March 21, 2021
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. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
There may be a temptation on the part of some to dwell upon this notion of losing one’s life in order to express our love for this life. Or…that we might dwell upon the idea that a single grain of wheat must die, so that it will bear much fruit.
If you lose something…you will gain. That is…if it is done for the sake of Christ. I probably would argue that we say…if you love your life…you will lose it in service to the Lord and others.
Talking about losing one’s life in the middle of a pandemic is probably not the way to go about a sermon…though we have probably never been as obsessed with thoughts of death, day in a day out for now 13 months and counting…not like this that I can ever remember. I read an article that compared this to the shooting of JFK or the 9/11 incident. I think what they were getting at, was a shock to the entire nation at once. Though these days we get a shock to the entire planet.
Just by the other day, I came across an old folder. I’ve had it for 50 years…and in it are copies of the Lima Citizen newspaper from November 22, 1963.
That was the day that Kennedy was killed. I had a paper route and delivered that newspaper to about 100 customers that night around 10:30 at night. And I got to thinking about the entire weekend of those November days.
I won’t go into detail…but I can recall my feelings of that Friday quite vividly some 58 years later. That Sunday when Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald. The funeral of Kennedy on Monday November 25.
Bring your own thoughts back here for a moment. What will you recall about this year of the Covid? Will you recall death and disease or discomfort of being around people or panic or uneasiness over masking or unmasking. Uneasiness or determination about opening back up? Jobs have depended on that last line. Will you remember that you assisted others…either by looking out for the more vulnerable…by working to heal divisions over the masks. Did you support your Food Pantry? Did you open or shut your church to providing relief for others?
There is a whole past year or more to consider in this equation…it wasn’t just concentrated in 4 days like the Kennedy tragedy. I’m willing to bet that we will forget a lot of the details of this past year…and just remember it as one vast, endless stream of constant re-workings of our gray days.
We’ll remember the loss of life. The countless who contracted the virus. Some overcame, some lingered. The countless businesses that were closed and lives upended. We’ll remember the jostling to get vaccinated in age and work groups.
But will we remember just what we gave up?
Back then in 1963…we had so few news sources…save for three national networks…that I had people standing out on their porches waiting for a 12 year old paper boy to deliver the local newspaper in their hands at 10:30 at night.
I recall that we, as a nation were stunned and scared unable to think logically for those days. I recall thoughts of possible Soviet hands in the plot to kill Kennedy. It wasn’t that long after the Cuba incident the year before.
We just were not sure what to think or do in those days and weeks. I bring this story to mind so that we might try to consider how startling were the words of Jesus when he said that we must lose our lives in order to save them.
He wasn’t talking about losing our lives in death but losing our lives in service to Him. Setting aside our own personal perceived needs and looking out for others. Lose yourself in the lives of others.
It’s been written elsewhere that this church, your Dublin Community Church was closed to worship in the sanctuary…yet the building was open for the Food Pantry. I don’t recall even one second of questioning that in Church Council. When the Red Cross who did monthly blood drives here at church lost so many of their buildings due to closure. We/you invited them to hold blood drives here 3 times a week…that’s 12-14 times a month.
Losing your life to Jesus means stepping back to see priorities…and for this church…priorities of life saving food and life saving blood came first. Worship came in third. Maybe even further…since many of the AA groups continued to use our rooms.
Here’s what I think…we will return to responsible worship in the coming month or so…and a year from now…what will we remember? I hope we will remember that when we were called open up this building for life giving service…and we did not hesitate…and when we were called to follow Christ…we willingly became his servants.
One of the oldest meanings of the word “religion” is “to bind together” that which connects God with us and us with each other. By definition religion is inherently communal, rituals and relationships that weave a spiritual web and purpose in the world.
I pray that this binding together for the previous 210 years of the Dublin Community Church was sufficient to sustain usand our friends over these past fragile 12 months. And from my perspective…it has…thanks be to God. Amen