“Ripe for the planting” – John 12: 24 – Drew School – 5/20/07

Theme: Renewal, be it personal or corporate, cannot happen without letting something go.

Purpose: Facilitate the grieving process of Dayspring during this time by validating it as a means to a great end.

devastated some 45% of this national park.

Yellowstone is considered the crown jewel of preserved wilderness in America.  Visited by millions of tourists every year, both from the U.S. and abroad, it has captured our hearts with a wilderness of scenery found nowhere else.

It boasts the natural geyser, Old Faithful.

Its pristine forests cover over 3,000 square miles of a great diversity of plant life.

And the bison and elk roam free within its borders; thanks to Yellowstone, they have fully recovered from their endangered status and enjoy plentiful food.

So when fires roared through the park in 1988, decimating thousands of acres at a time, the public was horrified.  What was happening to their environmental Mecca? 

But imagine their dismay when over 500 bison, fleeing the flames, wandered outside of the park’s boundaries and were shot dead - legally - by hunters at point-blank range.  The environmentalists went into an uproar.

The town of Gardiner, Montana, a town situated at the entrance to the Park, had a big problem on their hands, too: over 2,000 elk wandering into the town looking for food, causing traffic jams and distraught residents.

These were major issues for the park rangers, but nothing would prepare them for the onslaught of rage and criticism when the public found out part of the reason why these fires were so out of control.

Apparently, it was part of the Park’s modern ‘let-burn’ policy.  And the policy was this: as long as no residential areas were endangered and the fires remained within park borders, the rangers actually let the fires take their course!

Even in the wake of public outrage, the park held to its policy, adopted in 1972, that stated that:

            “fire is as elemental and value-neutral in shaping the park’s ecosystem as the wind, the rain and the cold.  ‘Fire is a natural force, and burned areas do not need recovery.’”

As you can imagine, environmental groups just about had a conniption:
            “What about the elk?  And the bison?  You just going to let them die?”

And look at the landscape now – all black and charred.  Major patches of the Park were veritable wastelands – bereft of any living vegetation.  Did the Park officials intend to make the Park this bleak??  What were they thinking?

It was as if those trusty rangers, y’know, the ones with the big hats smiling at you when you go through the gates at the park entrances, had all of the sudden turned their backs on the very tourists they were supposed to be working for.

But there would be no apologies, no change in policy, or not even any modifications of policy from the Yellowstone Park officials.

It would appear that the park scientists, who actually live and work close to nature, had some insights and wisdom that the environmentalists, who sit in offices and advocate for a wilderness they really don’t know, lacked.

You see, the Park officials had observed that over the years since these precious mammals had been on the brink of extinction, there had been such a strong movement to save them, that they had actually been allowed to grow to herds larger than were there before the white man, so large they were actually taking over the park.

            “The elk and the bison herds had been allowed to expand beyond the park’s ability to comfortably support them.  The result was erosion, overgrazing and habitat destruction.”

In other words, because everyone had become so protective of the big game, these herds had been eating the smaller animals and the vegetation out of existence.

"Other wildlife important to the park’s biological diversity, including grizzlies, beaver, moose, mule deer and bighorn sheep, were being forced out.”

But what about the acres and acres of the beautiful lodgepole pine that had all burnt to a crisp?  Could these fine fir trees ever be replaced in this lifetime?

As it turns out, these beloved forests were filled with not just ordinary lodgepole pine.  These were “aging, diseased and highly combustible lodgepole pine,” specimens that had been so protected from forest fire over the years that they had long since exceeded their normal life span.

As environmentalists continued over the next several months to berate the Park officials for their negligence, something was going on in Yellowstone National Park.

U.S. News and World Report came back a year later to Yellowstone and this is what they saw:

p. 25 – A

Just like the elk and the bison, these old lodgepole pine were the recipients of paranoid conservationists whose public policy just couldn’t handle the idea of anything dying, no matter how old or overgrown.  There was no clause that let go of plants or animals that, in any other era, would have been killed off long before.

As it turns out, what the public had really been trying to sustain was not ‘the environment’ or ‘the wilderness’ or ‘the wild wild west’, but giant zoos or scenic Disney Worlds, if you will, where they could see the animals they wanted to see and enjoy the panoramic views they were banking on during their 2-week stay from August 15 – 30^th.

It wasn’t about preserving nature, but about preserving a certain artificial snapshot of nature that they wanted readily available when they arrived.

The whole park was essentially on a sort of environmental life support system.

Don Despain, park biologist, sums it up:

           “If we can overcome our biases, we can see beauty in this scene . . . This is transition and regeneration, not destruction.”

If this story does not capture the message of our passage today, I can’t imagine what does!

“Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

Listen to this post-fire description of Yellowstone:

p. 24 – B

today

Four pertinent observations about the Old Yellowstone (pre-1988 fire) and the New Yellowstone (post-1988 fire):

1. Before the fire, the new Yellowstone was unknown.
2. Without the fire, the new Yellowstone would never emerge.
3. The fire would destroy forever the Old Yellowstone.
4. Letting the fire take its course was painful, to the park and to the public.

These observations hold true for Jesus here in chapter 12 of the gospel of John.

1. Before Jesus died, the Body of Christ we know today, the church, was virtually unknown.
2. Without Jesus’ death, the church would never emerge.
3. Jesus’ death would essentially take Jesus out of ministry for good.
4. Jesus’ death was painful, to Jesus and to the disciples.

Hence, John 12: 24

“Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

In other words, Jesus needed to get out of the way for his ministry to continue.

John 16: 7

I tell you the truth: it is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

16: 20

You will grieve but your grief will turn to joy
I don’t think I have to explain how this story relates to Dayspring.

One of the fundamental myths of this world is that death equals failure.

It was a myth in Jesus’ time and it’s still a myth today.

Meanwhile, one of the fundamental truths of the Christian faith is that death brings life.

This life brought on by death is what the cross was always meant to symbolize.

If you look at the cross and don’t see death, you’re missing the cross!

There’s a lot of death coming up these next two weeks:

            The death of our office and meeting room.

            The death of the Drew School worship space.

            I’m not planning on dying, but your pastoral leadership will change hands.

It will be painful.

But remember that it will be painful for only two reasons:

1. We’ve gotten used to the way things are.
2. We can’t see what’s on the other side.

But . . .

John 12: 24

So, this week, remember Yellowstone National Park and the fires of 1988.

Prepare yourselves for new saplings.

Prepare yourselves for the emergence of some new kinds of life.

Prepare yourselves for new habitats, new breeding grounds, new food sources, and new vistas.

Prepare yourselves for things you may have never anticipated.

Prepare yourselves with this adage:

“When you come to the edge of the cliff, you must believe that either one of two things will happen: either there is someone there at the bottom to catch you OR you will be given wings to fly.”