John 15:1-8
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.
“Remain In Me”
There is no doubt about it; .by our fruits we are known. Actions speak louder than words. Believing and doing always go together. For “demand is laid on us the same moment grace meets us.”
St. Francis of Assisi - “It is no use walking any where to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”
Good fruit is a natural part of being “in Christ”. When we remain in Him good things will come from our living. For the fruit of the spirit - the fruit of His love and energy - will flow through us and enrich the lives of others.
“Bear Much Fruit”
To go to church is to risk being changed - changed into Christ’s likeness so we might be more fruitful in our living. So we might bear much fruit.
Going to church will not keep bad things from happening to us. It will help make good things happen through us.
For it is there we are pruned so we can produce good fruit. Pruned to love more and hate less. Pruned to accept difference more and judge less. Pruned so we can forgive more, trust more, be generous more, be more like Christ.
We may not like it at first; it certainly will not be easy, but it is the way it is when Christ comes into our lives. We are loved much; we must love much.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
April 26, 2015 Fourth Sunday of Easter
John 10:11-18
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”"
“Life In All Its Fullness”
Ernest Hemingway - “The Sun Also Rises” - nobody but bullfighters ever really live “life all the way up.” We don’t agree.
Jesus Christ tells us that life in all its fullness is His to give, and only his.
We don’t like this very much either! For is not the fullness of life attained by achieving it? No.
Life is not to be discovered in things, objects and possessions; life is discovered in all its fullness in being known and in knowing, in relationships!
Herman Wouk, author of “The Caine Mutiny” writes:
“It was my lot to reach quite young what many people
consider the dream life of America: success by my own efforts,
a stream of dollars to spend, a penthouse in New York forays to Hollywood,the companionship of pretty women all before lI was 24.
There I was in the realms of gold. But even as I lived this conventional smart existence of inner show business and dreamed the conventional dreams, IT ALL SEEMED THIN.” Sept, 21, 1959, Time Magazine
Life is relationships. It is knowing and being known. The fullness of life is discovered in the touch of others, and in the touch of the One who came that we might have life. Who calls us by name and knows us intimately, so we can be totally honest with him. When we hear his voice and follow him we discover life all the way up.
“The Abundant Life”
Jesus came to give that which every living person desires - the abundant life.
We have no argument whit this. We do have some questions about how he does this and some doubts as to what really makes up the abundant life.
He came to give us the abundant life. We want to create it for ourselves.
How do we reconcile this?
We don’t! We don’t resolve the paradoxes of life with faith.
We discover in them - in the very experiences of life which seem to destroy - the meaning of our humanity.
We discover we have feet of clay but also are creatures of our God and King.
We discover that life is political, economic and social, but it is also spiritual.
We discover that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God, and in so discovering, we also discover the abundant life in Christ.
The abundant life is a gift, offered by Christ, received by faith. It offers no pat answers to all the dangers and struggles of life. It simply yet profoundly enables me to say, with confidence and hope in the face of all that life throws at me, “The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want.”
To live the abundant life is to live knowing the Masters voice, and it is to be called by name. Then it is to follow him, as he leads out into life.
“One Flock - One Shepherd”
There is one flock because there is one Shepherd. There are many sheep and all are different. There are numerous folds in the flock, and they are different. Yet there is one flock and this flock is made up of all who hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow.
One thing is necessary within the unity which is ours in Christ and that is faithfulness to our confession that Jesus is Lord. All else is secondary.
Unity in the Church does not depend on sameness within the church, but upon oneness in Christ, in which there is room for differences.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”"
“Life In All Its Fullness”
Ernest Hemingway - “The Sun Also Rises” - nobody but bullfighters ever really live “life all the way up.” We don’t agree.
Jesus Christ tells us that life in all its fullness is His to give, and only his.
We don’t like this very much either! For is not the fullness of life attained by achieving it? No.
Life is not to be discovered in things, objects and possessions; life is discovered in all its fullness in being known and in knowing, in relationships!
Herman Wouk, author of “The Caine Mutiny” writes:
“It was my lot to reach quite young what many people
consider the dream life of America: success by my own efforts,
a stream of dollars to spend, a penthouse in New York forays to Hollywood,the companionship of pretty women all before lI was 24.
There I was in the realms of gold. But even as I lived this conventional smart existence of inner show business and dreamed the conventional dreams, IT ALL SEEMED THIN.” Sept, 21, 1959, Time Magazine
Life is relationships. It is knowing and being known. The fullness of life is discovered in the touch of others, and in the touch of the One who came that we might have life. Who calls us by name and knows us intimately, so we can be totally honest with him. When we hear his voice and follow him we discover life all the way up.
“The Abundant Life”
Jesus came to give that which every living person desires - the abundant life.
We have no argument whit this. We do have some questions about how he does this and some doubts as to what really makes up the abundant life.
He came to give us the abundant life. We want to create it for ourselves.
How do we reconcile this?
We don’t! We don’t resolve the paradoxes of life with faith.
We discover in them - in the very experiences of life which seem to destroy - the meaning of our humanity.
