187 Years of Bearing Fruit (John 15:1-8)

 It was 187 years ago, in April, 1837, that the first gathering of First Christian Church took place, in William T. Major’s parlor at the corner of East and Front Streets. Major founded First Christian Church, and chose to affiliate with the Disciples of Christ movement, which was itself just getting started under the leadership of men like Barton Warren Stone, Alexander Campbell, and Walter Scott. Major chose the Disciples of Christ movement because of its emphasis on the Bible as the only rule of faith, and because the Disciples refused to support or endorse slavery.

Several U.S. Presidents have been members of the Disciples of Christ over the years; can you name them? James Garfield (an ordained DOC clergy, and the only ordained clergy to ever be elected president), Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan. Andy Beshear, the current governor of Kentucky, is also a member of the Disciples of Christ. Other well-known Disciples include our General Minister, Terri Hord Owens, and William Barber, co-director of the Poor People's Campaign.

From our beginning, the Disciples of Christ have extended an open invitation to gather at the Lord’s Table, and we have emphasized the unity of all Christians.

We at FCC remain bound in covenant with other Disciples congregations throughout the United States and Canada; we can do so much more together than we can on our own!

When able, I’ve attended Disciples of Christ General Assemblies…Five years ago, the 2019 General Assembly met in Des Moines, Iowa, and Ethan and I planned on going. However, the day before we were to leave, I was taken by ambulance to the hospital and diagnosed with appendicitis. 

Sometimes things don’t always go according to plan.

So, Ethan ended up going to the assembly by himself, and I ended up watching the assembly worship services on my laptop, from my hospital bed.

The theme for the assembly that year was “Abide,” based on the same scripture we just heard.

In one of those worship services that I watched from my hospital bed, our General Minister Terri Hord Owens said that if we aren’t connected to the vine - if we aren’t connected to Christ - then nothing else is really going to work for us. In church we are focused on programs and growth and building maintenance and musical styles and so many other things, and sometimes, in the midst of it all, we neglect our connection with Christ. We neglect to abide with Christ.

And when we neglect that connection, the fruit we bear begins to wither. 

We must abide in Christ. We must remain connected to Christ, the way the branches are connected to the vine.

On another night of that same assembly, Ruben del Pilar - from Gardena, California - was the preacher. He built on this theme by saying: “If there's no fruit, check the root.” If the branch is not connected to the root, it gets cut off. "If I remain in myself but not in the vine…" 

You gotta be connected to the vine. You gotta be connected to the root. Otherwise, there will be no fruit.

Ruben del Pilar mentioned that his church had launched a new prayer program, to stay connected with Christ. Every day (I think he said), their church was open for prayer from 6 to 7 a.m. 

Well, soon after that, people started coming into the church. New people. And they would ask these new people, “What brought you to church?” And they would answer, “I don’t know. Something just made me come in here…”

That’s the power of prayer that connects us to the root. That’s the holy power of a church that is connected to the root, connected to the vine, connected to Christ. That’s a church that has Jesus - and following Jesus - at the center of all they do. 

And it’s why every so often, I remind you to pray; to pray for your church.

And I know you are praying. You’re praying at home. You’re praying in worship. You’re praying in small groups. You’re praying in meetings and other gatherings.

And all this praying is helping us stay connected to Christ.

Many of you have mentioned to me the new life you’ve been seeing lately here at First Christian Church: the new energy, the new vitality, and the new people.

And some of you have given me credit for this.

But I know this new life started before I arrived. I sensed this vitality in my conversations with the search committee, last summer and last fall.

In 2023, I had conversations with quite a few search committees, from many wonderful congregations…but none of them were as passionate about praying as the search committee here… And I knew that your search committee’s commitment to prayer and belief in the power of prayer was indicative of the entire congregation, and I knew even then that this was making a huge difference.

And I continue to see that today. Your prayers are making a difference.

We have a long, proud history here at First Christian Church, something that we’re celebrating today. A lot has changed over the years. Our congregation has grown and evolved in so many ways. There’s been highs and lows…But a commitment to prayer, and a commitment to abiding in Christ, has remained, and has grown only stronger.

And I believe that that, more than anything, is what is moving us forward today.

