The
Intersection of Faith and Living: Keep your eyes on the road ahead.
By Rev. William E. Exner
“I am the vine, you are the branches and God is the vineyard
owner and grower. By this God is glorified,
that we bear good fruit”
John 15
Good earthy images. Jesus
was known for his gift of teaching the important things using good earthy images.
Today
he speaks to you and me with the message that the love and power of Christ flows
naturally from the very heart of God AND THAT BY EXTENSION–because you are baptized in Christ—part
of the beloved community you are now a branch—a
limb—growing naturally out of the life of Jesus. “I
am the vine, you are my branches. By this God is glorified when you bear good
fruit”. WHAT IS YOUR CALLING? To bear good fruit. WHAT IS YOUR DUTY? WHAT IS YOUR
PURPOSE? To bear good fruit
of the loving God. This
is a very important image and teaching to inform your
understanding of what
your life was given to you for. Your planting is so you can blossom and bear the fruit of love and life,
progess and compassion, joy and imspiration around you. What kind of fruit will you bear from now on? I think you get
the message. I know everyone hearing Jesus’ teaching that day understood what
he was saying too. This was part of his teaching
on living the one new commandment, the commandment to love one another as he loved
us. It comes
down to this, Those of us who would claim relationship
in Christ, citizenship in God’s vineyard as
branches of the Lord, must show faith in our lives what we profess in our
faith. You can’t claim to be a sunflower and
act like poison ivy. Our goal is for our actions to reflect Christ’s likeness if we would build our nest in the Tree of Life. That’s a down to earth image, its as clear as that.
The other night at Southern Convacation of the Episcopal
Diocese of N.H.,the 50 or so lay delegates and clergy were
asked a series of stirring questions, each having to do with what
kind of fruit we bear as Christians AND of what type
of fruit were we fed, in our formative experiences, from other people of faith. Questions like (1) NAME some people whose faith had the greatest impact on you.
(2) or SPEAK of people who you know that have been touched by your
faith. You see the type and taste of the faithful
fruit you bear makes an impact on other friends, positive
and otherwise. Jesus knew this well. That’s
why he told that earthy story urging you to be a source of the good fruit of compassion and
love for yourself and for others. You heard
strong echoes of this need in our other bible readings this morning. For in
truth all creatures great and small have a purpose on this earth a
good and worthwhile purpose. And for you and me, our purpose is to
center our souls in God’s saving embrace and let our moral compass guide us to
raise the level of conversation among people and nations. Ours
is to live as members of the beloved community, to act out of generousity and loving kindness, to grow and reach
out beyond ourselves as branches of Christ the true vine.
Pay heed to Jesus’ good earthy teachings and be an
extension of Christ’s love inside and out. It is meet and right so to do lest of course you awaken one day to a less gentle image or a
more pointed message like the one I’m about to read to
you where in you realize the mirror of the gospel is being held up to you and
the reflection speaks another truth………..
A harsh reality, something like
this-----------
A man was being tailgated by a stresses out woman on a busy boulevard.
Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing,
stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by
accelerating through the intersection.
The
tailgating woman hit the panic button, and the horn, screaming in frustration as
she “missed her chance” to get through the intersection. As she was still in
mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very
serious police office. The office ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.
He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed,
photographed, and placed in a holding cell.
After
a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was
escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting office was waiting with
her personal effects. He said “I’m very sorry for the mistake but you see, I pulled up behind your car while you were
blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing up a blue
streak at him. I noticed the ‘God is Love’ license plate holder, the ‘What
Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday-School’ window
sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I
assumed you had stolen the car.”
By this is God glorified?
NO By
this is glorified that you bear good fruit and so prove to my disciples. So don’t
you be speeding through the intersection of faith and life, OK? But also,
don’t just be another Sunday driver either. Rather bear the good fruit of
love, repay with a blessing that you might inherit a blessing.