Monday, July 24, 2017

Summer Sermon Series - Photosynthesis

“Photosynthesis”


Last week, we started a sermon series on the Bible Passage – If you are in Christ, you are a new Creation.  You are a new creation.  What do you think of that?  Did you think of that?  What impact has your faith in God had on your life?  Has it made you more generous or more loving?  Has it pushed you out of your comfort zone to do things that you might not have done otherwise, such as volunteer at the Soup Kitchen or help out at a homeless shelter?  What seeds of faith have landed within your inner most being that through time have grown into outward expressions of who you are?  The seeds are there, waiting for the right conditions to begin to germinate. 
Today’s theme is photosynthesis, yes a little science lesson.  As that small little seed takes root and begins to sprout, it is able to take nutrients from the soil, but as soon as that first leaf breaks forth, a new process begins within it.  The leaf unfolds and soaks in the sunshine, absorbs the light, and then the relationship between the plant and the sun begins to produce food.  A relationship between the sun and the plant.  I still remember in second grade, I was in Mrs. Clupper’s class and we did an experiment with bean sprouts.  One jar of beans was placed in a dark closet, and the other jar was placed in a sunny location.  After a week, we checked in on those beans.  The beans in the closet had grown, but they were strangely white, while those in the sun where bright and green.  That memory has just really stayed with me. 
Something happens because of the relationship between the plant and the sun.  The plant is has something called Chlorophyll which absorbs the blue and red in the light and reflects back out the green.  So, plants that are in the sunlight are green because they are able to absorb light and reflect light back out.  Plants grown in the dark have no light to absorb and therefore no light to reflect back out, hence they are white. 
Now, think of us, think of our seed of the New Creation, as being the plant.  Perhaps we feel something growing within us, something life changing, something of faith that is calling is to live differently, such as the example I shared last week of being more environmentally aware.  Now, I can be more environmentally aware and not be a person of faith, but when I allow that seedling of the New Creation to be in relationship with the sun or the Son, it will absorb God’s love, God’s strength, God’s nurture, and reflect back out into the world a newness of great beauty. 
We are the garden of God, and as our leaves begin to unfold and we find ourselves in relationship to God, photosynthesis happens.  We are able to transform God’s teachings into life tangible ways of living.  We take words off of a page and they are infused into our being, feeding us, and calling us into the New Creation.   Each day a plant is involved in transformation, transforming sunlight into food, each day, we too should be involved in transformation, absorbing God’s presence into our being and doing the best we can to produce a fruitful life for God.  
If you pay attention, you notice that some plants grow quickly while others take a very long time.  I have an orchid that I am trying to have re-flower – and it has been months and months of these small little leaves just beginning to grow forth.  While we have plants in our yard that seem to grow several inches over night.  The same happens with us as God’s New Creation.  There are things within us that will just grow quickly, while there are other parts of us that seem to take forever.  For example. as a new creation in Christ, I am going to try to be more forgiving or I am going to try to be more open minded, or I am going to find healthy ways to destress.  These may take a longer time to develop within ourselves then donating canned food to Roxbury social services.
The only way we can let our light shine, is photosynthesis.  We must first find ways to absorb God’s light, God’s word, God’s love, God’s message for us, God’s gift of grace and reconciliation and then, and only then, can we reflect the love of God back into the world.  Jesus says:  “You are the light of the world”.  You.  His message has been a message for people for 2,000 years.  “You, are the light of the world.  Let your light shine before others.’  We are not called to just go out and do good for others, but we are called to absorb the light of God and transform it back into the world in ways that others will give glory to God.  That’s a mighty task, so how do we do this?  We begin by making sure we are exposed to as much light as possible.  Perhaps that means finding a daily devotional, or starting a prayer journal, or discerning where God is calling you to serve within the life of the church or greater world. 
Over the 4th of July weekend, we had the opportunity to visit Mt Vernon and learn more about George Washington.  The entire time, I kept thinking how this man was, in so many ways, responsible for this amazing country in which we live.  He truly bent history as he devoted himself to a new form of government rather than serving as a king. Yes, he had flaws, such as owning slaves, but he also made provisions for their freedom in his will.  He was faced with so many decisions and could have taken this country in numerous directions.  He chose to try a new way of people a society, a new way of being a country, a new way of running a government.   Images of the New Creation abound if we have eyes to see them.   
I googled:  People who have transformed the world, and I got an interesting list of people:  Bill Gates, Martin Luther King, Jr.  Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, Einstein, Karl Marx, Hitler, Darwin, and Christopher Columbus, were just a few.  Each of these people had seeds of greatness within them, and some used those seeds of greatness for the greater good, while others used the seeds of greatness for what they thought was the greater good, but retrospection has allowed us to see tragic outcomes.   I found another site that names ordinary people that changed the world, such as Rosa Parks, JK Rowling, Susan B Anthony, Mother Theresa, and Malala Yousafzia.  This young girl has an amazing story, true courage, and shows how living in the light can truly make a difference in this world. When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. 
Various agencies seek to transform the world, everything from World Wildlife Federation to Save the Children, to Community Food Banks, to the Red Cross, environmental groups, to Disaster relief groups.  You name the area of interest and there is an advocacy group involved.  And then there are other groups, such as drug gangs, and hate groups, and organized crime that bring people together to prey upon others.  We all have the potential for good, just like plants, we are designed for photosynthesis, we have the choice of what we are going to absorb and what we are going to release back out into the world.  Amen. 


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