All of these cut down trees once bore bushels of Red Delicious apples.
Years ago these apples were aptly named and much desired.
They were delicious. They were a soft, pleasing, red. The fruit was crisp.

But the farmers wanted to be able to meet the needs of large grocery chains. So they bred the apples to enhance certain commercially desirable attributes. The farmer bred the apples for their outward appearance, their durability, and to make them available no matter what the season might be.

For a time you could get a Red Delicious apple almost anywhere and anytime. But soon people no longer wanted them. These new apples were bright red, and without blemish, but they had a thick bitter skin. Yes, you could get them any season but they always tasted mushy.

Finally there was no more demand for the fruit of these trees. They were taking up valuable space that could be occupied by Rome apples, or Granny Smith's. It is the Twenty First century, so there were no axes at the roots of these trees. Instead there were chainsaws and tractors, but it was the same wholesale destruction about which John the Baptist warned.

"Bear fruits worthy of repentance, "John said,
"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
But John the Baptist was not speaking to apple trees. He was talking to people.

Did he say these things simply for the joy of terrifying others?
I don't think so.

John wanted people to be ready for the imminent arrival of the Messiah.
John wanted people to be found worthy by God.
John wanted people to want to enter the Kingdom that was coming
and John knew that they needed to be willing to be different
so that they might have fruitful lives.

I was in the company of friends the other day. The topic turned to what the church can do to make people interested in their own growth. "How can we make people know that one hour a week cannot bear the weight of all their spiritual needs?" one person asked. "How can we increase what the church offers so that we might better fulfill all the adult Christian Education needs of our parishioners?" another inquired.

I replied that the church cannot achieve this, and least not alone. For there are three dimensions that must be engaged. Adult individuals must take primary responsibility for their own spiritual growth. First we have to acknowledge that we are hungry. Then we must understand that we have to come to the table at the times that the meals are provided. And if we do not find everything we need for proper nutrition in the offering before us, we know we must get additional sustenance from somewhere else.

It is a rare person who will let themselves starve because someone else has not delivered sufficient supplies to them. Each of us must commit to our own spiritual survival and to obtaining what we need for our individual growth in Christian knowledge and spiritual experience. No one else can do this for us.

The people who wandered out of Jerusalem came to hear John. They were looking for him to give them something. But when it got serious, people began to realize that they needed to participate in their own transformation, So they asked, "What must we do?"

John laid it down:

share, take no more than is due to you,
do not abuse the power you have been given,
and be satisfied with what you are paid.

We must be actors on the stage of our own salvation. We cannot expect our illumination to come from borrowed light. John the Baptist says, "Do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our ancestor". Neither our ancestors nor our tradition will make faith alive in us. It is we who must say "I want to learn and grow." It is we who must journey to the place where we can say "I believe." It is we who must act differently in order to become different. And each of us must pursue that which is needful for our own spiritual growth, or we will go away hungry.

Secondly, we exist in communities. We need to share ourselves and our journey within those groups. Social Ministries, Stewardship, Newcomers, Pastoral Care, Altar Guild, Sunday School, the Vestry, and all our other communities are fertile fields. We need to discuss what is needed for our mutual growth in these communities and we need to discuss what we personally are willing to give to support that effort. Pray together about everything. Share what is on your hearts and minds, and look for the broader vision of your group's vocation.

It is a risky business in which we must examine together what may be lacking in the life of our small groups and then be willing to fashion not just a dream but a means. We are not just in the business of maintaining what is. We are called to put down strong roots but we are also asked to flower, and to bear much fruit. What might we be called to offer, to teach, or to create? How might God be trying to speak within our small communities?

Deep talk about real life will yield new fruit. Honest searching will shed light on ways the various small groups of Saint James can find their missions further clarified and their ministries strengthened. Openness to repentance, to hearing a new word and to taking new directions will enable the flowering of new possibilities.

Again, it is not just a question of "we want this outcome," it is the willing to discern, to discover, and to decide that we will move the stones, plow the ground and care for the tender shoots until they become mature enough that we can see what they are becoming.

Saying "I want", is easy for any of us. Saying "I will, with Godıs help," is committing to discovering, and then doing the work into which God is inviting us.

And finally, Saint James is a community of communities.
Many small groups make Saint James their dwelling place.
We need to be on the lookout for the intersections of our common needs
and the extent of our larger, corporate vision.

Where can we see springs bubbling up in the desert?

Those are the places of new life; worthy of habitation ­ and possibly needful of funding.

Where is the harvest ripe, just waiting for laborers?
Those are the places where a little extra energy will yield a hundredfold.

Where do we share a hunger and thirst for ministry?
That is where God is calling us to go next as a parish.

What do we need to know more in order to mature in our several callings?
That is where God will provide the increase,
if we will invest the time and energy to plant and water.

Where do we need more solace or strength to do that which we are called to do?
Those are the places where we need additional kinds of liturgies,
or other opportunities for spiritual growth and enrichment.

Some things can only happen in the rich ground of a three day silent retreat, or the darkened corridors of the Stations of the Cross, or at the altar rail in the rite of the reconciliation of a penitent with the sweet, burning, absolution that sets us free.

These overarching aspects are the work of the church. This is the overview of the orchard. But the care of the orchard is not the sole responsibility of the ordained, or even of the Vestry. We are all called to the work of ministry and to grow as ministers. Whether we use the metaphors of orchards, vineyards or fields we are speaking of a collective work that takes place in three dimensions: individual, small group and the whole parish.

Look within yourself. What is the next step in your Christian journey?
Seek and you will find.

Talk within your groups. What horizon seems to be beckoning? Go and see how it is there.

Then share with your Vestry, the dreams you are dreaming and the visions that will come.

For we will be looking and listening along with you.

Let us all be filled with expectation.
Let us fill our times together with prayer, thanksgiving and supplications.

Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak.
The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love,
he will exult over you with loud singing as on the day of festival.

Behold, John says," the ax is lying at the root of the trees,"
but I tell you they may burst into flower, even now.
Even now!