As long as we maintain the disciplines that keep us grounded in Christ and rooted in God’s spirit, I know that our history will continue for many generations to come.

Thank you for being a part of First Christian Church. Thank you for your commitment to the church, and for your commitment to prayer. Thank you for doing all you can to stay connected to the church, and connected to Christ.

Together, with God’s help and guidance, I know our ministry here will continue to flourish… perhaps even for another 187 years.

Love Finds a Way (John 15:9-17)

 Today is May 9. It is the sixth Sunday of the Easter season. We have one more Sunday of Easter next week before we reach Pentecost Sunday the week after.

Today is also Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day is a tricky day for pastors. Many feel pressured to preach a “Mother’s Day” sermon, even though Mother’s Day is not a church holiday, and trying to thematically connect Mother’s Day to the day’s scripture reading often leads to connections that are artificial and forced. 

And people leave the service saying, “wasn’t that nice, how the pastor connected the scripture to Mother’s Day…” but later, when they think more deeply about it, they admit to themselves: that didn’t really make much sense.

So, I usually resist trying to make a connection that isn’t there. 

Also: in my own family and in many families I know, traditionally defined roles for mothers and fathers are increasingly blurred. Mothers go to work, and do home improvement, and even take care of spiders, while fathers cook and do laundry. 

And there is so much variation and diversity in families these days - a variation and diversity that is beautiful and holy - that it makes it very hard to talk about mothers in general or families in general.

Times are changing, and mothers and fathers are finding beautiful and amazing new ways to be a family. And especially in this past year: so much has changed. And yet, families are finding a way.

Now, it is true - even now, even in 2021 - that much of the burden of these changing times does fall more heavily on the shoulders of mothers. More women than men have lost their jobs during this pandemic, and more women than men have struggled to help their children navigate school via zoom. 

So even though times are changing, and we all are doing our best to find new ways of doing what needs to be done, women (and mothers) are still - generally speaking - modeling for the world how we all can find a way to do what needs to be done.

And in that, I think, there is a real, actual, connection to our scripture today; because as I hear these words of Jesus, it reminds me of the same thing: that love finds a way.

Whether it’s a mother’s love, or God’s love: love finds a way. Love finds a way; even when there is no way, love makes a way.

Our scripture is from the gospel of John, but it sounds very similar to last week’s scripture from the first letter of John. It’s easy to see why early Christians believed that these were written by the same author, and while that likely isn’t true, they probably did come from or were popular in the same early Christian community.

Last week’s scripture talked about abiding - abiding in God, abiding in love - and in today’s scripture, Jesus says, repeatedly: “abide in my love.”

And now more than ever, that’s what we need; we need to abide in Christ’s love. Because it is when things are stressful and challenging that we especially need Christ’s love to guide us, to uphold us, and to flow through us.

Because no matter the circumstances, Christ’s love finds a way. God’s love finds a way.

Look at the story of Joseph, from the book of Genesis. That story is on my mind because I think I’m going to talk more about it next week. But if you know the story - even if you only know the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical version of that story - you know that all sorts of bad things happen to Joseph.

His brothers bullied him, almost killed him, and ended up selling him into slavery.

Then, he was falsely accused of crime and thrown in prison. 

But through Joseph, love found a way. Love found a way and enabled Joseph to find his way out of prison, rise up in rank and prestige, and eventually save all of Egypt as well as his own family, which he never stopped loving.

Look at the Exodus, how God’s love for God’s people found a way to bring them out of slavery and into a land they could call their own.

Look at the story of the kingdom of Israel, and David, God’s chosen one who ruled over that kingdom. 

When that kingdom fell apart, God’s love still found a way. God reached out to the people through prophets, and then, eventually, God came to earth in human form through the birth of Jesus. 

Love found a way. God did whatever it took to continue blessing the people with love….

When I look back on this past year, and consider our current situation, I see something very similar. We’ve struggled, we’ve worried about our church, we’ve worried about our families… yet through it all, through everything that has happened this past year, love has found a way. 

Love found a way to keep our ministry going. Love, expressed in the form of prayers, and in the form of money, and in the form of the participation and presence of all of you. 

That participation and presence was often virtual out of necessity, but it was very real.

