Planters of Seeds, Trees & Rainbows
Scripture Mark 13
As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he! and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
Jesus said to the disciples: This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
These have been some trying times in our world, globally we have floods and famines and drought and war, closer to home we have the devastating effects of climate change with increased hurricanes and storms, forest fires and unseasonable warm weather temperatures. We have just seen the results of a very difficult U.S. election and now live with the results. One week away from Remembrance Day and we’re still wrestling with the realities of racism, sexism, xenophobia, global wars and conflicts etc…
In our gospel reading we heard words from Jesus seemingly foretelling of such devastation or end times. The word he used to describe it all is “birth pangs”. Having delivered three children myself, I can identify with the discomfort and pain he references, but I am consoled that that same pain brought new life in the forms of my now three adult children who bring me such joy and pride. The birth pangs, the pain of current circumstances that can ultimately lead to joy and hope as a result but not without out great effort on our part. It is the ebb and flow of life, though really isn’t it? The joys and celebrations, the challenges and despair. A common reading at funerals is a poem called “The Hyphen. …. The passages read this morning are all about life symbolized in the Tree of life planted in the garden of Eden and later referenced in the book of revelation as the tree that bears fruit and brings healing. Beginnings and endings. In today’s reading from Genesis, we hear described that idyllic garden where humans first walked, in the light of God’s presence, we can just imagine…
Then we hear warning of the end times in the passage of Revelation, and Jesus words about the Temple destruction that too speaks of devastation before new life and wholeness. How do we respond as a people of faith to these “birth pangs”?
Some years ago and preacher and innovative worship leader of Mars Hill Church in Michigan named Rob Bell developed a series of thought provoking videos called Nooma. In one such video he talked about the tree of life described in today’s scriptures. In it he described how Genesis refers to our beginnings as a people of faith, how we came to be and when God created the heavens and the earth God also created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden. God gave them meaningful work. These first humans partnered with God and worked in peace and harmony together. As well as the tree of life God created the tree of knowledge of good and evil which symbolized the way in which God always gives us choice in our lives, we can choose how we live, following God’s guidance and dream for us or not. God never forces us but gives us the freedom to choose how we live what actions we take, what words we speak, each and everyday.
And then the end of our scriptures in Revelation we see the tree of life central in the description of God making all things new, a new heaven and a new earth with rivers flowing and we see the partnership with God and humanity with the restoration and healing of the nations and peace and harmony present once again.
The intriguing image of this video of Rob Bells is him standing between the two trees he planted on the street, one representing the beginning and one representing the end and asking the question: Do we live between these two trees just waiting for the end to come, that promise of new life at the end? Or do we live a faith that requires us to act in ways that bring that hope of peace and harmony in our world today in the here and now? He states: We live in a world drenched in God between these two trees. Some think of this life of faith as a “ticket to heaven” where we spend this life simply waiting for the good end. A life of faith that doesn’t focus on the here and now isn’t really the life of faith Jesus taught us to live. As disciples or students, followers of Jesus we are called work with God, to be people of justice, peace, mercy, love and kindness. We must be committed to make the world what God intended.
In the last couple of years, I’ve had the task as executor of both my mothers and my husbands’ estates. That of course involved various legal procedures but it also meant I was the one who ended up going through all of their things, sorting, donating, filing, trashing. For both of their funerals we prepared a slide presentation that gave a sense of their lives through photos from birth, schools, sports, activities, marriages, children, travel, work, grandchildren, great grandchildren. It was an honour for me to kind of walk the steps of both my mothers and husbands’ life. In that process I embraced the meaning of their lives lived faithfully, and how their presence impacted so many others in sometimes simple and sometimes profound ways. How we live our lives matters. It is not the material expressions of our lives that matter, but the relationships we formed and nurtured and survived that hold the most meaning. What happens between the beginning and the end matters. What we do in the here and the now matters.
Scripture tells us to Love God with all our soul and all our strength, to walk humbly, seek justice, to love our neighbour as ourselves. We know this. The lives we live each day matters in working toward making this world a better place. We need a faith that helps us to live here and now not just in some promised future. We need to know how to live in the reality of God today and that may mean we are called to live our lives differently, as Max Lucado in this weeks study would describe as “In Jesus’ name”. According to the ways Jesus taught us to live.
I recently watched a Netflix doc on Martha Stewart and in it she reflects on her life both its’ highs and lows, it’s successes and challenges. She repeated a saying she’d heard which said:
If you want to be happy for a year, get married.
If you want to be happy for ten years, get a dog.
If you want to be happy for a lifetime, make a garden!
As a people of faith, we are called to trust that death is taken care of, we need not fear the end. But more importantly we are called to be a partner with God in redeeming and restoring this fallen and broken world now. We are the caretakers of this earth and partners with God in this garden of life to make this place, here and now, the kind of place God intended. A Jewish saying says that a persons’ good deeds are used by God as seeds to plant the very trees of Eden. By our acts of justice, mercy, kindness, humility, love, compassion the trees of paradise are being planted.
As followers of Jesus, as a people of faith we are caretakers of both this earth and one another. Our lives matter and more importantly what we do in our lives matter. It is a scary world, sometimes painful or difficult, the birth pangs are real, but there is a new life to be lived today, not only for ourselves, but all of creation, if we do our part in the here and now. As Rob Bell says: we need a faith that’s about today that helps us understand the world that we live in today in this place, earth, that we call home. I need to know how to live here now with meaning and purpose. We can be the seeds, we can be the rainbows, we can be the gardeners alongside God, here and now, working to bring about a world where all live together peacefully, sustainably and lovingly. May it be so.
Amen.
