We’ve just completed this year’s Lenten Study, “Who is This Man?”, a video series based on a book by John Ortberg. Each Wednesday evening, we shared a simple meal of soup and sandwiches, watched the video and participated in a discussion, leaving with a challenge to live faithfully in some new way in the coming week. It was a meaningful study, helping us to think about the life of Jesus in new ways.
Perhaps the final lesson presented our greatest challenge. Jesus used the metaphor of seeds to describe the purpose of his own death and the way of life he wants his followers to embrace:
“Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal. If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.” (John 12:24-36, The Message)
We were asked to reflect upon the grains of wheat in our own lives. What are we aware of in this area of life that keeps us in an immature state or limits us in some way?
our pace of life
our finances
our relationships
our health
our plans
our needs
other
We were challenged to address the following questions in the days to come:
Of all the things that came to mind in each area, of which do you feel most protective? In other words, where do you feel most determined to “hold on to life just as it is”? What are you most afraid of losing?
What comes to mind when you imagine being “reckless in your love” and letting it go?
If you were able to die to this aspect of your life – to let it go for love of Christ – what is the harvest you hope for?
Reflecting on the “grains of wheat” in our own lives is an important step in growing and bearing fruit and learning how to be “reckless in our love.”
Elizabeth
It’s been said that people come into our lives for a reason, or a season or a lifetime. Recently I participated in a graveside service for a member in a former congregation. He became a very special friend to our family in those years.
My children’s dad was a pilot and their experiences with airplanes and airport life made them fast friends with this gentleman in the congregation. We became family to each other in our years together. In many ways, I feel he and his wife were reliving special times shared with their family as they shared life with us. As I spoke at his service, I thanked his children and grandchildren for sharing him with us.
I wanted to say something about flight and came across this online a few days ago:
“For everything in this journey of life we are on, there is a right wing and a left wing: for the wing of worry there is peace; for the wing of pain, there is healing; for the wing of hurt, there is forgiveness; for the wing of giving, there is taking; for the wing of tears there is joy, for the wing of judgment there is grace; for the wing of letting go there is the wing of keeping. We can only fly with two wings and two wings can only stay in the air if there is a balance.”
Such a good life lesson, and a prayer that we live with right wing and left wing in place, ever grateful for the people who come into our lives for a reason, or a season or a lifetime.
Elizabeth
Today is the first day of Spring! Plants are leafing out and flowering, birds are singing, that tender spring green is all around. Even with two freeze warnings on schedule for this week, it’s Spring, and I give thanks. I’m always grateful to “make it” to another Spring, celebrating this day in the same way many celebrate New Year’s Day. It’s a day of new beginnings, of “ever-fresh and radiant possibility.” L.M. Montgomery writes, “Nothing ever seems impossible in Spring, you know.”
Our church family shared a special Lenten Walk on a neighbor’s farm last Saturday. Symbols of the Lenten/Easter season were in place all around the farm and our great adventure was to walk together and discover them.
Rainbows and butterflies, little lambs, bubbles, jelly bean and pretzel prayers, dogwood blossoms and a special egg holding a little donkey with a cross on his back were among the treasures waiting for us. As the story goes, the little donkey who carried Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday saw Jesus on the cross, and as she turned from that sad scene to walk away, the shadow of the cross fell on her, marking her back, and marking the backs of all donkeys for generations to come. Kings always rode on strong and beautiful stallions, but Jesus came to be a different kind of king. Every Good Friday, a friend and I seek out a field of donkeys and feed them apples and are blessed by the sight of those crosses on their backs.
Most special to me, living in this part of North Carolina, is seeing the cross-shaped new growth on Loblolly Pines each year. This sighting has led to a popular legend that pine trees "know" when it's Easter. If you look at the tops of the pine trees in the weeks before Easter you will see the yellow shoots. As the days get closer to Easter Sunday, the tallest shoot will branch off and form a cross. By the time Easter Sunday comes around, most of the pine trees will have small yellow crosses on all of the tallest shoots.
There’s Dogwood and Redbud and sand dollars and so many other signs of God’s loving presence in all of creation! Blessed are those with eyes to see and hearts to understand God’s special messages of love in the world all around us.
Elizabeth