Fruit that Lasts.

Sermon John 15:9-17 May 6, 2018 Easter 6B

Fruit that Lasts.

Last month was science fair month in many of the local schools. Charlie worked on a project about fruit. He wanted to know how long fruit lasts. More accurately he wanted to what lasted longer-whole fruit or cut up fruit.

How long fruits lasts is an important question if you pack your lunch for school or work. It is also an important question if you buy fruit from the store. Stocking up on tons of bananas when there is only one person in the house that eats bananas would not be wise if they all rot before they can be eaten.

It’s helpful to know how long fruit lasts and how long anything lasts.

Here in the gospel of John, Jesus is talking to his disciples and to a whole crowd of followers. He wants to give his final thoughts on how they should be living after he goes away.

When I hear Jesus talking to his disciples like this it reminds me of my dad. It reminds me of my grandfather. It reminds me of a teacher from long ago. It also reminds me of my pastor-who really wanted me to understand how to live out this amazing faith that gripped me and made me so in love with Jesus. He really wanted me to grasp what it meant to live in abiding love.

Have any of you ever thought on those words of Jesus-abide in my love?

It sounds a lot like something that happens when tow people marry.

It sounds a lot like this: marriage is not the culmination of love, but only the beginning.

Love remains and deepens, but its form changes. Or, more accurately, it renews itself in a different way. Less and less does it draw its waters from the old springs of romance, and you should not worry if over time these dimensions fade or are seen less frequently. More and more, love draws its replenishment from love itself: from the practice of conscious love, expressed in your mutual servanthood to one another. . . .

It will transform your lives and through its power in your own lives will reach out to touch the world. . . . But how to stay in touch with that power? At those times when stress mounts and romance seems far away, how do you practice that conscious love that will renew itself and renew your relationship? . . . CAC core faculty member, Cynthia Bourgeault

Those words are beautiful and they are words to seek to live by.

But, if we always use these beautiful words of Jesus about abiding in his love as they relate to girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands and wives, we might never get the idea that these words of abiding in his love about you and me and the church and everyone outside the church. 

Jesus says abide in my love because that’s the only way to be able to be consistent in love. It’s the only way to have the strength of love when we are angry and when we are crazy excited. Love in the way Jesus tells us here is not a feeling but an action. “Love seeks the well-being of others and is expressed in concrete efforts on their behalf. Thus love can be commanded.”

Love is not about us, but about the other.

It is about the surrender of our will.

It is about the giving in to God and the giving up of things that would be obstacles to another’s receipt of love.

Regardless of how we feel we move forward and show love towards another.

That’s why Jesus can say to us that our joy may be complete. The unity of the love of Christ within us makes it possible to move our way into new relationships, to strengthen old ones and sustain the ones we have now-all these leads to joy made complete.

Love is shown in ways of doing that are not always noticed as love when it comes to teaching responsibility, or saying no, or using time out. Love comes in ways that are difficult when we walk with someone through disease, illness or loss. Love is really challenging when those we love go a different way from what had hoped for them.

Henri Nouwen writes, “If we wait for a feeling of love before loving, we may never learn to love well…Mostly we know what the loving thing to do is. When we ‘do love’, even if others are not able to respond with love, we will discover that our feelings catch up with our acts.’ Joy complete!

Jesus reminds these amazing followers that they are his friends. It is so important to have friends. Jesus also reminds them that he is the one who chose them. It is so terrific when we discover someone who wants to be our friend. We have the choice to receive the gift of their friendship or turn on our heels and walk away. We have the extreme gift of the power of God’s love in us to choose friendships as he chose us-undergirded with genuine love.

How often have we gone out of our way to seek new friendship or sustain the current ones?

Are we tired?

Are we too busy?

Are we just exhausted from even the idea of one more task, esp. talking to someone?

And yet, Jesus points out that it is through his initiative that these friendships exist.

Perhaps that is our main lesson about fruit that lasts.

Perhaps, we are reminded again through the words of Jesus to abide with him and seek out others to share his love. 

Yes, that’s it. 

Abide in Jesus, 

do love, 

seek friends, 

and so our joy is complete.

The science experiment shows us how fruit lasts. 

Thank you, Charlie. 

Cut up fruit doesn’t last. 

Whole fruit such as bananas and strawberries last longest when they are kept in the bunch or on the vine. 

And mostly, we know it lasts best when it is shared. Amen.

