And they're special to my family. Some member of our family has been growing these beans since the 1950s, at least. Each year, they would save butter beans as seed, dry them, and put them up to grow next year's crop. And....they're very tasty. Did I mention you don't have to bend to pick them?
These particular seed we planted had been in my mom's freezer since 2008. Twelve years, and there's still life in them. 12 years of dormancy. 12 years of isolation inside an old plastic pint milk jug.
With the current pandemic, our churches have a lot in common with these beans.
Our churches are dormant. Our sanctuaries lie empty and silent for the most part. Buildings in which spiritual life has grown are, at the moment, not producing life.
But......I'm afraid many of our churches have been dormant far longer than we've been socially isolated.
How many of us have been having church, but really sort of going through the motions? How many of us have been dedicated to going to start with? How many of us are concerned with the mission of the church? How many of us know what the mission of the church is?
But......through this I have seen something interesting. We've taken the life of the church house, and started to broadcast it. Many of us who would never have thought of having a church service broadcast are now presenting the gospel on social media. Through the social media, people who would never enter our churches have had the gospel presented to them. Drive in services have popped up outside our church houses. Some are broadcast on localized radio stations and some are presented with speaker systems set up in the parking lot. Again, this enables people who might not enter our doors to hear the gospel.
Six days after Abby and I planted our butter bean seeds, the sprouts began to break the ground. A few days later, full leaves grew out from the seed leaves. Soon (hopefully) runners will form and grow along our fence. In awhile, we should see blooms and then the tasty beans. Nonetheless, life has already been produced from dried beans that had not seen the light of day for almost 12 years.
Maybe this period of dormancy is leading to a new life for our churches. Maybe the changes forced upon us by the coronavirus have led to the life contained inside our churches out into the field of the world. Maybe the new ways we've adapted to presenting the gospel are the runners going out to a world in need of life. Maybe we've figured out the gospel shouldn't and doesn't need to be contained inside a church house, but carried with us everywhere we go.
Do I know for certain that our butter beans will produce?
No, but I'm hoping for a good crop.