This sermon was preached on May 5 & 6, 2018 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Connellsville, PA, using the texts for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, year B.
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Imagine you wanted to grow a plant. So, you take the seedling, snip off all the branches, put the stem and roots in an empty cup, and nestle it into a shadowy corner of your basement. In a few weeks time, you make your way down to the basement, slide away a stack of boxes, and find...not a plant, but rather a brown, shriveled stick.
What went wrong? Perhaps a better question is, what didn’t go wrong? We took away everything necessary for a plant to grow - soil, sunlight, water - and yet, somehow, still expected it to grow. If you really wanted to grow a plant, of course you would treat the seedling gently, bury it in potting soil with plenty of nutrients and good drainage, water it often, and give it plenty of sunlight. Perhaps you’re thinking this is a dumb example. Surely no one actually trying to grow a plant would pluck off the branches and not put it in dirt and keep it out of the sunshine and never water it. And, probably, you’re right.
Imagine, though, that the plant and its branches represent our life in Christ. Just like plants need soil, sunlight, and water in order to grow and thrive, Christians need worship, Scripture, sacraments, prayer, and community in order to grow and thrive. And yet, plenty of people who self-identify as Christians feel that these elements, rather than being central to our thriving as Christians, are optional. “I don’t need to come to worship, I connect with God in nature,” or “I pray on my own,” or “I have too much else going on.” Though they missed out on the critical ingredients for growth, these same Christians head down the cobwebby staircase to the basement and are genuinely surprised to find not a thriving plant but rather a brown, shriveled stick.
Jesus uses the word “abide” to talk about this concept with his disciples. It’s part of what’s called the “Farewell Discourse” in John’s Gospel, Jesus’ time of teaching with his disciples after he washes their feet at the Last Supper. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love,” Jesus says, a message that’s all the more important when we know what is coming next - his brutal crucifixion and death, and the disciples’ grief and confusion. In the days ahead, the disciples will need to hear Jesus’ words reminding them how much they are loved, how tightly Jesus is clinging to them, how not even death can sever them from Jesus’ continued presence.
“I am the vine, you are the branches.” Christianity is not a solitary venture. We are not expected to thrive, nor can we, apart from God or apart from one another. In baptism, we are grafted onto the vine alongside our siblings in Christ, all of us branches connected to Christ the vine. Rooted in love, we are nourished by the presence of Christ, which comes to us through worship, the sacraments, scripture, prayer, and one another.
We abide in Christ through worship, where we are joined together as the people of God to praise and lament, sing and pray, listen and speak, learn and eat. Together, we hear how deeply each of us is loved. Together, we hear how deeply God loves all of creation. Together, we are reminded of God’s abiding presence with us throughout our lives - especially at those times when grief, shame, disappointment, and fear overwhelm us.
We abide in Christ in the sacraments. In baptism we are joined to the Body of Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit, receiving salvation, forgiveness, and new life. These promises are renewed every day, and this relationship can never be severed. In communion we take the presence of Jesus into our own bodies. We receive salvation, forgiveness, and new life and are strengthened and sustained for life as the people of God.
We abide in Christ through the word, read and proclaimed. As Lutherans, we believe that the Bible is the living word of God. The stories of scripture tell us about the depth of God’s love for God’s people, remind us that God always chooses imperfect people to do holy work, and give us words for our praise, thanksgiving, anguish, and longing. In the Bible’s pages we learn what the heart of God is like, what the characteristics are of the one in whom we abide. We learn that God is faithful, loving, and ever-present. God cares for the poor, the vulnerable, and the weak. God is creator, redeemer, sustainer, at work in us just as God was at work in people and places so far from here and so long ago.
We abide in Christ through prayer. No relationship can survive without communication, and that’s what prayer is. Prayer is talking and listening, words and silence. Prayer changes things by changing us - making us mindful of who God is, who we are, and how God is working through us and in spite of us.
And finally, we abide in Christ by abiding in one another. At its heart, Christianity is about relationship - the relationship between us and God, and the relationships we have with one another. Together, we are the body of Christ - his hands and feet, eyes and ears and mouth - living and active in the world. As the body of Christ, we support and care for one another, offer encouragement and prayer, companionship and listening ears. We’re in it together, and everyone is welcome - young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, documented and undocumented, well and sick, weak and strong. Everyone is welcome because it is Christ, our vine, who gathers and welcomes each of us.
“I am the vine, you are the branches," Jesus says. "Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” Bearing fruit. This is what abundant life looks like for the people of God. I wonder if, to your ears, “bearing fruit” sounds like another item on an already-too-long, already too-impossible to-do list. Hear it this way, then - is anyone surprised when grapes start growing on a grape vine? Or when an apple tree starts producing apples? No! Because bearing fruit is what apple trees and grapevines were created to do. In the same way, we were created to do good works - to help and care for one another, to serve and love one another.
The actions that nourish us and help us thrive - worship, the sacraments, Scripture, prayer, being with one another in community - they lead into the good works that are a result of our life abiding in God. These actions, and the good works we do, aren’t just a means to an end, but rather the entirety of our life as God’s beloved children. God’s love is at work in us, abiding in us and holding us fast.
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