John 12:20-33
Our daughter…our oldest child…had moved into a new home with her husband and newborn baby.
- Our son had recently finished graduate school in California.
- He and his wife settled down out there and birthed their first child.
- And now our third child was gone…headed for the university.
- Then our fourth child was just now graduating from high school and living on her own and working at a bank.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
So…what I want to report to you is this:
- Miss Susan and I were now empty nesters.
- And we were looking forward to this next chapter.
But the big house was more than we needed.
- And we found a lovely three-bedroom two bath house when we moved to Florida from up north.
- It was close to the church I was serving at the time.
So…the downsizing began.
- We are not overly sentimental.
- But going through the things we accumulated in three plus decades of marriage was a surprisingly emotional experience.
Packing up the kids’ sports equipment brought back memories of those days spent at the Girls and Boys Club near our previous home.
- All those weeknights and Saturdays watching and rooting for our kids as they played baseball and softball and soccer.
We discovered a box of large mugs we used to drink hot chocolate out of…
- When returning home from our chilly annual outing to cut down our Christmas tree.
We never realized how chipped and scratched our everyday dishes were until we packed them for moving.
- But every crack evoked a warm memory of Christmas or Thanksgiving.
- Every chip recalls the face or voice of a cherished loved one.
And we finally moved the old kitchen table out to the garage.
- A table I had built when our family was young.
- Looking…you could see the slight indentations in the pine wood where math formulas had been worked out.
- Looking…you could see the fine depressions of an essay written late into a school night evening.
- That table had been the center of our home.
- The place where we broke bread together.
- The place we regularly had family meetings.
- The place where we talked about the joys and concerns of life.
- The place where we dined with family and friends.
- The place where our family came together for games and fun.
- For homework and bill-paying.
- A temporary landing place for laundry and mail.
We moved steadily through it all.
- Like an archeological dig.
- Layer after layer.
- And then we came to our children’s baby books.
We began thumbing through the pages.
- And we found ourselves sitting together on the floor.
- Our backs against the wall.
- Amidst the U-Haul packing boxes.
- Reliving our fears of being first-time parents.
- Reliving the mistakes we made that somehow our kids managed to survive.
- The long nights and lasting joys our son and daughters brought us.
- And now the joy of grandchildren.
The story of our life together told in the rooms of that home:
- Each room with a story of heartbreak and healing.
- Each room with a story of planting in fear and reaping in hope.
- Each room with a story of experiencing little deaths on the way to a new chapter of life.
Downsizing…we came to realize the many small deaths and resurrections we have experienced.
- Every life is filled with moments of change and discovery.
- Some difficult and painful.
- Some challenging and joy filled.
Jesus’ depiction of the grain of wheat reminds us that life demands change.
- As we move through our lives…we discover that we die many times as we grow and mature…
- As we end one phase of life and enter the next.
There is the death of childhood…when we put aside our innocence to deal with real life.
- When we come to understand that our needs and wants are not the center of the universe.
- But we have a responsibility to nurture and support the families and communities that have nurtured and supported us.
- But from the death of one’s childhood comes the birth of a responsible adulthood.
There is the death of dreams…when we accept the reality that we will never play shortstop for the New York Yankees or sing and dance on Broadway.
- But in putting aside those dreams and accepting who we are and the talents we possess and the vision we have for our life…
- We give birth to new possibilities to live lives of meaning and purpose.
There is the death of idealism…when we no longer believe that life is a fairy tale.
- But that hard work…sacrifice…compromise and…perhaps most critical of all…forgiveness…are important in every meaningful relationship.
And there is the slow dying of control.
- As our aging bodies and intellect require us over time to yield the power and self-reliance we cling to.
- And accept the help and support from those we love.
The last act of our lives requires humility…gratitude and graciousness that is difficult to embrace.
- But can be a lasting gift to those who care for us.
- There are so many endings before the final ending.
- So many farewells before the last farewell.
Every life is a series of experiences of death and birth.
- Of change and discovery.
- Some difficult and painful.
In the image of the grain of wheat Jesus teaches us that life demands dying to our fears…despair and sense of self.
- But if we are willing to risk loving and allowing ourselves to be loved…
- Jesus promises us the “harvest” of the Gospel wheat.
- Only by loving is love returned.
- Only by reaching out beyond ourselves…do we learn and grow.
- Only by giving to others do we receive.
- Only by dying do we rise to new life.