Dunbar United Church of Christ - June 14, 2009

Our Christian faith doesn’t formally have a doctrine of karma -- but Jesus talked about Karma all the time. Karma is a word from Hinduism and Buddhism that describes human behavior as a process of sowing and then reaping what we sow. If I smoke a carton of cigarettes a day, I’ll probably die sooner than someone who doesn’t. If I’m angry all the time, I probably won’t have many friends. If I practice my guitar every day, I’ll probably learn to play some things. This is karma. We reap what we sow.
Jesus didn’t talk about karma, but he talked about fruit and vegetables. Plant a fig seed, and if the conditions are good, it will become a fig tree. But how do you explain someone who is a “bad seed” who becomes a saint? The apostle Paul may have killed people. He punished them for following Jesus. He was a bad seed who became a sweet smelling rose. How does that happen?
Our Bible talks about salvation. The word “save” is often used: “Save me,... I’m dying,... I can’t see... I’m deaf...I’m lost... I’m possessed....SAVE ME!” Salvation is God interrupting or changing a person’s karma. Jesus’ miracles did this.
He told Nicodemus that every person needs to be born again. We need a miracle -- amazing grace -- to see and hear and do God’s will. There are some things we can do to prepare our “ground” for the Holy Spirit -- especially keeping our focus on “things above,” especially keeping our focus on Jesus through each day. We prepare our ground, but the final outcome is in God’s hands. We do what we can, then we wait for the seed of Christ in us to grow. Jesus said we don’t know when or how this happens. Some of us become trees of blessing for others. Some of us are smaller plants of blessing. In others, the seeds of grace don’t seem to grow. But another person’s spiritual growth is none of our business. Our work is to prepare our gardens, keep our eyes on Christ, and pray that our lives accomplish the work God put us here to do.