And you all have found ways to continue showing love to one another. You have not neglected to pray for one another, and you have not neglected to offer expressions of love to one another.

That’s not to say it’s been easy. It hasn’t. It’s been hard. At times, we haven’t known what the best way to show love is. 

How do we show love when we aren’t able to gather? How do we show love when we can gather, but can’t give hugs, and can’t spend time after worship chatting over refreshments, can’t even come within six feet of each other or show a friendly smile?

I still wonder how it is that we are able to show love to one another, but more and more, I am realizing: love finds a way.

For me, personally, it seems like my attempts to show love are hit and miss. I don’t always do the best job of it. In fact, I’m so grateful to others - to many of you - for showing me the various ways that love can be expressed. 

And I’m grateful for the grace shown to me when I haven’t done as well as one would hope (as well as I would hope) in expressing the love I feel. 

That’s an important part of “love finding a way.” Showing grace.

We show grace to one another when we look beyond a temporary or momentary failure to show love, and realize that a person has other things going on; or maybe that their brain is wired differently than ours, and that expressing love happens a little differently for them or in a different way than it does for us.

Or maybe that person, like the rest of us, is struggling to figure out how to show love in these times when so many of the old ways of showing love - hugs, eating together - are no longer available to us.

Or maybe that person, right now, just needs some love shown to them…

And we find a way.

We find a way to move forward, to hold space for one another, and to encourage one another to keep on abiding in Christ’s love.

I read a book a while back - and I know I mentioned it before - by Bob Goff; the title of the book is Love Does. And to me, “love does” is another way of saying, “love finds a way.” 

And in each of the book’s short chapters, Bob Goff tells the story of love finding a way.

Five years ago, I told you what happens in the first chapter of Goff’s book. I know you remember, so indulge me for a moment while I refresh your memory...

In that chapter Goff describes a time when he decided to drop out of high school and go live in Yosemite. He figured he could get a job somewhere in Yosemite that would give him enough to live off of, and that he’d spend the rest of his time just exploring and rock climbing.

He threw a couple of extra clothes into his VW bug and grabbed all his money - $75 - and, on his way out of town, stopped at Randy’s house. 

Randy was a few years older, and was actually a youth leader of sorts. Randy had taken an interest in Bob, so Bob thought he’d tell Randy he was leaving, and that he won’t be seeing him for a while.

Randy said: “Hold on a second…” A moment later, he appeared with a backpack, and said to Bob: “I’m with you. Let’s go.”

Bob wasn’t expecting that, but what could he say?

So the two of them drove to Yosemite. Bob had no real plan, and hadn’t even figured out a place for them to stay; and Yosemite, it turned out, didn’t have any jobs for him. After a few days, he decided to go back home and finish school. Randy just said, “Whatever you want, I’m with you.”

When they got to Randy’s house, Bob walked in, and saw the floor covered with various packages and gifts: dishes, a microwave oven… and Randy’s girlfriend was there. 

In that moment, Bob realized that she wasn’t Randy’s girlfriend; she was his wife. Turns out, Randy had just gotten married. Yet he willingly went with Bob to Yosemite because of his love and concern for Bob, instead of spending the first few days of his marriage with his new wife.

That’s love finding a way. I think Randy’s new wife was completely understanding, or, at least, willing to offer Randy the grace he needed to show love to this teenage boy he cared about.

It wasn’t easy, but love found a way.

Just like how love finds a way among us, here at church. We’ve had to do a lot of figuring things out, and especially this year, we’ve been figuring things out as we go. But through it all, love has found a way.

Just like how God’s love always finds a way. Even in the face of persecution, even the face of betrayal and desertion, even in the face of false accusations and death by crucifixion, love finds a way. 

Love always finds a way. Thanks be to God.

"Encouraged" (John 15; Haggai 2)

1. By the Rivers of Babylon

I mentioned last week that one major source of grief for the Jewish people was the invasion and occupation by Babylon, and the subsequent deportation of many Jews to Babylon. Psalm 137, which was read last Sunday - and which Sam and Maddy sang for us so beautifully during the offering - was written in response to this horrible event. 

By the rivers of Babylon—

   there we sat down and there we wept

   when we remembered Zion.

On the willows there

   we hung up our harps.

