Connected and Fruitful

John 15:1-175^th Sunday of Easter

Elizabeth M. Deibert 

6 May 2012

We will spend much of our May worship, the end of the Easter season in the heart of the Farewell Discourse in the Gospel of John.   John is the mystical Gospel, quite different in character from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Synoptics.   In the narrative context of John’s Gospel, Jesus has these several conversations with his disciples, as he prepares them for his death and departure.
  

Today’s reading is the last of the seven great “I am” sayings in this Gospel.  Jesus says, “I am the bread of life…I am the light of the world…I am the door to the sheepfold…I am the good shepherd….I am the resurrection and the life…I am the way, the truth, and the life….I am the true vine.. .   These are central images of the Jewish faith, now fulfilled in Jesus.   Because he is the culmination of these hopes, Jesus’ physical departure from us changes nothing:  we can remain/abide in him and he in us, as he is the vine and we are the branches.   We must remain connected to be fruitful, to prove that we are really are his disciples.

Hear for the Spirit speaking to you through the Word of the Lord in John 15:

John 15:1-17

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ 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. ⁵ 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. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. ¹² "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. (NRSV)

If you’ve been around Peace any length of time, you will have noticed that I do not miss any opportunity to preach on something related to gardening and growing.  I love to plant flowers and watch them grow.  I love to plant basil because it grows so quickly from seed that I get from the plants I already have.   I love to plant Coleus because I can propagate it so easily from cuttings.  I love to plant vines like Mandevilla and Jasmine and Bouganvillea and help them climb and curl around trellises and trunks and poles.  I love to prune and cut grass and pull weeds when I am angry.  Whack, whack, cut, cut, pull, pull weeds.   I love to plant churches too, but they are much harder work.  They require lots of water and TLC.   And I’ve noticed those who do not produce fruit, who do not get connected in meaningful ways to others on the vine, naturally wither and fall away.   What churches need is lots of sun and Son.   They need SUN for a good mood – that’s why you moved to Florida, and they need SON for their growth in faith, that is why you came to Peace. 

 Peace is a church where you can get a high Christology theology, while getting a broad ecclesiology.   That’s why anyone seeking Christ is welcome to the table here.  It’s why the doors are always open here.   It’s why the essential questions for joining are trust in Jesus Christ, desire to turn away from sin and to lean into God’s grace, and the intent to get involved.   A Presbyterian minister friend once said to me, “I am a theological conservative and a social liberal.”  I’m with him on that.   I think the church will wilt without a tight connection to Jesus Christ.   And with a tight connection to Jesus Christ, you cannot help but grow into an open church, a church for everyone whom Christ loved – everyone!  

Of course, Christ says in this passage that those who are growing but not producing fruit need to be cut, and those not producing enough fruit need pruning.  Pruning does not feel good or even look good at first, but it is good.   My neighbor thought I had killed the hedge between us, but in time, it was healthier than ever because of my radical pruning.   So it is for us when God prunes us back, removes our deadness, trims off our non-essentials or our overgrowth. It humbles us.  

Christians, and especially Presbyterians, love to grow in knowledge, but if knowledge does not produce fruit, then whack.    As we said in the Confession of 1967, “Wise and virtuous people through the ages have sought the highest good in devotion to freedom, justice, peace, truth, and beauty.  Yet all human virtue, when seen in the light of God’s love in Jesus Christ, is found to be infected by self-interest and hostility.   All people, good and bad alike, are in the wrong before God and helpless without God’s forgiveness….No one is more subject to the judgment of God than the one who assumes he or she is guiltless before God or morally superior to others.”   Now the Church has been filled with some folks who thought they were superior in morals, in education, in social justice, in Biblical and theological studies, in pastoral sensitivity, and in musical tastes.   And our tradition is getting pruned, perhaps for our arrogance in many of these areas.

All that really matters to God is fruitfulness.  Are you connected to the vine and are you being fruitful?   How will Christ know if we are being faithful disciples?   By our fruit.  Pauls tells the Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Does that describe you?   Does that describe us together?  Unfortunately, witty, sophisticated, well-educated, determined, financially secure, athletic, diligent, good-looking, and quick to judge were not in the list.

You cannot be fruitful without being attached to the vine.   You need the life-blood of Jesus Christ in your veins.    That’s why we need a weekly communion.   The unity of Word and Sacrament is what nourishes our faith.   It feeds us and strengthens us to produce fruit. 

Jesus says to those whose feet he had washed before the Last Supper, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”  Become his disciples!   We thought they already were his disciples.   But no, they have more fruit-bearing to do to truly become his devoted and joy-filled disciples.   

