CONNECTING WITH CHRIST

John 15:1-8

May 10, 2009 - Rev. Janet Robertson Duggins

You may have heard and read lately that the percentage of people in America who identify themselves as non-believers or non-religious has increased dramatically over the last 10 or 15 years. There’s been a big shift in the religious landscape during our lifetimes, and it’s difficult for us as church people to know what to make of it, or how to respond. But that data on the numbers of people unconnected with a faith is just one piece of the big picture.

A study released this month by the Pew Forum on Religion in Public life questioned nearly 3000 people, and found that many of those who were raised without any religious affiliation later joined a faith (more than the number who were raised in a church and later dropped any connection with a faith community). What happened? For most, it wasn’t a crisis or a vision, and it wasn’t social pressure or any sort of intellectual persuasion. Very simply, they said that their spiritual needs were not being met. There was a void in their lives, and faith community and faith traditions helped to fill it.

Last Sunday, during our Adult Ed time, some of us got to hear guest speakers Jim and Darryl, a gay couple who are active participants in another church in the community. One thing they shared really struck me: in spite of having some personal negative experiences with churches and religion, and in spite of trepidation because some people of faith are so vocally anti-gay, and in many years of being unaffiliated… when they were in their 40’s they sought out a faith community. They talked about a spiritual need, a longing to connect with something larger and more eternal, and a desire for a context in which to explore the true meaning of life.

Nora Gallagher, an Episcopal writer from California, says that when she first visited her church she “came as a tourist, and ended up as a pilgrim.” It was a small – and in fact, rather troubled – congregation, and she says, “for the next few months, I dropped in… a few Sundays a month. I kept wondering why I was there but I couldn’t leave. She goes on to tell about the things she learned as she became part of the church – how to speak to a group, how to write prayers, how to make soup for a crowd. And she learned about community, about faith, about herself, and about God. She writes, “I began to pray every day, although I didn’t know how. I began to notice the connection between prayer and activity in the world. And I felt, in the end, an uncanny sense that all of this was happening because of a hand held against my back.” (Things Seen and Unseen, pp. 11-13, 77).

It is this need for connection with God, I think, that Jesus is describing in this talk with his disciples we read from this morning. The imagery is all vines and branches but he’s trying to get them – and us – to think about what it means to have that deep, vital, and life-giving connection with the divine.

It’s sad, but sometimes in the church we lose sight of this most basic idea. Maybe it’s because we get so busy doing “stuff’ - there can be no doubt there is always a lot to do, much of it very important and necessary. Maybe it’s because we don’t want to seem too “pious” – we don’t want to look like the too pie-in-the-sky, not-living-in-the-real-world religious types instead of the hardworking and concerned citizens of the world we are. Maybe it’s because we’ve heard the reports about faith becoming increasingly irrelevant in the world, and that makes us want to tone down the language of God and spirituality, focus more on service and helping others and making a positive difference in the world.

All of those things are important to think about… but Jesus’ point is that we need a rootedness at our core to sustain and empower us. He was articulating, so long ago, the same kind of human need for connection with God that so many people are still discovering today.

I read a paper on leadership in the church recently in which the author lamented that he had sometimes heard more genuine conversation about God in bars than in churches. I wouldn’t like to think that’s true, but I can see how it might be; sometimes it is the sense of need and desperation that prompts questions, and seeking, and prayers, in a way that doesn’t happen so much when we feel safe and comfortable.

But a place to belong, a place where we are welcomed and accepted, where we are known, where they put up with us, and invite us to be part of things… a place like that can also be the context for asking questions and reaching out for connection with God. It can be a place for trying out the language of faith, and practicing at Christ-like living.

I believe that today the church is being re-called to this understanding of itself. The countless stories – they are not hard to find – of people looking for, longing for, a deeper connection with God and a sense of purpose in their lives should not really surprise us. We have been there. And we have had Jesus’ word for it all along.

There are two things in particular I believe we in the church need to learn:

The first is to realize that we have resources to offer to men and women and young people who are awakening to that sense of need for connection with God. We have resources of faith and prayer and spirit and story and grace that cannot be found elsewhere. Sure, people can find in a faith community some of the same great things that other groups offer – friendships, opportunities to get involved or to be a leader, the gratification of giving to a worthy cause or helping others, moral support in tough times, or good principles to live by. But beyond, underneath, all that we are about connection with Christ. About being the body of Christ, his loving presence, in the world. About knowing God, following Jesus, listening for the promptings of the Spirit. Now more than ever we have something to offer that people need.

The second thing is something we need to learn about evangelism and outreach. We so often talk about how “we need to get more people into our church” or about how “the church needs to grow in order to survive.” Sometimes we – and I’m not speaking only of Westminster here – lament that we don’t have enough members to do all the jobs or to support the church financially. I wouldn’t disagree with any of those statements. But they aren’t really the relevant ideas we need to focus on when we are inviting people to church. Frankly, the church’s needs are just not going to be very relevant to someone who is wondering about this whole church-faith-God thing. But if we really started taking the human need for connection with God seriously… we might end up being more relevant than we had ever thought possible.

Maybe we have to begin with taking our own connection with God more seriously, less for-granted. That means taking ourselves seriously as human beings. Believing that we are loved and valued by God, no matter how messed up we feel. Realizing that we do not have to have all the answers, opening our hearts to mystery and wonder, making a new decision every day to follow Jesus.

I’ve always been very taken by Jesus’ image of vines and branches, more so now that I have some grape vines in my yard. We got a nice little harvest of grapes last year – enough for a couple batches of delicious jelly and some juice. this year, though, we were kinda busy at the right time for pruning…. so that didn’t happen. I don’t know what that will mean about the grapes this summer. But you know, I feel pretty confident that our failure to follow through on the proper care of the grape vines isn’t the last word: because they are connected to deeply rooted roots in good ground. That’s the most important thing, for grape vines as well as for God’s children.

Resources:

Nora Gallagher, Things Seen and Unseen: A year lived in faith, 1998, Vintage Books

Charles M. Blow, “Defecting to Faith,” The New York Times, May 1, 2009