Abiding

“My Father is glorified in this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”   John 15:8.

Become my disciples.  I was in Charlotte for a couple of days this week at a gathering of church leaders from a variety of traditions—Methodists, non-denominational, Vineyard, Pentecostal, Southern Baptist… I went because I have been exploring a ministry practice they have recognized and reproduced around the world.  It’s a growing movement called 3 DM that started in Sheffield, England.  It is a kind of revival or reformation movement within the church.  Its premise is that most congregations and church leaders have failed to make disciples of Jesus.  We have made good church people, but not disciples.  I know.  Because disciples are equipped to make more disciples.  To invite and challenge people into the Way of Jesus; a way of living life as children of God and representatives of His Kingdom mission to love all the people, places, and things that God loves and to take action consistent with that same love.  The love of Jesus is contagious, infectious and unstoppable.  Those who have caught it always pass it on.  Who have you discipled into relationship with God?  And there is no retirement age for disciples.  It is our mission as church.  To make disciples of Jesus by loving one another and the world God made.    

One thing that characterizes a disciple of Jesus is that we bear fruit.  That is we create or reproduce the love of Christ.  “Beloved let us love one another, because love is from God.”  So we know what bearing fruit looks like---it looks like the kind of love that Jesus offered to each of us.  So how do we know what Jesus’ love for you and me is like?  We abide in Him.

How many of you spent time abiding this week?  How does one abide?  It means to dwell with.  So how do we dwell with Jesus?  I suspect we experience His absence more than his presence most days.  We are too busy, already full. 

If the life of a disciple of Jesus is characterized by periods of abiding and periods of fruitfulness, what is the other way of life that most Americans live? How about Busyness and Burnout?  Or Work and exhaustion?  The new response to the question ‘How are you” is “Busy.”  People assume the answer.  Someone asked me, “How was Charlotte?”  Because they saw that I posted about it on Facebook.  They said “How was Charlotte, busy?”  Or for some it may be more like sloth and greed?  I do for me and little else of meaning or importance.  I think a generation has emerged in which that may be a choice. One may sit on the couch and eat be entertained.  That may be the choice for many.  Even some of us who are so busy.  We fill the silence, the stillness, the moments of inactivity with entertainment.  And so we fail to abide.  Its just too hard.  And what’s the point anyway?  Well, one point might be renewal of one’s mind and spirit.  When our lives are chaotic, hectic, and overscheduled we stop noticing and appreciating gifts. We forget that we are human beings, not human doings.  We forget who we are.  The beloved children of God.  We forget that we are the crown jewel of God’s creation, the cherished sons and daughters of the creator.  And when we forget that, we treat others as objects, as problems, as enemies.  We dehumanize and demonize and wage war.  When we see others as we see ourselves, and we fail to see the image of God in ourselves, we fail to love as we have been loved.  Apart from the vine we do nothing.  We fail to bear fruit.  To abide is to dwell with the one whose love makes us whole again.      

So,how do we experience the restful, rejuvenating presence of God in the midst of the busyness we call life?  How do we abide? First, we find silence and stillness.  We dwell in the words and works of Jesus.  We listen.  We take refuge.  We open our hearts and minds to receive God’s love.  By faith we embrace our God-given identity and name.

Second, we consider actions consistent with our identity.  What might we do that imitates the love of Jesus for someone else?  This is the purpose of abiding; to bear fruit.  To reproduce the same desire to love in someone else.  To reproduce the sweetness and joy and hope we find in the words and works of Jesus. To bear fruit is to offer something of value out of one’s relationship with Jesus to someone else. Someone may need the fruit of your life this week. Abiding and pruning and fruitfulness is a process we learn as disciples.  It includes daily, weekly, and seasonal rhythms that we cannot learn in one morning.  I am learning and practicing these rhythms; I will invite you to do the same.

So, this week I give us a way to start:  the 10 minute daily Abiding Challenge.  Ten minutes every day.  I will send you, by email or Facebook, a daily gospel story, reflection, and prayer.  If that takes less than ten minutes, spend the rest in silent reflection.  Consider what God is giving to you and what you may be called to do about that. 

I will not be with you next weekend.  Cherie and I are retreating to the Adirondacks to abide together, to encounter the refreshment of God’s Spirit, and the restoration of our bodies.  We will come back.  Abiding always brings fruitfulness.  May you experience the abiding presence of Jesus, nourishing you back to life and fruitfulness this week.