Abide with Me

Fifth Sunday in Easter

Acts 8: 26-40

I John 4: 7-21

John 15: 1-8

ABIDE WITH ME

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

                Many of us can’t sing the hymn, “Abide with Me,” without a tear in our eye as we think of loved ones for whom the words had deep meaning.

                One of my favorite Greek words is MENEO.  It is often translated into English as “to remain” or “to dwell.”  But my preferred translation is the word “abide.”  I like it because it’s a word we hardly ever use anymore, except when we read something from the scriptures attributed to John.  Even then most modern translations do their hardest to avoid using the word “abide.”  I believe that old-fashioned, church word is still the best for capturing the true meaning of MENEO.

                Our readings for today preserve the word “abide.”  Search for it in the Gospel lesson from John and you’ll find it eight times; in the epistle lesson from I John, six times.  It was a favorite word for the writings of John because, I believe, it was a favorite word of Jesus.

                The power of the word “abide” is illustrated by Jesus in the image of the vine and the branches.  Jesus identifies himself as Yahweh, (I AM) the vine, and we are the branches.  As the branches abide in the vine and as we abide in Jesus, so is good fruit produced.  So the word has to convey some sense of connectedness, of interdependence.  Life blood flows through that connectedness.  When branches no longer abide in the vine, they wither and die.  We have old, dying trees on the parsonage property.  With every wind storm, branches, no longer connected to the life blood of the tree, no longer producing leaves, wither, break off and fall to the ground.  A natural pruning takes place.  So abiding in Jesus is crucial for our life, for our survival; for our worth and for our value; for apart from Him we can do nothing.

                I don’t think it escaped the intention of Jesus or the notice of the disciples that the fruit of the vine was being identified with the life blood of Jesus; the connection made real for us in the meal of Holy Communion.

                In the epistle of I John, our second lesson, the word “abide” is intimately connected with the Greek word AGAPE, divine love.  Those who abide in love, abide in God and God abides in them.  For the apostle, love is the greatest of all gifts, the greatest fruit of the Spirit.  “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love.  Yes, they’ll know we belong to Christ by our love.”  So abiding has something to do with the deep intimacy of love.  Wow, that is an important word!

                Perhaps it would help to define MENEO by what it is not.  MENEO does not mean “to visit.”  It is not to drop in on someone, invited or not, expecting to share and enjoyable time together, but not expecting to stay.  Visiting comes with an ending and an automatic out.  MENEO does not.

                MENEO does not mean moving in together.  That has lost so much meaning over the past years.  Moving in together has become a matter of convenience and experimentation rather than any sense of commitment or permanence.

                MENEO does not even mean “to dwell.”  Last month Christa and I toured the impressive cliff dwellings of the Synagua Native Americans in Arizona.  Built into the sides of mountains, like at Solomon’s Castle, or surrounding a lake of water, like at Montezuma Well, the structures remain but the people do not.  With each location comes the mystery of why they disappeared. Cliff dwellings housed people for over 500 years, and then the people were gone.  That’s not the meaning of MENEO.

                But still we have only scratched the surface of this powerful word.  Let’s explore other times when Jesus uses this word, “abide.”

                We can go to the very beginning of the ministry of Jesus.  In the Gospel of John, the very first invitation Jesus gives as he calls disciples is not “Follow me,” but rather “Come and see.”  The would-be disciples go and they ABIDE with Jesus.  Abiding with Jesus was the source of their calling to be disciples.  It was their connectedness to Jesus.  They could not bear the fruits of discipleship until they had abided in the presence of Jesus.

                Then, at the very end of his ministry as Jesus spoke with his disciples in anticipation of and in preparation for his death, he promises them the comfort of knowing that “in my father’s house are many abiding places.”  God’s love will surround Jesus and so also us when we draw our last human breath.  And death will not be a pruning of the branches, because we will still be abiding with Jesus.

