Resurrection

I have to confess that I have couple of weaknesses.

I have a hard time walking past a bookstore.

And I have a hard time walking past a plant nursery.

I like plants.  And flowers.  My yard will never be big enough for all the different flowers that I would like to plant.  Last year we acquired a couple of exotic plants.  (I call them exotic only because I am not from here.  They are actually native to Thailand.)  Both of these plants are in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).  I have to admit I have a special fondness for plants in this family.

Lotus ginger (Curcuma alismatifolia) is typically grown as an ornamental.  Several of its close relatives are grown as herbs, mostly unknown outside of SE Asia, except for tumeric (Curcuma longa). We first encountered this plant at a flower garden in Chiang Mai back in 2011.  But there are places in Isaan where there are large fields of lotus ginger that bloom at this time of year.

Lotus ginger - Curcuma alismatifolia

The other plant we acquired is Globba winitii (I don't know of any English name for this plant.)

Globba wingtip

There are several species of Globba that grow in Thailand, usually as forest understory plants.  Some species are fairly common.  Most species do not have the pink (or white) bracts like the one in the picture above.

The problem with many plants in the ginger family is that, come dry season, they die.

Well they don't really die, but it seems like it.  The blooms fall off and the leaves dry up and all that is left is a pot full of potting soil.

I had never grown these species before, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect.  I tried not to give up.  Do I water the "empty" pot or leave it alone?  I figured that the plants are adapted to dry season, so I left them alone.  I only had to remember which of my empty pots weren't really empty.

Finally, my patience was rewarded.  Little green shoots started breaking through the brown soil.  The lotus ginger wasted no time in sending up a flower shoot. (I'm still waiting for the Globba to flower.). The bloom is even richer in color than last year.

Lotus ginger - year 2

At any rate, I am very happy.  That which was dead has come back to life.

So it is with us who believe.  One day, if Jesus tarries, these bodies of ours will die.  That which was once alive will be placed in the ground.  To human eyes, this patch of ground where the body is placed may appear lifeless.  But one day, that which was planted will come to life again.  It will come back to life even better than it was before.

As Paul writes:

But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back. - 1 Corinthians 15:23 (NLT)

We look forward to that day when we will bloom again with new life after Christ returns.

Jars of Clay

(Thoughts shared at the time of spreading the ashes of my mother.)

Sing: How Great Thou Art


In the Bible, Paul compares our bodies to jars of clay. He writes:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)


Our bodies are just temporary containers. They contain our spirit, and if we are believers, the Spirit of God.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 (ESV))

(For this next part I have a clay pot with some cremains in it. As I talk, I chip away at the pot until the ashes start to spill. At the end, I throw the remaining portion in the water yelling, "you're free").

Throughout our lives, our clay jars get scratched and nicked and weak. Yet our spirit can get stronger and larger. After a while our jar may not be strong enough or good enough to contain the spirit inside, and it bursts. And as it bursts it sets free, the spirit inside.


And our Spirit still lives-waiting the day when a new body will be given it--one that is good enough and strong enough to last forever.


Paul write about this in 1 Corinthians 15:42-57 (ESV) ⁴² So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
⁴³ It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
⁴⁵ Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
⁴⁶ But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.
⁴⁷ The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
⁴⁸ As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
⁴⁹ Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
⁵⁵ "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.


Sing: Amazing Grace


66 years ago this month, Dad bought this property. He wanted this land so that people could enjoy the beauty of God's creation. Yet the beauty of this place is nothing compared to the beauty of heaven. Even creation itself awaits the day when it, too, shall be set free.


Romans 8:18-23 (ESV) ¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
²² For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.



Though this box contains the remains of Mom's jar of clay, it does not contain Mom. She has been set free, no longer bound to this body of flesh.


So let us celebrate Mom's newfound freedom, even as we look forward to the day when creation itself will celebrate freedom.


Let us take these remains and as we scatter them upon the earth that God made, let us cry out: "freedom" or "Mom, you're free." And when you are done, break the earthy pot in anticiapton of that day when we, too, well be free.