If I were to summarize what I believe God has been saying to me over the past six weeks through the Scriptures of Lent, this is what I would say: The real purpose of the church; it's real business … is to embody and to teach the Art of Becoming Fully Human.

The church understands a fully human being, to be one who actually resembles Jesus Christ – not physically, not in terms of his or her gender, race, or class – but on a soul-level, in terms of how he or she really thinks and feels and imagines and acts. A fully human person is one who knows who they are, where they come from, and where they're going. One who is healthy and confident, but also humble and caring. One who is able to accept his or her vulnerability and to express even the most difficult feelings, but also able to be comfortably silent. A fully human person is one who is at peace within, but who also does not ignore or run away from tension, conflict, and problems.

When you hear a list of qualities like that, if you're like me, you wonder: Do we ever become fully human in this lifetime? Well, no, not as fully human as Jesus... but when we get close to him, and keep learning and practicing the art of living that he teaches us, we do become genuinely more and more like him. We really do. I've watched it happen, over time, in the lives of many people. It's a truly amazing thing.

The Church claims to know the One who is the ultimate fully human person, Jesus Christ. And, through knowing him, the Church claims to have developed the know-how to bring other human beings into intimate relationship with God in Christ, so that their lives can also grow into the same fullness of humanity that the church says it experiences in Him. And this is really all the church claims to know. We can't really claim to offer anything but this one thing, this Way of enabling people to grow into more fully human persons by bringing them into transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. This is the business that we are in. If we have any expertise at all, this is it. And we can't even do this by ourselves alone; we can only do it by consciously, actively relying upon God's Spirit, and allowing God's Spirit to work through us as individuals and as a community.

Now, when this is actually happening in the church, it is very good news. Because this one offering that we possess in Christ is the one thing that every human being, from the moment of his or her birth... to the moment of his or her death, desires more than anything else: to be whole; to be complete; to be consciously connected to the true Source and End of their lives. So that they can become fully human. The one offering that the church possesses is the one thing that everyone is looking for. What good news! It's win, win!

But, it is not a magic pill, although we & the rest of the world often wish it was. But it is not a magic pill; it's a way of life that is neither easy to teach nor easy to learn. It is a way of life that is mysterious – it is hidden by God within the Sacred Liturgy of our Judeo-Christian tradition and the Sacred Text of our Scriptures. It is not easy to learn, because what Jesus is teaching us (through the Liturgy & the Scriptures) is nothing less than how to become like him ourselves; how to have God's own will written into our own hearts rather than imposed upon us from the outside. The art that Jesus, in his life, in his death, in his life beyond death, is longing for us to learn is the art of becoming fully human.

• 1^st Sunday of Lent: we explored it together as the art of staying in the waters of baptism; where we stay aware that we are God's Beloved; (Mark 1:9-15)

• 2^nd Sunday of Lent: we explored it together as the art of taking up the cross; where God's love enables us to trust enough to surrender even those areas of our lives, which we would much rather not surrender, if at all possible. (Mark 8:31-38)

• 3^rd Sunday of Lent: we explored it together as the art of cleaning our inner houses; emptying out the clutter; and turning our inner life into a consecrated place of prayer, as it was for Jesus; (John 2:13-22.)

• 4^th Sunday of Lent: we explored it together as the art of offering up to God, not just the “nice” things within us and in our lives, but even life's poisonous experiences, so that God can transform that poison into the very medicine that we need to be healed; (John 3:14-21)

And today, in our gospel reading for the 5^th Sunday of Lent (John 12:20-33), we will explore together one final symbol of the art of growing into a fully human being; it is the last symbol that Jesus offers us before he begins enacting the great dramas of Holy Week (1) his entry into Jerusalem with palms waving; (2) his washing of the disciples' feet and (3) his instituting the Eucharist; and finally, (4) his Passion & Crucifixion.

This final symbol that Jesus offers us is a tiny one, taken from the world of agriculture. He tells us: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” The outer husk of a grain of wheat, when it falls down into the earth,is softened by the moisture in the earth and begins to break down. The broken husk itself becomes the nourishment that allows the germ of the wheat to grow. The germ of the wheat literally feeds on the broken husk, which, we might say, sacrifices itself so that the germ of the wheat can grow and sprout and bear fruit. Without that sacrifice, there can be no vitality, and no fertility. The life cycle simply stops there.

