Sin must be removed, like weeds
Rev. Rory M. Hermann Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Shortly after arriving at my first church and purchasing our first home, the women of the Altar Guild gave me a birthday party. It was nothing fancy, just a cake and some gag gifts.

I specifically remember one of those gifts. It has a wooden handle about six inches long. A shaft of metal, square in cross section, and about nine inches long protruded from the handle. The end opposite the handle had been flattened and notch cut into it. It reminded me of a serpent's tongue. I turned it over and over and could not determine its purpose.

"What is it," I asked?

"It is a dandelion puller," one of the women responded. "Now that you have your first home, it will be indispensible."

Sure enough came spring, and dandelions sprung up all over the yard.

Besides their bright yellow faces, they have long, thick taproots that burrow straight into the ground seeking China. If you pull on the dandelion it breaks at ground level and the dandelion grows back. If you permit even a little piece of the root to remain, it r-grows, goes to seed, and spreads its progeny around the neighborhood, hence the dandelion puller.

I grew to despise dandelions, almost as much as I now despise dollar weed and torpedo grass.

I have come to think of sin in a manner similar to a dandelion. Hard as we struggle to pull it out, it just breaks off and re-grows.

Determination, self-discipline, and earnest desire may seem like excellent tools but they fail to uproot sin. Only God can pull out the sin we have come to despise.

During Lent, Christians repent of their sins, seek God's help and remember the Savior who cancelled the debt by his death. One day we will be weed free!