But, over time, the people of No-name began to take the orchard for granted. The kids would have fights with half-eaten pieces of fruit. The adults would bite into a peach, then a pear, then an apple, leaving pieces rotting on the orchard's shady floor. At first it didn't seem to matter, but then some started complaining, "I went to the orchard today, and I couldn't find a single piece of ripe fruit to eat." That had never happened before, but it was happening now. What had gone drastically, terribly wrong?

Well, the people had forgotten that they had been given the orchard as a gift. Each person treated the orchard as if all that was in it belonged to him or her. No one in No-name loved the orchard any more. So God looked upon the people of No-name and said, "I will give you a name. You will no longer be No-name. You will be My-people. And I have a law for you that will settle your differences. Remember these my words to you," and God said, "An apple a day."

"An apple a day." Hallelujah! The people rejoiced. They danced and sang in the orchard. Certainly if each person ate one piece of fruit each day and no more, there once again would be enough fruit for everyone. Praise God for God's infinite wisdom!

Well, it sounded like a good idea, but only a couple days into the program, people forgot. They would see two apples hanging together and stick one in their pocket. One woman yelled at her sister for taking two peaches until the sister agreed to split the second peach. God's law that meant to save the fruit was having an opposite affect. These people still thought of themselves ad No-namers. How would they become God's people?

They tracked down the prophet that had first told them about these words of God. They said to him, "Moe, you have gotten us into this predicament. You told us God said, 'An apple a day.' Are you sure that's all God said? Shouldn't there be more?"

Moe sat down and thought. He was already tired of the people's grumbling, but he said, "This is what we'll do. We'll form a committee and figure out what God really meant by an apple a day."

The committee was formed of the wisest and most educated people in the whole town of My-people. You would think they would know what to do, but they began to have an argument. "Someone needs to count the fruit," one said. And another said, "I certainly don't trust anyone here to count it. In fact I saw you steal an extra pear the other day." "No, I was taking it home to my wife," bemoaned the accused. Moe cried out in anguish, "Stop this foolishness." And he thought, "If God's people are going to continue to act this way, we do need a system."

The committee, with Moe's help, came up with a system for picking, washing, counting, and distributing all the fruit in the garden. As it turned out, the people did get a fair share of the fruit, but they still weren't happy. In their collective memory, they knew of times when you could eat an orange in the very branches of the orange tree itself. You could savor the stickiness of its sweet nectar among the shade of the garden. This didn't happen anymore. Getting the fruit from the committee paled in comparison.

A couple generations came and went. They forgot about the beauty of the orchard. For the town of My-people, the orchard was work. The pickers, the counters, the distributors saw the orchard every day, but they didn't see it like those who had lived in No-name. They knew now that they belonged to God, but they forgot how it felt to be blessed by God.

A young upstart arose in the town. She was of shady beginnings. Her parents were different from other people's parents, they were considered foolish. People talked about Emma behind her back, but they secretly liked to listen to what she had to say because in a town of despair, she was always a ray of sunshine, a reminder of the rays that used to warm the fruit in the summer.

She became a gardener by trade, taught by the elders to till the soil, and to treat the fruit trees with great respect. She became so good ant her job that she began to plant trees in the places she was told that trees just wouldn't grow. The elders told her, "Only in the orchard, my dear. You are silly to think that the outside world has anything to offer." One person even cut down some of her trees in protest, but she didn't give up. She hid her projects well.

One day, she took some of her most trusted friends out to see the new trees she had planted from cuttings. She had many pears, plums, nectarines, and apples in her secondary orchard. Her friends were stunned. She said to them, "I am God's daughter, a child of the town of My-people. I want to give the people back the blessing of the orchard."

Her friends were amazed, give people back their lives, to once again show them the luscious sweetness of God's love. Impossible! Why it's been so long since we even heard about the blessing. Could it really be true?

Emma returned to the center square of the town of My-people and announced, "The winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. I love the town of My-people, because you are my people. The time of 'an apple a day' is over. Come and see what God has done, there's fruit enough for everyone!"

Those who were on the standing committee, the old-time fruit inspectors were outraged. She can't do this thing to us. The fruit must be washed, dried, counted, inspected, and distributed. That's not even our law, it's God's law. This new fruit will surely be bitter and make the townspeople even more sour. We must stop this plan. How could anyone eat this defiled, rotten fruit?

But the people came to Emma's orchard. They ate and their eyes were opened by the sweetness. They cried when the fruit cried it's juices. They somehow remembered even though they had forgotten. It's true. Emma is God's daughter. She has returned us to God's blessing. Many ate and were satisfied.

Later that day, Emma was called into the court of the fruit inspectors. "Just what is the meaning of this young lady! You are not only breaking our laws, you are breaking God's law. Don't you remember the stories of the great prophet, Moe? We have lived by 'an apple a day' for decades. Who do you think you are to change it? You are telling lies saying that you are God's daughter. What have you to say for yourself?"

She said, "Listen to me, there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

In this moment, when they found themselves challenged, the inspectors knew they couldn't enforce their laws with her around. They plotted and schemed over what to do with Emma and her crazy ideas. They decided to publicly shun her from the town sending her into the next town which they called the town of Death.

Emma went willingly, for she had taught many to appreciate the wealth of the orchard. Her friends and followers would continue to plant the seeds and tend the new growth. She was not afraid of what Death might bring. She knew that even in Death, she would remember the town of My-people because wherever she might go, God would always be with her, at home or away, calling her daughter.

And the people did remember her, in fact some said, late at night they could still see her tilling the soil, watering the trees, patiently waiting for the fruit to appear. Those who knew her best even said they saw her once in the pale dusk of the evening take an apple from the elders orchard and take a bite before it even was washed.

Let all who have ears hear. Amen.

Preached in Oak Ridge - August, 2008