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Redford Aldersgate
United Methodist Church
Sermon
Today is New Year’s Eve. It’s one of those days that I spoke about
when I preached on Christmas Future. It’s a day when you are aware you
are moving into the future. Of course, that happens every day of our
lives, but there are particular days when we are just more aware of it
than others. So this day that we leave 2006 and move into 2007. We’re
moving into the future. I’m going to read a very, very important
scripture ... one that holds the key to great joy and productivity. I’m
going to read from the modern translation called “The Message.”
John 15:1-11
Jesus said these things so that “our joy might be wholly mature.” I like
that translation... Mature joy as opposed to immature joy. The immature
joy might be compared to a child that is joyful one moment over a toy,
but in tears the next minute because things aren’t just like they
wanted. But a mature joy is a joy that can look at something and say,
“Ah, this is great ... this is wonderful ... this fills my heart with
joy ... my joy is complete! What makes our joy complete? It’s being
united with Christ ... living with Christ. The traditional translation
talks about “abiding” in Christ. We don’t use the word abide much any
more, that’s why I used the Message translation that talks about living
in Christ and making our home with Christ. That’s what we need to do. We
need to live in Christ.
I
have always loved the image of Jesus being the vine and us being the
branches. For it is as we are connected to Jesus that we are nourished
and fed. When we are cut off from Jesus we shrivel up and die. As I put
up the Christmas decorations this December, I moved a plant that I had
on the coffee table to the kitchen so that I could put Christmas
decorations on the coffee table. The plant was a vine that had long
branches. I wound the branches around another plant that was in my
kitchen window and then put Christmas lights on both plants and tucked
in a little Olive wood manger scene I had bought from a street vender in
the Holy Land. It looked kinda neat. But after a couple weeks, I noticed
that some of the leaves on the vine were getting yellow and brown. When
I finally got around to checking things out, I realized that in the
move, one of the branches had broken off from the others. It looked like
it was still part of the plant because it was all interwoven with the
other parts of the vine. But when you looked closely, you realized that
it wasn’t really attached to the plant any more. It occurred to me
that’s the way it is with some of us church goers. It looks like we are
part of the plant. We are here. We’re all interwoven with other vines.
We sit next to other Christians, we go out to eat with them, we smile
and make pleasant conversation, but somehow, we have become disconnected
with the source of our strength. We aren’t really connected with Christ.
When that happens we begin to get all dried up and worn out and the joy
is gone.
The Good News is that ... unlike the broken branch of my plant which I
had to carefully remove from the rest of the vine and throw away ...
Christ is continually reaching out and offering us a hand which
reconnects us to the vine. We are moving into the future. Christ’s hand
is there reaching out to us saying, “Make your home in me, just as I
make my home in you.” I’m here in you. I haven’t left you. We are still
connected, just tap into my resources, be fed, live in me. That’s what
we need to do. We need to reach out and accept the connection that is
offered to us.
This is the day we are moving into the future. This is the day to make
that connection. We are about to move into the John Wesley Covenant
Service. This is a powerful service that has reconnected people to
Christ for over 225 years. We have updated some of the Old English, but
kept all the thoughts. Parts of it may seem to be a bit antiquated on
the surface, but there is a timeless quality about these precious words.
It starts with a time of Adoration and Praise, then moves on to giving
Thanks, followed by a time of Confession and then finally the covenant
itself. The Covenant is one of true obedience to God. We agree to do
God’s will. Some things may be easy, others will be difficult. Some
things that we are asked to do may fit in with what we really enjoy
doing, other times we may be asked to do something that we think we
don’t want to do. But the important thing is that we are connected to
Christ and when this happens we will bear fruit and our joy will be made
complete. It is an awesome thing!
As many of you know, I have been struggling with the decision about
retirement. I was 62 last year and could begin to draw my Social
Security and Pension. However, I decided to stay at least one more year
to help with the merger process. It has been great to be here this year
to get that mortgage burned for the entry way and to help do all the
administrative work involved in using the merger money to improve the
building and make it more energy efficient. By the way, do you like the
new windows that are almost finished on the south side? They will begin
work again next week to finish up. Things should be so much warmer and
hopefully won’t cost us so much in heating bills. But back to my
decision about retirement. Last fall I made a sort of secret decision to
retire in June. My theory was that I would live with that decision to
see how it felt before I really made it official and told the powers
that be. Then last Friday, I met with the Bishop to discuss the issue. A
big part of my agenda was to inspire him to get the best possible person
to replace me. The Bishop was really great. He asked me important
questions. He listened. He told me a few stories and he made a few
suggestions. Then before he prayed for me, he took my hand and said, “I
just want you to know that whatever decision you make, your bishop is
behind you one hundred percent because you are a good and faithful
servant and I know your decision will be the right one.” What an
affirmation! He was truly a caring pastor to me. His main questions
were: What compelling reasons do you have for retiring ... and then for
not retiring? The first compelling reason for retiring was that I’m
tired a great deal of the time. My energy level doesn’t seem to be what
it used to be. Another was that I didn’t want to stay too long and get
ineffective. I didn’t want people saying, “She should have retired 5
years ago, she just doesn’t have what it takes any more.” I didn’t want
to be a detriment to the church. And then I’d like to spend a little
more personal time with Bob and the rest of my family. On the not
retiring side was the fact that I really love to preach. Preaching
energizes me. Some of the other stuff may drain me, but I love to
preach. Then he asked me if there were some things that I could change
that would allow me to continue to work, but not be such a drain on my
energy level. For example, have more help doing the power point and have
people checking the sound system for us before the service began. I had
told him about all the things that went wrong the day Claire was stuck
in the elevator. That gave him a good laugh... as it has everyone else
who has heard the story. But it does point out the dangers of having too
many things depend on me. Anyway, Bob and I have talked and talked and
negotiated and brain stormed and thought about various scenarios.
Anyway, the bottom line is that I’ve decided not to work one more year
... I’ve decided to work two more years. By that time, I will be 65 and
a half and be able to draw my full Social Security but more important
than that, by that time, this church is going to be more connected to
Christ and be bearing more fruit. It is not that Diana is going to be
doing all the technology... there will be a technology team. There will
be people helping with the media and the newsletter and with reaching
out to new people. And people who are not directly involved in doing the
new things will be praying for those who are. Because we are going to be
connected to Christ. You will be doing exciting ministry because each of
you are bearing fruit. Are you with me? I have been trying to do too
much on my own. My leaves are getting shriveled up. I need to reconnect
myself with the source of energy and life. I’m challenging you to do the
same. We aren’t going to depend on me or a few leaders to do the work.
We are each going to be connected to the vine. We are each going to bear
fruit. It’s going to be amazing.
We are going to move into the future by way of this ancient liturgy. We
are going to make our covenant with God. I want you to open your heart
to listen to the words. I want yo to open your heart to the time of
Adoration, Thanksgiving and Confession and then with me, I want you to
renew your covenant with God. After we have gone through the liturgy,
there will be a time for refection and a time to look over the bulletin
insert which has some of the possibilities for service. There’s also
room for you to write what you sense God is calling you to do if it’s
not on the list I prepared. One of the most important things I put on
there was to be a prayer mentor for someone. This is especially for
those people who can’t do some of the technological things or physical
things that are on the list. But you can pray for someone who can do
those things. How great for someone who is learning a new skill to know
that they have someone praying for them. We are all in this together. We
are all part of the vine. We are connected to the true vine. Let’s do
it!