June  17, 2018                    We Walk By Faith                                 

        A few weeks ago, I was sitting with the Dekalb Clergy group, and the question that our Prairie Association Minister asked us was, “What stood out in your experience at Seminary?” Now when I was in Seminary, it was a unique time for Eden. I was in the first class where there were more women, and more second career people, than there were white males. I believe there were 6 of us, four men and two women who came directly out of college to seminary.

And I remember the focus the faculty put on writing gender inclusive papers, and I remember the focus of trying to create a generationally inclusive campus for those who had families, and I remember some regular rants by classmates – who were unsure of their call – against the “traditional male college graduate model” of church seminaries.

But the thing I remember most, was my decision not to allow these focuses and rants to divide me from my class mates – because it was my father, my aunt and uncle, and my grandfather, who were all UCC ministers, who worked for the inclusion of women, people of color, and lay people in the ministry of the church. You see, in a world that denied or questioned the ability of these people to be ministers, my family walked not by what they saw in the world, but by faith in what could be for the world.

        As I reflected on our bible passages this morning, I realized that they were all about walking in faith, rather than walking by sight. Samuel saw as the world saw, David as a ruddy weakling who could barely keep the sheep safe, but God saw in David someone who could not only keep sheep safe, but lead armies, and be a King over Israel.

In the gospel lesson, the farmer plants the crop, fertilizes it, and stands ready to weed it. Then he watches it rain, and drought, and the high winds blow, he know that that there are a hundred ways that his crop will come to ruin, and yet – “he knows not how” – it comes to harvest. He plants because he believes, he walks not by what he sees, but by faith, and his faith more times than not, is rewarded.

        So this morning, I thought I would share one example of our need to walk by faith rather than sight, so that we might realize the harvest of God’s kingdom in our lives.

        Those who walk by faith speak the truth to one another. This week I did premarital counseling with a couple and I told them that the word truth comes from the old English word “troth”. And the old English word “betrothed” describes a relationship in which people are true to each other. To be "trothed" to one another means that we do not hide things from one another, that we do not tell lies to one another, that we are faithful in all our dealings with each other, and that we respect one another.

This what a philosopher might call a methodology of human truth. Just as a scientist might control an experiment by maintaining the proper conditions, Truth in human life is a matter of proper behavior toward one another. If that behavior is love for one another, than truth or troth is the result. This is the truth that Jesus speaks of when he says, I am the way, the truth and the life. This is the truth that comes from loving our neighbor as ourselves, and from Jesus laying down his life for us.

        But our world today tells us that we are all in competition with one another, that it is ok to hide the facts, tell lies, break our promises, and think less of those around us. One needs only look at our news today, to see examples of arrogant people, who tell lies, break promises and share only the facts that are to their advantage. When we see how the world does this, we see how broken it is, how much division and suffering it generates. And worse, when we participate in this worldly behavior, it may make our lives better in the moment, but over time it is just as destructive to us. And even worse than that, is what it does to our children when we teach them to lie, break promises, and seek only their advantage.  

        Those who walk by faith rather than sight, understand that there are disadvantages to speaking the truth and living the truth in the world. But they also understand that speaking the truth and living the truth are our only hope of salvation. Our only hope of a world we cannot see now, but one that in faith we believe in. A world in which people tell the truth, keep their promises, do not hide or ignore facts for their own benefit. A world that is not broken by division and suffering, but a world that is filled with truth, peace and love. A world in which we solve our problems, rather than allow them to go unresolved.  And that is the Good News of Jesus Christ!

        

June 10, 2018                         Part of the Family                          

This week, I was going around asking people where the best fish restaurants were in the area. I did this because, for a number of years I lived in Smithton, IL. And Smithton, was settled by northern germans who ate fish in Germany, and brought their recipes with them. Fried Catfish, Fried Walleye, Fried Bluegill, but especially fried Cod. Every restaurant and tavern in town, all 4 of them had fish on the menu. And every summer there were three town picnics at the park, where the main dish was fried cod. Fried Cod in a heavily spiced corn meal batter. I never liked fish before I moved to Smithton, but they really knew how to fry fish.