Jesus wants to be in the mutual relatedness of friendship, not mere master and servant, boss and employee, parent and child.   To help us appreciate the kind of loving relationship Jesus is describing, we need to have more words for love. There are three types of love that Aristotle and Aquinas spoke of in Latin:   There’s benevolen’tia, from which we get the word, benevolence.  This is the love of a superior that wills the good of another.   Like a boss who cares for his or her employee, or a parent who is nurturing a child.    There is concu’piscen’tia, the love of desire, in which one hopes to get something from the person loved.   It is motivated by the desire for fulfillment.   Better than both of these is the love called amici’tia.   This is the love Jesus describes in John 15.   “ I do not call you servants…but I have called you friends.”   Christ empowers us to be his friends and gives us the greatest love of all, the sacrificial and mutual love of agape – that the great Greek word for depth of love which is used 9 times in 5 verses in this passage.   This is the love that makes us one, that fills us up and makes us able to be channels of Christ’s love.  

What people see first is the branch, not the vine?   Why do people walk away from church or never bother to come?   Often because we, the branches, are not very fruitful.   People see the branch with all its deadness, or its wilted, rotten fruit.   Who wants to be part of that?   I took photos in my back yard of a lovely yellow Mandevilla to show you the difference between a branch that is still connected to the vine and a branch that has been severed from its source of strength.    After just one afternoon disconnected from the vine, this branch is dying.

You too will wilt if you are not connected to the vine, Jesus Christ?   Are you building into your life the devotions of prayer, Bible study, and regular worship? 

Are you working in your own life to obey Christ’s commands or are you just complaining about other people who don’t view the world as you do?  Are you looking to the church and to your family and friends to get your own needs fulfilled or do you really care what their needs might be?   Are you committing yourself to develop a more peaceful lifestyle that is a blessing to others, as you reach out in friendship and compassion toward all those around you?    You have ample opportunities here to develop the peace of Christ in your life.   We are offering a class on that right now.   We’re offering a class which bridges the chasm between science and religion.   And we have ministry teams, men’s and women’s groups all of whom pray together, so we might grow into more fruitful, faithful disciples.

We all need the spiritual nourishment of a strong connection to the vine.  We need build a strong relationship with Christ for weathering the storms of life, so you will not break off when the high winds blow through.  But wind is not bad.  Trees in greater wind have adaptive growth patterns in greater wind.  They grow shorter; they develop a spiral grain in their trunk; they put their roots a little deeper; and they develop smaller leaves, creating less drag in the wind.   In the stormy times of life, we need to protect ourselves with adaptive change too.  We need to avoid over-extending ourselves; we need to stay rooted and grounded in Christ.   Build a connection to Christ that will endure and make you fruitful in all your relationships.  Abide in the love of Christ, which will feed your soul with spiritual food and strengthen you to love others.    There is no excuse for people calling themselves Christian and not working at keeping the great commandment.   Christ has called you friends.   Act like you know him, for Christ’s sake.   Bear fruit – fruit that will last.

(credit to Gerard Sloyan, Interpretation Commentary on John and to the writers of The Lectionary Commentary, edited by Van Harn, for some of these concepts)

A Shared, Bold Purpose

Acts 4:29-38
4^th Sunday of Easter
April 29, 2012

Elizabeth M. Deibert

This reading from Acts 4 was one of our four readings for April 15 in the common lectionary that many churches use.  But as that was just the second Sunday of Easter, I chose to preach on the Gospel lesson, the Doubting Thomas story, one of the resurrection narratives.   But I did send Acts 4 out to the Elders on Session and to the Ministry Teams as a scripture for opening devotions – the thing we call Word-Share-Prayer.    We open all our meetings with those because it helps us to keep our work grounded in scripture and in our mutual calling as Christ’s disciples.   It also helps us all to learn to be interpreters of scripture.

So Thursday night ten days ago, I was traveling back from a meeting at the Presbyterian seminary in Atlanta, and as expected, I arrived after our session meeting had begun.   Tricia was leading the meeting and as I came in, she and the elders all exclaimed, “Well, we had quite a debate on this passage!   Maybe you should preach on it sometime.”   So I took them at their word, and decided that this would be a great reading for this day of significance.

Because the essence of this story is that the early church was empowered by a shared, bold purpose.   It drove them to great sacrifice, great generosity, and great transformation of life.   It is not too different from what is going on here in this new church.   We too have a shared, bold purpose – to build a permanent home for this church, the people called Peace.  

We’ve been building the people for a few years.   We now number 222 people, which is ten times more than when I came in 2005.   The choir had about five people when Gia started the beginning of 2007 and now the music program has more than fifty.   The youth group consisted of Catherine and Andrew Deibert when Tricia began in 2008 and at last count, I think there are twenty active adolescents.   So by every count, we have increased ten-fold.   We’ve come a long way from the kitchen table vision for a new PC(USA) Church in Lakewood Ranch.

When we first started Sunday morning worship, we were thankful for four hours in an auditorium at SCF, which was then called MCC, and for accompanying classrooms.   We had choir and ministry team meetings in homes.  But how much more fruitful we have been once we made this place our home, with 24/7 use of some of this space, and with permanent signage at least on the back face of the building.   As we begin to out-grow this space, it is time for us to rally our resources and to see what God can do when we all stretch to give as much as we can.