For there our captors

   asked us for songs,

and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,

   ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!

How could we sing the Lord’s song

   in a foreign land?

This was an existential dilemma. It felt like the death of everything they knew. Their very identity was wrapped up in the temple and their homeland, which was now abandoned and destroyed.

They were in captivity, in Babylon, for 70 years. That’s several generations, born and died in captivity.

2. Stuck

But then…after those 70 years, finally, they were allowed to return home, and even allowed to rebuild the temple.

So they returned home. 

They rebuilt their houses.

And then… they looked at where the temple had been. And they thought about rebuilding the temple. But, for some reason, couldn’t bring themselves to actually begin rebuilding it.

They were stuck. 

Eighteen years after returning to Jerusalem, and they hadn’t even broke ground.

What was the holdup?

Why were they stuck?

Why had they not even begun to work toward their dream, the dream of a rebuilt temple?

Why do any of us give up on the dreams we have? How many times do you hear people talk about their dreams, but for some reason, they never start working to make those dreams a reality? Maybe it would take a long time, Maybe it would be hard work, but come on! This is their dream! They could at least take the first step and begin the process…

There was now nothing standing in the way of the Jews, except themselves. The Babylonians were gone, they were back home…

The prophet Haggai says that a drought was upon the land, and the drought would stay until the rebuilding project got started. Maybe for we who feel stuck - when we feel stuck - it’s because we’re in a drought of sorts... We long for refreshing water, but instead we languish in the dust…

3. Discouraged

Eventually, they do break ground, and begin work. Construction is underway. But their resources are limited. 

Soon, the people realize that this temple isn’t going to match the one they had before, the one that was destroyed. It’s not going to be as grand or magnificent. It's not going to be the temple they remember. 

And they become discouraged. The very oldest members of their community were there, before the deportation, and saw that former temple; and the younger members had heard the stories, about how grand it was. 

But it was obvious that the temple that they had now started building just wasn’t going to be as good. It wasn’t going to be the same. And the people became discouraged, and they started to wonder: Why bother? What’s the point?

How do we in the church feel about that? We are setting about rebuilding the church, and we have realized that, no matter how hard we work, the future church isn’t going to look anything like the church from the past. 

In the past, we had dozens of programs. In the past, we had many more members. In the past, in the past… things were great! But now...Look!

Like I mentioned last week… we grieve the past. We grieve over the church that once was.

Haggai, the prophet, acknowledged what the people were feeling: “Yes, this new temple appears as nothing when compared to its former glory.” Those days are past, and will never again be. 

 That former temple is no longer ours; it’s gone. This temple is all we’ve got. 

Yet - the prophet says - it is enough! So take courage… take courage… take courage… (Haggai says that three times.) Take courage and get to work! Put your blood, your sweat, your tears, and your sacrifices into the work at hand!

Remember the word of God; God says “I am with you… My spirit abides among you.”

And God promises that great things will come from this new temple. To your eyes it may not compare to the former temple; but in some very real ways, in the ways that matter, its glory will outshine its predecessor. When you focus on what really matters, on what really counts - this temple will surpass the former one…

That's the message God sent to the people through the prophet Haggai.

4. God is in this Place

Today, the church is being rebuilt. I'm talking about Bixby Knolls Christian Church, but I'm also talking about the entire global church of Christ. "Church" is being reinvented. Reimagined. Made new.

That's what it is to be part of the church in the 21st century. 

As we work with God's Spirit to rebuild the church, the one thing we need to remember is that the spirit of God abides among us… as Haggai said.  

In the work that we are doing, God’s spirit is present. Among us. In this place. In our lives. In the work we are doing.

And that is why we can take courage, even as we journey through this unfamiliar landscape. That is why we press onward. Because God’s Spirit is present among us. 

We are building God’s church! And this is exciting, but it is also a source of anxiety for us. We worry about the church, we worry about the budget, we worry about the maintenance, we worry about so many things. We lose sleep over it all...

But if we can find a way to remember that God is present, that God abides among us, that God is with us, guiding us… it will help us overcome fear. It will help calm our anxiety. It will help us “take courage, take courage, take courage!” 

