May the words of my mouth, and
the meditations of our all our hearts, be always acceptable in your sight, O
Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
Do
you ever get that sneaky suspicion that things aren’t how they should be? That
somehow the Kingdom of God isn’t coming on earth as it is in heaven? That
somehow we’re disconnected from what is true, what is genuine, what is worthy
of connection? Well, I do. Those of you who are participating in the
Diocesan-wide book study using Diana Butler Bass’ book Christianity After Religion are likely getting a sense of this
disconnection. There are many who are disconnected with the Church because they
sense a disconnect between the institution and God. There are others who label
themselves as spiritual but not religious, embodying this disconnect in their
own self-identity. Religious institutions now have approval ratings around
those of Wall Street and major corporations. And because of this trend, many
people are disconnecting from the Church. Many complain of the disconnect
between politicians and their constituents, as evidenced by Congress’ 14%
approval rating. We see this lack of connection manifest in a plethora of
lawsuits, a near 50% divorce rate, and in tensions around the world.
As we
see in our reading from Acts, there is also a disconnect between religion and
our understanding of it. The eunuch in this story represents many of us. We
read things in the Bible, or we hear sermons, or we read a book about theology,
and we’re left scratching our heads, wondering- “what does this mean?” Philip
asks, “do you understand what you are reading?” And the eunuch responds “how
can I, unless someone guides me?” Here, we see the importance of connection. We
bring others to faith by guiding them. As much as we wish it would, faith does
not spread by osmosis; faith is not something you “catch.” Faith, instead, is
something we work at, and we’re never done with it.
We have
become disconnected from our story, from the story of God that continues to
unfold in each generation. Poll after poll reveals that the average Christian
American cannot come even close to passing a religious literacy test. Now, that
isn’t to say religion is about knowing facts, but if we don’t know the story,
then it’s awfully hard to take part in it. There are lots of reasons for this
disconnection. We’re busy, we think people who are overly religious are a bit
crazy, we’ve learned that religion is something we do in private; whatever the
reason, we’ve lost touch with God. Simply put, we are disconnected from God and
from each other.
So how
do we reconnect? How do we get back in touch with God and with others? The
answer is our readings from today. When you read through this portion of the 1st
epistle of John and the 15th chapter of the Gospel according to
John, two words should jump out at you. The first is “abide,” which shows up 14
times in these 23 verses; the other word is “love”, showing up 14 times as well.
“Abide” comes from the Greek meno,
but it means more than that- it’s more of “exist in” or “dwell in”. And “love”
is agape, which is the highest of the
all the words for love, representing God’s love for Creation. Jesus uses the
parables of the vine and the branches to drive the point home.
The
only way that the branches, that is us, survive is by being connected to the
vine, that is Jesus. Abide isn’t a very common word. No hotel signs say “abide
here tonight,” nor do baseball announcers say “bottom of the 9th
with a runner abiding on second base.” We don’t abide much in our culture. We
move from place to place for work, we upgrade appliances all the time, we even
change friends rather fluently. Not much abides in our world. Abiding is
planting your roots. A preacher I knew once said that if the world is about
hanging on, then abiding is about hanging in. When you hang onto to something,
it’s often something you should let go of, and something you wouldn’t mind
losing. But when you hang in, you are committed to staying the course.
And so
Jesus tells his followers to abide in him, to remain forever in him, to be rooted
in him. If you’ve ever been to a vineyard, upon looking a vine, it’s easy to
tell that the braches would be no where without the vine. When people,
churches, communities disconnect from the vine, they wither up and die. When we
hang-on to ideas about Jesus, we die; but when we hang in with Jesus, we
thrive. As funny as it seems, many Christians have become disconnected with
Jesus.
It’s even
there in the name, we call ourselves Christians, not disciples of Jesus.
