And not just for Judas the betrayer, or Peter who would deny him, but for the whole world. We struggle to remain in relationship and to care about those who offend us, or challenge us. We tend to focus on our own wounds if we feel betrayed or misunderstood. We want, like the Scribe in another passage, to some way to proscribe who is our neighbor so that we can limit our responsibility, meter our compassion, protect our feelings and retain control of our resources, even in the face of another's need.

But Jesus just keeps pointing to God with his words, his actions and his life. He poured out his life for others so that the possibility of choosing to enter into the love of God might be visible, viable and real. It is as though Jesus is saying, "Look, all of you, God is the center of all things, the ground of your being, the beginning and the end. Stay focused on this, and, in the end, all shall be well."

On the night before he was to be captured and killed by anger, fear, misunderstanding and indifference, Jesus looked beyond the moment to set up a marker that the disciples would recognize when they looked back. He loved the people that the Father had put into his care. He loved them to the end. He loved them even though they betrayed and misunderstood him.

Just as God sends the rain to fall on the good and on the evil, so too the love of the Son shines on all. In some way we but dimly perceive, the Kingdom of God is growing in spite of rocky soil, in spite of thorns. In the presence of weeds the harvest is still inexorably ripening. God is drawing all things unto Himself.

Today is the Sunday on which we celebrate Rogation Sunday- a time to bless the earth and to hope for the harvest. It is a time set aside to remember the ground of our being, to acknowledge the weeds that inhabit the bounds of our parish and our world, but to turn our hearts and our faces toward the loving light of the Son.

Jesus knelt, sat and stood in the midst of imperfection, from him no secrets are hid. He knows the recesses of our hearts and the way of the world but his light and his life shine on us to give life and growth.

We may be most comfortable when we have sure answers. But we are most fruitful when we have love. We do not become holy by being right, we are made righteous by God's grace. It is when we de-center ourselves and seek to serve others that we see the light of God's intentions most clearly. When we do the equivalent of kneeling to wash another's feet, we kneel next to Christ. On our knees we can more easily see what Jesus sees.

A disciple is one who desires to follow the master and Jesus himself tells us what it takes to be a disciple, "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Yesterday I stood at the podium at convention with about thirty members of Saint James Standing beside me. I was there to accept the Bishop's Award for Outstanding Congregation on behalf of all of us. We heard the bishop commend our hospitality, enumerate the breadth and extent of our work in the region and the world, and then hold us up as a model of lay ministry. I explained to the convention that we were focused on trying to discern that to which God was calling us and then doing our best to respond. I then pointed over my shoulder and said, "These are among our experts in discernment. These are the ministers of Saint James."

I am pleased that the light of things we have done well has been seen, recognized and acknowledged. I am proud of the growth we have experienced as a parish and as people. I am also clear that it is God who is giving the increase. Yes, we have tilled the soil. Yes, we have watered the shoots of new ministries. But the light and love of the Son is the essential element without which no growth could have happened. It is God who has called us, God who has sent us and God who is preparing us for ministries yet to come.

We have been opening the shutters on our hearts. We have pushed out the boundaries of our understanding. In so doing we have encountered more light. In so doing we have discovered more love.

It is a foretaste of the harvest. It is a glimmer of the feast that will come when the grain is gathered in. What rejoicing there will be in that day.

I give thanks for the recognition that our brothers and sisters in Christ have given to our attempts to be faithful. This is an encouragement to press on. I give thanks for the presence of God in our lives. This is the ground of our being. I look forward to discovering the next patch of rocky soil or brambles that have mysteriously been converted into rich soil. I look forward to seeds we did not plant bursting forth before our eyes and calling us into a greater harvest.

Convention, as it often does, presented cause for elation and the temptation to despair. It offered both clarity and confusion. I say these words as much to myself and to all of you. Have patience in the midst of the weeds. Do not despair when the soil is rocky. Celebrate the growth we have already seen, and give God the glory. AMEN