Because if God’s Spirit is among us and is present in the work we do, then we can rest assured that our future is in God’s hands. Our ministry, our work, our church… is in God’s hands.

Because this is God’s church. And the work we do is the work God has called us to do, on God’s behalf. 

So we can work with confidence! We can pray with hope. And we can give generously. 

Over the years, ministers and members have come and gone. Some of us have been here longer than others, but none of us here today were here when this ministry began.  

People come and go, yet the ministry of Bixby Knolls Christian Church continues. Why? Because the Spirit is present among us. God’s spirit is present in this place. God’s spirit is present in our lives, the lives of all who are a part of this ministry, whether you’ve been here just a few weeks or for many years. 

And together, we continue doing the work that God has called us to.

God calls each of us to make a sacrifice… a sacrifice of time, of energy, of what money we have… for the building of God’s church.

And maybe this is something we would do grudgingly, or reluctantly, or fearfully, except that we remember: God’s Spirit abides among us. God has called us to share in a great and glorious work! God calls us to build bridges of understanding, to bring healing to lives that are broken, to share love with those who are so desperately in need of love, to feed those who are hungry, to comfort those who mourn…

God calls us to do all this NOT on our own, but with the power of the Spirit whose presence abides among us.

The Spirit of God abides among us. I can’t stop saying that! Because it puts everything into perspective. And it takes away from us any excuse we might have for laziness, for not acting, for not doing our part to build God’s church.

5. Connected to the Vine

The scripture from the gospel of John, about Jesus the true vine, and all of us in church being the branches, is the scripture that was used at last summer’s General Assembly. The image it presents is one of connection, how the branches are connected to the vine and, ultimately, the vinegrower which is God. 

And when the branch abides in the vine and is cared for by the vinegrower, it bears much fruit.

In all we do, we need to remember who we are. We are branches connected to the vine. We are people called to ministry by God - the God who abides with us, who dwells among us.

Our General Minister, Teri Hord Owens, talks a lot about Jesus. It’s her way of reminding us what’s really important. Jesus, she says, is why we’re here. Jesus is why we do what we do. Jesus is at the center of everything.

Sometimes we think that we are at the center of everything… that this ministry depends on us and us alone… 

But ultimately, this ministry depends on God.

A ministry that depends on you and me will vanish as soon as you and I are gone. If our ministry depended solely on people, it would have vanished as the charter members of this congregation died or moved away.

But this ministry is still here, because it is a ministry that depends on God working through us. We are the branches, but Jesus is the vine, and God is the vinegrower.

Remembering this can make the work we do and the sacrifice we give to the church more of a joy and less of a burden. We give, not to pay the bills, not to keep the lights on, not to pay salaries, but so that the work of God can continue in this place. We give, not out of fear, but out of joy, because God is in this place.

And we give generously, because scripture shows us that our God is a God of abundance, a God who can take what is given and multiply it… take a widow’s two cents, and call it the greater sacrifice… take a few small loaves and fish, and multiply it to feed thousands.

Haggai reminds us of this God. Haggai reminds us of God’s presence among us. And Haggai encourages us as we commit ourselves and our resources to this ministry. 

Because the God of abundance abides with us. The God who multiplies what is given abides with us. 

Our God is here, among us, in all we do. 

Vine and Branches (John 15)

1. Planned out Perfectly

I had my summer all planned out…

The days and the weeks of my calendar were carefully filled in. At times, it was like playing Tetris, finding a place to fit everything. But it was all planned perfectly.

It started with summer camp. 

As co-director at Chi-Rho camp, I did a lot of advance planning. I had evening programs and daily schedules and keynote topics all figured out well in advance of camp. It made camp more relaxing for me, since - once I got there - so much was already planned out.

The next week was the Meals on Wheels 5K run. Bill Cruikshank - the Meals on Wheels executive director - had called me just a few weeks earlier asking if I would say the opening prayer as I’ve done in years past. At first I panicked, thinking there was no room left on my calendar, but it turned out there was just enough room; I prayed, I ran, and then I hopped in the car and drove back up to Loch Leven to pick David Clark up and bring him home.

The timing couldn’t have been better, actually.

After that, I had four days camping with my relatives at Point Mugu. Come home from that, take one day to unpack, do laundry, and repack, and then fly to Iowa with Ethan for General Assembly. Come home from that, and VBS…

It was all planned out so perfectly.

