Abide with me
Commentary
About the author
Susan K. Hedahl is the Charting The Course guest columnist for the May columns. She is assistant professor of homiletics at Gettysburg Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Her experiences and training in preaching were formed by schooling at the University of Minnesota, Luther Seminary, St. John's University and the graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She has served two full-time calls in parish ministry and nine interim pastorates in California. Hedahl is a former "Emphasis" illustration writer. She is a contributor to "56 Lectionary Stories For Preaching," published by CSS in 1993, and author of "Places Of The Promise," a book of Advent sermons and children's lesson, published by CSS in 1990.
In each of us there is an identification with the African-American song which cries out, "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child." Where do we belong? This is a perennial question which is not simply a matter of geographical definition but of attitude and of affiliation.
Among those who were part of the early post-resurrection community, issues of identity were primary. Where do I belong? How do I belong? What are the characteristics and nature of that dynamic called life in God? The texts for this Sunday each convey a partial answer to the issue of connection with the risen Christ.
All three texts look at Christian identity as derivative of two realities: abiding in the God of the Lord Jesus Christ and doing so in the tensions of Christian community. Doing one without the other is impossible, an incomplete act of faith and action. Sadly, it is easily the case to find many Christian communities engaged in a narcissistic focus on individual spirituality with little desire to invest in Christlike actions in true community involvement.
In the book Habits of the Heart, the editors featured one interview with a woman named Sheila. Sheila defined her faith as what she did on her own terms, even calling it by the name "Sheila-ism." She totally lacked any sense or connection with a community of believers through which she and they lived out the Christlike life together. Certainly a faith-as-you-like scheme of living.
The texts for this day define the Christian life against Sheila-ism by answering the question, How do I belong? The historical view of Acts shows the radical incorporation of a stranger, an earnest seeker, into the community of Christ. Here the foundation of believers is highlighted; baptism is the starting point for what is to come. The Ethiopian's invitation to Philip to guide him in his understanding results in a radical reorientation. The text is the door for the other two lessons.
1 John offers a view of life in Christ by speaking of the facets of in what ways do I belong? Here the writer gives a clear picture of the mixed feelings and actions we share in our Christian life together and God's response and actions toward us.
The gospel lesson renders one of the most poignant of all parables. Here the words of Jesus answer the question, to whom do we belong and what impact does it have on all of us? This is a parable that with perfect equipoise shows the judgment and the grace rendered toward those who are followers of Christ.
What holds all of these lessons together? This Sunday's texts do offer several common threads and starting points for proclamation. Christians live simultaneously with abiding in God and in community. Incorporation through baptism into Christ has consequences, earmarks and effects. Finally, all lessons indicate that the Christian life is a matter of process. Like a journey it must be taken step by step or like a growing vine maturation takes willingness, discernment, obedience and community.
OUTLINE I
Many voices
Acts 8:26-40(Revised Common, Lutheran, Episcopal)
A. vv. 26-30: This lesson is unique for rendering the various roles of voice and language. Philip hears the prompting of the Spirit and goes toward Gaza. He also hears the Ethiopian reading Isaiah out loud -- reading this way was customary in ancient times. The inner call and the words of a stranger prompt him to add his own words in the form of a question as he, too, now speaks.
B. vv. 31-35: The core of these verses is in 35a in which Philip "proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus." Together the two men discuss the Ethiopian's faith questions and add another voice to their dialogue, that of the prophet Isaiah. Interestingly, the figure of the Messiah in the read text is offered not only in his sufferings, but in his silence. Beyond words he faced death. It is this death and life which has so captured the foreigner's attention and brings him to speech with Philip.
C. vv. 36-40: The text reaches its climax when the Ethiopian asks Philip to baptize him. The name of Jesus is spoken and immediately both men are radically re-oriented; the Ethiopian going on his way rejoicing and Philip continuing to proclaim the good news.
In answering the how we belong, the words of history, the silence of the Lamb, and the words of the two men lead to water and the name of Jesus.
OUTLINE II
Struggles of the heart
1 John 3:18-24(Lutheran, Episcopal, Roman Catholic)
A. v. 18: Again language plays a central role by the writer's questioning of it in its relationship to action. Speech is irrelevant or contradictory if it does not match true response to the gospel. While the word in all its dimensions is central to Christian community it must be complimented by appropriate action or it becomes an instrument of destruction.