Anyway, my story this morning is about one of the members of the church I served in Smithton, who I had the chance to share a table with at one of these fish fries. Now as I said, he was a member of the church I served in Smithton, and he came to the Sunday morning bible studies and seemed genuinely interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ, about God’s love for us all, and God’s forgiveness of us which calls us to love and forgive one another. But what I didn’t know was that a number of years ago, he had a falling out with his brother, and his brother had stopped coming to church.  

Well, as I said, I met this man at the park and he went on for at least a half hour about his brother, and about all they had done to each other, and how their feud had gone on for some 10 years, and they hadn’t spoken in the last 5. And when he finally took a break to draw another breathe, I said, “Wow, you must really love your brother”.  “Love my brother?” He answered, “Pastor haven’t you been listening to what I have been saying for the last half hour?” “Yes,” I replied, “but you must really love your brother to carry this grudge for him for 10 years.” And then I said, “If this was a member of the congregation that you had an argument with, what would Jesus expect you to do?” And the man replied, “Well that’s church!, this is my family.”

Funny thing isn’t it? How some people think you should treat family different from you church family. Some think you should treat your biological family better than others, and some think you should treat your church family better than others. And I think that is where our gospel lesson comes in this morning. Jesus is off preaching and doing a wonderful ministry of healing and caring for others. But here comes Mary, and his brothers and sisters. They’ve come for an intervention, to call him back to his true family, to stop this craziness, rather than continue on in this ministry. And what is Jesus reply? Who are my mother and brothers? Whoever does the will of God.

Dr. William Willamon, professor of preaching at Duke University tells a story of a woman who grew up with an abusive father, and married an abusive man. One time, after she had been struck by her husband, she had to go to the store. With the bruise still on her cheek, she put on some make-up to hide the bruise and went to the store. There the checker noticed the bruise and told her, “Honey, I know exactly what your going through, I went through it too, you need to go to church!” The checker asked for her phone number and residence and told her she would pick her up for church at 8 am. Sure enough, the woman went to church, and years later, when asked why she loved her church, she said, “Because they have been the family God intended me to have.”

Now I am not saying that all church families are better than our biological families, some are, some aren’t. But what I am saying, is that if we live and love and treat each other as God wills for us to do, then we will find that family of God in which we are mothers and brothers and sisters all of one another.

One final note. A few weeks ago I was talking with my neighbor about his church, and the wonderful church family he had there. And I said, “You know, I don’t think young people realize how important a church family can be. I know they run into hypocrites in the church, and that’s a big turn off for the younger generation, but in churches I have found so many wonderful people who help each other through injury, illness, surgery, divorce, loss of a job or home, family problems and the death of a loved one, I think that a lot of people are missing out on that family that God wills for them to have, and maybe by becoming a part of that family, it can even help them to show their own families, however broken they may be, how to be a part of God’s family as well

Oh, and that man I talked about earlier, called his brother, and they talked, and the man’s brother eventually came to church on Sundays again.

And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

June 3, 2018              A Sabbath Rest                                        

          This morning, our scripture readings contain two passages which speak about the Sabbath day. The first is the passage from Deuteronomy, which expands upon the commandment to keep the Sabbath day, and the other passage comes to us from the gospel of Mark, where Jesus tells the Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. 

         Walter Brueggeman, a famous UCC professor and preacher, noted that once upon a time, there was no Sunday, no Sabbath. The slaves in Israel worked every day of the week. When Moses asked Pharoah if they could go have a festival to worship their God, Pharoah replied that the slaves had too much time on their hands, and that from then on would make bricks without straw. This meant that in their time off, probably after sunset, they had to go glean the fields for the straw they needed. And so, we have this picture of the Israelites working 24 hours a day in shifts, 7 days a week without rest.

         Reflecting upon his comments, I remember that years ago, there used to be “blue laws” that forbade businesses from operating on Sunday. Last week, someone mentioned that Wednesdays used to be church night, but now groups schedule events then, and on Sunday mornings as well. Someone once told me, “that the younger generation has taken back Sunday for themselves”, but what is it they have gained?  Another day for games, trips, vacations, and parties? Another day for some to celebrate themselves, and another day for some to work overtime? Another day of buying and selling, of stress, debt, and worry, 7 days a week without rest?

         God gave the Sabbath commandment to the Israelites, so that they could rest from Pharoah’s 24/7 oppressive cycle of consumption and production. The Sabbath commandment was given not just for them to rest, but to provide rest for their families, friends, and even foreigners and strangers, to not demand work from them either. The Sabbath commandment was given to us, to break this oppressive cycle in whatever nation God’s followers found themselves.