2.  Down But Not Out (2 Cor. 4.9)

But then, as we were driving home from camping, I started to get a stomach ache. No big deal, I thought. 

When we got home, I went to lie down. I didn’t even help unpack the car. “I don’t feel well,” I said.

“Yeah, right,” I could hear the others saying in their heads as they carried stuff in...

But then I started vomiting. And the pain got worse.

Sometime after midnight the pain hit me so hard I ended up on the floor, covered in sweat, and I could not stand up. I knew I needed to go to the hospital; but I also knew there was no way I could get up and walk to the car, even if someone helped me. 

So I reached for my phone and called 911, and an ambulance came and took me to the hospital. 

All the while I’m thinking, well, there’s about 36 hours before my flight to Iowa, I bet they can get this straightened out by then.

But then the doctor said I had appendicitis, and then we started getting ready for emergency surgery, and I knew I would not be going to General Assembly.

Life does that to you sometimes, doesn’t it? Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how carefully you have planned things out, things happen. It’s happened to most of you, I think, perhaps in ways far more significant than this; and if it hasn’t happened to you, just wait. It’s a part of life. The sooner you accept this, the easier it will be when life throws you a curve ball. 

Not everybody handles things well when life’s plans fall apart. It’s a hard thing when your dreams don’t come true. 

Some sink into depression... Some turn to substance abuse or addiction... Some turn to porn or other unhealthy diversions. Some shut themselves off to others, or to themselves. (There’s no judgment here - that’s just how some people cope when plans fall apart.)

But there are healthier ways to respond. You can start by realizing that we aren’t always in control. At some point, life will knock you down. Accept that it’s just gonna happen.

I think of the apostle Paul, the times he was arrested, thrown in prison, or beset by other afflictions. He had things he wanted to do, plans he wanted to carry out, but he was prevented from doing so.

Yet whatever happened to him, he considered himself down, but not out. To the Corinthians he wrote: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…” He found blessings in even the worst of circumstances. And Paul knew that God would continue working through him, blessings others, no matter what his circumstances. 

This enabled him to sing songs of praise - even while in chains.

I must admit, not getting to go to General Assembly was a huge disappointment. There was a part of me that was actually in mourning. I had already anticipated so much - I had thought about what clothes I was going to wear, I had pictured myself going for a swim in the hotel pool in between business sessions, or walking along the river in downtown Des Moines; I had chosen all the workshops I was going to attend; I was very excitedly looking forward to hearing some amazing preachers; and I really, really, was looking forward to seeing some friends who I hadn’t seen in a long time.

Could I, like Paul, find the blessing in my current situation? Turns out, I could.

3.  Blessings in the Storm

The first blessing came when Ethan decided to still go to Iowa without me. I so wanted him to, but I didn’t think he would. He does NOT like to fly, and has said he wouldn’t fly unless someone were with him. 

But he decided he could do this. And he did. And from what I could tell, he thrived. People I don’t even know shared with me that they met him, and that he has an awesome soul. (Their words.) 

He made me so proud, and so happy.

The next blessing came when I began to receive messages from people in Iowa saying they missed me, they were praying for me. It made me so happy to hear that.

A third blessing came from the excellent care I received while at the hospital. The nurses in particular were so attentive to my needs, and helpful to me.

A fourth blessing came when I realized how much worse the timing of everything could have been. What if my stomach pain didn’t hit until I was already on the plane? I don’t even want to imagine the outcome of that. Thank God it happened when it did.

A fifth blessing came when I thought of all those here at home who were thinking of me and praying for me. My family. And my wonderful, wonderful church. You all are a blessing that sustains me.

I could go on, but I think I made my point: there was disappointment to be sure, but at the same time the disruption made me aware of so many blessings - blessings that I might have overlooked or taken for granted had the disruption not occured……..

Recovering from surgery means doing a whole lot of nothing. Which, at first, is just fine, because your body and your mind don’t feel like doing anything. But doing nothing gets tiring after awhile.

Fortunately, the General Assembly was starting, and the worship services were livestreamed, and I was going to watch them.

