Christ's Orchard

I went out to the country to visit a parishioner this week and on the way I passed an apple orchard. This is apple country, and the orchards are everywhere north of town. I slowed down on my way by because a backhoe and driver were methodically plucking the apple trees from the ground and laying them in rows. Why would the owners destroy an orchard? I asked one of our folk who is in the business and he told me that the trees probably weren't producing adequately. There is no room for sentiment in apple growing.

Not all that long ago apple trees were "traditional," growing to ten metres or so. Nearly all those are gone now, replaced by dwarf trees which give a much greater yield per hectare. That must have been a tough decision for the growers. It is a risk to take down trees that guarantee a crop in the present, with the hope that some new-fangled method will produce more in the future.

During Advent we hear about John the Baptist, Jesus' wild and crazy cousin, who says in this week's reading from Luke: "even now the axe is lying at the roots of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire." Then John points to Jesus as the Promised One, the Messiah who bring about God's new way.

I'm not the biggest fan of John the Baptist because he seems so harsh and "out there," but at times we need to hear the voices that can seem strident. They are really just getting our attention. A lot of congregations seem to be orchards that no longer bear much fruit even though they blossom from time to time. At the very least we need to be challenged beyond our places of comfort. John wasn't the first prophet to do this.

Are we willing to take risks so that Jesus can be seen and heard?