Before we read Acts 4, let me set the context for you.   Peter and John had been arrested by the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, for preaching that in Jesus there is resurrection of the dead.   But when they asked Peter and John to stop preaching this, the apostles simply pointed to those who had been healed and said, “We cannot stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard.”   And the crowds were in full support, because so many lives were being transformed.  So the religious leaders reluctantly let them go, still pitching threats at them.   We begin our reading with the end of prayer said by the believers who apparently were asking God to continue to give boldness to the apostles, despite the risks they were taking by proclaiming this gospel. 


  

Acts 4:29-38

And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, ³⁰ while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus." ³¹ When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. ³² Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. ³³ With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. ³⁴ There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. ³⁵ They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. ³⁶ There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement"). ³⁷ He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.  (NRSV)

Many people react to this text, thinking immediately that it is a prescription for communism.   I want to assert that I am not advocating communism as a political social construct.   First of all, this is a narrative about the life of the early church, not the Roman Empire, in a first century context.   So this passage is about the church, not the state or nation.   Furthermore, just like we do not adopt first century attitudes about the place of women in society nor do we justify slavery based on Biblical texts which assume it nor do we understand sexuality or science from a first century mindset, so we do not read this passage literally, thinking that the only way to be faithful as a church is to live in a commune and share all our possessions.  

Having made these disclaimers, we also do not cavalierly reject scripture as having nothing to teach us.   So what does this passage teach us?    Well, it shows us that the early church made great sacrifices because they were captivated by a bold, shared purpose of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, which was transforming lives by the power of the Spirit.   They could not stop, even when their lives were at risk.   They could not stop proclaiming what they had seen and heard regarding Jesus the Christ.

Barnabas, the one whose name means “son of encouragement” chose to sell his piece land and bring the money to the leaders of the church.    That’s not a far-fetched idea.   There may be some of you who have property that could be sold for the furtherance of Peace’s proclamation of the Gospel.    Your property may be house, land, stocks or bonds, and when we bring our gifts together we can do great things.    It requires a commitment to our shared, bold purpose. 
 

How much do you value the kind of church community Peace is?   Is there another church that can meet people’s spiritual needs in the deeply authentic way that Peace does?    There are plenty of churches in Lakewood Ranch, but not one with the uniqueness of Peace.

And does Peace need a permanent building to further our goals of inspiring worship, authentic relationships, nurturing discipleship, compassionate outreach, and responsive stewardship?     Well…., we could stay here a bit longer in the Realtors facility, but with the threat of a sale of this property, we live with some anxiety about the security of this home.   We could keep moving around, perhaps finding odd places like abandoned retail locations to hold worship, but that will keep the church on edge and probably would not secure our future development.  

Finally, when you consider all God in Jesus Christ has done for you and for the whole earth, don’t you think God deserves a house that is ten times as nice as the average house in this area.    If you took the current value every one of our homes and averaged them, I expect you’d come to a value of about $300,000.   Doesn’t God deserve a house ten times nicer than mine?   I think so.

None of us can build God the house God deserves all by ourselves.   That would be as ridiculous as one person trying to run all the ministries of Peace alone.   Eleven ministry teams headed by one person.   No, the beauty of the church is when all of us come together with all our varied gifts and we pool them together and what happens is something beautiful.   We have already done that with our operating budget of close to $300,000.  

We pool our resources, so we can do more together than we could do as individuals.   We cannot all give equally because we all have differing abilities and differing circumstances and differing commitments and differing values.  But when we all do as much as we can do, the result is beautiful – like that dinner and talent show last night where everyone contributed food, door prizes and talent.  

Some of you value the beauty of a sanctuary in which to worship, where the ceiling height and natural light inspire to trust in the God of all beauty and love.   Some of you value the beauty of excellent music and can hardly wait for a sanctuary in which the acoustics enhance the diligent rehearsals of the choirs and the organ is one that utilizes all the talent that Gia can bring to it.

Some of you value fellowship space where we can actually use the kitchen for events like last night, where we can spread out during coffee time to build relationships and make everyone who comes to Peace feel warmly welcomed and appreciated.

Some of you really value outdoor spaces where children can run and play away from the dangers of parking lots.  You value outdoor gardens where we can meditate, converse with one another and God, and remember those have died.   

Some of you are eager to have a building of our own, where we can more easily welcome support groups, and do mission work with the hungry and homeless and aging.

All of these desires have driven the Building Vision Team to work hard for more than two years to bring us to this point of decision.    What is the depth of our support for this our shared, bold purpose?   Are you willing to risk a little, as the disciples did a lot, to accomplish this goal of building a permanent home for Peace?  