         So what should we do on Sunday, our Christian Sabbath? First of all, find a community of faith and join them in worshipping God. Second, find a way to serve others, to listen to their problems, and to meet their needs. Third, spend some quality time with your family, some activity where you actually have a chance to communicate and interact with them personally. Now some may say, “I can do that on Wednesday night, or Saturday afternoon”. Great!  That’s when you do your Sabbath – but be honest with yourself, Sabbath is God centered and focused on others. It is a day of rest from the “me” centered life, which the Pharoah’s of today’s world use to divide and enslave us.

         In closing, I would note from our gospel lesson, that when Jesus challenged the authority of the Pharisees, by allowing his disciples to pick grain on the Sabbath for their own nourishment, and by healing the man with the withered hand, they began to plot to destroy him.

         I think this is Mark''s way of telling us that the world wants us to turn away from our observance of the Sabbath law. To skip Sundays for this and that reason, to meet the demands of parents or kids, or sports teams, social clubs, or whatever. But God has commanded a Sabbath day, not for God, but for you, to be freed of these demands, and to give you a true rest from the world. And that is the good news of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

May 27, 2018                        Life in the Spirit                                  

         A few years ago, I heard a speaker at a College Graduation ceremony tell a group of graduates about the challenge of life that they would be facing as they went out into the work world. “The challenge of life,” he said, “was not to stay a live, but to stay in love!” And then he told the following story.

         There was once a study done of 700 MBA students, for those who don’t know, MBA means Masters of Business Administration. Anyway, those 700 students were asked why they were getting their degrees. Of the 700 students, 500 said they were getting their degree to make money and pay their bills. The remaining 200 said they were getting their degree because it would help them make what they loved doing into a business.

         Now, 10 years later, all 700 of these students were contacted again, and the funny thing is, of the 500 who said they were getting their degree to make money, only 1 had become a millionaire. And even more interesting, was that of the 200 who said they were getting their degree to so they could do what they loved, 107 had become millionaires.

         “And so,” he told them, “The challenge of living is not to stay alive, but to stay in love!”

         I thought of this story because all three of our scripture passages this morning speak about the difference between living life in the flesh and living life in the Spirit.  and the life of the spirit. When we live solely for the purpose of staying alive, for the purpose of accumulating things, or wealth, or pleasures, we are living according to the flesh!

But when we live for the purpose of love, for the purpose of creating, or being reconciled to others, for sharing the abundance of God’s grace and gifts with one another, then we are living according to the Spirit. So as Christians, the challenge of life, is not to live according to the flesh, but to live with that passion of love for God and for one another that is life in the Holy Spirit.

         Now all three of our scripture passages this morning are all concerned specifically with what it means to live according to the Spirit in the context of religion.

         Isaiah is a priest in the temple of Jerusalem, he has lived a holy life according to the law. He has offered sacrifices for the sins of others on numerous occasions. He is above reproach in all his dealings with humankind.

But in the presence of God, he recognizes that for all his human virtue, he is just as lost and sinful as any sinner in the world. And so he cries out to God, and God forgives his sin, and then God calls and sends Isaiah out into the world to proclaim his message.

         And for those who have read the message of Isaiah, one knows that the message of the book of Isaiah is that God’s will and God’s laws should not be done according to the flesh, for personal gain or appearance or profit. But that God’s will and laws should be done simply for the love of God, to create life, to reconcile people to one another, and to show God’s mercy and compassion and justice for all.

         Paul himself knows all about the difference between life in the flesh and life in the Spirit. In his ministry, Paul is constantly beset by Judaizers. Jewish people who demand that all of Paul’s converts live according to God’s law. But Paul knows the error of the Jewish religion. That using the laws of God, or any law, as a means for personal salvation is using religion as a means to live according to the flesh.

But to live in with that same passion and love for one another that God has shown to us in Jesus Christ, is to live according to the Spirit. Again, as in Isaiah’s message, This Spirit is a spirit of love by which we seek to create life rather than destroy it, to reconcile people to one another rather than divide them, and to seek justice and mercy and compassion for all people, rather than seek the injustice of our own advantage over others.  

