Jesus
tells the disciples to abide in him. What a funny, churchy word? What does it
mean to abide? It means to dwell, to live, to remain, to stay with another. As
Jesus goes on to speak to the disciples, you could say it has something to do
with love. Jesus is describing the beloved community. He is urging our loyalty
and commitment to him and to God and to each other. We long for this. Sometimes
we sense it. Often we are disappointed (in ourselves or in the institution.)
What
do we often find instead? We find institutions that offer retribution. We feel
as if we have to earn our right to be here. We find ourselves in a never ending
loop of finding the right job, the right home, the right school, the right circle
of friends – and we have to do the right thing or risk losing whatever we have
attained. We draw a border around everything we care about. Everything outside
is bewildering and dangerous.
We
live under social constraints. We list all sorts of ways of being so that we
can all be fair and just – until we cross some sort of line and we are punished
for being out of step with everyone else. We have idealized notions of
leadership. If only we had a charismatic Rector to bring the people in! Search
committees have such high expectations that they wouldn’t call Jesus if he
applied. We want someone to tell us the answers – so we can feel good about
ourselves and do what we want – and then we can blame the leader for failing to
anticipate our failure.
Think
about Baltimore, or any nearby city for that matter. We often solve a problem
by ignoring it. The middle class abandons the city for better schools and
greener lawns – and then we wonder why those people haven’t been able to solve
their problems. It didn’t stop being our problem just because we walked away.
We won’t solve anything until we acknowledge our connection to one another.
We
have built a world that values money and numbers. Everyone is judged by what
they can produce – that has a monetary value. The poor, the uneducated, the
sick, the elderly have no status and no power. Good for you if you managed to
choose good parents! The rest are given a myth of meritocracy. Everyone is
supposed to be equal, except some are more equal than others.
Consider
instead the community that Jesus describes. Jesus is the vine and we are the
branches. We abide in him and he abides in us. See how level it is! There are
no distinctions. We all abide together. We all participate. We all are
fruitful. We all are necessary. We are defined by how we are joined together.
There
is no question about how we deserve our place. We are asked, “Are we bearing
fruit? How do we need to be pruned to produce more?” We could read our fear
into this, but it is a necessary part of our work. Pruning is not punishment.
It is describing the cost of living well. We can expect the beloved community
to be hard work and costly. The dead wood is just that – dead. God removes
whatever is dead in us.
God
has called us into this place, branches connected to Jesus. What gift do you
share? Jesus is describing a very different community. We are not here because
of self-interest. We are not gathered here because of our connections or our money.
Jesus draws us in however he found us – as is – no questions asked. God takes
us as we are and invites us into something new.
The
foundation of Christian community is not wealth or status or race or gender or
sexual orientation. The foundation is love. God calls us in love. We are called
to live in love. This is the fruit – our love. In love – we call others to be
disciples. We reassess our own choices to love better. We offer ourselves to be
used by God. We remain, dwell, and abide with each other and with Jesus.
I
am a lousy farmer. I have other gifts. I share what I know, and I admit what I
do not know. Consider the abundance in this room. Think about all the gathered
education, memories, connections with friends and neighbors, and experience.
Think about all the artists among us: the richness, the wealth, and the wisdom
right here. All of this is fruit. All of this is blessing. We only count money
and numbers. We look at the bottom line. How much more does God desire for us?
We
seek the beloved community. We seek to be fruitful branches living on the vine.
To collect an abundant harvest we have to stop our obsession with the small and
bitter grapes that don’t serve us anymore. We have to look for different gifts
and different branches to grow them. We have everything we need to be God’s
people in this room right now. Are we willing to let go of the little harvest
that is familiar and seek the abundance we have yet to discover? It requires
pruning. It requires commitment to the vine. It requires our commitment to each
other – just as we are – right here in this moment. God is giving us life.
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