John
15:5-11
Today’s
sermon will be pretty short. I hope no
one minds. It’s also mostly for the
confirmands, and I hope they don’t mind other people listening in.
In January (or was it December? –
the past winter was one big blur of white), a big tree fell down at the side of
the churchyard and I pulled off this big section of vine, thinking that it
could be used as a decoration for today.
We had been talking since September in confirmation class about how
Jesus said he was like a vine and we are like its branches, and how when we
stay connected to him it makes it possible for our lives to have some good
things appear, like the fruit that shows up on the branches of a healthy
grapevine. It was the theme of the
course.
You can see here what happens when a
vine is disconnected from its roots.
This section that I hacked off then has been sitting inside for months
and is all brown and crumbly. This vine
over here, comes from the same fallen tree only this week and is nice and green
because it hasn’t been cut off from the earth.
You can even see that it has the strength to put life into the branches
that shoot off of it. To stay grounded
is to stay alive, and even to grow.
Jesus stayed rooted at all times in God, being the pure
expression of God’s life among us, and is able to keep God’s love alive within
the people he compares to the branches. When
we stay connected to Jesus, the way that he is connected to God, the life that
is in him, God’s Spirit, flows through us as well.
This is review material.
We’ve been over it before. Most
things worth knowing, though, are worth repeating.
We stay connected to the source of life through Jesus,
and we do it in many ways.
We stay connected by prayer: spending time with him as
our friend, even when we don’t have anything to say. He may have something to tell us, and that is
where reading the Bible regularly is important, and thinking about what it
means specifically for us. That’s why we
make sure people get a Bible about the same time that they master reading.
We stay connected by our presence: not just by going to
church, although that is a necessary part of keeping connected, but by being
part of the church, which is the people of God.
Jesus said that wherever two or three people gather in his name, he’s
there with them. We should know one
another well enough to learn from each other, to appreciate one another as
unique people, to care enough to forgive one another’s shortcomings, and to be
forgiven for our own. That’s being the
church.
We stay connected by giving our gifts: helping support
the programs and activities and places that keep us close to God and that
invite others to experience the life of Jesus in their own hearts. A lot of you are acolytes. When people offer their gifts, they pass
through your hands. That’s a holy
moment.
We stay connected by our service: by doing what we can
for others, we echo what Jesus has done for us, and every day get a deeper appreciation
for what it cost him and how much he must love us, because not all service
makes you feel good, and it doesn’t always get a “thank you”.
So in a few moments, I’ll be asking you,
confirmands, if you will uphold the church with your prayers, presence, gifts,
and service. It’s what I ask anyone who
is formally becoming a member of the church.
In doing that, what I’m asking is if you are ready to accept the
blessing that was asked for you here as a baby being held by the font, when the
pastor put her hand on your head and prayed for you by name: “The Holy Spirit
work within you, that being born of water and the Spirit, you may be found a
faithful disciple all the days of your life.”
In that sense, confirmation is a
delayed part of the baptismal service.
God’s part in baptism – the part that makes it a sacrament – is complete
and done already. God’s promise that you
are part of the Kingdom, that’s a given and there’s never any need to repeat
that. But at baptism, the church promised
to help you grow to the point where you have become aware of the gift that you’d
been given, and that there’s still a lot more growing for you and all of us to
do.
The added part of it is now we also formally recognize
that you’re also becoming able to help the people who have helped you, and
other people, too. That’s when the fruit
starts to appear on the vine.
Of course, fruit takes time to
ripen. It isn’t always ready right away,
and there will be times when people still see you as not quite there yet. Sometimes they may be right. Sometimes they may be wrong. What matters most isn’t that. What matters is what Jesus said about it all:
“My Father is glorified by this, that you
bear much fruit and become my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will
abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his
love. I have said these things to
you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” [John 15:8-11]
I don’t know entirely what God may have in mind for you,
but with a promise like that, I do know it has to be good. Now let’s see what you come up with.
No comments:
Post a Comment