         People who live in this Spirit, Paul contends, are far more likely to fufill God’s law, because if they love God, they will joyfully do what God commands. While those who live according to the flesh, will grumble, avoid, and twist God’s commands to their own ends.

         And Jesus this morning discusses with Nicodemus the religion of the flesh that the Jews have created with life in the Spirit to which one must be born in order to be saved. Now the Jewish leaders of Jesus day, had created some 613 laws that must be observed for salvation, and they had turned their religion into a fleshly observance of these commands. As Jesus himself said, they had tied up heavy burdens upon the people, and did not lift a finger to help them. But Jesus helped them, by telling them that if they loved God, they would fulfill all the demands of the law. The focus of their faith shouldn’t be on the fleshly observance of the law, but on loving God, and in loving God, in loving neighbor.

        

         So what does this have to do with us. We don’t have a church that demands we obey all the Jewish laws, we don’t refuse communion to those who the pastor or the church council decide have not done enough to receive it. But there is still that tension in our churches between the flesh and the spirit, there is still that tension between doing what we believe is enough to be saved, and living in the Spirit of God’s love. There is still that grumbling about what we must do to keep the church going, versus the joy of doing the work of the church and making a difference in people’s lives.

         This tension exists in every church, and in every church, there are wonderful examples of those who offer their lives in service to God and to one another. There are wonderful examples of people who live in the Spirit, because they love God, and seek to realize God’s purposes and plan for their lives and for the world. These people do not come to worship, participate in missions, fellowship, and fundraisers  because they have to, they do so because they want to, they want to share God’s love with others, and with the whole world. And I encourage all of you to grow in that Spirit as well. For therein lies life in the Spirit and life everlasting! Amen.  

May 20, 2018              The Language of Love                           

I’d like to begin my sermon this morning, with an old testament passage that is not in our lectionary today. This passage is from the book of Genesis, in the 11^th Chapter verses 1-7.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. An as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly,” And they had clay for bricks and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with it’s top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the mortals had built. And the LORD said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.

As we read in our prayer of confession this morning, the purpose of God confusing the languages of humankind, was to lessen the human sin and suffering that came from humanity having one language. I know that sin and suffering are not apparent from the reading of the story, but there are two key phrases that indicate this. They had clay for brick and bitumen for mortar – is a reminder of the slavery of the Israelites. And nothing they propose to do will be impossible for them – which is a reminder that before the flood, humankind did whatever it proposed to do and it was evil in God’s sight. And so, God’s confusing of the languages of the people at the tower of Babel, was meant to lessen our human sufferings.

Now the reason for remembering the story of the tower of Babel this morning, is because of our reading of the story of Pentecost. Pentecost is the reversal of the Tower of Babel. In the second chapter of Acts, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon those who are gathered, and we get that whole list of peoples from basically all the known nations, are now speaking in their own languages, but understand each other through the one language, the language of God’s Spirit, the language of God’s love.

And the reason God has done this now, is because in Jesus Christ, the whole world has been given a sign, so that we will not enslave and oppress one another, and we will not allow the wickedness of human imagination to run rampant in our lives.

Now, many will say, that oppression and wickedness run rampant in our lives today, and I would agree with you, there are a great many, who choose not to live in the Spirit of Christ, and great is the sin and suffering they cause among us. And when we see these things happening, we are called to remember that sign of Christ's death upon the cross, and turn from our willful and self destructive ways. And as followers of Jesus, we are called to proclaim the gospel, in the face of injustice and oppression, and the healing of a broken world. 

And I would also say, that despite the oppression and wickedness we see in the world, we forget about all of the people who choose to live in the Spirit of Christ, who choose to live with love in their lives. There are a great many more of these in the world, whose daily thoughtfulness, concern for others and sense of justice for all, goes unremarked and unreported in the news.

Every time, I hear of a poll of Americans, where 70 or 80% display the kind of justice, compassion, and mercy revealed to us in Jesus Christ, I am heartened. I am reminded that there are far more people out there whose lives may not be perfect, but who have a love for others in their hearts. I know that this love is present in the lives of our members, but I encourage you to keep at it, your love makes a difference. And I encourage you to grow in that love, so that you may continue to take part in God’s plan for the salvation of the world!  