Somehow, Christ is easier than Jesus- because Christ is about the savior and
the glory. But Jesus was a rebel-rouser, he hung out with tax collectors and
prostitutes, he talked about the poor and sought to turn this world upside
down. Jesus was crucified, and calls his follows to take up their crosses. Bishop
Curry often remarks that when he came to this Diocese and starting using the
name “Jesus” in writings and sermons, people talked about this new bishop who
“talked about Jesus all the time” like there was something wrong with that.
We’ve become afraid of then name of Jesus- what would people think of us if
they heard us saying his name?
If we
follow Jesus, we think people will hear us say Jaay-suz. Jesus has been
kidnapped by the religious right, by those who put words in his mouth. And lest
we be counted as one of them, we’ve stopped abiding in him. Instead, we focus
on social justice, on outreach, on God without Jesus. We have a disconnect with
Jesus. But Jesus makes it very clear, the only way to life, is to abide in him.
And
the focus of this abiding is in love. The writers of these texts knew that the
one thing that could be trusted was the love of God, and that was the one thing
worth emulating. Earlier in this sermon I referred to studies that point to
declines in Church attendance and religiosity. But what is interesting is that
that these same studies point towards a deep hunger in people’s lives for
spirituality. Part of the reason why people are so disillusioned with the
Church is that they came to it with such high hopes and dreams. They wanted to
find a place where they could abide, a place where the fruit of love thrived.
These
readings show that we are supposed to abide in Jesus, and in his love. That is
the way we thrive and bear fruit. When I was in Israel, I experienced a
profound sense of affirmation of my work as a priest, but more than that, as a
Christian. I saw that the world needs more people like Jesus. I was blessed
while I was there to meet some very faithful Christian leaders, who strive
their best to daily model the love of Jesus. Think about what your family, our
church, Greensboro, the United States, the world would look like if every day,
people who call themselves Christians tried to live as Jesus did. What if we
found a way to put aside our differences and abided in love. What if churches
could refocus on abiding in Jesus instead of fighting over him? In fact, the
roots of the word “religion” mean to “re-connect.” What if religion was more
about reconnecting God to humanity?
What
if we were more like Jesus? What if we took the time to help each other carry
crosses, what if we washed each other’s feet, what if we reached out to the
poor and oppressed, what if we everything we did was done, first and foremost,
out of love?
And
the beauty of this is that each branch that is connected to the vine is
important. Each act of love changes the world. I know that in my life, I am
always profoundly moved when someone acts out of a deep sense of love towards
me. I am always inspired when I see someone who is clearly abiding in Jesus.
There
is a story I once heard about a group of soldiers who were friends in World War
II France. One of their colleagues died, and they carried him to a church they
saw in the distance, so that he might have a proper burial. The priest greeted
them and consoled them, but he told them that according to Catholic law, only
Catholics could be buried in the cemetery there. But he agreed to bury their
friend just outside the fence of the Catholic cemetery. Several years later,
after the war, this group of friends journeyed back to that small country church
to pay their respects to their fallen friend. When they arrived, they walked
around the perimeter of the fence to find the gravesite. But when they found no
tomb marker, they stormed into the church, enraged that the priest had not
properly buried their friend as he had promised. The priest explained to them,
“before I buried your friend, I scoured all the books of doctrine I could find
to see if I could somehow bury him in the cemetery, but I could find no such
provision. However, I found no rules against extending the fence after I buried
your friend.” This is abiding in God’s love which has no boundaries.
This
wonderful story leads me into something that I must say this morning. There is
a passage in Luke that happens on Palm Sunday. As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the
Pharisees tell Jesus to make his disciples be quiet, as they are causing a
scene. Jesus responds by saying “if they were silent, the stones would cry
out.” The issue at hand is Amendment 1, and indeed, the cry for justice needs
to be heard.
Before
I get going on this topic, I realize that this is a sensitive topic, and I
realize and respect that we will not agree on every aspect, but that does not
mean that we should be silent. I also want to make it clear that I am speaking
not about politics, but about abiding in love and justice. I am not telling you
how to vote; I do not condemn anyone for voting differently than me, nor do I
speak for St. Francis Church or any other institution, but rather I speak as a
disciple of Jesus.