I think what we are doing here, in developing a church like Peace Presbyterian, is of pre-eminent and enduring value.   I’d rather eat at home, which is healthier anyway, than eat out and have more money to give to the church.   I’d rather contribute to Peace Presbyterian’s excellence than drive an excellent car.  I’d rather give to Peace than put extra money away for retirement.   I’d rather give significant sums of money to Peace than to my college alma mater.   I’d rather give to Peace than ever own a second home.   I’d rather leave an inheritance to secure Peace Presbyterian’s future than to set my children up with an inheritance.   Richard and I benefitted from an inheritance from his grandfather, but I’m not sure that it is always very helpful to heirs to depend on money they did not earn.    

What Richard and I cannot relinquish is the desire to give our children a good college education.  You have precious values than you don’t want to sacrifice.   My values are not your values, so you have to decide what you can do.   But the point is this:  We share a common goal.  Our mission is to make God known, by  growing as disciples of Jesus Christ, building a community of peace, and caring for the needs of others.   Will we have a permanent home in which to flourish in our mission?   That depends on all of us, seriously considering what we can do to secure the future of Peace.   It is a once in a life-time opportunity to change lives.

"The Divine Glory of Our Human Body"

Luke 24. 33-53
April 22, 2012
Richard I. Deibert


To view this sermon click here.

Peace Be with You

John 20:19-31 2^nd Sunday of Easter

Elizabeth M. Deibert
15 April 2012

Christ, be our peace, that we might see you, hear you, touch you, and know you as we hear your Word.   Amen.

Every year on the second Sunday of Easter, we step back from our Easter exuberance, and hear the concerns of Doubting Thomas.   This is the Sunday for quiet reassurance that Christ is alive and breathing peace on us, no matter what we see or don’t see in the world around us.   Christ is driving the dark of our doubt away, always bringing peace into the locked rooms of our lives where we fear and confusion give way to faith and confirmation.

I was so excited last week with the crowd we had here.  230 people!   But really, the crowds should come back on the second Sunday of Easter.   This is the story for us.   Yes, especially in this congregation, we should love this resurrection story.    Peace, Joy, Peace Doubt, Peace, Faith.  Peace is everywhere.   We love exchanging the peace of Christ and really meaning it, not just being friendly, but hoping with our words and our attitudes of forgiveness to change lives.  So we say with all depth, “Peace be with you.”   We mean it.   We don’t exchange pleasantries in that moment.   It is not like running into a friend at the park.   We share peace.  Our recyclable grocery bags say it and our business cards say it.   “Peace to you.”    If I tried to distill the one message I have for the world into one word, it would be “peace.”  If I wanted to communicate one thing Christ was bringing to all people, it would be in the Hebrew sense of the word, shalom, wholeness – Peace.   If there one thing I hope my life will embody in the world – in the way I live with others – it is summarized in peace.   What a great name for a church – Peace! 

 

I invite you now to imagine a night of great unrest for the disciples.   Some women had reported an empty tomb, but there had been no confirmation.  What they currently experience is an empty room full of fear.   Who might get crucified next?   And are these stories about the empty tomb real, can they give their friends who saw and believed the benefit of the doubt? 

John 20:19-31 (NRSV)

¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” ³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

The doors were locked, but  Jesus came in anyway and said, “Shalom.”   This shalom is for them, to calm them, to reassure them.   Then he showed them the evidence of his wounds.   They rejoice in seeing him.   He gives them peace again, and with it a charge.   The second “shalom” is the one they and we must bear to the world.  Jesus was the one sent.   Now he is sending them, but first he breathes on them.  The wind-breath-spirit (pneuma) is given them.

  

As those who follow Jesus we are given peace into our souls and by his Spirit we bear peace to the world.  But that’s not all.   Jesus then gives the power of forgiveness – a huge gift and burden.   Do you know the power of forgiveness?   Do you know the release you can give yourself and others by offering forgiveness, especially to those who do not deserve it.    That’s what Christ offers us – that is the essence of his peace – and he says, as the Father sent me, so I send you.    Give people the peace of your forgiveness.   Give those who have betrayed you or forgotten you the peace of your forgiveness. 

    

Know Christ’s peace in the depths of your soul, so you can dig deep into that peace, when you’ve been hurt, and offer forgiveness to others.  There is great peace in laying our bitterness aside.   To love and forgive others is possible only to the degree we have received Christ’s peace.   To fully embrace Christ’s peace is a process of trusting his love to be the One thing that completes us, that fills us, that heals us.    Sometimes we want to hold back parts of ourselves, not believing that God is what we most need in that deep needy part.   Sometimes the deep needy part of us wants the quick feel-good.   Sometimes we want to reserve a little spot for our justified anger or blame toward others.   We want to reserve that spot as point of pride, thinking too highly of ourselves.   What we need is for Christ’s breath to enter that spot and heal it.   With Christ’s peace in us, giving us the benefit of the doubt, we can give others the benefit of the doubt.