The art of growing up spiritually into a fully human being, like Jesus, vital and fertile, capable of bringing more spiritual grownups into the world is what the church, in theory, is all about. But why is there so often such an enormous gap between our theory and our reality on the ground? Why does the church so often seem to be facing the real possibility that its life cycle may simply be coming to an end? Could it be because, just as it is for the physical softening, breakup & growth of the grain of wheat which falls into the earth this kind of spiritual vitality & fertility only happens through sacrifice? But what would that mean, that if the life of the church comes to an end it's because we haven't been sacrificing enough? No: That's not what it means. It's surely true that spiritual vitality & fertility only happen through sacrifice.... but not our sacrifice, at least not ours alone. It is God's sacrifice of love that leads to our spiritual vitality and fertility. Only God enables growth (1Cor 3:7)

Sacrifice, in the Christian faith, is radically different from sacrifice as it was understood in ancient Judaism, and as it has generally been understood in all world religions. In the ancient, pre-Christian view, sacrifice was something that began with humans, and was offered to God, as a way of appeasing God or making God happy; and then, God would either accept or reject our sacrifice. If God accepted our sacrifice, then he would bless us – and our crops and families and our lives in general would grow and flourish. But if God rejected our sacrifice, then he would curse us – nothing would grow, and we would be faced with the possibility of our extinction. Not a very friendly God in this ancient understanding of sacrifice. You had to either please him or else, and you could never quite be sure what exactly would please him and what would upset him... like an abusive parent... keeps you walking on eggshells... keeps you worrying whether your offering is going to be good enough or not.

But in Christianity, the meaning of sacrifice is totally different (although sometimes it can get infected with that old view.) Sacrifice, in the Christian meaning of the word, begins not with us, not with human beings, but with God, who, in love, offers his own self to us, so that, through this infusion of God's own self-giving love, we become filled with God's Divine Life, we become spiritually vital and fertile, able to love as God in Jesus loves us. Our receiving this divine sacrifice of self-giving love, symbolized in our receiving the waters of baptism, changes us. When a love that is perfect, complete, and eternal is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit and tells us “You are my Beloved,” it changes us. It gives our lives a new dimension that is not of this world, that enables us to grow up spiritually into fully human beings, like Jesus, persons who can make sacrifices for others, born of self-giving love. You can see how radically different this is from the ancient view of sacrifice, which starts with us, anxiously struggling to find the right offering that will please God and persuade him to bless us, instead of cursing us. If we fall into the trap of understanding the purpose of the church in terms of that fearful, worrisome kind of sacrifice, we rapidly lose our spiritual vitality and fertility. And then, of course, we're in no condition to teach others the art of becoming fully human.

But not because God is mad at us! Because we've mistaken God to be one who doesn't really care about our wellbeing, only our productivity (how much & how good our offerings are). Then we're involved in a business of a very different sort, even if it still looks like a “church,” and talks like a “church,” it no longer has the divine life of the church coursing through its veins. It depletes us rather than renewing us. It leaves us more grim than graced & joyful. Because it is no longer a place for training in the holy art of becoming like Jesus. It's a dangerous thing that old ancient view of sacrifice. And thankfully that is not what this is about. That is not why we are here.

The art of becoming fully human requires that we receive a steady supply of the love-based kind of sacrifice that is revealed in Jesus. We have to receive it, and keep receiving it, in order to become able to give it, and keep giving it. Then, and only then, are we able to give, as we have received. That is the art that we're here to learn – through the Liturgy; through the Scriptures; through our relationships in which we befriend one another, as God in Christ is befriending us; through taking all that we learn here with us as we go forth in peace to continue loving and serving God at home, at work, at play, at rest. So that all of our life becomes consecrated, spiritually vital and fertile, overflowing with divine love and meaning. That is the fruit of learning the art of becoming fully human. That is what we have to offer the world. That is the real business we are in.

Thanks be to God.