew what was about to happen, and when Judas comes with a huge crowd of soldiers with their lanterns and torches and weapons, Jesus comes forward to meet them. “Whom are you looking for?” he asks them. He asks them! And when they step back & fall to the ground in response, that would've been a great time for him to hightail it out of there and escape – but instead, he asks them again “Whom are you looking for?” Through everything that happens on this night and into the next day, Jesus is not just some victim caught up in events beyond his control; he is the initiator! Even the moment of his death is at his choosing. Knowing that he has completed the work he was sent here to do, Jesus bows his head & gives up his spirit.

And so even as we come here tonight filled with holy sorrow, we are also filled with reverent awe and joy, amazed at what Jesus was willing to do for us – for you and for me and for the entire world. The control and power that sin and death had over us, all of the things that would separate us from God are gone – they're finished, just as Jesus said. Already on this night, we feel the beginnings of celebration and rejoicing, because we know that Jesus' death on the cross means salvation for us all. Thanks be to God!

Amen.

April 9 - Maundy Thursday

Jesus Serves In Love
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Maundy Thursday – April 9, 2009

For some reason, as I pondered this passage in John for tonight's worship, the chorus to the “Theme From Mahogany” kept coming to mind. I don't know why I know the song at all – it's almost as old as I am – and I sure don't know why it is saved in my memory banks, but the lyrics of the chorus kept reverberating for me:

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things your life is showing you?
Where are you going to?
Do you know?

“Do you know where you're going to?” A good question for us at this time in our lives, during this part of our world's history. For these are uncertain times, with wars in Afghanistan & Iraq, with ethnically-based violence in the Sudan and Israel & Palestine, with senseless shootings as close to home as Binghampton, New York. This week, we watched the news of death and destruction from an earthquake in Italy; a few weeks past, it was flooding in North Dakota. There are devastating illnesses, broken relationships, death which always comes to soon. And underneath it all is the economic turmoil the world has been facing for the past several months, with booming unemployment, and houses being foreclosed on, and sagging sales, and no clear idea when we are going to come out the other side.

So, “do you know where you're going to?” You may or may not have an answer to the question right about now, because we don't know what the future will hold, where we may find ourselves next year, or next month, or even next week.

In times like these, when we're not exactly sure where we're going to, it's hard to know what we should do. Our first instinct, our first reaction, understandably, is to hunker down, to batten down the hatches, to prepare for the worst & hold tightly to what we have as we try to protect ourselves & our families from what may come.

And that instinct to serve ourselves and our loved ones first is what makes what Jesus does and says in this story from John so hard – hard for us to understand, and even harder to follow in our own lives. Because here in this story, Jesus is facing his own troublesome time, even thoughhe is not at all uncertain about what his future holds. Because tonight, just before the festival of the Passover, as Jesus gathers with his disciples, his friends, Jesus knows this is his last meal. He gets them together just before he will be betrayed and denied and deserted by those same friends, just before he will be arrested and tried and convicted, just before he will be led to the outskirts of Jerusalem, carrying the cross on which he will be hung to die. Jesus knows that his hour has “come to depart from the world”; he knows that all of these things will happen, and still, knowing all this, during supper, Jesus “got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself,” and then he made his way around the table, kneeling by one disciple's feet after another, carefully washing away the dust and dirt and filth of walking through a world with no sanitation department.

Jesus, a dead man walking, chooses to spend his final night of freedom eating a simple meal with his followers; chooses to serve them, as flawed as they are despite what they are about to do; chooses to take on the role of the lowest of servants. And “after he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table,” he says this, “If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you... I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

Now those are beautiful words, inspirational words, but we all know how hard it is to live them out. Jesus gives us a hard example to follow. Even in the very best of times, when we are feeling safe and secure and confident that we can face tomorrow, it is a challenge to live out the self-giving love and service that Jesus models for us here. Because loving others as Jesus has loved us is about a whole lot more than just washing feet. It means living lives that have been transformed by the radical love Jesus has for each of us, a love that extends to the whole world, and so it means reaching out to that world, beyond our fears, beyond our self-imposed boundaries, the way Jesus did when he chose to wash the feet of everyone at that meal, including Judas, his betrayer, and Peter, his deny-er. This is a love that knows no limits. This is the kind of love Jesus is talking about when he tells us to love one another, because that is the way that he loves us.

