Picture yourself taking a walk in a forest preserve. It is a sunny, comfortably warm day. You start out on a narrow gravel path. The grass alongside the path is freshly green and scattered with tiny white and purple wild-flowers. As you move into the forest, you begin to notice a variety of trees. Some look old and gnarled. Others are saplings that bend and sway in the light breeze. There are all sizes and shapes and varieties.

Ahead you hear the sound of water babbling in a stream. As you walk, the sound gets louder and you know you are getting closer. The path curves and suddenly in front of you, you see a tree that represents your life. What do you see?

What about the height…the trunk…the bark…the branches…the leaves…the roots…the fruit or seed pods?

What do you see?

So a good friend and I were walking along what seemed to be the very graveled path that was pictured above. It was a sunny and beautiful day. The light breeze accompanied our conversation and as I was trying to imagine what type of tree my life represented, I realized that I was a little more consumed by how others saw that tree rather than how I viewed it.

I was able to figure out what I thought my tree looked like; it didn’t take very long. I knew exactly what it looked like. Yet when it dawned on me that the very tree that I may point out myself to be may very well be different from that of another person’s perspective, it didn’t make me feel very good. I wish I could justify some level of humility by saying “yeah, well…they’re just being too nice, it may appear to them that my tree looks a little more put together, but it’s really not…”.

Or to the other end of the spectrum of agreeing that “yes, they are right, it is uglier than I had hoped…”

How authentic am I, really?

For many months, as I drove southbound on route 53, there was an enormous billboard with a very attractive looking Jesus with the sunset hitting his brow at the perfect angle with his arms reached out and trying to hug all the cars rushing by. The words “Authentic Jesus” was emblazoned across the entire width of the board. When I finally realized that it had been up there for quite some time before noticing it, I have to admit, I drove by thinking “how cheesy”. That was the first thought that came and went. I was driving way too fast to even give it a second thought. Weeks later, a second thought came to my mind. “How does this one phrase, actually, not even a phrase, a description, capture the hearts of the thousands of cars rushing by and penetrate their souls at all? This so doesn’t give justice to the message they are trying to impart…shouldn’t they at least have a verse or something to help convey what this all is supposed to mean to someone who doesn’t know who Jesus is?”

I was so wrong.

Another few weeks later, glancing at it for probably the hundredth time, I wondered something new. I wondered, “what if someone driving by had never encountered the Jesus that I know. What if all they have been introduced to was a counterfeit or worse, what if all the believers in their lives show no authenticity to who they really are, therefore they would never equate the word authentic to Jesus.” So this made me think.

How do my actions set me apart from the rest of the world to show that an authentic Jesus lives in me? If someone who has yet to meet Jesus face to face encounters me in the grocery line, or the drive-through, or the post office, will they ever know? Does my life bear any resemblance to an authentic Jesus? When a good friend receives a promotion, am I genuinely blessed or secretly envious? When I walk into an immaculately clean home, am I secretly listing reasons why it can’t be possible for me? When Elizabeth heard that Mary’s womb housed the future Messiah instead of hers, was she genuinely happy for her? I believe she was.

Samantha Lee
Mothers Raising our Children

I am not surprised by Jesus’ answer to the disciples when asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” His answer…little children. Every Sunday morning in SEEDS, I get to see with my own eyes why Jesus told them, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

As the SEEDS Director, I wish I could say that I get to church every Sunday filled with peace and vision. But the truth is that most Sundays get off to a pretty hectic start for me. Just getting to church on time with my own four children is a feat in itself.

From the moment I walk into the church building I am consumed by the flurry of activity that is required to make sure everything is ready for the day. Craft preparations. Broken copy machines. Classroom conditions. Teacher coordination. Remembering that I may have left something important back at home. By the time I walk into the SEEDS worship room for the start of service, my heart is often tied up in knots of tension.

But as soon as the singing starts something amazing happens. I look around the room and see the children belting out the songs with the kind of carefree enthusiasm that children have, and the tension starts to unwind. I see how unashamed little children are to shout and express their enthusiasm for Jesus. I can just imagine how Jesus must be beaming as the children of SEEDS are, literally, jumping up and down with both their hands in the air as they sing from the top of their lungs, “One Way, Jesus, You’re the only One that I will live for!” Sure, they don’t get all the verses right, but no one can mistake that chorus and its energy. I see in those children something I need more of—something God delights in.

Serving in SEEDS is not always easy, but it’s so good for my soul.

Jeannie Lee
Director of Seeds

At the beginning of Luke after spending 40 days fasting in the wilderness Jesus inaugurates his ministry by reading a portion of this passage. Among the many inspiring pictures that Isaiah 61 conveys is the idea of replacing ashes with crowns of beauty. In ancient cultures ashes were often used as and external and public display of remorse and grief. As Jesus read this passage and says that claims that he is the fulfillment of this passage he is giving us a taste of the Gospel in action.

Jesus has come to take the dirty, broken, grief stricken, embarrassing things of this world and redeem them for his glory. We know that on our own we suffer in the ashes of grief and self pity, but for those who reach out to Jesus there is a whole new way of life set before us.

At Harvest Community Church we are a group of broken people who have experienced both the ashes and the beauty. This is the place that we hope to share our collective story with you. We hope you enjoy hearing our story and it is our prayer that you also will be able to experience ashes turned to beauty in your own life.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

Aliens will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.

Instead of their shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.

"For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.

Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed."

I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations. -Isaiah 61