                Now, here’s the thing.  As important and as powerful as this word MENEO, “abiding,” obviously is, we have to remember that Jesus didn’t speak Greek.  Believing, as I do, that John is thinking in Hebrew and translating into Greek, I have to ask the question, “What is the Hebrew word that Jesus is speaking and that John is thinking?”  If rooms in God’s heavenly mansion are called “abiding places,” or “dwelling places,” then I can’t help but think of the ending of the 23^rd Psalm: “And I will DWELL in the house of the Lord forever.”  That Hebrew word for “dwell’ is SHABBAT.  How interesting!  And I will Sabbath in the house of the Lord forever.  I will find rest for my soul.  I will worship God in eternal glory.  Abiding in God’s presence, I will dwell in peace.

                The writer of the Prologue of the Gospel of John, most of the first chapter, also wants to convey the power of this concept.  The writer wants to emphasize that abiding is less about what we must do and more about what God has done for us.  Abiding is not a work; abiding is a gift from God.  So it is written that the word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Only the word used for dwelling was not MENEO, but rather ESKENE.  ESKENE is a Greek word based upon the Hebrew concept of building a tabernacle, of God pitching a tent in the midst of our campground of life, of God revealing total glory in human presence in the person of Jesus.

                So the fact that God abides with us is a pure gift.  It is a statement of God’s grace.  God wants to Sabbath with us.  God wants to give us rest.  God wants to fill us with peace.  God wants us to worship in the very presence of divine glory.  To refuse to abide with Jesus, to forget to Sabbath with Jesus, to reject his skene, the presence of his glory, is a fate worse than death.  It means living worthless lives and having a purposeless existence.

                But those who abide in Jesus, or rather and better yet, know that Jesus abides with them, they know the true meaning of love in their lives and they bear the good fruit of faith in their words and deeds.  I’ll never forget when Lydia Frick, the matron saint of the Emanuel congregation, told me that “Abide with Me” was her favorite hymn.

                I wasn’t at all surprised.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto eternal life.  AMEN.

Oma & Googa (4/22/12)

The Third Sunday in Easter

April 22, 2012

First Lesson – Acts 3: 12-19

Second Lesson - I John 3: 1-7

Gospel Lesson – Luke 24: 36-48

OMA and GOOGA

                Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

                It is now the third time having had this experience as a grandparent, but because our grandson, Slater, lives so far away and we don’t get to see him as often as we do Gabriel and Abigail, it is that much more amazing.  How is it that this one and a half year old child, who sees us only two times a year, can immediately and unquestioningly bond with Oma and Googa?

                As a parent, I never thought twice about it.  We were with our children 24 hours a day and seven days a week; all day and (for the first six years) all night.  The parent/child relationship is a working relationship, but being a grandparent is a miraculous blessing.  Many of you who are grandparents may identify with this.  For others of you, think about a special relationship you may have had with a grandmother or grandfather.

                It is not unlike the question I’ve always wondered about the post-resurrection experiences of the disciples of Jesus.  How did they know it was him, risen from the dead, alive in their midst?  In today’s Gospel lesson, the disciples can only image Jesus to be a ghost.  That’s the only thing that made sense to them.  That was the only plausible explanation to his presence.  Earlier in this same chapter of Luke’s Gospel, two disciples travel on the road to Emmaus, walking and talking with Jesus without any idea who he is, until the revelation is made.

                I thought a lot about this while on vacation because 1) well, we were visiting with Becky, Ben and Slater in Las Vegas and 2) I had been listening to a book written by the atheist author, Sam Harris called The End of Faith, in which he tries his hardest to disprove faith with many mental gymnastics and Biblical misinterpretations.  But it begged the question: “How do we know Jesus is real?”

                For little Slater, I can identify two important factors in his acceptance of the revelation of who his Oma and Googa are:

1)      Becky and Ben, and Ben’s mother, Denise, are witnesses to the fact that Oma and Googa exist.  They tell Slater stories about his grandparents and surround his room with pictures, going through a litany of family members in his evening prayers.  So then, when we do arrive, Slater has some idea what to look for.

2)      When Christa and I are with him, we do “grandparent” type things.  You know, Oma helps to feed him at meals and sings him songs and changes his diapers.  And Googa plays with his blocks, I mean, I play with him playing with his blocks and carry him on my shoulders.  And together, we take him to the park to play on the slides and sing swinging songs together.