But we like to cling to our doubts about Christ’s peace.   We like to think there are some wounds he cannot heal, so we hold them back.    We like to cling to our doubt, because doubt or skepticism is the intellectual way these days, and we educated people value our minds.  Smart people question things like Thomas did.    Smart people need hard evidence.   Science.   Fact.   Evidence.   Unless I see the evidence of his wounds and touch them, I will NOT believe.   Thomas is not just saying to his friends, “I wish I had seen Jesus with you.   I’m having a hard time believing.”    No, he was exercising his will in doubt.   I will not believe. 

 

Like Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie, Bucket List when the two guys talk of faith and Jack says with a smirk, “Oh, I admire you people with faith.  I just can’t get my head around it.   And Morgan Freeman wryly responds, “Well, maybe your head’s in the way.”   I love that line.   And Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the Genome Project, a Christian who developed the video series we are called Science and Religion, admits that his intellect was in the way of believing for many years.  It was his clinical contact with real human suffering that made him question his agnosticism.  And as he read Mere Christianity and began to seriously ponder the Christian faith, he came to a point of believing more than doubting – just like Thomas.

The best thing about this story of Doubting Thomas is that he does not continue to doubt.   Jesus comes twice that evening to the disciples, seemingly just to bring more peace – peace enough for Thomas to believe.    Was it peace or evidence that made him believe?   Peace be with you, Thomas.   Peace to all the doubters of the world.   Here – you said you need to touch and see.  Okay.  Do it.   Don’t doubt, though, believe!

And Thomas’ stubborn agnosticism falls away.   The peace of Christ overwhelms him and heals him, and he utters a most profound statement of faith:   My Lord and My God.

You might be thinking, “Well, Thomas got the evidence, so of course, he began to believe, but I don’t have Jesus standing in front of me.”   But was it the evidence or the peace that changed him, I ask you?  For all of us who never had this face-to-face encounter with the Risen Lord, Jesus says we are blessed.    Yes.   We who are challenged to claim a blind faith are the blessed ones.   Is there more peace in a faith that trusts enough, even in the dark of not knowing?

Those who get their proofs are believing, but they don’t need as much faith to hang on.   But those who believe without seeing, those who can handle the mysteries of life, they are the strong ones.   Those of us who have not seen have the benefit of the doubt when we believe despite our doubts, despite our not seeing.   If you think about it, faith is giving Jesus the benefit of the doubt.  

What evidence do we have that Jesus rose from the dead?   We give this scripture the benefit of the doubt.   What evidence do we have that the church has not been duped all these years.   We give the church the benefit of the doubt.   We give each other the benefit of the doubt as we seek together, as best we can to follow Jesus’ way.   Faith is giving God the benefit of the doubt.   But we’re receiving the benefit of the doubt, even as we give it, because the benefit of the doubt is Christ entering and filling us with his peace, made real.

How do we know someone who dies is not gone forever?  What evidence do we have that we will be reunited one day?   No hard and fast evidence – the kind the world likes.  

We only have a few near-death experiences reported, and we have to give those people the benefit of the doubt.  But we are blessed, we are benefited all the more to believe in the Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting with no evidence but the witness of scripture, the church through the generations, and our faith. 

 

Jesus is understanding of Thomas, but not willing to leave Thomas where he is.   He charges him to believe.    I think believing is an act of our will, more than an ascent of the heart or mind.   I think believing often comes in response to an experience of the peace Christ offers, more than any proofs.  Evidence we have but no proof.   And our evidence is Christ’s peace, the peace we experience in worship, the peace we experience in prayer, the peace we experience in the beauty of nature.   The peace that passes all understanding when we walk through a heavy grief and are surrounded by the love of our friends.   The peace that still our souls when our lives feel like locked rooms, full of fear and confusion. 

 

You walk into this worship service, Christ is here, pouring out peace in your soul, encouraging you to believe, to forgive, and to share that peace and forgiveness with others.   Sometimes the doors to your heart are locked, but Christ can enter anyway.  And his message always is “Peace be with you.   Do not doubt but believe.”    And once you are rejoicing in faith, his message is “Now that you believe, receive the Holy Spirit.   As my Father sent me, so I send you.”   So let us be at peace, let us forgive, let us believe, and let us share the peace we have been so graciously given by always giving the benefit of the doubt to all whom we meet.

Our Lord and our God, we thank you for this peace which now floods our souls.  We believe your love is healing every doubting dark corner of our hearts.  Renew us in your love, that we might forgive, believe, and share your peace with this hurting world.

Truth for Life

Peace Presbyterian Church
1 Corinthians 15:1-11; 51-58
Easter Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert

Paul was not even there at the empty tomb when the women came and heard the angel say, “He is not here, but is risen.” Paul was not there in the upper room when Jesus appeared to the twelve. In fact, Paul persecuted those who were there and those who first believed the news about Christ. So why should we listen to what he says about the resurrection? Because Paul’s testimony is truth for life.

