Finding God In the Wood

Sermon-Year B-5 Easter-May 10, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
People are always saying to me, “Is it hard to come up with ideas for your sermons?” The answer is, “no, the hard part is only preaching ONE sermon.” Lots of times, if you listen somewhat closely, you’ll hear 3 or 4 sermons competing to see which one actually gets preached. For instance, today. How about the first reading from Acts, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch? The second reading from 1 John-perhaps one of the 5 most quoted readings in the Bible: “perfect love casts out fear”
Or how about this gospel, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower ….(and later) 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
There was a pastor in Austin, Texas who years ago wanted to learn how to whittle. He went to a famous woodcarver named Joe McMordie and the pastor told him that he was pretty pathetic but could Joe show him how to shape wood. One day they were carving a little dog out of a block of wood and Roger the pastor in his frustration asked Joe the whittler, “how do you do this? What’s the secret of whittling?” And Joe thought for a while and said, “That’s easy. You pick up a piece of wood and just cut off everything that doesn’t look like a dog.”
The sermon today is about finding the dog in the block of wood.
18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear;” “19We love because he first loved us. 20Those 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. 21The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also….
Charles Colson, the advisor to President Nixon who was famous for his line that he would run over his grandmother if that’s what the president ordered, was put in prison for several years. While there he became a Christian. A tough hard boiled interviewer did not believe this “story” and was grilling him about his faith and whether it wasn’t a “very convenient conversion”. Colson told her that he became a Christian when he was in prison, several prominent men knew that there were serious problems in Colson’s family. They came forward and volunteered to serve his jail term out for him so he could be released early and deal with his family issues. The reporter twice stopped the interview because she was crying so much, and later admitted that after that interview she returned to her church. Chuck Colson had to cut away everything that didn’t look like God in him. It was not easy. It cost him a lot.
Then the gospel. The teaching of Jesus as he continues to explain who he is and how things will be different. He begins by saying, “I am the true vine.” Seven times in the gospel of John Jesus describes himself using this technique, “I am”
We just heard another one last week, What are some of the others? "I am the bread of life." John 6:35, 41, 48-51
"I am the light of the world." John 8:12, 9:5
"I am the door of the sheep." John 10:7, 9
"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." John 10:11, 14
"I am the resurrection, and the life." John 11:25
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." John 14:6
"I am the true vine." John 15:1, 5
This week it’s “I am the true vine” is the last of the 7 “I am” statements. Jesus is trying to use images, word pictures that will stick with his followers after he is gone. I am bread, light, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection, the life, the way, the truth, and finally, I am the true vine. After telling his followers all these things about who he is, he ends with this one-I am the true vine. And he tells his friends, abide in me, live in me, dwell in me, and I will live in you.
But this gospel is more than just living or abiding in Jesus. He teaches that it’s not just about knowing him. It’s about becoming different.
Earl Weaver, long time manager of the Baltimore Orioles, was known especially for his ability to be able to “bait” umpires. He could harass umps with the best of them. His favorite and most devastating taunt when he disputed a call, was to come flying out of the dugout, get right in the face of the umpire, and scream this question, “”Are you gonna get any better or IS THIS IT?”
Am I gonna get any better or is this it?
When early Christians were first meeting, gathering as a church for the first times, they struggled with two questions-who were they going to be, and who was Jesus. The letter from 1st John addressed the first. They were called to love each other. It was not any easier then than it is now. They struggled, they fought, they felt guilt and shame, they hated and were selfish, jealous and vengeful, they despaired-but they also felt hope. They believed that something new and better than their old life was possible. They believed that they could become someone different, someone new. They believed that God was whittling away, pruning their lives. And that’s where the gospel comes in.
Jesus said, I know it is not easy. I know that sometimes it is very hard. But if you live in me, if you are connected to me, I can make it happen. I can make you happen. He talks about pruning the branches so they bear more fruit. Everyone knew what that meant. It meant whittling away the parts that weren’t the dog. Jesus told them that they were meant to live better lives, fuller lives, lives of value and hope: 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. He teaches them that they were meant to live lives of grace and love.
These two lessons from 1st John and the gospel of John, were written many years apart, but they continue the same teaching-we were meant for something greater. We were meant to be more, we were meant to live. It is the “how” that is the challenge. And the teaching from Jesus is straightforward-I love you, you will love others. We will pass this on. A lot of times, we don’t feel it. Often we struggle because the love doesn’t seem to be there, we can’t hear the voice, or feel God’s embrace. It is not easy to have parts of ourselves cut away, to think of parts of ourselves as branches that need to be pruned. It is often times hard to stay in love with others. There are days that we do not feel connected to the vine, to life, to God:
A young father was struggling the day of his wife's funeral, trying to put his son to bed. Both were numb with sorrow. The little boy asked, "Daddy, where is Mommy?" The father tried to answer the question, but the little boy kept asking, "Where is Mommy? When is she coming back?" After a lot of attempts to satisfy his son, the father picked up the little boy and put him in his own bed. Finally, the little boy reached out his hand through the darkness and placed it on his father's face, asking, "Daddy, is your face toward me?" Given assurance, the boy said, "If your face is toward me, I think I can go to sleep." The father lay beside the young son and prayed, "O God, the way is dark and I do not see my way through it right now, but if your face is toward me, somehow I think I can make it."
Inside each of us is the image of God. In the Easter season, we learn that it is love that is pruning us, whittling away at all that is not that image, letting God live in us. Some days it is dark and we cannot see God’s face. And on those days, we must be God to one another. We are to love and to show that love and to preach that love, and to cast out all fear, all darkness, all that is not God. This is the Easter season. This is the time that we show the world that we abide in Christ, and that we look and love like God. Amen.
1 John 4:7-21
7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9God=E 2s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son o f God, and they abide in God. 16So 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.
17Love 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. 18There 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. 19We love because he first loved us. 20Those 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. 21The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also

15”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide 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. 5I am the vin e, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.