There are some English words that people do not use anymore. Younger generations such as Millennials and Generation Z wouldn’t know what a floppy disk is. They might have heard of it, but would have never used it because floppy disks are no longer manufactured. The Episcopal Church, for example, is a place where all these long gone words are used. Some joke about how Episcopalians have a name for every single object in the church, which I believe is quite true. We even have a name for each linen. We have the white linen that goes underneath the paten and the chalice. This is called a corporal. What about another white linen that is used to wipe the chalice. This one is called a purificator. The vessel that contains wine is a flagon, whereas the same looking vessel with water is a cruet. We can spend next ten minutes going over all these fancy words which are used in the church setting.
In today’s gospel reading and the second lesson, both texts from St John the Evangelist, there’s this word that we really don’t use at all. Can you guess what it is? It’s to “abide.” I’m actually not quite sure how we can use this word. I don’t think I ever say, “I abide in Little Falls or abide for me outside.” Maybe I can tell my son to “abide by my rules!” He wouldn’t understand its meaning but only my angry voice. In the gospel reading, however, Jesus uses this forgotten and unused term. He says, “Abide in me as I abide in you.” St John in his letters also says, “God abides (translated as ‘live’ in the NRSV) in us, and his love is perfected in us...we abide in him and he in us…” The original Greek word that is translated as ‘abide’ is μένω. It means to ‘live, dwell, remain, stay, or wait.” This word, “abide” in English has a couple of definitions. First, it is to ‘accept or act in accordance with a rule, decision, or recommendation.’ Second, it can mean to ‘continue without fading or being lost.’ And the last definition is simply to ‘dwell or live.’ Ben Quash, an Anglican priest and a theologian, suggests that “Abiding has more the sense of a full, personal commitment. It expresses a quality of solidarity which just waiting would never convey.” (Abiding, p. 2) He then gives a biblical example of what it means for someone to abide from the Book of Ruth. This is Ruth’s response to her mother-in-law, Naomi: “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” (Ruth 1:16-17) This saying of Ruth sounds very much like Jesus. His life on earth until his death on the cross and resurrection is the incarnate version of what it means to abide in God and the people he loves. Jesus shows us how to be an abider and calls us to be one. In this sense, being a disciple of Jesus is simply to become an abider in him. We act in accordance with the love of God shown in Jesus. We continue to follow the steps of Jesus without fading or being lost. We stand where Jesus stands. We dwell where he dwells. We commit our bodies to the Body of Jesus. We are called to be abiders in Jesus Christ. To abide in Jesus is not an easy task. And it has never been easy. Being an abider in Jesus is like entering through the narrow gate, not like the wide ones. Often, this image of entering the narrow gate feels like we just have to follow all the rules and regulations to become Christian. I think this way of thinking about the Christian discipleship is neither helpful nor healthy for our spiritual health. It simply falls into legalism that judges not only others but also ourselves. I would like us to broaden and deepen our understanding of being an abider in Christ or a pilgrim entering the narrow gate as we reflect on the organic image of Jesus that shown in the gospel. He is the true vine. We are the branches. The source of our being is only possible when we abide in the vine. Entering the narrow gate then really is to recognize the source of our being that sustains our lives as his branches. What legalism or considering our Christian faith as believing a set of principles of moral conduct is spiritually harmful to us. Not only that it makes us judge ourselves and others. But it makes us forget that we must depend on ourselves and our lives on God. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we can neither abide in Jesus nor enter the narrow gate. What does abiding in Jesus look like? We can imagine ourselves sitting in the church and doing churchly activities. All these might be considered as abiding in Jesus but if we revisit what abiding really means. It is just not enough. To abide is more than to dwell or remain still. It is really to wrestle with our lives in Jesus and in solidarity with others. It is to never give up on loving ourselves, others, and God and hoping for ourselves and others in God. It is to discover God working in our messy lives. It is to have the long loving look on our complex and imperfect lives in which God’s grace never stops working. It also involves pruning, trimming dead or overgrown branches or stems in ourselves in order to increase fruitfulness and growth. This pruning process is traditionally called as repentance. The vinegrower prunes dead and overgrown stems in us. The vine enlivens and strengthens us to flourish together with other branches. So, what is your story as an abider in Christ? What is your story in which you find God’s mercy in the faces of others while wrestling and struggling with your messy and imperfect life? What is your story in which God helps you flourish and bear fruit? You might not recognize that you do have the stories of your own that show how you’re abiding in Jesus. Sometimes it is our job to remind and tell others that they do have stories to tell. In a way, that’s what St Philip does in the first lesson. An Ethiopian eunuch does not really recognize that Jesus is very well present in his life. He worships God without really knowing much about Jesus. It is St Philip who listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit that tells him, “Go and join the eunuch.” It looks like St Philip is teaching him about Jesus but I would say he’s really helping the eunuch discover Jesus who has been with him all along. The story of a faithful abider is like that of a love story. It is the story of love in which God unceasingly loves and that person responds to that love with gratitude and love of others. The story of a loving abider is also the story of overcoming fear, not so much about not having fear. Fear in this abider is overcome by God’s unconditional love. Even death cannot part this abider from the love of God. Because the abider is rooted in the risen Christ. My fellow abiders, let us faithfully abide in Christ. Allow ourselves to be pruned to flourish and bear fruit. Let us abide in His love. Let us love one another in Christ. This love perfected in us will cast out all the fears in the world in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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