And the only way that we can even begin to love this way is to follow another example that Jesus sets for us. Because, you see, Jesus did know where he was going to. Way back at the beginning of this passage, John says that Jesus knew that he had come from God and was going to God. Everything Jesus did, everything that Jesus was, was rooted and grounded in knowing that he belonged to God. His whole life was based in his relationship with God the Father and in the deep love that they shared, a love so abundant that they couldn't contain it between them, a love to infinite that it overflowed into the world, into us. This limitless love is at the heart of who Jesus is – and that is what enabled him to love his own to the end, to love them to the full extent. Knowing that his identity, his life, was tied to God is what led Jesus to pour himself out at that first Last Supper, that let him wash the feet of his disciples as a humble servant. Washing their feet was a sign of his love for them and an invitation to share in the love Jesus shares with his Father.

Jesus still invites us into that love. He gives himself to us in the washing that is our baptism. He gives himself to us in the meal we share tonight and every week when we gather. He calls us to receive him, to experience his deep love for us, to trust him enough to let him wash us and feed us. He remind us of who we come from and who we are going to – the One who loves us with a love that knows no limits. And knowing we are loved so deeply and completely and unconditionally, we are sent back out into the world to live and share that love, to offer ourselves to others because Jesus offered himself for us. By this everyone will know that we are his disciples, if we have love for one another.

Amen.

March 29 - Lent 5

Bearing Much Fruit
John 12:20-33
Lent 5 – March 29, 2009

Andy & I decided to try our hands at gardening again this year. We grew a few things last year – mostly herbs, but this year, we're gonna get an earlier start & actually plant some vegetables. So, this past week, we bought some seeds. I brought some along. They all have different directions about what they need – some need to be planted inside earlier in the spring to get a head start on growing outside in the summer. Some need to be planted deeper than others. Some need to be planted spaced further apart from each other than others. Some need more sun, some need more water.

But you know the one thing they all have in common is that they must be planted in order for anything to happen. None of these packets says, “Buy these seeds, take them home, & place in a sunny place in their envelopes & wait for them to grow.” It just doesn't work that way.

What a shock for the seeds! Inside these nice little packages, they are comfortable. It's safe inside the envelope. It's nice and dry, light can't get in, so they can sleep all day if they want to. They're with seeds that are just like them. Inside the package, none of the seeds has to worry about wind or rain or dangerous bugs or grubs or worms. I think that if seeds could think, they'd probably be quite content to stay where they are, right there in that package, a happy, uneventful little existence that doesn't ask too much of them. Seeds in their package can live their lives as usual without anything happening for quite some time.

But even though they may be safe inside their sterile little envelopes, these seeds aren't really alive either. Their true life is dormant within them. Until they are planted – until they fall into the earth and get buried – nothing happens. The whole point of their existence - to bear fruit – is impossible while they remain in the packet. The only way they can produce a harvest is to get dumped out of the envelope & into the dirt – that is where their true life begins! You can guess where I'm going with this, can't you?

In the reading from John's gospel that we heard today, Jesus says, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Jesus is talking about his own life here, saying that he must die if his work is to be accomplished, knowing as he says these words that the end is near, but it's not just his life he's talking about. He's talking to his 1st disciples, and to us too. And he says, “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.” If we want to serve Jesus, it means we have to follow him, wherever he goes. And the thought of actually doing that can be a scary thing. It can make us think twice about whether or not we actually do want to follow him.

Because following Jesus means that we, the seeds, have to be willing to be dumped out of our comfy, cozy seed packets, the 4 walls of the church, and get out there in the dirt of the real world, because Jesus is out there. When we read the Bible, we most often find Jesus, not in the temple, although he does spend time there, but out with the people, finding the lost, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger and the outcast. Too often, we Christians are content to stay inside the church, where we are safe and dry, where all the other seeds look and think and act like us, where we are protected from the wind and the weather. Much of the time, we'd rather stay inside the seed packet where we know what to expect and nobody asks us to shed our protective outer covering and risk changing, risk dying to ourselves, in order to grow, in order that we might bear much fruit.

But Jesus says dying to ourselves is just what we have to do if we want to experience the true life he offers. When we love our lives and the status quo more than we love Jesus, we miss out on all he has to offer. When we choose our own wants and desires, when we remain self-serving instead of offering our lives in loving service to others, as Jesus offered himself for us, we lose the only life that will last.

It is a risky thing, this business of following Jesus wherever he goes and learning to serve as Jesus served. But it's what we seeds were made for – and it's not without its reward. Jesus promises that whoever serves him will be where he is. If we follow Jesus through death in the dirt, we know that we will also share in the new life that he brings. It is a rich life bursting to the seams with God's bountiful harvest, given to us to share with all people, so that everyone may be fed. It's the true life that will last forever – and it only comes from Jesus.

Amen.