Many churches will be reading one of the four gospel narratives this morning, and we usually do that too, but this year, I thought turn our focus to 1 Corinthians 15, which was actually written down earlier than any of the Gospel stories.

First Corinthians 15 aims to counter the belief, apparently held by some members of the church in Corinth, that there is no resurrection of the dead. Paul writes a long and complex chapter to persuade the Corinthians that believing in the resurrection of the Christ is essential to the faith. This earliest scriptural witness to the Easter event asserts both the death of Jesus Christ and also his resurrection as confirmed in his appearances to the disciples. By citing the Easter tradition and extending the list of appearances (vv. 6–8), Paul calls the Corinthians back to the fundamental ground they share with him, that God did indeed raise Christ from the dead. This is truth for life – that death, while still agonizing, death, while still painful and capable of causing deep grief, death does not have the final word. Death has been overwhelmed by the life of Christ.

Glory to you, O God: on this day you won victory over death,
raising Jesus from the grave and giving us eternal life.
Glory to you, O Christ: for us and for our salvation you overcame death
and opened the way to everlasting life.
Glory to you, O Holy Spirit: you lead us into the truth.
Glory to you, O Blessed Trinity, now and forever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, 51-58

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you-- unless you have come to believe in vain. 3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them-- though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
(NRSV)

As Paul reminded the Corinthians of the life-giving truth in which they stood, so I remind you. We come to worship to be reminded weekly of the good news of our salvation, so that our faith will be authentic and enduring, especially in difficult times .

C.S. Lewis once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscious and shouts in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Pain is God’s megaphone. I read this quote in a piece in Washington Post, written by one of my daughter Catherine’s Furman University classmates, twenty-two years old. She says, “My whole life prior to cancer, the Lord has been whispering to me, and at times even speaking to me, to remind me of His presence and love. But my diagnosis became like a megaphone, blaring the Lord’s love for all to hear. Christian and non-Christian friends alike all gathered to pray for me in those dark days. The Lord had to constantly remind me that it is He who controls my life, not the doctors or the statistics I was facing each day. Cancer has been a turning point in my life that I never could have dreamed of, and I know that my life will never be the same. But despite the hard times and the multitudes of tears, the Lord has been protecting me every step of this journey. Whether I live, and one day become cancer free, or I die, I know without a doubt that God is good, and that does not change based on my circumstances. For now, I can rest in the assurance that the Lord is looking out for me, and therefore I can simply strive to live life joyfully for every day that I am given.” (P. Thompson) Amazing truth coming from a twenty-two year old!

That’s an Easter perspective, if I ever heard one. “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the grace bestowing life.”

This is the good news that compels us pull out every instrument, and fill the choir with nearly 40 voices singing the Hallelujah Chorus. You may have heard that Handel wrote the Messiah in 24 days, but did you know he was depressed and in great debt when he did this? There is something about hopelessness that coupled with faith has the power to witness in powerful ways to the truth that gives life.

Confronted by our hopelessness in sin and death, Christ interceded by offering himself in order to reconcile us to God. With no power but the power of love, Christ defeated sin, evil, and death by dying for us. He even took on the agony of our abandonment by God to spare us.

You know how when someone does something for you that is beyond the call of duty, when someone really extends themselves to help you, how grateful do you feel? How loved do you feel? When you’ve been a pain in the patooty to someone in your family or to a best friend and they go right on loving you without missing a beat? Can you get in touch with those feelings? Can you multiply in your mind’s heart to the nth degree? Then you are beginning to get a glimpse at understanding what a debt of gratitude you owe to Jesus Christ for your salvation.

Paul recites what sounds like the Nicene Creed “Christ was buried and raised on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures. Then he appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve. Then to five hundred brothers and sisters, then to James, then to the apostles.” And Paul adds, and last to me, because I persecuted the church. Paul calls himself an apostle because he had a unique encounter with the risen Lord, but he also deems himself unworthy of the title.

Some of us have a confident faith and others are doubting. Some of us are humble, and others are proud, but that’s nothing new. From the first day of the resurrection, there were those who doubted, Thomas among them. Until he could see for himself, he was not going to take someone else’s word for it. Likewise, Paul, to be converted, had to be blinded by the light of Christ, knocked to the ground, without vision for three days. He was accused by a voice from heaven, “Why are you persecuting me?”

Some of you have had dramatic experiences like Paul while others of us have had or are having more of a gradual awakening to the love of God. Each of us has our own story of the presence of Christ in our lives, even if we are only becoming aware of that presence.

Our call is to be like Paul – to be witnesses of that truth for life. To proclaim it to others so that they too might believe. Those who proclaim it against all odds, like the college student at Furman with cancer, have a particularly compelling message.