Which brings me to something I saw yesterday. Yesterday, was the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle. And at the Wedding they invited the Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Chicago to give a sermon. In that sermon he quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. telling us that we need to discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love in our lives, and then we will be able to make this old world, a new world, love is the only way.

And then he challenged those in attendance to imagine what the power of love could do in our homes and families, our neighborhoods and communities, our government and among the nations, even in our business and commerce. When love is our way - unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive love, - no child will go to bed hungry,  poverty will become history, the earth will be a sanctuary, justice will roll down like water, and humankind will study war no more. When love is our way, we will treat all people like family, as brothers and sisters, as children of God. And then he conclude his sermon talking about the harnessing of fire, and how it had forever changed the world, and if we could just learn how to harness love, it would have the same impact and effect on our lives.

And as I listened to that sermon, I thought about our story from Acts this morning. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the tongues of fire resting on each one of those gathered, the people with so many different languages speaking on one language, the language of love. That’s what God was doing at Pentecost, the fire of God's love had been harnessed in Jesus Christ, and now poured out upon his followers, so that we may make this old world new, so that we may bind up those who are broken, so that we might overcome sin and suffering of this world, and live as one throughout the whole wide earth.

And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ!

May 6, 2018             As God Has Loved Us                                    

This past week, I read a story about a young preacher at his first church. This young preacher was out to save peoples lives and the world along with it. He was especially passionate about God’s love for us in Jesus Christ. He preached in his sermons about the difference between love for ourselves and love for others. He preached about how love for ourselves was selfish and self-indulgent, and that the world would only be saved when we learned to love one another, as God loved us, in giving ourselves to one another as Jesus gave himself for us on the cross.

One Good Friday, the young preacher was asked to preach at the community service. There three churches gathered. In his sermon that day, he spoke about the difference between our love for ourselves and God’s love, and he spoke about how it had crept into our churches, and even into the hymnal. He held up the example of “In the Garden - he walks with ME, and talks with ME, and tells ME I am his own. It’s not about ME” he said, and then he spoke about the glory of Jesus giving up his life on the cross for us and for the world, and how in that sacrifice we needed to learn to do the same for one another.

A few weeks later, an elderly farmer, who had been wrestling with cancer, drew near to death. The young preacher rushed to the hospital to be with him and his family. Now this farmer was just like the salt of the earth people known in every church. Always there for us and for others, always finding ways to serve, always finding ways to bless others with their presence. The young preacher prayed a prayer with the family around his bed, about how God’s love in the farmer had touched the lives of the church, and how he would always be with them.

At the end of the prayer, the farmer smiled and told his family that he was ready to go, that he loved them, and he told the young preacher, how much he appreciated his constant care, his sermons, and his wonderful singing voice. And then he said, that he knew that young preacher, would sing “In the Garden” for him at his funeral, because he always loved that song. And then the farmer was gone. And sure enough, that young preacher sang “In the garden” for him, in front of the church, and the whole community who had gathered to give God thanks for the farmer.

This morning, in the gospel of John, Jesus tells his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has a greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  

I’m sure you understand, why I told the story of the young preacher and the farmer. The young preacher laid down his life, and sang that song, as an act of Christ like love for the farmer. As the young preacher had preached so passionately, God’s love is all about loving others, even if it means surrendering ourselves to their will. And that’s a struggle for people. It’s something we don’t practice a whole lot. In our worldly lives, we are in fact discouraged from practicing this kind of love for others. But this is not an abusive surrendering of our will, this is the surrendering of our will that allows others to be themselves, and frees us from the sin of needing to be in control of others. And at times, it does cost us not getting what we want, but many times getting what we want isn't good for us or others. It’s a skill that takes some practice, but it’s well worth it.

 The good news is, despite the world repeatedly telling us this kind of love is foolishness, that people have not been stopped from finding and forming friendships, the kind of friendships in which we can act on one another’s behalf. I have a number of good friends, who I trust can clearly discern the difference between their will and mine. Friends who I trust to act on my behalf, if I ever need them. Families learn to develop this kind of friendship, in which children learn to trust their parents, and parents in time, learn to trust their children. And husbands learn to trust their wives, and wives their husbands, at least that’s how it’s supposed to work. They learn to act not of their own will, but in the best interests and will of each other. I know I have detoured into the word friendship, but this kind of friendship is “agape”, one of the greek words for love, specifically God’s love, the love in which we give one another life!

