For those who want to save their life, Jesus tells us [Mark 8:35] , will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the good news, will save it.
Preparing to preach on this saying inspired me -- strange as this might sound at first -- to go online and look up the life-cycle of isopods. At the Garden Church our compost bins are often crawling, literally crawling, with a kind of isopod we call roly-polies. You may know these crustaceans, or their close relatives, as pillbugs or sowbugs. Like crickets and grasshoppers, once an isopod hatches, it grows through a series of stages, shedding its exoskeleton each time to grow into a larger, more complete version of itself.
This is an apt model of our own spiritual growth. Losing our lives is an ongoing process. We leave behind -- repeatedly -- an older version of ourselves to become a larger, more complete version of ourselves.
Why would I want to lose my current life? Well, it is not going to last forever anyway, at least not in its current physical form. But I am also invited into the Lord's life, into the good news of the kingdom the Lord proclaimed. The mystery of the Easter story is that though the imperial powers of that day killed the Lord -- or thought they had -- the resurrected Christ lived on in a more powerful way. We too are invited to give up being the persons we happen to be at the moment to enter into a greater, more life-giving life.
Join us this Sunday as we explore the mystery of the death that leads to ever greater life.
Keep on growing,
Rev. Jonathan
Sunday Rhythm
3pm Work Together
4pm Worship
5pm Eat together grab and go style format
All Are Welcome
Come as you are, stay as you are able.