Because Christ lives, we will live also. We will be given imperishable bodies to replace our perishable ones. The resurrection of the body celebrates our eternal value to God as living persons, each one with a unique and distinctive identity. The resurrection of the body means hope for the whole person, in the unity of body and soul. How did Christ appear? Christ was heard, seen, and touched in person, after the discovery of an empty tomb. Christ was different in the resurrection. He appeared and disappeared, but he had a body that could be touched.

Now what does this mean when we die? Many of us simply think we are done with our bodies when we die and that it is our souls that go to be with God. But this text and the Apostles’ Creed which we will say together in a few minutes both affirm the resurrection of the body, not just the soul. When the last trumpet sounds, we will be changed.

How can the difference Christ has made in your life be made a real and compelling story for others that touches their own deepest needs? The story Paul shared with the Corinthians did that. Our own stories of life and faith should do the same. They should build up the faith of others with a truth that is life-giving, not life-draining. They should not only be our stories, but they should be connected to the faith tradition which has been passed down to us. (JEFFREY D. JONES, Feasting on the Word)

Presbyterian professor of preaching, Tom Long writes: Christians are on the witness stand to tell that story, not because it is a likely story or an advantageous piece of testimony, but because it is true. We know it is true because we ourselves have experienced it and witnessed its truth. That is why we are on the witness stand and have taken the oath to tell the truth “so help us God.”

So we declare that Jesus lives and Jesus is Lord. We announce today and for the next fifty days of Easter that Christ’s resurrection is a decisive victory over the powers that deform and destroy life. We do not yet see the end of suffering and death, but in Christ we get a glimpse of the new creation that has begun and will surely be completed one day, when there will be no more tears or pain, when the fellowship of God with all God’s people will be perfected. Ultimately death is no match for God. The resurrection of Jesus was God’s victory over death for all of us. We are convinced that the life God wills for us is stronger than the death that destroys us. In the face of death, we grieve, yet in hope we celebrate the life that God gives us. (several quotes from A Declaration of Faith, chapters 4 and 10)

Death is a broken power. It has lost its sting. It has lost its grip. Where, O Death is your trophy? Don’t you see, Death, you will never win. This is the truth. This is the life – that you, Death, never get the last word. Nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That’s why we are singing no less than 185 hallelujahs in this service because we can do none other than to praise God for this truth, this life, this victory over death, in which we stand.

Fools for Christ

Fools for Christ
Philippians 2:1-11
Palm/Passion Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert

O, how he loves you and me. O, how he loves you and me. He gave his life. What more could he give? O, how he loves you. O, how he loves me. O, how he loves you and me. Sometimes the heart of the message is better sung than spoken. Today’s scripture contains the oldest lyrics of the Christian faith, the earliest Christian hymn. Let us pray with Richard of Chittister of the 12^th Century:

Thanks be to you, Lord Jesus Christ, forall the benefits which you have won for us, for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother, may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day.

Christ embodied the love he proclaimed – all the way to the cross. He entered Jerusalem, knowing that it was dangerous for him. Entering Jerusalem was foolish by all practical standards. He should have been hiding, not allowing his followers to celebrate his entry with a parade of palms. Political leaders were nervous about anyone causing such unrest among the people. Religious leaders hated him because his criticized their hypocrisy and challenged them to live with justice and mercy. And they call him Messiah, King? He claimed to speak and to act with the authority of God? Foolish. The disciples began to see how foolish this was as the week progressed. Judas betrayed him to authorities. Peter denied even knowing him. The crowds who waved palm branches cheering the great healer and miracle worker on Sunday shouted crucify him on Friday.

In the presence of Jesus, who perfectly lived what we are called to be, humanity was threatened beyond endurance. Blinded by our own rebellion against our Creator, we killed the only One who lived the perfect life, God incarnate in Jesus Christ. (adapted from A Declaration of Faith)

Those who lived the first Holy Week were no doubt terribly confused about what was happening, because they had so misunderstood what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah. They understood Messiah to be strong one, a leader who fights for the people, not one who goes willingly and quietly to his death.

The disciples look like fools all through the Gospels, as they never quite seem to get it, despite many hints from Jesus. So if on this Palm and Passion Sunday, you feel like you still don’t get it – all the ironies of loyalty and betrayal , of suffering and triumph, of death and new life -- please be reassured that you are in good company. None of Jesus’ followers have ever really mastered this foolishness. So if your faith makes you feel like a fool on this first of day April, then just settle in and accept it. It is part of the life of one who follows Jesus. As Tricia preached three weeks ago, the message of the cross appears as foolishness, but the Apostle Paul reminds us that, “God foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

The scripture we are reading today tries to make some sense of the foolishness of the cross. It is contains one of the first earliest pieces of Christian worship, a hymn about Christ’s kenosis, his self-emptying and his death on a cross.