Knee Jerk Followers

It's been some time since I've posted a sermon. I appreciate those who read them. My prayer has been that posting them offers opportunity for further study and reflection. Blessings to you on your journey of faith,

Sermon Matthew 4:12-23 January 22, 2017 Ordinary Time

Knee Jerk Followers

Every time I read about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the gospel of Mark or Matthew I’m struck by the reckless obedience of the disciples. I wonder what could have been so irresistible about Jesus’ authority to make people jump up and follow him at the call of their name? And it makes me wonder if Jesus still has people who are knee jerk followers when he calls their name?

The time in our church calendar from Christmas to Easter is a time of learning and commitment. We hear the stories about the life and ministry of Jesus.

One of the reasons for this is to help us recognize that Jesus did more than just come to be born and to die. Jesus came to bring life and to preach about the kingdom of God.

Our faith centers around the incarnation of God with us in Jesus and God the Christ who died and rose again.

And yet, our faith is more than this.

Our faith relies on the God who came to give us life and live among us. It is in the teachings of Jesus and his call to us that we learn about the God who loves and who calls us into a life of purpose. Jesus’ death and resurrection have no point unless it includes his life and his ministry.

This is why we have the gospels.

This is why we have the words of Jesus.

This is why we have the accounts of his miracles.

This is why we seek to live like him.

And this is why between Christmas and Easter we gather to listen and to learn all we can about the teachings of Jesus.

After his baptism at the river Jordan, Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

His ministry began here.

It is important for us to recognize that Jesus’ ministry had a beginning.

And so it is with us.

We are always beginning something in our life.

Here in this country we have a new beginning with a new president.

We have a new beginning with the largest ever Woman’s March around the world.

We have a new beginning with a gathering of two congregations for worship last Sunday. We have a new beginning in the church with new leaders, renewed vows of our elders.

Some beginnings are comforting and some are terrifying.

Some beginnings offer hope and some offer challenge.

The call Jesus gives to the fishermen was not a call to some future salvation, to some pearly gate in the sky.

The call Jesus gave to those fishermen, was the very present reality of the God of heaven, right there in their face, saying, “Come, be with me, come follow me, now. Now is the time for action, come and work with me.”

Can you imagine Jesus, ‘in your face’ calling your name?

Can you imagine if your child got up and joined some rag tag team and the only thing they told you was this guy came and asked them to follow him and they couldn’t refuse? You would be all over this guy.

You would call the cops.

You would do anything in your power to stop this person who is going around telling people stories and getting them to follow him. You and I both know that we would not let our kids join some group led by a guy who was acting against the current norms. We would not let them be part of some culture that speaks against what we consider appropriate. And yet, Jesus, did all that. It’s no wonder he ended up at the cross.

We live in an age of skepticism like no other age before. We can’t even agree which facts are the real facts. We debate and spend hours upon hours of news tape just to try to settle the argument of one factoid over another. Well, maybe, there was another time or two when people disagreed on facts-such if the earth was the center of the universe or if the sun revolved around it. Or when the earth was flat or was it really round. Those facts that were perpetuated until proven cost lives.

We are so hesitant to believe anything, that we prod, we test, we assess, we strip things down before we will offer or weigh in on what we believe.

We do the same with our decisions.

We spend more time analyzing and procuring information that by the time the opportunity to act has come, we have destroyed the opportunity into tables and details. And we miss the precious moment to act.

Augustine’s book, ‘Confessions’ is a great book. It’s simple, it’s small and it’s not difficult to read. In it is the story of how he came to a life of faith. He was one of the grandest skeptics of his time.

He opens his book with this, “our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.”

It would seem that this is the stirring that goes on within us as we seek to know God.

It is the restlessness of heart and mind that are within the depth of us as we grow and go through this life.

It is a preparedness for the moment that Jesus shows up at our seashore and says to us, “Come, follow me.”

And then in reckless abandonment we are ready to drop our nets,

to drop our preconceived notions,

to drop our worries,

to drop our skepticism,

to drop our burdens and

move forward into a life following him.

The scene played out before is the call of Jesus for now.

The fishermen dropped everything and followed him. Jesus calls us now to follow him into a life of action.

What things in our church are struggling to be born?

What things in our community are struggling to be born?

Are we aware of the things coming into the light?

Are we aware of the light that is rising within us daring to go forth?

And are we willing to hear the irresistible authority of God with us and respond with radical obedience?

The time is now. So, let us arise, for our light has come. Amen.