O Brother, Where Art Thou? Series

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." --Matthew 9:37

You know I have a confession to make. I am somewhat of a Science Fiction nut. In fact, I am a die hard Trekkie. I even like to write Science Fiction. So I decided to write a little story that I thought I would share with you. It is titled: "The Har’ Vstors."

It was a distant planet on the other end of the galaxy known as Har’ Vst. Now those who lived on Har’ Vst were a unique species because they started their lives as plants and eventually developed into sentient bipeds. They began their lives as seeds that resembled acorns on the Lyfe trees that extended throughout the breadth of their planet. From this seed they would develop into their humanoid form within the warmth of a greenhouse.

Whenever these seeds developed on the trees, however, the mature Har’ Vstors would need to harvest them before winter came or else millions of their species would die. However, where did the Lyfe trees come from? They came from one known as the Gardener who instructed the first Har’ Vstor of his responsibility to harvest the trees and put them in a special greenhouse he had made.

The trees had existed as long as their world had. For thousands of years, all of the Har’ Vstors faithfully collected the seeds from the Lyfe trees thus continuing the life of their species. At one time, however, in their history, some Har’ Vstors had decided that they were too advanced and too evolved to spend their precious time collecting the Lyfe seeds. They had more important things to do—such as learning and advancing the culture of their species.

At first, these Har’ Vstors were a minority and thus did not affect the harvest of the Lyfe seeds. After time, however, their numbers increased as more Har’ Vstors began to attend their universities and devote their time to “improving themselves.” Other Har’ Vstors just wanted to enjoy themselves and devoted themselves to the pursuit of sports and entertainment. Still there were some that still continued to harvest the Lyfe fruit; however, for the first time some of the Lyfe seeds couldn’t be harvested in time because there weren’t enough workers.

Soon in the greenhouses where they honored the Gardener, many Har’ Vstors began to decide that their time was better spent meditating on the words of the Gardener and reading books about gardening. They decided they just didn’t have time to harvest anymore. Besides there were plenty of Har’ Vstors out there doing it! And even if there weren’t, the Gardener would take care of those seeds.

Soon the population of Har’ Vstors began to drop. It wasn’t felt sharply at first because they lived such long lives, but their population soon dropped sharply as the older generations began to die off. There were fewer and fewer Har’ Vstors left to run the infrastructure. Ironically, there were even fewer that were committed to harvesting the Lyfe trees and so millions of Lyfe seeds would continue to drop from the trees and die in the snow. There just weren’t enough Har’ Vstors willing to make the sacrifice for their species.

They are still out there, the Har’ Vstors. But there aren’t as many now. Even with their population crisis, many Har’ Vstors still choose not to aid in the harvest, even though millions of their species are dying. In fact, even many of the adults are beginning to die sooner now from disease. You see the Lyfe trees had a special pollen that added to their immune system and enabled them to stay healthy. When all of the Har’ Vstors were collecting seeds they remained healthy as a species, but now disease is rampant on their world and so even more Har’ Vstors are dying.

You can probably see that this was an allegory concerning the spiritual state of the world. You can also notice where the church has grown slack in reaching the lost. The tragedy that occurred on September 11th is still fresh in our minds. We have seen the pictures of the firefighters desperately digging through the rubble of New York city trying to find survivors. At this point as I am writing this sermon it is highly unlikely they will find survivors, but they still keep trying and I keep admiring them for it!

I want you now to see in your mind’s eye a picture of the broken World Trade Center and those who are desperately searching in the wreckage for those trapped there who might still be alive. When I see photos of the wreckage, I not only see a picture of our tragedy, I also envision the spiritual wreckage of our country. Long before September 11th our spiritual towers came tumbling down.