Daily Devotion for Friday 27th June 2025

St John 12: 20 – 26

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’  Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the ,Father will honour.

Reflection

I am discovering (some) of the joys of gardening.  Here in Orkney gardening is something of hope triumphing over experience.  Long nights of spring and summer give a sustained growing season but the wind, in almost every month of the year, means that plants must be robust.  Trees don’t stand much of a chance unless they have shelter.  We work to find plants that can grow well in a coastal environment.  It’s always a joy (and something of a surprise) to see the plants grow in our garden and, in our stormforce strength polytunnel, we’ve managed to grow a variety of soft fruit alongside apples, nectarines, plums, and cherries.  We’ve also been able to grow a reasonable assortment of vegetables.  This requires patience (happily my husband has enough for both of us) as we wait for seeds to germinate (or die as Jesus puts it in today’s reading) as they break down letting in water and nutrients and then start to put down roots and put up shoots.  Then, after germination, it’s a waiting game to see what nature produces.

Jesus used this image of the seed dying in order to grow to foretell his own death and resurrection.  It’s a process we see in the Church too.   Our old lives have to break down and germinate in order to grow as Christians – and, just as in nature, there’s a process of breaking down, silent growth, bursting forth into bloom and bearing fruit, and then wilting and dying for the cycle to start again.   Clearly in the Western world the Church is in the latter stages of this cycle as we await to see what is germinated as the seed breaks down.  It’s a time of discernment and patience, of faithfulness and hope, of tending to the soil and seeing what God has for us next as our world longs to see Jesus.

Prayer

Remind us, O God, 
of the rhythm of nature,
the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth,
as we contemplate the Church
longing to share faith with the world,
yearning to declare Your love and life,
wanting to a sign of Your light in our gloom.
Amen.