I will
be voting against Amendment 1 on Tuesday for several reasons. I take this
encounter between the Ethiopian eunuch and the deacon Philip very seriously. After
having the Scriptures explained, the eunuch sees a body of water and boldly
asks “what is to prevent me from being baptized.” He very well knows the
answer- a lot. He is black, he is a eunuch, meaning, in the language of
Deuteronomy, that he was unclean because he had undergone genital mutilation,
and he was a foreigner. But you know how Philip responds? He says “nothing is
preventing you from abiding in Jesus or experiencing the love of God” and he
baptizes him.
So the
same-sex couple comes to sanctify their love before God and get the same legal
benefits that any other married couple gets asks “what is to prevent us from
being married?” I hope and pray that the answer is not “Amendment 1.” If we’ve
learned one thing in the country, it is that legislating discrimination, even
for religious reasons is never a good idea. One hundred years ago, women could
not vote because of a law. Just 40 years ago in the church, women could not be
ordained because of a rule. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost on
plantations and in the Civil War because our Constitution said that blacks were
only 3/5 of a person. In Nazi Germany, we saw the dangers of saying that the
ideal person should look a certain way.
Perhaps
though the most compelling reason to vote against this amendment is, to use
Jesus’ metaphor- we don’t know where the vine will grow in the future. We are
branches, and we are only part of the plant, not the whole thing. Passing this
amendment would close the door to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has guided
the Church to see things in a new light. The first followers of Jesus wanted to
exclude all Gentiles from the Church, and we’ve excluded people from full life
on the vine ever since then, on the basis of gender, nationality, race,
education, economic class, theological beliefs, and now we’re prepared to do it
again based on sexual orientation. And if history is any guide, some generation
down the road will apologize for us, will overturn laws, and wonder how it was
that we called ourselves Christians and did not abide in God’s love. Love has no
qualifications, no boundaries, no fences, no limits, and we do not need to act
or legislate it as if it does. The love between people need not be limited; nor
should our love of them, or rather our lack thereof, places limits upon them.
There
is a major justice issue with this law, as people on both sides of the aisle
recognize that this is a poorly written amendment which will have many
unintended consequences. Marriage between same-sex couples is already outlawed
in North Carolina, which is unfortunate enough. But we do not need to pass a
law that would harm children, elderly unmarried couples, and victims of
domestic violence by dissolving all relationships other than marriage between
one man and one woman. This amendment is more about justice than marriage. In
our baptismal vows, we promise to “strive for justice and peace among all
people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” This amendment would do
a lot of injustice to all kinds of people, and I do not know how I can honor my
baptismal vows and support this amendment, because it is not about abiding in
Jesus or his love. We do not need to speak for future generations, we do not
need to cut off the Holy Spirit from moving in our hearts and minds. We do not
need to cut others off from the vine of God’s love. What is to prevent me from
abiding in Jesus the true vine? I pray that no one answers, “the
close-mindedness of the church,” or “the hypocrisy of those who follow Jesus
but don’t share his love.”
This
amendment will be decided though not based on justice, not even on the will of
the people, but rather by the small handful of people who go out of vote in the
primary. This amendment could very well pass if those who wish to stand up for
justice do not take the time to stand up at the polls and vote. So I urge us
all, as people of faith, as people who stand up for the oppressed, as people
who take part in the welfare and governance of our land, to vote, regardless of
how you cast your ballot.
It all
goes back to abiding. Our world is hungry to have its roots planted in
something stable, something true, something life giving and affirming. For a
variety of reasons, we’ve become disconnected from the true vine, which is Jesus.
Today is a day to reconnect. Today is a day to reach out to those who have been
cut off from the vine, to those who have been wounded by the branches, to those
who want a connection, but aren’t sure how to graft themselves into the vine.
We have the opportunity to change our world with each and every breath that we
take. By choosing to abide in Jesus, to be rooted in his love, to follow his
pattern, to love like he did, then we will bear much fruit in his name.
Amen.
