From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
John 6:66-68
Yesterday – Saturday – Rebekah and I were so drawn to the outside that we took several short walks around the neighborhood. And, once again, what a spectacularly lovely spring day!
We were both very much focused on our work – she prepping for a Bible study as well as writing a sermon, and I making good progress on my new book. But, busy or not, we could not help but keep heading out, making several forays into the cool air and the bright sunshine.
We were walking back from downtown by the Howard Memorial church grounds when this particular small tree caught our attention. I don’t know, maybe it was the angle of the sun coming through the leaves, maybe the fresh light green of the early spring foliage?
I looked it up and although I can’t be sure I believe it is some kind of an Ash. But its posture, right there amongst the old gravestones, so perfectly comments on the juxtaposition of life to death and all that the church stands for and offers by way of invitation to this world.
This past Sunday was Easter, and we met in the graveyard at sunrise to acknowledge and to celebrate – with the enthusiastic help of the birds – how Jesus demonstrated the fact that life is not contained by life; or as Rebekah said once during a funeral message, “Life alone is not enough to explain life.”
It is as if the tree listened to the Easter message and determined to add its loud “Amen” to the powerful truth that faith in God is not something that limits or restricts us so much as it is an invitation into so much more!
Faith in God is not something that limits or restricts us so much as it is an invitation into so much more!
And so today, while Rebekah is celebrating The Lord’s Supper with our church family here in Tarboro, I will be over at Wake Forest Presbyterian Church, taking the bread and the wine with the saints there (and the sinners too!), before going out to The Giving Garden to plant a yellow rose in memory of my mother… who is doubtless celebrating communion with us – along with dad and my brother Geoff, and Rebekah’s sister and parents – at the same time.
Because life is something that is not contained by life as we understand it (and experience it) during our journey here on Earth. And eternal life is something that death by itself does not begin to explain or to anticipate.
Just ask the trees. Or at least listen to their testimony every spring. Wait… I believe I can hear them now – DEREK
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
John 6:68
