Entwined

Entwined
July 14, 2024
John 15:1-17

As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.  I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.  This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends. 

 John 15:9-13 (CEB)

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Jesus’ teaching on the vine and the branches is fairly commonplace in the church, and in many ways, the
lesson seems obvious.  A branch that is not connected to the vine will die.  In the same way, we must remain connected to Christ or we will die in a spiritual sense.  Simple as that… or is it?

The problem is that too often we interpret this like we interpret far to many passages of scripture, through the lens of modern American individualism.  So long as “I” remain connected to Jesus, “I” will be ok.  But what if the “you” is plural?  What if it’s not just about each individual and their own private, personal relationship with God, but more about our collective connection to the vine.  After all, Jesus says “you are the branches”, not “the branch” or even “a branch.”  “You” is all of us. 

The thing about a vine is that it is impossible to tell where one branch stops and another begins.  They are entwined together as they grow out of the central vine.  Yes, each branch must be individually connected to the vine, but it is equally true that branches are inextricable from one another and if one is broken or diseased, it must be cut off in order not to hinder the growth of the other healthy branches.  In other words, each branch depends on the health of the others.  We depend on each other.  Christianity can never just be about “me and Jesus.”  The health of our connection to the vine impacts the health of every other branch as theirs impacts our own spiritual healthy.  We are always strong together than we are apart.  A vine with one lone branch can never be healthy or fruitful.  We need every one.

Part of this means that we do not come to church for ourselves.  We do not come to hear a good message, sing our favorite hymns, and go home feeling better about ourselves.  No, we come for one another.  We come not to be served, but to serve.  We come not just to receive, but to give.  We come because we belong to one another, we are part of one another, and we cannot simply choose to disconnect from our fellow branches without also cutting ourselves off from the vine. 

It seems easy to love God, or to love Christ, but other people are not always so lovable.  As Episcopal Priest Sheila McJilton puts it, other people “demand too much of us.  They disagree with us.  They don’t act the way we think they should act.”  Yet, to stay connected with Jesus is also to stay connected with them.  To abide in Christ is also to abide in community with others who may not be very easy to abide with.  Being a Christian is not about what we get out of it.  It is about being part of something bigger than ourselves, committing ourselves to the good of one another, whether we feel like it or not.  “As branches, we connect to Christ until we encircle each other in intricate, interwoven relationships.  In Christ, we grow in love."   

The Bond of the Wild Goose

The Wild Goose
The Way of the Wild Goose - Part 4
June 9, 2024
Ephesians 4:1-6, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 10:24-25, John 15:1—17

Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together.  You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope.  There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.

 Ephesians 4:1-6 (CEB)

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The fundamental human need for relationship and community reflects the love which flows from the very God whose image we bear.  Here again, the image of the Wild Goose might have something to teach us about the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives and in our world.  Wild geese model a communal life of mutual support.   They honk in flight to encourage one another.   They fly in a V-shape and rotate the lead position so that when one bird grows tired it can move toward the back, allowing another to take the point position.  If one becomes too weak to keep up with the flock and falls out of formation, at least two others will land with it and remain by its side until it is able to fly again. 

Many people struggle to “fit in.”  “Fitting in” requires that we fundamentally change, or at least conceal part of ourselves to look or think like those around us for the sake of conforming to the group.  Underneath is the constant anxiety that we might be found out.  Especially in church, we worry what people will think if they find out we don’t share all the same beliefs, or if we have different political views, or if we struggle with doubt in our faith.  When we feel weak, are there people who will land with us and sit by our side, or do we feel like we just need to keep flying so that nobody will find out that we are not as strong as they think we are? 

Perhaps the Spirit invites us to something more.  What if the community of the Holy Spirit is not about fitting in at all, but about genuine belonging?  John O’Donohue puts it this way:

We have fallen out of belonging… The commercial edge of so-called 'progress,' has cut away a huge region of human tissue and webbing that held us in communion with one another. 

What if belonging, like the belonging in a flock of geese, comes from simply being there?  What if we allowed ourselves to be vulnerable enough to show up and to be present with and for one another with no judgment or expectation?  This kind of unconditional acceptance, belonging, and love is the primary mark of one who calls themselves a follower of Christ. 

As those who seek to follow Christ’s example, we cannot pick and choose who we will love based on preference, affection, similar interests, or agreement of opinions.  We must love as Christ loved us.  We must be vulnerable, serve one another, and open our hearts to the stranger. As a popular benediction from the United Methodist Hymnal declares,

Go now in peace to serve God and your neighbor in all that you do. Bear witness to the love of God in this world, so that those to whom love is a stranger will find in you generous friends.

~ The United Methodist Hymnal: Book of United Methodist Worship, 7. print
(Nashville, Tenn: United Methodist Publ. House, 1998), 869.

~ excerpts from The Wild Goose: Embracing the Untambed Beauty of the Holy Spirit

Grow Wide

Grow Wide
Grow: Rethinking Church Growth - Part 4
May 5, 2024
Luke 14:7-24, Matthew 25:34-46, Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2, Leviticus 19:34

Then Jesus said to the person who had invited him, “When you host a lunch or dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers and sisters, your relatives, or rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return and that will be your reward.  Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind.  And you will be blessed because they can’t repay you. Instead, you will be repaid when the just are resurrected.”