And in those two experiences Slater knows, he just seems to miraculously know that these are his grandparents, that they belong to him, that they love him and that he loves his Oma and Googa.

Do you see the Jesus connection?

1)      Jesus, by his preaching and teaching prepared his disciples for one day being able to see the face of God, his Father.  His life would be an example of what to expect in a victorious and glorified God that would be real in their lives.  He told them to pick up their cross and follow him.  That sounds pretty intentional.  He even predicted his suffering, death and resurrection.  And he taught them, “I am telling you these things now, so that when they do occur, you may believe.”

2)      And then, after his death and resurrection, he did “Jesus” type things to open up their eyes to his presence.  He greets the huddled disciples by saying, “Peace be with you,” after having departed from them with the words, “My peace I leave with you.”  He lets them see the nail holes and his pierced side, just like what happened to him at his crucifixion.  And he eats with.  Wasn’t that the very last thing Jesus did together with his disciples?

And their eyes were opened to his resurrected presence.  They just miraculously knew that it was Jesus.  The promise of God’s love had been revealed to them.   And after their eyes and minds had be opened to the reality of Jesus in their presence, he commanded them that repentance and the forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.  And he added, “You are witnesses of these things.”

                We are so blessed that our parents and our godparents, our teachers and pastors of the past told us the stories, surrounded us with pictures and music, and prepared us to know what to watch for to see the God of love, to have Jesus be revealed to us, so that we might miraculously just know the God of our ancestors, the God who loves us and the God whom we can love.

                And now it’s our job, our parental responsibility, to let our children know that they have a heavenly parent, better yet – a grandparent – who is real and never far away.  It’s our turn to tell the stories, describe the pictures, sing the songs, and prepare the table.  Or else they won’t know what to look for.  It would never be that God isn’t there.  It’s just that they wouldn’t know because no one ever told them that God is in the sunset, that Jesus sits at table with them and eats with them, that when someone comforts them it is with the embrace of the loving arms of Jesus.

                But, after being thus prepared, when God comes into their lives in God’s good time – and in Jesus, the promise of God is made so we know that God will do it – when God comes into their lives in the sharing of peace, in the forgiveness of sins, in the sharing of the meal; when God comes into their lives as Jesus carries us on his shoulders, as Jesus plays with us and comforts us, as Jesus breaks bread with us, they will miraculously just know it.          AMEN.

                May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Have You Seen Jesus, My Lord

Have you ever looked at the sunset
With the sky mellowing red,

Seen the clouds suspended like feathers?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord.

Chorus:

Have you seen Jesus my Lord?

He's here in plain view.

Take a look, open your eyes,
He'll show it to you.

Have you ever stood at the ocean
with the white foam at your feet?

Felt the endless thunderin' motion?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord. (Chorus)

Have you ever looked at the cross,
with a man hanging in pain?

And the look of love in his eyes?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord. (Chorus)

Have you ever stood in the family
With the Lord there in your midst?

Seen the face of Christ on each other?

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord. (Chorus)

ALL THAT'S KNOWN

This song deals with the role of education. Is it just to pump us full of facts, or to challenge us to critical thinking? When education is just teaching to the test then it becomes dull and uninspiring. But education may open you up to new possibilities within yourself. Does Latin or Astronomy have anything to do with who you are as a person? I never understood English until I took Latin. I never understood myself, much less God, until I seriously studied theology.

Read LUKE 2:41-52 for the story of the young Jesus in the temple. The 4th Commandment calls us to honor father and mother. Jesus ignored father and mother on the trip home from Jerusalem to the point of their scared concern, but then is amazed that they could not understand that he must be "about my Father's business." What role does "those in authority" play in helping or hindering your process to self-awareness and discovery?

Think about your own Sunday School or, especially, catechetical (confirmation class) instruction. If it was a good experience for you, it may have a positive impact on your faith development. If it was a bad experience for you, it my have turned you off completely to any faith development. I once had a student in confirmation class who never returned to class or to church after he didn't get the bike for Christmas that he had been praying for. We didn't study the Lord's Prayer soon enough for him!