The one preacher everyone was looking forward to hearing was William Barber… Do you know about his major life disruption? When he was a young man, William Barber was extremely athletic, but in his 30th year, he woke up one morning paralyzed. He could not move.

An ambulance came and took him to the hospital. He was diagnosed with a rare, debilitating form of arthritis in which the bones of his spine and his arms and his legs just fused together. Doctors said it was doubtful he’d ever walk again.

He spent three months in the hospital, in excruciating pain. Emotionally and mentally, he went about as low as one could go. He felt called to be a preacher, but who would want a preacher who couldn’t even walk into a pulpit? 

Talk about a disruption to one’s plans...

He did eventually learn to walk again, although for 12 years he required the use of a walker. His body was weak, but his prophetic voice remained strong, and grew even stronger over the years. He is a great blessing to the church and to the nation - a blessing that grew and developed in the midst of a terrible life disruption.

4.  The Vine

The theme for the Assembly was “Abide,” which was taken from the scripture we heard this morning. Saturday night’s preacher was our General Minister & President, Terri Hord Owens. She focused on the part where Jesus told his disciples to abide in me, and she repeated a theme that she has emphasized before, which is that if we aren’t connected to the vine - if we aren’t connected to Christ - then nothing else is really going to work for us. In church we are focused on programs and growth and building maintenance and musical styles and so many other things, yet we neglect our connection with Christ. We neglect to abide with Christ.

And when we neglect that connection, the fruit we bear begins to wither. 

We must abide in Christ. We must remain connected to Christ, the way the branches are connected to the vine.

On Monday night, Ruben del Pilar - from Gardena, California - was the preacher. He built on this theme by saying: “If there's no fruit, check the root.” If the branch is not connected to the root, it gets cut off. "If i remain in myself but not in the vine…" 

You gotta be connected to the vine. You gotta be connected to the root. Otherwise, there will be no fruit.

Ruben del Pilar mentioned that his church had launched a new prayer program. Every day (I think he said), their church was open for prayer from 6 to 7 a.m. 

Well, soon, people started coming into the church. New people. And they would ask these new people, “What brought you to church?” And they would answer, “I don’t know. Something just made me come in here…”

That’s the power of prayer that connects us to the root. That’s the holy power of a church that is connected to the root, connected to the vine, connected to Christ. That’s a church that has Jesus - and following Jesus - at the center of all they do. And it’s why every so often, I remind you to pray; to pray for your church.

5. Many Branches Bearing Fruit

We are all branches connected to the vine, connected to the root. As long as we remain connected to the root, we remain connected to each other.

And I am so grateful for the connections we have in our church - the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The livestream limited how much I was exposed to, but we have so many ministry organizations within our church that we are directly connected to, doing ministry in so many ways.

William Barber, who spoke Wednesday morning, is co-director of the Poor People’s Campaign. The Poor People’s Campaign is working so hard in this country on behalf of the poor, on behalf of immigrants, on behalf of those whose rights have been taken away from them.

We’re connected to that.

Wednesday morning’s worship also featured a commissioning of Global Ministries co-workers, who are engaged in development work in so many parts of the world. One of those commissioned was Abi Hernandez, who some of us have worked with at Loch Leven. (I was also her camp counselor when she was younger.) She’s going to Japan for a year, to do work there on Christ’s behalf, and on our behalf. 

We’re connected to that.

And we’re connected to the work of Week of Compassion, which continues to respond on our behalf to relief efforts and humanitarian needs around the world as well as here in the U.S.

We’re connected to that.

And we’re connected to ministries of reconciliation, working to overcome the sin of racism in the church and in the world.

And we’re connected to ministries of care, working to care for those in need in so many places.

We’re connected to that. Directly connected, through our church. Directly connected, through our financial support. Directly connected, through our ongoing prayers. We are part of one vine, with many, many branches, connected together.

And each one of those connections is a blessing. 

Connected together, we are a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. A fragmented world is a world of disruption. A fragmented world is a world where things don’t go according to God’s perfect plan, a world where God’s plan has been disrupted.

But God calls us to be a movement for wholeness in that fragmented world. We are a blessing in this world of disruption. 

And it’s all because of the root. It’s all because of the vine. It’s all because of Jesus.