Category: News

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24

We are entering that season of year where flowers beds and gardens are being cleaned out, planted and mulched for another season of growth.  We remove last year’s leaves that have blown in and last year’s branches that have fallen off into our yards in bags that go off to the dump.  We plant this year’s annuals and spread around mulch.  Mulch, the leaves, branches and plants from previous seasons which break down and give nutrients and protection to this year’s growth.  The plants from previous seasons that give life to another season in the cycle of life.

Just as it is with mulch, so too with Jesus Christ.  Jesus understood himself as the mulch which dies to give life to others, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  His death was to be the means of God bringing God’s creation back from exile and gathering all things together to re-make them.  Mulch is fertilizer for flower beds and gardens.  Jesus is fertilizer for Creation, to bring the people back to the covenant with God, to remove their sins of falling short and to resurrect them to Glory and Life. 

With the momentous decisions made in April, we at Trinity and East Side, find ourselves in a resurrection moment.  We are becoming new thanks to the work of God.  Just as a gardener plants new plants for the season, we are the new planting of God.  We are planting a new church, a new community formed, shaped and gathered by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  The good news of the Gospel is that while God has planted us as a new church, we are “mulched” by Jesus Himself.  Fertilized with nutrients, lead by His will, we are the re-newed planting of God.  Since Jesus was resurrected, we find ourselves being resurrected now, in a new beginning. 

But with new beginnings come endings.  We might be planted and shaped into something new, but we must say goodbye to Trinity and East Side.  We are certainly prepared by God for the future, but we also must say goodbye to the past.  This is a time of loss for both congregations and therefore a time of grief.  Mulch is a fertilizer for the future but also a remainder of last year.  This time of resurrection is also a time of dying.  We must say good-bye to what was to embrace the new thing that is becoming.  To honor and grieve the closing of two faith communities to celebrate and live into the planting of a new.

We seem to be called into a season of deep, spiritual work.  While we can catch a glimpse of the new things God is doing, we must grieve and celebrate the wonderful things God has done.  Just as we did deep work to reach this point in our community’s journey, so must we continue the deep work while we can begin the next.  What must we say good-bye to?  What stories need to be shared and remembered?  What memories and learnings need to be lifted up and carried with us?  All of this is the mulch of the past which gives life to the present and future.  This is our dying work that must accompany our rising work.

My friends, we have come so far by the grace of Jesus’ Spirit.  Let us continue our Easter work of dying and rising as Jesus died and rose.  Let us engage in our deep work of dying to Trinity and East Side, that we might rise to the (Insert New Church Name Here).  So dig out the pictures to show off to the other church, write the stories to share with the new members, and remember the lessons you learned to teach to new brothers and sisters in God’s family.  But most importantly, let us begin our letting go of what was, to become and align into what is growing.  We have been mulched by Christ, time for us to die and rise.  Amen and thanks be to God.

In Christ,
Rev. Mark

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:16-21

If you live in Ashtabula County you know all about Interstate 90.  The highway bisects the county almost in the geographical middle of the county.  Depending on which way you are traveling east or west, the highway comes into or leaves the county either around Madison or the Pennsylvania State Line.  I cannot begin to imagine how many people have travelled into and out of our county over the course of a year or even a lifetime, but I personally have driven out of the county to visit loved ones for the holidays and into the county when those vacations are over.

Our journeys of discipleship are very similar to trips made on Interstate 90.  The highway comes into and leaves the county; we are on a similar journey out of the kingdom of sin and death and into the Kingdom of God.  The Greek word Exodus from which the second book of the bible takes the name in a quite literal fashion means the road out, and the word Eisodus quite literally means the road in.  Paul would describe the journey of discipleship as if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.   The old has passed away, the road out, the new has come, the road in.

To take Route 90 out of Ashtabula, or the old creation has passed away, quite simply means that our connection to sin and death has been severed and we are now free or liberated from our sins, our guilt and our connection to the evil powers of this world that cause us so much misery and apathy.  Like Israel in Egypt or Babylon, the taskmasters have been vanquished, and we are free to take the road out of slavery to sin and death and free to take a journey into new and better land.  The moments we crossed the line are forgiven, our moments of falling short of the humanity we were created to be are cancelled, our moments of missing the mark in obedience to the covenant are gone.  These are the old things which have passed away.

To take Route 90 into Ashtabula, or the new creation has come, quite simply means that we now have been baptized into Jesus Christ, and we can be born again and live life anew and afresh in God’s righteousness.  Like Israel in the land of Canaan, we are free to enter the promised land flowing with milk and honey.  But to make the trip in means to live life differently than the lives we lived in Egypt or sin.  To love instead of hate.  To be faithful to God.  To offer kindness to the least and to make things right and just.  Israel was called to be holy or different because they were in Canaan and not Egypt, we are called to be holy or different because we are in God’s creation instead of Sin’s creation. 

Friends, we are on the cusp once again of another season of Lent, a time of introspection, discipline and repentance.  If we are on the road out of sin and death, what do you need to give up this Lenten Season?  Perhaps not Brussel sprouts or chocolate, but pride or hate?   If we are on the road into the Kingdom of God, what do you need to take on this Lenten Season?  Humility, justice or love?  If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come; let us put aside the old life and through the Spirit of Jesus Christ become the new creation.  Let us take the road out of sin and the road into Christ.  Amen.