Today the largest growing religious
group in the United States United States which was founded by the deeply religious
Puritans and Pilgrims has now surpassed the west coast as the least religious
region in America New England church tradition as we know it or is this the
revelation of new opportunities for evangelism?
In my ministry I’ve attended many conferences and workshops exploring
how mainline churches can reach out to the un-churched people. For the first time in the 62 generations that
have come to pass since the beginning of the Christian Church, we have a
generation of people, mostly 35 and under who were not raised in the
church. When asked about their faith
life, these folk say, “I am spiritual but I am not religious.” These folk long to have a connection with
something which is greater than themselves, something that lets them know that
they are accepted, that they are loved. But
they are disillusioned with organized religion because they believe it to be
exclusionary and narrow-minded and so they look for spiritual sustenance in the
religious and self help sections of the bookstore.
But can you blame them? We hear in this morning’s lesson from First
John that God is love and that because God loved us first we ought to love each
other. But then we hear of churches and denominations
splitting over one or two controversial issues because they refuse to
acknowledge their differences while living together as a church. Many of the workshops I’ve attended show us the
latest and greatest in Christian worship, church branding and evangelism but
there was always something missing in the discussion. Where was the good news of God’s all
inclusive love for all of God’s creation?
While a church can have the latest and the greatest in technology,
praise music and program but if it does not abide in God’s love, it is nothing.
In this culture of rugged
individualism we are told that it is up to us to pull ourselves up by our
bootstraps and to solve our own problems.
In a lot of ways churches have fallen into this same trap. Rather than staking our communal lives in the
perfect love that God has for us and abiding in it, we get caught up in our
fears and think that it is totally up to us to grow and sustain the
church. However this is not God’s way. In this morning’s gospel Jesus tells us that
we cannot do it alone. Abide in me Jesus
keeps saying, just as a branch cannot bear fruit disconnected from the vine, so
too we cannot do anything without connecting to Jesus.
We remember that Jesus’ relationship
with God is as a child of a parent who cares very deeply for his children. Through his ministry Jesus has prepared us to
have that same kind of experience of God.
In the gospel Jesus tells us “I am
the true vine, ….abide in me, as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by
itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.”
(John 15: 1a, 4)
But what does it mean to abide. I found a delightful definition of abide in
a sermon preached by the Rev. Lillian Daniel at the UCC General Synod several
years ago. She states, “’Some people
translate it as ‘If you remain in me,
and my words remain in you…’ When you
remain somewhere you stay there. You're not just visiting. You're not dabbling
in Jesus. Notice the scripture does not
read, ‘If you abide with me for an hour on Sundays and my words abide in you
for an hour on Sundays, ask for whatever you want…What’s another way we use the
word abide, How about this one? I cannot
abide that smell! I cannot abide that
behavior. [I cannot abide your sense of humor.]
In other words I can’t stand it or I can’t put up with it. If we listen to the text this way we hear
Jesus saying to his followers, ‘If you
put up with me, and I put up with
you ask for whatever you wish.’ In other
words it’s going to be a relationship.”[i] And this is not a short term relationship that
Jesus is asking for, it is a lifetime commitment. And as many of us know who have had long term
relationships, it will not always be smooth sailing. Daniels continues, “Sometimes we'll be living
together like newlyweds, other times we'll be putting up with each other,
because the life of faith is not easy. Sometimes there will be sacrifices as we
abide together. Jesus told us that on
the cross.”[ii]
What I hear Jesus is saying is this, “Hang
in there with me, as I have hung in there for you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit unless it
is hanging from the vine, neither can you unless you hang in there with me.”
This morning’s text is the midst of
Jesus’ farewell speech to his disciples after the last supper and before he is
about to be killed by those who feared him.
So why is this Good Friday text being read after Easter? So that we can
hear this text in the same way that the original audience of this gospel story
heard it. The early Christians whom the
evangelist John writes to were part of the Jewish community but in conflict
with them because of their belief that Jesus was the messiah sent by God to be
the embodiment of God’s grace and love.
They were expelled from their church home and so they had to carve a new
church home for themselves. They were persecuted for their beliefs. What this newly formed community needed was
comfort and assurance and John provides it for them by recalling Jesus’
farewell message to his disciples. They already knew that this farewell speech
comes before the drama of the betrayal, trial and crucifixion of Jesus however
they hear it knowing the victory of Jesus’ resurrection over the power of
death. For a community who are trying to
make a new way the words, “Those who
abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do
nothing.” (John 15: 5) are of great
comfort. They are hearing that it is not
up to them alone to bear the fruit (make disciples) but rather in hanging on to
Jesus, the disciples will be revealed to them.
“I
am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no
fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he
prunes to make it bear more fruit.” (John 15: 1-2)
In the
gospel we are assured that God is in charge, and that if we abide in God we can
ask for whatever we wish and God will do it for us. This means that we ask for things from God’s
point of view, especially as we contemplate the future of our church. Rather than asking, “Does our church have enough
financially to survive?” Let us ask,
“God has blessed us with these resources, how does God want our church to use
them for the growth of God’s kingdom here on earth?” Rather than asking, “How much do we need to
grow the church membership in order to sustain ourselves?” let us ask, “Who needs
to hear the good news of God’s love and what can we do to make our community a
welcoming place for everyone to hear this message?” And most of all rather than asking, “What’s
in this church for me?” let us ask “God what do you want me to do in this
church?”
May it be so.
Amen
1 comment:
Good stuff! It will definitely preach. Thanks for posting.
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