Unless a Seed Dies...

Seed. Salt. Light.

These are very powerful metaphors that the Church has used, for centuries, to describe itself. All these metaphors come from the Gospels. (The Church as the Body of Christ is Pauline.)

Unfortunately for the church, it has forgotten that all three metaphors require self-giving, require emptying, require death...

A seed dies... Salt dissolves... Light burns out.

The Church needs to remember its Crucified and Risen Lord. There is no Resurrection without the Crucifixion.

SOUP and SALT

The world needs soup.

Unfortunately, millions of people cannot even have or afford a decent cup of hot soup. So many people are so poor they gargle water for breakfast, take hot water for lunch, and force themselves to sleep at night in place of supper. Mas emphatic sa Tagalog: Marami tayong kababayan na mumog ang agahan, nilagang tubig ang tanghalian, at tulog ang hapunan. 
When Esau, in the Genesis 25. 29-34, came to his brother, he was close to death. And he asked for soup. For billions of dispossessed people who struggle against death forces everyday, the promise of life in its fullness is actually a hot bowl of soup. For countless people who face the violence of starvation each and every moment of their lives, God’s shalom is a hot bowl of soup. 
When our sisters and brothers’ homes and livelihood are destroyed by flash floods, relief operations bring soup. When schools offer feeding programs to malnourished grade school children, they are fed soup. When our churches and church-related institutions welcome the homeless and street-children into our “soup kitchens,” guess what we offer them? 
But you and I know this, soup is more than food for the hungry and drink for the thirsty.  It is also just wages for workers, homes for the homeless, justice for the oppressed, care for the sick and dying, welcome to the stranger, land for the landless, liberation for those in bondage and captivity, solidarity with those whose only hope is God. 
The soup that can meet the world’s hunger is the soup we cook together. Every one contributing what each can. Because we are each other’s keepers. If God is our parent, then all of us are sisters and brothers. 
Those of us who call ourselves Christian do not have the monopoly on soup. We have an ingredient to share. This is probably why Jesus calls the church, salt of the earth. Soup tastes better with salt. 
But soup does not need salt to be soup!

God Loves the Cosmos!

Yes. God loves the cosmos.

But for so many of us who memorized the verse, it's God so loved the World. And for most, the line really means God so loved (state your name).

It's actually, God loved the Cosmos! God loves the heavens, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Earth. Mountains. Oceans. Rivers. Rocks, pebbles, sand.

God loves rooted people. Finned people. Four-legged people. Winged people. Two-legged people.

God loves Moslems. Buddhists. Rebels. Indigenous peoples. Refugees. Rohingya. Migrants. Palestinians. PWDs. PLHAs...

God loves the cosmos so much that God decided to become one with the cosmos, a two-legged person. A two-legged person whose loving was experienced as life lived for others.

John 3.16

Many people love this verse.
Many people actually believe it's the Gospel in a nutshell.
Many people even think it's what the whole Bible is about.

Many people, unfortunately, do not read the Bible. Most hear it read out loud, in church, once a week.
Many people who love John 3.16 have no idea what John 3.15 is about. Or John 3.17.

Many people who love John 3.16 have no idea what John Chapter 3 is about. Or what the Gospel of John is about.

Many people who love the Bible have no idea what the Bible is all about!