 Luke 14:12-14

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Have you ever noticed at church events how easy it is to sit only with our own families and friends?  Without even realizing it, we vet people to make sure they are people we would want to be around before we even think about inviting them to join us for a Community meal or even Sunday worship.  The tragic reality is that while churches tend to be generally friendly, they are not verry good at making new friends.  We are rather insulated and friendly only with those we already know well, sometimes excluding even those who have been in our  midst for a long time.  I knew a leader in one church who had been there for over 30 years and she said she still felt like a newbie and an outsider because she wasn’t part of one of the founding families.  How long does it take for us to make someone feel truly at home?

One congregation I served got very uncomfortable when I rearranged the chairs in the classroom to have Bible Study in a circle.  I was told that “we always sit in rows.”  They even sat in rows in the fellowship hall at the Christmas party, facing the tree and watching the kids as they greeted Santa, but talking to nobody outside of their own family.  Almost all of our time in church was spent literally staring at the back of other people’s heads. 

What was even worse was how many people I talked to who struggled with things they were afraid for even their family members to know about, family members who sat next to them on the same pew every week. 

Like most churches, this congregation regularly complained about the lack of growth and the fact that visitors rarely returned.  At one point I had to ask, what is the point of growing when we can’t even talk to the people we already have?  Why do we need more people in the pews just to stare at the back of their heads if we are unwilling to build real, honest and trusting relationships, even within our own families?

In Ephesians 3, Paul says that we are being rooted and grounded in love.  Our growth is an act of pure grace, but roots only grow when the environment supplies nutrients, oxygen, warmth, and water.  There are many lonely people even in the church, whose roots feel dry, thirsty, wounded, or stagnant.  Perhaps the problem is our ecosystem.  Are the other plants / people around you healthy or dying?  As a tree’s roots meet the roots of other trees, they begin to grow or “graft” together into one larger and healthier root system.  This allows the roots to reach out even further, working together to collect water and nutrients and offering mutual benefit to every tree in the network. 

The same principle is necessary for spiritual growth and for church growth.  We are not lone trees, but part of a spiritual ecosystem in which we all reach out through the Spirit and provide nourishment for one another.  We must extend real friendship beyond our comfort zone. 

If we want to grow, we must widen our reach. 

#BeUMC - Bigger than Us

Bigger Than Us

#BeUMC - Part 5

Sunday, July 23, 2023
Ecclesiastes 4:7-12, Romans 12:3-8

We have many parts in one body, but the parts don’t all have the same function. In the same way, though there are many of us, we are one body in Christ, and individually we belong to each other. We have different gifts that are consistent with God’s grace that has been given to us. If your gift is prophecy, you should prophesy in proportion to your faith.

Romans 12:4-6

Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:

“I look upon all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation. This is the work which I know God has called me to; and sure I am that His blessing attends it. Great encouragement have I, therefore, to be faithful in fulfilling the work He hath given me to do… ‘As I have opportunity, doing good unto all men’; and His providence clearly concurs with his Word; which has disengaged me from all things else, that I might singly attend on this very thing, ‘and go about doing good.’” 

~ From the Journal of John Wesley:

We are a missional people. (James 2:18, Acts 1:7)

Since the early days of the Oxford “Holy Club,” Methodists have found missions as an expression of our faith. We reach out to neighbors near and far, offering the love of Jesus in word and deed. We do this in many ways. As a denomination, we support missionaries and dynamic, community-centric
initiatives all over the world. Local churches operate food banks, clothing and shelter ministries, childcare services, support groups and countless other caring ministries that introduce all people to the love of Jesus. We don’t do this to win God’s favor, but because we are recipients of God’s love and grace. In other words, we show our love for God by loving whom God loves… everyone!

We are a connected people. (Rom.12:5, Eccl. 4:12)

 Being part of a church—a community of faith—is important for our spiritual journeys. Today, we can attend classes online, buy a car from our couch, and worship via YouTube. That may lead us to believe we can do anything alone. Our faith journeys, however, are best nurtured when we are connected to a community of faith—which may include digital relationships and online worship!

We are a world-changing people. (Luke 13:20-21)

One of the markers of the early Methodist societies was their outreach to their communities and to the world. The first Methodist society meetinghouse in Bristol, England—known as the New Room— did not have pews fixed to the floor. Instead, the seats were removable, so that the room could be used for educating children or offering food and home remedies to the community.

We are a generous people. (2 Corinthians 9:7-9)

We give to minister in Jesus’ name. Together, United Methodists do remarkable ministry around the world. We care for survivors recovering from earthquakes and storms; we invest, long term, in vulnerable communities; we implement the most effective solutions to diseases like malaria; we equip the next generation to lead the Church and society. In all of this, we share the good news of Jesus Christ. We give because God first gave to us.

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- excerpts from #BeUMC Study Guide

You can download the complete discussion guide at https://www.umc.org/en/who-we-are/our-people/beumc