B. vv. 19-22: The tensions arising from belonging to a faith community can result in spiritual struggles over discernment. Here the issue of abiding becomes crucial; when even our judgments fail, God still calls us out of ourselves and into a Christ-inspired self-confidence to continue in relationship with one another and God.
C. vv. 23-24: In what ways does abiding in God express itself? The writer says obedience and belief in Jesus secure this and that, furthermore, the witness of the Spirit confirms it.
The writer offers the listener a picture of the life in God which is like a three-legged stool: self, community and Christ. Each contributes to the totality of the flow of faith.
OUTLINE III
Entwined in love
John 15:1-8(Revised Common, Lutheran, Roman Catholic)
A. vv. 1-2: The parable of the vine and the vine grower is complex. It presents an organic process of life in God's reign: vines grow and they do need to be cut back. Abiding, in other words, is not simply a passive act but a mutual issue of growth and training.
Since the branches of the vine, by their very nature, tend toward unruliness and disorder, the pruning presents an ambiguous picture of whether or not such an action is welcomed and what it means for the vine's future well-being.
B. vv. 3-6: Here the emphasis shifts from the role of the vinegrower to that of the central vine. The point is made that something of the heart and passion of the main, life-giving vine resides in all its subsidiary branches. In other words, the sap not only flows both ways but in all ways! In a far-reaching, comprehensive manner the entire vine and its branches are, for better or worse, linked together.
What does this abiding in Christ additionally say of life together in community? Gail R. O'Day makes the point that relationships in Christ, based on this vine image are not hierarchial!* Who knows where one branch starts and the other leaves off? Whether one branch flourished earlier than another? One branch does not have ascendancy over another. The branches of the vine are so entangled and entwined around one another that one understands them in quite a different way than say, the branches of an evergreen tree.
Abiding in Christ means a mutuality of relationship, mission, and respect among all the branches of the vine; no more and no less for some than for others. (*See Gail R. O'Day, "John," in The Women's Bible Commentary, Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992, pp. 293-304.)
C. vv. 7-8: The result of the mutual indwelling of believer and Christ is the freedom to ask and the invitation to receive. The aim is not simply reception for one's own benefit, but to see that community in Christ is focused on the praise and glory of the God who created the vine and its branches.
Susan K. Hedahl is the Charting The Course guest columnist for the May columns. She is assistant professor of homiletics at Gettysburg Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Her experiences and training in preaching were formed by schooling at the University of Minnesota, Luther Seminary, St. John's University and the graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She has served two full-time calls in parish ministry and nine interim pastorates in California. Hedahl is a former "Emphasis" illustration writer. She is a contributor to "56 Lectionary Stories For Preaching," published by CSS in 1993, and author of "Places Of The Promise," a book of Advent sermons and children's lesson, published by CSS in 1990.
In each of us there is an identification with the African-American song which cries out, "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child." Where do we belong? This is a perennial question which is not simply a matter of geographical definition but of attitude and of affiliation.
Among those who were part of the early post-resurrection community, issues of identity were primary. Where do I belong? How do I belong? What are the characteristics and nature of that dynamic called life in God? The texts for this Sunday each convey a partial answer to the issue of connection with the risen Christ.
All three texts look at Christian identity as derivative of two realities: abiding in the God of the Lord Jesus Christ and doing so in the tensions of Christian community. Doing one without the other is impossible, an incomplete act of faith and action. Sadly, it is easily the case to find many Christian communities engaged in a narcissistic focus on individual spirituality with little desire to invest in Christlike actions in true community involvement.
In the book Habits of the Heart, the editors featured one interview with a woman named Sheila. Sheila defined her faith as what she did on her own terms, even calling it by the name "Sheila-ism." She totally lacked any sense or connection with a community of believers through which she and they lived out the Christlike life together. Certainly a faith-as-you-like scheme of living.
The texts for this day define the Christian life against Sheila-ism by answering the question, How do I belong? The historical view of Acts shows the radical incorporation of a stranger, an earnest seeker, into the community of Christ. Here the foundation of believers is highlighted; baptism is the starting point for what is to come. The Ethiopian's invitation to Philip to guide him in his understanding results in a radical reorientation. The text is the door for the other two lessons.
1 John offers a view of life in Christ by speaking of the facets of in what ways do I belong? Here the writer gives a clear picture of the mixed feelings and actions we share in our Christian life together and God's response and actions toward us.