Jesus debating with the teachers in the temple seemed to be saying, "Just watch me! One day all will know." Do you feel like the circumstance of growth and life are holding you back? The powerful message of the ministry of Jesus had to wait about 18 more years before he was mature and wise enough to be able to share it with the world.

"I'm calling," cries out Melchior. Is anybody listening to you as you call out for true learning and for someone to take you and your ideas seriously? What are you calling out for the world to know about you?

All That's Known - LYRICS

MELCHIOR
All that’s known
In History, in Science
Overthrown
At school, at home, by blind men

You doubt them,
And soon they bark and hound you
Till everything you say is just another bad about you

All they say
Is “Trust in what is written”
Wars are made
And somehow that is wisdom

Thought is suspect
And money is their idol
And nothing is okay unless it’s scripted in their Bible

But I know
There’s so much more to find
Just in looking through myself, and not at them

Still, I know
To trust my own true mind
And to say there’s a way through this

On I go
To wonder and to learning
Name the stars and know their dark returning

I’m calling
To know the world’s true yearning
The hunger that a child feels for everything they’re shown

You watch me
Just watch me
I’m calling
And one day all will know

Mama Who Bore Me

From the moment of our birth we begin to question our existence. We question our value as individuals. We question those who are influencial in our lives. We question the existence of God because we have suddenly been removed from it.
READ Psalm 14 and Psalm 22:6-11
What is meant by the concept of original sin? What is your reaction to being told that we are sinful human beings from our birth? Where do you place yourself on the scale between perfect and imperfect?
READ Jeremiah 1:5 and Luke 2:19
Or do you believe God has a plan for your life from the very beginning? Jesus was born in meager circumstances, in humble surroundings, with a suddenly absent father, yet overcame the obstacles in his life to make a profound difference in the world.
Did angels announce your birth (that is to say: Do you have any story to tell about any unusual, special or unique situations of your birth)?
READ Luke 2:34-35
In the song, Wendla accuses her mother of not adequately preparing her for the pain of life. What role do parents play in helping to develop your identity? What role should parents play in your faith development?
To light a candle: sounds like an Advent theme to me! So where is hope for the future to be found? "Christ will come a -callin'" Do you find hope in those words - a possibility of new birth and new life - or just more disillusionment?
"When he comes, they don't know how to go." Are we missing out on something? In this world of sin, do we fail to respond to the hope and the grace that God has to offer in the birth of Jesus?
"No sleep in heaven, or Bethlehem." Just curious-what do you think that means?
In the following reprise of the song, the music changes from a slow ballad to an active rock genre as if to say that in each new age of development, from infant to teen to adult, it keeps getting more and more complicated!

Mama Who Bore Me - Lyrics

For music and videos, check out "Spring Awakening" on YouTube.

Mama who bore me, Mama who gave me
No way to handle things,
Who made me so sad.

Mama, the weeping; Mama, the angels
No sleep in heaven, or Bethlehem

Some pray that one day Christ will come a-calling
They light a candle and hope that it glows
And some just lie there, crying for him to come and find them
But when he comes they don't know how to go.

Mama who bore me, Mama who gave me
No way to handle things,
Who made me so sad.

Mama, the weeping; Mama, the angels
No tears in heaven, or Bethlehem.

Spring Awakening III

INCARNATIONAL THEOLOGY: God resides in human flesh and blood.

READ the Gospel of John, chapter one, verses 1-18.
"The Word became flesh and abided with us, full of grace and truth." (v.14)
What does it mean to you that God took on human form? Do you think Jesus struggled with the same issues of identity and self-awareness as we do?

READ the Gospel of Matthew, chapter one, verse 23.
The Hebrew word "Immanuel" literally means "God with us." The words are quoted from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Some five hundred years before the birth of Jesus the intention of God to "pitch his tent" with us, to "tabernacle" with us, to dwell within the human experience was already revealed.
In what ways do you know that God is with you? Does it help to know at times when God seems far away to you that the promise of God has always been there from the beginning?
PJ