When Love Abides – sermon on May 3, 2015
John 15: 1-8 Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been pruned by the word that I have spoken to you. 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. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
1 John 4: 7-21 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
When Love Abides by Rev. Doreen Oughton
Let’s see if any of you recognize this song:
(sing) A winter’s day, in a deep and dark December, I am alone. Gazing from my window, to the streets below, on a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow. I am a rock, I am an island.
Simon and Garfunkel – what were they singing about? When he says he is a rock, an island, is he? Does anyone know what that is called – metaphor. Metaphors compare things to reveal a deeper meaning and understanding. A simile is like a metaphor, but uses the word like explicitly. Simon would have sung, “I’m like a rock, I’m like an island.” The bible is full of metaphors and similes. What are some that you recall?… Do you have a favorite?…
Metaphors don’t give us all the meanings of something, but point to something, and we have to consider the context to figure it out. Fortunately, Simon and Garfunkel clue us in when they say – “a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries.” So we know it is not the strength of the rock, or its color or starkness. It is not the sense of relaxation you might connect with an island – an island of peace.
Today’s gospel passage has Jesus using the metaphor of a vine. What do you think he was trying to convey in that…. (dependency, fruit)? We might also look at other aspects of the vine – how the branches entwine – there is an intimacy to the vine – a closeness. There is also a sense that the whole is so much more important than any part – in fact the parts of a vine – the leaves, the grapes, are fairly indistinguishable from one another. One leaf looks just like another. One bunch of grapes is like another. Their distinctions are not important. This is different from Paul’s metaphor of the one body with many parts – the head is nothing like the hand, the ear completely different in appearance and function from the toe or the tongue.
So it seems to me that in this message Jesus is talking less to individuals than he is to the whole community. And Jesus also refers to the purpose of the vine – to produce fruit. And the fruit is not for the vine itself. The vine does not feed on the fruit. Who is the fruit for?… And what do you think the metaphor of the fruit stands in for? What is the fruit that is produced when we abide in the vine of Jesus, tended to lovingly by our vine-grower God? …
Seems to me that the fruit is love, the kind of love God has poured out to us through the incarnation, life and resurrection of Jesus, the kind of love Jesus showed in his self-giving ways, his dependency on God. I believe this is the fruit we are called to produce, not just as individuals. In fact, in this metaphor, the message is that we can’t possibly produce this fruit as individuals. We need to be together, and we need to stay connected, together, to the vine – to Jesus. This fruit is not just the easy love of parent to child, the exciting and deepening love between lovers, the satisfying companionship of close friends. No, this love includes more difficult love – love of the enemy, love of the trouble-maker, love of the broken, love of the other.
John’s letter does not use metaphors, but dives right in, trying to explain God and love and Godly love in all its perfection, a perfection that casts out fear. Wouldn’t that be an amazing love? To have and be love to such a degree that nothing scares you – not death of yourself or loved ones – even your children, not physical pain and suffering, not poverty or hunger, not being disliked or hated or reviled – can you even imagine? It’s hard for me to imagine that, having no fear. Likewise it is hard for me to imagine loving as Jesus loves, as God calls us to love. Could I really love a pimp? Could I really love someone who kidnaps and then sells human beings? Could I extend mercy to a rapist, a murderer? Someone who tortures people? And yet I believe that this is what God is tending the vine to do – to produce such love and mercy. Now don’t mistake what I am saying here. Showing love and mercy does not mean there is no consequence for actions, that people are not held accountable for their cruelty and destruction. But it does ask that we continue to hold a vision of such people as human beings rather than monsters, as beloved children of God, as our own brothers and sisters.
It is hard for me to hold that vision even with my faith, so I can see how impossible to would be to do it without that. Do you think we could do help each other? Would you want to? What if we started including in our pastoral prayers those we might have a particularly hard time loving? What if we started praying for jihadists, or for drunk drivers? What would feel risky for you? What would be going too far? Maybe we could start by praying more for ourselves to be granted eyes and hearts of mercy.
John’s letter is a little harsh with those who claim to love God without extending love to brothers and sisters. He calls them liars. I wouldn’t be so harsh, myself. I might say they are mistake or delusional, or at least incomplete in their understanding. Of course in the translation read by our deacon, he says if you don’t love other believers and claim to love God, you are a liar. Is he talking about conflict in the local church community? Other translations say “brothers and sisters,” so again, it could be referring to people close to you. He says specifically, “if you can’t love those you see, how can you love God, who you don’t see.” Doesn’t he know it is much easier to love, in theory anyway, those you don’t see – people who are only what you imagine them to be. But anyway, my belief is that the transcendent word of God in this passage calls us to love everybody, but understands that we will have trouble enough when we start small – just love everyone in your family or church or neighborhood. But love them unselfishly, love them fearlessly, love them intentionally, even when it is hard.
Our church consultant left us with a recommendation to work together to be good and loving neighbors. It has been almost 2 months since the meeting, and the conversation has pretty much stalled out. I would like to get it going again. Would you join me? Will you support me and others here in being good neighbors? Will you let us support you? I trust in the promises of God and Jesus that by staying close to that vine, by loving as Jesus loves, our fears will decrease and our joy will increase. Please let me know on your way out today if you are willing to at least be part of a conversation, and I’ll get things going from there.
