Third Sunday before Lent

Pear - one of my favourite fruits, but they can be a bit frustrating. Joanna bought this one yesterday, and at the moment you could hammer nails with it. You could probably eat it if you were really hungry, but it wouldn’t taste of much. At some point in the next week or so, if not watched carefully, it will start to droop, and I’l probably eat it rather than let it go to waste, but it won’t be a pleasant experience.

This week I had a real triumph. I ate two of the best pears I can remember, at just the right moment. They were perfectly ripe, juicy, and full of flavour. They were ready when they were ready, after months of growing on a tree that had taken years to grow, harvesting and transport while they still weren’t ready and then waiting on the fruitbowl until their moment. I suppose the point is, if you want a perfectly ripe pear tomorrow, you need to plant a tree twenty years ago. You can’t make one on the spot.

That psalm is placed at the beginning of the whole book of psalms for a reason; an invitation and call to use the rest of the psalms, God’s prayer-book, well.

Like Jesus’ beatitudes as Luke tells us of them, sets out two ways to live.

More immediate, attractive? Fragile, meaningless

Steady, rooted in God.

The way of the psalmist is rooted and drawing steadily on God’s life and love, through meditating on his word.

Meditating - for ancient monks and nuns, memorising scripture, often small fragments, and mulling them over, letting God speak slowly and quietly as we spend time in prayer and then carry them with us through the day.

Image of a tree - leaves don’t wither when the rain doesn’t come; fruit in season.

God’s not promising that if you spend time reflecting on his word, meditating on his love, drawing on his life, there’ll be a sudden dramatic effect. But in due season, at the right time, the fruit will grow. St Paul described those fruits many years later - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

If you need more of those fruits in your life this morning, then pray for a miracle! But if you want them to grow in your life by this time next month, and next year, and in twenty years, then plant yourself by the stream and let your roots go into God. Set aside time each day to reflect on God’s word, and carry it with you in your mind and your heart; follow his voice as he speaks to you through Scripture, and don’t let the voices of the world around drown him out.

Quick lectio on image of tree

Let the fruit grow, and trust that in due time it will be delicious.

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