“Finding the dog in the Block”

Sermon-Year B-5Easter-May 6, 2012 “Finding the dog in the Block”

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."

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 several prominent men knew that there were serious problems in Colson’s family and came forward and volunteered to serve his jail term out for him so he could be released early.  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.  Colson was being pruned and didn’t even know it-until he realized that he was a new shape.

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”

1.   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}

2.   "I am the light of the world." _{John 8:12, 9:5}

3.   "I am the door of the sheep." _{John 10:7, 9}

4.   "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." _{John 10:11, 14}

5.   "I am the resurrection, and the life." _{John 11:25}

6.   "I am the way, the truth, and the life." _{John 14:6}

7.   "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 light of the world, the door of the sheep, 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, make your home in me and I will make my home in you.

But this gospel is more than just abiding or making our home in Jesus.  He teaches that it’s not just about knowing him. It’s about becoming different, a new person.

“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?  Am I going to change my shape, look different, be 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 1^st 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 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 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 it 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 1^st 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. You live in me, I will live in you.  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.

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?" He 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, he 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 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 whittle away at all that is not that image, letting God make his home  in us.  Some days it is dark and we cannot see God’s face.  At times we’re being pruned and shaped, and don’t even know it. But this is the Easter season. This is the 5o days that we learn that God’s face is towards us.This is the time that we show the world that we make our home in Christ, and he makes his home in us.  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’s 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 of 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.

John 15:1-8

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 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.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