St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

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A Virtue-al Rose Garden

John 17:9-13

May 28, 2006        (Click this link to see the bulletin)

1. You may remember from last Sunday that I said one of my desires is to have every rose ever patented thriving in my home garden. But there was no way – given the limitation of space in our yard and the limitation of time that Richard and I have. I think I’ve figured out a way to have one! Grow a virtual rose garden! And with the ‘virtues’ we’ve been cultivating these past few weeks, I think it’ll work! You know about "virtual reality," don’t you? Virtual reality uses computers to create a three-dimensional picture that makes you think you are right there! What better way to have a my rose garden without all the space and time requirements than to create a virtual rose garden? And what better way to picture the virtue flowers in the gardens of our lives than by creating a virtue-al rose garden! No better way that I can think of! You may be aware that certain colors of roses are associated with particular qualities. For instance, pink symbolizes love and harmony, yellow symbolizes friendship, and so on. So today I’ve brought cuttings from the rose bushes in my virtue-al rose garden.

2. Purple. Purple is the color of faith. Faith believes in what is right; faith is love and respect for the truth. Faith is true belief, and being true to what we believe. In what we call the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote that faith is one of the three spiritual gifts that lasts forever. Those Corinthians had been fighting about who among them best exhibited the gifts of the Spirit, and it was tearing them apart. Can you believe it! Christians fighting among themselves. And we’re still fighting! Even today, the peace, unity and purity of our own denomination is being threatened because we’re fighting among ourselves. What Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he also writes to us: None of this stuff we’re fighting about has any lasting importance! Only faith, hope and love last forever. Jesus had that kind of faith, and it’s reflected in his prayer that I read earlier – that his disciples will not become fragmented, that they will be unified in their faith and trust.

3. Blue is next. Royal blue is the color of hope. Hope is taking a positive view that good will prevail. Hope springs eternal, and pops up out of the soil when we least expect it. Remember, a few Sundays ago, when the children took leadership rolls in worship with their songs? I saw hope blooming that day! You probably couldn’t see it from where you are, but the Barnard’s grandson, Dalton, gave me hope! He sat in the choir section, on the first row, all 36 inches of him. When it came time to sing the first hymn, he stood up with the rest of us, but, of course, didn’t have a hymnal because he cannot read. But it was obvious that he wanted a hymnal so he could participate. So Elaina gave him a Bible (there not being any more hymnals nearby) and every time was sang, he opened his book to follow along. Children are the hope of the world, they are a visible sign that God has not given up. God is Life, and Life will continue.

4. Next is the red rose. You know what that symbolizes, don’t you? LOVE ! The color of love is red. There’s an old Scottish ballad, "O, my love is like a red, red rose that’s newly sprung in June. O my love is like a melody, that’s sweetly play’d in tune." That’s very romantic, but the Virtue of Love goes beyond romance. Love calls us to calls us to love those for whom we do not necessarily care, and care about that which we would normally ignore. Tony Campollo, that Baptist minister who does his best to upset complacent Christians, spoke to a group in Tulsa recently. He said, "By this time tomorrow, 30,000 children all over the world will have died of malnutrition, and none of you gives a shit." Of course, all the people gasped! And then he drove his point home. He said, "And you are more shocked that I said "shit" in the pulpit than you are about the preventable death of 30,000 children." The virtue of love – loving those for whom we do not necessarily know or care, and caring about that which we would normally ignore. "If you love me," Jesus said, "feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17)

5. Black may seem like a strange color for a rose, but there is one! And it stands for FORTITUDE. Whether clothes are black or cars are black, the color black symbolizes authority and power. In the rose garden, the black rose of fortitude means strong drive and purpose. Fortitude never gives up. In the world of art, black is really the absence of color. But in our virtue-al rose garden, the black rose is the convergence of all virtues -- and it could be the convergence of all of the sins, too. People can have a strong drive toward good just as they can have a strong drive toward evil. But for fortitude to be a virtue, it must be that quality of never giving up the urge to make good blossom and grow in the gardens of our lives.

6. Silver, the color of protection and encouragement in the floral world, the color of justice in our virtue-al rose garden. As with many of these virtues, justice doesn’t exist all by itself. Justice will exist only if we act with justice. When one child has more ice cream in his bowl than another, and protests "That’s not fair!" , what do we do? We often do what we can to make the amount of ice cream even. That’s easy. Justice becomes more difficult when it concerns people other than our children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews. But justice is what God wants more religious posturing. The Prophet Micah said it well: "What does the Lord require of you? Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God." (Micah 6:8)

7. Teal is a mixed color – equal parts of green and blue, perfectly balanced. Teal is the color of temperance – good balance in life. Teal signifies healing, wisdom, peace and harmony. Healing, in a word. Remember from last Sunday that temperance it mastering the pleasures of lives, rather than becoming their slaves. Hence this bouquet of silk roses. I would much rather have the real roses, roses that smell and feel alive, and one bush that produces every one of the 20,000 patented roses, even the antique roses. But if I had that many roses, they would take over my life. So I must "temper" my desire, cultivate the virtue of balance in my life, and plant only the number of roses I can manage. When we balance our lives, when we are temperate, when we use that which pleases us to renew us, not destroy us, not hurt others, all is well.

8. And finally, dark blue, the color of prudence. Prudence encompasses great inner strength, wisdom, compassion. (Isn’t it interesting how many of these floral color descriptions include wisdom?) Prudence is an intellectual virtue; it is thinking carefully about what is best to do in a particular situation, then doing it, even if there is risk involved or uncertainty about the outcome.

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