“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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