We discover we have feet of clay but also are creatures of our God and King.
We discover that life is political, economic and social, but it is also spiritual.
We discover that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God, and in so discovering, we also discover the abundant life in Christ.
The abundant life is a gift, offered by Christ, received by faith. It offers no pat answers to all the dangers and struggles of life. It simply yet profoundly enables me to say, with confidence and hope in the face of all that life throws at me, “The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want.”
To live the abundant life is to live knowing the Masters voice, and it is to be called by name. Then it is to follow him, as he leads out into life.
“One Flock - One Shepherd”
There is one flock because there is one Shepherd. There are many sheep and all are different. There are numerous folds in the flock, and they are different. Yet there is one flock and this flock is made up of all who hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow.
One thing is necessary within the unity which is ours in Christ and that is faithfulness to our confession that Jesus is Lord. All else is secondary.
Unity in the Church does not depend on sameness within the church, but upon oneness in Christ, in which there is room for differences.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
April 19, 2015 Third Sunday of Easter
Luke 24:36b-48
Jesus himself stood among them. 37 But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 41 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
“They Disbelieved For Joy”
Good news as well as bad news is hard to believe. It is too good to be true.
To disbelieve for joy is to believe that which is too good to be true. It is perhaps the most honest way to hear and respond to the Easter message.
As Eugene Kennedy, says in his book, Believing, the disciples here are
“experiencing an impulse to believe more deeply...a passionate need to believe as richly and profoundly as possible.”
For “believing cannot be activated by force or by fear.” It happens when we encounter the mystery of the resurrection. And discover a truth which is too good to not be true!
Acts 3:12-19
3:12 When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. 3:14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 3:15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. 3:16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
3:17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 3:18 But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord
“But God...”
The genius of the poet is that he says more then he knows.
The same is true for the Bible, and those who spoke in it.
Like Peter in today's lesson.
He begins by blaming them for Jesus crucifixion; but he doesn’t belabor it.
Blaming doesn’t help anyone! It doesn’t bring times of refreshment.
Words of a father in a TV story where a boy drowns:
“To blame ourselves is the easy way out. It was a tragic accident.
It happened. It doesn’t make any sense. And to blame ourselves for it
happening is to run away from it, and it is to keep life from ever happening
to us.”
To blame is to die; to accept the mystery of it is to be open to times of refreshing.
Peter also gives them an excuse as a way out but doesn’t stay with it.
There is no hope in making excuses. It is a cowards way of blaming.
What we need to dare say is, “I blew it...but God didn’t and God doesn’t!” God can reverse it! That brings times of refreshment.
Jesus himself stood among them. 37 But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 41 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
“They Disbelieved For Joy”
Good news as well as bad news is hard to believe. It is too good to be true.
To disbelieve for joy is to believe that which is too good to be true. It is perhaps the most honest way to hear and respond to the Easter message.
As Eugene Kennedy, says in his book, Believing, the disciples here are
“experiencing an impulse to believe more deeply...a passionate need to believe as richly and profoundly as possible.”
For “believing cannot be activated by force or by fear.” It happens when we encounter the mystery of the resurrection. And discover a truth which is too good to not be true!
Acts 3:12-19
3:12 When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. 3:14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 3:15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. 3:16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
3:17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 3:18 But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord
“But God...”
The genius of the poet is that he says more then he knows.
The same is true for the Bible, and those who spoke in it.
Like Peter in today's lesson.
He begins by blaming them for Jesus crucifixion; but he doesn’t belabor it.
Blaming doesn’t help anyone! It doesn’t bring times of refreshment.
Words of a father in a TV story where a boy drowns:
“To blame ourselves is the easy way out. It was a tragic accident.
It happened. It doesn’t make any sense. And to blame ourselves for it
happening is to run away from it, and it is to keep life from ever happening
to us.”
To blame is to die; to accept the mystery of it is to be open to times of refreshing.
Peter also gives them an excuse as a way out but doesn’t stay with it.
There is no hope in making excuses. It is a cowards way of blaming.
What we need to dare say is, “I blew it...but God didn’t and God doesn’t!” God can reverse it! That brings times of refreshment.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
April 12, 2015 2 Sunday of Easter
John 20:19-31
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
“My Lord And My God”
We don’t see God and then believe; we believe, then we see.
“For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Heb. 11:6
Thomas doubted - but he wanted to believe. This opened his eyes and heart to see and believe. He wanted to believe Jesus rose; he stuck with those who did believe. And he acted upon this desire; he saw the marks of the crucification; he confessed his faith in Jesus.
Faith does not rest on seeing alone; it rests on acting; taking the plunge and going where the mind can never fully comprehend. This is why faith is a “power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of life.” P. T. Forsythe
For John, believing in God and believing in the resurrection is all tied up with loving one another. It is not something we do in isolation, something we achieve by ourselves.
It is something which happens to us when we obey his commands and do good to one another.
Faith active in love increases faith so we can see what we could not see, believe what we could not believe, and know what we could never know - even the awesome truth of the resurrection.
