Sunday was an interesting experience and one I will treasure in my heart for a long time. Our winter here in West Virginia has been harsh with lots and lots of snow. I cannot recall such a snowy winter since the late 90's! And funny how none of the global warming groups have uttered a word...I must laugh!
Church services were cancelled due to weather conditions. The steep incline leading to the Living Grace building is one few are brave enough to go up this time of year, despite numerous trips by the snow plow. Instead, we gathered at the Pastor's home for worship and prayer. We shared communion and a meal together as well. God was so wonderfully gracious to meet with us there! His love runs deep for us and Sunday was no exception. I wonder if that was perhaps His Valentine's Day gift to us. For me, I believe it was.
Long before the meeting that morning, the Lord brought to my mind the word 'organic'. Being a gardener myself, this was not an unfamiliar term. Organic gardening methods do not employ chemicals for fertilizer or pesticides. There are no growth hormones or artificial stimulants used to produce or maintain crops. Additionally, a truly organic garden will use heirloom seed, not hybrid or genetically altered/reproduced seeds. Heirloom seeds are those that are harvested from a plant each year and replanted the following growing season. Basically, it's a what-you-see is-what-you-get kind of thing. If you harvest tomato seeds, you will grow tomatoes, not okra.
Have you ever planted a seed from a hybrid plant? I did one year, not realizing I have saved hybridized seeds. I got the most beautiful, lovely pepper plants that year. They grew nicely, flowered abundantly and appeared to be the most vigorous plants in the garden. Only they never produced fruit. Not a single pepper all season, despite multiple flowerings and bushy, strong plants. While I did not use any chemicals in my garden, the seed was not true - it was sterile and could not produce life.
Organic gardens are thriving, living and breathing places. Even Webster's defines it as "of, relating to, or derived from living organisms". Compost is frequently used to rebuild and nourish the soil. It's another interesting thing that the very plants from the previous year are used to provide nutrients to the next seasons plants. Compost is like a wise old soul, seasoned and prepared for a long time before it's best use comes forth. And that use it for the next 'generation' of sorts.
A commercial or traditional garden may 'appear' healthy and productive but it is often laced with poisons, chemicals and other stimulants just to keep it going and keep disease or bugs at bay. Any fruit that is produced must be picked early before being fully ripened so it can be shipped off. After all, there are quota's and deadlines to be filled. The resulting land is frequently barren of anything of real substance. In order to grow anything, one must continually cover the ground within temporary things, those proverbial 'quick fixes' that only lasts for short while.
So, it was not surprising that this analogy of gardening came to mind. The church, the Body of Christ, must guard itself against those temporary quick fixes and things that make it look good on the outside. It must remain 'organic', full of life and, as Webster's also says, "forming an integral element of a whole". We are parts of Body of Christ. We cannot operate as separate pieces, i.e. some legs, some arms, others being eyes or ears. We must come together under the one true Head and that is Jesus Christ Himself. A living, breathing and organic thing, this Church is a moving entity. It flows from a seat of Mercy, Grace and Love...nothing less is expected of us. He leads, we follow. Little Christ's, Christian's, reflections of Him to those around us.
Matthew 11: 28-30 reads, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you will recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of Grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you, Keep company with Me and you will earn how to live freely and lightly." (The Message)
Let it be so, Lord. Let it be so!
