Luke 13:1-9
I've been thinking a lot about the fig tree this week and our churches. In our Diocese we are starting a program called Requiem or Renaissance and we as the churches in this have anxiety around what this means for us. We haven't looked at it in this way, the way of this parable. Bishop Deon and Canon Whitney have offered us an opportunity to see what it is like to be the fig trees. We will get manure put around our roots and see if any fruit develops, and what does it mean to have this done to us.
First we dig around the tree. Now some trees are like the small fig we have out in front of St. Paul's and others are like the huge fig tree in Lui South Sudan, mature and big. The same method is used for both, digging around the tree. Getting the old soil away so the nourishing manure can be brought as close to the roots as possible in order to feed it. Now how do you picture this process feeling, or what are we looking to expose?
It is not an easy process to get to our underlying basic root. The one which drew others to us. We have to dig. Digging is work, digging means it hurts, digging is uncomfortable. In a world which encourages us to be satisfied all the time and to not dig into things this is an uncomfortable proposal. We think we should just be prescribed an easy antidote and go on our way. Yet we know from failures to treat every church the same is not the answer. It does not feed every church to do the same thing. We each have a unique identity, a DNA which sets us apart from others and we need to know what this is for us. This requires us to dig.
What is our past? What is it that made you come to church? Why have you stayed? What does church mean to you? When we faithfully answer these and stop reminiscing about what used to be we start to really see who we are. In John Jesus invites the new disciples to come and see where he lives. I wonder what they saw which made them stay. What thing enticed or intrigued them or connected them to Jesus to follow him? It is the same for us. There is some thing which drew you here that no one else offered or did.
Next, after digging around you put on the new manure. This is full of nourishment, nutrients, worms, bugs, things to bring air to old worn roots. This energy should ignite the inside of the tree. Its heart, its core which for so long has gone without food will awaken and start a process of new growth. Now this might be scary. Its unique to each tree. It is what will start it going again and you will see new shoots, but this requires risk.
Like all plants we need to try different ones and see what will feed it. Now there is chicken, horse, and I don't know what else but I do know different ones invite different bugs to come live. Or different results come from one as opposed to another. The point is we have to try some things and fail. Failure only helps us learn. Learn about ourselves, learn about our community. Learn about ourselves. The big thing is when you hit the right one and things flourish. This requires us to risk and we are risk resistant unless we know we will succeed.
There is no promise of success. It is the way we started out. A dead leader, crucified by the state, the threat of death to followers and yet they risked coming together. Why? Because of the good news. It isn't just a coincidence that every story about Jesus begins "The Good News of Jesus Christ according to...whoever the writer was. Whoever that community was because we know each one was written for a certain community at a certain time in the walk of the church. This is why the good news is never named out. It is unique to each community.
In Matthew we know Jesus is the best rabbi and to be righteous is important. For Mark it is in healing and telling, immediately what has happened in encountering Jesus. For Luke it is with the poor, the enemy, and looking on everyone as being a part of the same family. In John it is about light and dark and mystical Spirit talk which creates in us something new. What is our good news? It will help shape our goals and what we will create for a community.
Lastly care and water. Always baptismal waters. They remind us of our core. They remind us of who we can be when we are at our very best. They bring us to repentance, and what do we have to repent? Maybe its holding onto our past too tightly. We hold onto things, pictures of full places and a time which has passed us by. We don't look further than this past and ignore our communities and their issues. This requires us to reconnect, to push ourselves outside our doors, to find our partners in a new community and it is so much safer to just reminisce. We need to honor our past and let go of it so we can begin anew what we are to our neighbors and ourselves.
So come to these waters, to this table and find the things which give life. Then go and find what the good news is for our place and time. Show them Jesus, the one who comes to those in need, the one who comes to the righteous, the one who comes to the hurt and heals them. Show them Jesus and we will find good news for the church.
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