Hear now what the Spirit is saying to her church:

Philippians 2:1-11

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, ² make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. ⁵ Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷ but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸ he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NRSV)

Paul begins with a ridiculous set of four conditional clauses. If there is any encouragement in Christ, if there any consolation from love, if there’s any sharing in the Spirit, if there any compassion and sympathy…

Of course Paul knew that all of these do exist in abundance, so writing from prison, with his own life hanging in the balance, he is pushing his readers to fulfill that encouragement, that consolation, that sharing, and compassion and sympathy by being in full accord, by loving one another. Again, he speaks in four’s. Have the same mind, the same love, the same unity, the same purpose.

Then he goes on to explain what it means to love: not being motivated by selfish ambition but in humility, putting others ahead of yourself, looking to what matters to them before concerning yourself with what matters to you. I read a great quote which helps if you’re concerned that modeling your life after Christ like this will turn you into somebody’s doormat. “Paul is not asking to think less of yourself, but to think of yourself less.” So this is not an invitation to criticize yourself, to be self-deprecating. No, it is a call to take all positive or negative focus off yourself and think of others. It is not a call to uniformity of thinking but to the unity of love that transcends differences.

Paul is writing to a community, challenging them out of individualism, an enormous modern cultural problem which Paul could not begin to imagine. Think of the transformation of families, communities, and churches if each person is seeking to meet the needs of others. Churches: It is not what you get out of worship, but what you give to someone else in worship. It is not whether you feel welcome and comfortable during fellowship time but whether you make someone else feel cared for. It is not whether you come to lively learning because you enjoy it, but whether you are present to encourage others. It’s not about you. It is about people voluntarily putting others first. Now that’s a foolish idea.

Jesus modeled that foolishness. As Christ-God, he was fully equal to God and fully able to avoid all suffering, but he chose to take the form of a slave. He chose to limit himself, limit his own power, in his humanity, to be just like us. He could have rescued himself from the suffering and become the overpowering Messiah the disciples imagined him to be, but he humbled himself and became true to his identity and calling. That’s obedience – to be true to who you really are.

And who is Christ truly? He is love, a love that cannot let us go. God is love, and for God to demonstrate love means to suffer for and with us, to walk the lonesome journey with us, to feel our pain and loss, so that he can redeem us, save us, give us new life, having lived our life. Notice that every act of sacrifice is an active verb – emptied himself, took the form of a slave, humbled himself, became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, the lowliest form of death.

He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. By being at once our priest and our sacrifice, Christ intercedes for us by offering himself, to make us one with God and God one with us. His life, death, and resurrection become the great “yes” that continues to be spoken despite how often we have said “no.” (adapted from The Study Catechism, questions 39-40) Notice that having actively given himself up, Christ is restored as he becomes the object of God’s uplifting actions. Therefore God highly exalted him, gave him the name above every name. As Servant, Christ acts humbly as our priest to redeem us from the sin of pride; as Lord, he exalts humanity by grace to royal partnership with God, liberating us from the sin of self-abasement. In Jesus Christ, God is humbled and humanity is exalted. In that leveling is our unity, our oneness in God’s love.

And the song ends with all of humanity getting on board with Christ’s love – every knee bending, every tongue confessing – Jesus Christ is Lord. In both his majesty and his lowliness, the greatness of Christ is made known. It looks like foolishness but it is true greatness. A Franciscan poet Jacopone da Todi of the 13^th Century speaks of the foolishness of Christ’s love in Philippians 2 in this way:

You did not defend Yourself against that Love
that made You come down from heaven to earth;
Love, in trodding this earth
You humbled and humiliated Yourself,
Demanding neither dwelling place nor possessions
Taking on such poverty so that we might be enriched!
In Your life and in Your death You revealed

The infinite love that burned in your heart.
You went about the world as if you were drunk,
Led by Love as if You were a slave...
Wisdom, I see, hid herself,
Only Love could be seen.
Nor did You make a show of Your power –
A great Love it was
that poured itself out,
Love and Love alone, in act and desire,
Binding itself to the cross
And embracing [humanity]

Thus, Jesus, if I am enamored
And drunk with sweetness,
If I lose my sense and mastery of self,
How can you reproach me?
I see that Love has so bound You
As to almost strip you of your greatness;
How, then, could I find the strength to resist,
To refuse to share in its madness?

For the same Love that makes me lose my senses
Seems to have stripped You of wisdom;
The love that makes me weak
Is the love that made You renounce all power.
I cannot delay, nor seek to –
Love's captive, I make no resistance...

And I end this sermon with the greatest line by missionary, Jim Eliot, who died at age 29 doing something foolish – trying to get the Christian message to isolated, indigenous tribes in Ecuador who were very mistrusting of outsiders in the 1950’s. He left behind a wife of three years and an only daughter, less than a year old when he and four other missionaries died. Jim Eliot writes,

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep

to gain that which he cannot lose."

Give us the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, that, sharing in his humility, willing to give up what we cannot keep, we will be ready to gain what we cannot lose – life with you in the glory of your love.