“Doubting Thomas”
Be a doubting Thomas! It is a part of healthy faith.
Luther: “There is more faith in honest doubt then all the creeds of Christendom.”
Be a doubting Thomas:
It will keep you honest and open to change; open to God’s will for your life.
It will keep you humble - you will not get so easily caught in the idolatry of certainty. Faith will be a voyage of discovery, often disturbing, yet also fulfilling.
Doubt helps faith happen - it opens us to the miracle of faith happening in us.
Be a doubting Thomas! It is a part of healthy faith!
Quotes on Doubt
Gamaliel Bailey, an American abolitionist said,
“Who never doubted, never half believed. Where doubt is, there
truth is - it is her shadow.”
Frederick Buechner puts it when he says,
“Whether your faith is that there is a God, or that there is not a God,
if you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep.
Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”
Soul Making, Alan Jones says,
“In a world where there is no room for doubt, ambiguity, or questioning, there is no room for genuine faith.” (p.116)
Ellie Wiesel, who lived through the fanaticism of the Holocaust born of the blind belief in the superiority of the Arian race says, “I turn away from persons who declare that they know better than anyone else the only true road to God....My experience is that the fanatic hides from true debate...He is afraid of pluralism and diversity; he abhors learning. He knows how to speak in monologues only...The fanatic never rests and never quits; the more he conquers, the more he seeks new conquests....A fanatic has answers, not questions; certainties, not hesitations,(and ) as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche expressed it, (it’s) ‘Madness is the result not of uncertainty but certainty’.”
Parade Magazine, April 19,1992
For the terrible truth we are saved from by doubt is, as Alan Jones says, “the persecuting personality (which) is marked by clarity and precision. (In which) there is no room for indecision... no room for guilt... no room for doubt. Such are the marks of a totalitarian state or totalitarian church. (It is ) the divided mind, the uneasy conscience, and the sense of personal failure (that is, our own uneasiness and doubt) which brings us... to the place of faith” where we become not blind believers but “one of God’s spies trying to make room for hope” and love in a world of hopelessness and despair. (Soulmaking,pp.117,119)
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
“My Lord And My God”
We don’t see God and then believe; we believe, then we see.
“For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Heb. 11:6
Thomas doubted - but he wanted to believe. This opened his eyes and heart to see and believe. He wanted to believe Jesus rose; he stuck with those who did believe. And he acted upon this desire; he saw the marks of the crucification; he confessed his faith in Jesus.
Faith does not rest on seeing alone; it rests on acting; taking the plunge and going where the mind can never fully comprehend. This is why faith is a “power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of life.” P. T. Forsythe
For John, believing in God and believing in the resurrection is all tied up with loving one another. It is not something we do in isolation, something we achieve by ourselves.
It is something which happens to us when we obey his commands and do good to one another.
Faith active in love increases faith so we can see what we could not see, believe what we could not believe, and know what we could never know - even the awesome truth of the resurrection.
“Doubting Thomas”
Be a doubting Thomas! It is a part of healthy faith.
Luther: “There is more faith in honest doubt then all the creeds of Christendom.”
Be a doubting Thomas:
It will keep you honest and open to change; open to God’s will for your life.
It will keep you humble - you will not get so easily caught in the idolatry of certainty. Faith will be a voyage of discovery, often disturbing, yet also fulfilling.
Doubt helps faith happen - it opens us to the miracle of faith happening in us.
Be a doubting Thomas! It is a part of healthy faith!
Quotes on Doubt
Gamaliel Bailey, an American abolitionist said,
“Who never doubted, never half believed. Where doubt is, there
truth is - it is her shadow.”
Frederick Buechner puts it when he says,
“Whether your faith is that there is a God, or that there is not a God,
if you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep.
Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”
Soul Making, Alan Jones says,
“In a world where there is no room for doubt, ambiguity, or questioning, there is no room for genuine faith.” (p.116)
Ellie Wiesel, who lived through the fanaticism of the Holocaust born of the blind belief in the superiority of the Arian race says, “I turn away from persons who declare that they know better than anyone else the only true road to God....My experience is that the fanatic hides from true debate...He is afraid of pluralism and diversity; he abhors learning. He knows how to speak in monologues only...The fanatic never rests and never quits; the more he conquers, the more he seeks new conquests....A fanatic has answers, not questions; certainties, not hesitations,(and ) as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche expressed it, (it’s) ‘Madness is the result not of uncertainty but certainty’.”
Parade Magazine, April 19,1992
For the terrible truth we are saved from by doubt is, as Alan Jones says, “the persecuting personality (which) is marked by clarity and precision. (In which) there is no room for indecision... no room for guilt... no room for doubt. Such are the marks of a totalitarian state or totalitarian church. (It is ) the divided mind, the uneasy conscience, and the sense of personal failure (that is, our own uneasiness and doubt) which brings us... to the place of faith” where we become not blind believers but “one of God’s spies trying to make room for hope” and love in a world of hopelessness and despair. (Soulmaking,pp.117,119)
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