The gospel lesson renders one of the most poignant of all parables. Here the words of Jesus answer the question, to whom do we belong and what impact does it have on all of us? This is a parable that with perfect equipoise shows the judgment and the grace rendered toward those who are followers of Christ.
What holds all of these lessons together? This Sunday's texts do offer several common threads and starting points for proclamation. Christians live simultaneously with abiding in God and in community. Incorporation through baptism into Christ has consequences, earmarks and effects. Finally, all lessons indicate that the Christian life is a matter of process. Like a journey it must be taken step by step or like a growing vine maturation takes willingness, discernment, obedience and community.
OUTLINE I
Many voices
Acts 8:26-40(Revised Common, Lutheran, Episcopal)
A. vv. 26-30: This lesson is unique for rendering the various roles of voice and language. Philip hears the prompting of the Spirit and goes toward Gaza. He also hears the Ethiopian reading Isaiah out loud -- reading this way was customary in ancient times. The inner call and the words of a stranger prompt him to add his own words in the form of a question as he, too, now speaks.
B. vv. 31-35: The core of these verses is in 35a in which Philip "proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus." Together the two men discuss the Ethiopian's faith questions and add another voice to their dialogue, that of the prophet Isaiah. Interestingly, the figure of the Messiah in the read text is offered not only in his sufferings, but in his silence. Beyond words he faced death. It is this death and life which has so captured the foreigner's attention and brings him to speech with Philip.
C. vv. 36-40: The text reaches its climax when the Ethiopian asks Philip to baptize him. The name of Jesus is spoken and immediately both men are radically re-oriented; the Ethiopian going on his way rejoicing and Philip continuing to proclaim the good news.
In answering the how we belong, the words of history, the silence of the Lamb, and the words of the two men lead to water and the name of Jesus.
OUTLINE II
Struggles of the heart
1 John 3:18-24(Lutheran, Episcopal, Roman Catholic)
A. v. 18: Again language plays a central role by the writer's questioning of it in its relationship to action. Speech is irrelevant or contradictory if it does not match true response to the gospel. While the word in all its dimensions is central to Christian community it must be complimented by appropriate action or it becomes an instrument of destruction.
B. vv. 19-22: The tensions arising from belonging to a faith community can result in spiritual struggles over discernment. Here the issue of abiding becomes crucial; when even our judgments fail, God still calls us out of ourselves and into a Christ-inspired self-confidence to continue in relationship with one another and God.
C. vv. 23-24: In what ways does abiding in God express itself? The writer says obedience and belief in Jesus secure this and that, furthermore, the witness of the Spirit confirms it.
The writer offers the listener a picture of the life in God which is like a three-legged stool: self, community and Christ. Each contributes to the totality of the flow of faith.
OUTLINE III
Entwined in love
John 15:1-8(Revised Common, Lutheran, Roman Catholic)
A. vv. 1-2: The parable of the vine and the vine grower is complex. It presents an organic process of life in God's reign: vines grow and they do need to be cut back. Abiding, in other words, is not simply a passive act but a mutual issue of growth and training.
Since the branches of the vine, by their very nature, tend toward unruliness and disorder, the pruning presents an ambiguous picture of whether or not such an action is welcomed and what it means for the vine's future well-being.
B. vv. 3-6: Here the emphasis shifts from the role of the vinegrower to that of the central vine. The point is made that something of the heart and passion of the main, life-giving vine resides in all its subsidiary branches. In other words, the sap not only flows both ways but in all ways! In a far-reaching, comprehensive manner the entire vine and its branches are, for better or worse, linked together.
What does this abiding in Christ additionally say of life together in community? Gail R. O'Day makes the point that relationships in Christ, based on this vine image are not hierarchial!* Who knows where one branch starts and the other leaves off? Whether one branch flourished earlier than another? One branch does not have ascendancy over another. The branches of the vine are so entangled and entwined around one another that one understands them in quite a different way than say, the branches of an evergreen tree.
Abiding in Christ means a mutuality of relationship, mission, and respect among all the branches of the vine; no more and no less for some than for others. (*See Gail R. O'Day, "John," in The Women's Bible Commentary, Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992, pp. 293-304.)
C. vv. 7-8: The result of the mutual indwelling of believer and Christ is the freedom to ask and the invitation to receive. The aim is not simply reception for one's own benefit, but to see that community in Christ is focused on the praise and glory of the God who created the vine and its branches.
