Through Stained Glass: Abiding as a Vital Congregation

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated.
We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tired into a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

Abiding.

Sometimes the profundity of the Triune God overwhelms me.

Maybe overwhelm isn't the best or right word. 

Astounds me?

No, that doesn't quite capture what I feel either. 

Let me come at it this way. 

Sunday, we read these words from the Gospel of John:

[Jesus says] "Abide in me as I abide in you."

God the Parent abides in the Son who abides in God the Parent. We abide in the Son by the Spirit who abides in the Parent and Son. The Spirit draws us into the Trinity—in the Holy Community, we have our being.

We make our home in the heart of the Triune God. 

Abide means to be at home—a rough translation. 

We are at home in the Trinity's vineyard. God, the Vine Grower, wants to tend to us. God attends to us so that we may bear fruit. Growth is not the desired outcome. Plants can grow wild, but the fruit might suffer. Thoughtful and intimate attention to the plants is how growth and fruit-bearing occur. 

The church is a human community. The Spirit brings us to life as Christ's body, and we become the new Incarnation—a new Creation. To abide in Christ is to let Christ's words reside in us—make a dwelling in us. We are inseparable from Christ. We are a living, dynamic community.

Words like the ones we will hear this Sunday:

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love."

Sunday, my sermon will touch base on what it means to be a Matthew 25 church in the PCUSA. A church committed to being a Matthew 25 community seeks to be a vital congregation. 

What is a vital congregation? 

It takes the reality of its abiding in Christ seriously. It is a church that contemplates the intertwining relationship of the Trinity to bear the fruit of Love and give it freely, without restrictions or conditions, to the world. It is a church that openly discusses topics that challenge the status quo—and moves towards the liberating love of God already bearing fruit in and through the people and places in our neighborhoods, without pretense or prejudice. A vital congregation welcomes the disruptive and reforming movement of the Spirit. A vital congregation seeks to prune as God does and endeavors to cultivate the hidden life in all people!

The hidden life is Christ in us. The emerging fruit is Love.

A vital congregation who abides in Christ the branch, which is cared for by God the Vine grower, is a church that makes their home in the Trinity. We are a vital congregation—one that has "already been cleansed by the word that [Christ] [has] spoken to [us]." We abide in God's love, Christ's words abide in us, and the Spirit draws us into the life of God.

Our life is in God. 

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. 

If that doesn't astound you, I'm not sure what will!

Abide—make your home in God.