Where can one find this kind of love and friendship, well you can find it in your local church. Yes, there are people in churches who don't practice their religion, but there are also plenty of wonderful people who do. In 4 churches I have experience people who are truly friends to their fellow members, and truly love as Jesus calls us to love one another. 

And that’s the Good News of Jesus Christ!  

April 29,2018                The True Vine                                       

This past week, I was reminded once again that there is a difference between our physical life, and our spiritual life. One of the main writers of the old testament, called the Yawhist, because of the name he used for God, speaks of God creating us from the dust of the earth and breathing into us the breathe of life. For the Yawhist, one could be physically alive and spiritually dead, or one could be physically alive and spiritually alive.

In the gospel of John, Jesus meets with Nicodemus, a leader of the Pharisees, who seems to have forgotten this teaching. Jesus tells him, he must be born of anew, and that being born anew is not a physical birth, but a birth of water and the spirit. The reference to being born of water is of course baptism – in which we put to death the desires of the flesh, and turn to life in the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

And so, keeping this in mind, I read the gospel passage this week about Jesus being the true vine, and tried to discern what the writer of John was trying to tell us this morning.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the Vinedresser. In our Epistle letter this morning, also written by John, we are told what the true vine is, it is God’s love for us revealed in Jesus Christ. That love is such that it gave up it’s physical life for us, so that we might live in the Spirit of God. In that passage, love is mentioned some 20 times, and it is that love for others in which we find life in the Spirit.

This week we had a memorial service for Jim Kroening, and as usual I spent time with the family and invited them to share their good memories of him. When I do this, what I am really looking for, are those memories in which this love for them was present in their lives. I am looking for memories of humility, grace, forgiveness, listening, healing, compassion, and concern for others. This is the Spirit of Christ, that gives life to us, and to each other. That is why Jesus is the vine, because in him we receive our Spiritual life and sustenance.

He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Those who do not love, do not have these kinds of life giving relationships. Remember the passage in which Jesus says, what will it profit you if you gain the whole world by give up your soul? If one does not have this kind of love in their hearts, they may have every physical desire they can acquire, but they are spiritually withered and dead. As for friends and family, how can one have relationships, if one does not love, if one only lives for themselves? I know as the vinedresser, that God is said to be the one who causes this to happen, but only insofar as God has ordained that love is the power by which we have life in the Spirit, if we choose not to love, than we condemn ourselves.

Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. Ahh, the pruning part of this verse, which is the most difficult part of this verse for me. Now some may think of this as the pruning we experience in facing difficult times in our lives. It is important to remember that these events do not come from God, but are the result of the powers of sin and death in our lives. In these moments, we are called to turn to God to find meaning, purpose, and strength to overcome these situations. 

But in our gospel lesson this morning, I am inclined to think that Jesus is more specifically talking about how faith in God leads us to prune our lives of our more wasteful practices that lead to sin and suffering in them. Other sermons and commentators I read this past week, focused on our human obsessions with wealth, fame, power, sports, music, collectibles, and etc. Obsessions that can lead us into temptation, sin, and suffering in our lives. But those who have life in the Spirit, as much as they enjoy these things, place first their relationships with others, seeing these things as a way to share their passions, and to experience the passions of others.  

When our relationships of love are the primary focus of our lives, then the things, pleasures, and experiences we have in our lives will not become corrupt. In all of this, our vinedresser prunes us, in order to bear the fruit of God's love in our lives. This pruning is not intended to harm us, but to help us to grow in our love for one another, and to grow in our experience of God’s love for us. For in that love there is life, and abundance, and everlasting life.

         My father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. This morning in our adult study class, I spoke about Jesus seeking to establish the kingdom of heaven here on earth. This cannot be done through force of arms, or even by most just of governments. It can only be done when people have a love in their hearts for one another. 

        In the days of the early church, the apostle's founded communities dedicated to this kind of love called churches. I see this love in our church, as this church family cares for each other, and for those beyond the church. I also see this love in the members of other churches as well. Despite the trials, sin and suffering in the world, there are many followers of Christ working together and in their lives to make this love known. To them, Jesus is the vine through which they are sustained, and they are the branches which bear much fruit! 

      And that is the Good News of Jesus Christ!