The Promise of Presence
The vine is a popular metaphor that helps us understand how the love of God
nourishes us and transforms us. In the image of Christ, who is Love, acting as the
vine and Love’s disciples the branches, we can see how we are all one in Christ.
Stanly Jones, a theologian and well-known missionary often said that “everybody
who belongs to Christ belongs to everyone who belongs to Christ. We don’t have to
seek unity. We have it in Christ.” As disciples of Love, we are one in that Love.
As we continue along our journey toward the heart of God on this path of
discipleship, we first acknowledged that our spiritual path is a journey and we need
markers to help us along. One of the things that help us along, so that we might not
get lost, is the Scripture from our tradition and our prayer life. That’s what we
reflected on last week.
This week, we’ll consider another vital component to our path – EACH OTHER.
James Harnish, the author of the book “A Disciples’ Path” writes “no one walks the
discipleship path alone. There is no such thing as solitary Christianity. We can be
religious or spiritual without the presence of other people in our lives, BUT WE
CANNOT BE growing disciples of Jesus the Christ without the encouragement,
guidance, wisdom and accountability of other disciples.”
And I agree with Rev. Harnish. I would be lost without my fellow disciples poking
and provoking me along the way. If not lost, at least stuck. But my desire, as I
believe is yours as well, is to move continually toward union with God, and so it’s
time to draw on the presence of one another to continue our journey. As Christians,
we do that in two ways. Through small groups and through corporate worship. Let
me begin with small groups.
My experience in the past with church is that I remained a spectator, attending
Sunday services when I could, when it was convenient, until I committed to a 34
week long Bible Study called Disciple 1. Many of you have gone through this study
and some of you may have completed Disciple 2, 3 and 4. I only got through Disciple
1 because little did I know then; my next step would be seminary.
I know without question that participating in a small group of people who are
striving to be Disciples of Christ is one of the most powerful means to deepening our
faith and connection with God.
Small groups are one way our relationship with one another and God can grow.
Why is that important? Because like Harnish said, there is no such thing as solitary
Christianity. John Wesley was big into small groups. He called them classes or
bands and he required every person who was a part of this Methodist movement be
regularly involved in a small group where fellow disciples would pray together,
study together, serve God together and then on Sunday go to worship together in
the Anglican church. Wesley observed that those who were active participants in
the smaller groups continued to grow in their faith, while those who were not
engaged in such a group quickly fell away.
There is an awesome verse in Hebrews 10:24 – “Let us consider how to PROVOKE
one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit
of some, but encouraging one another.” Don’t you want to be PROVOKED?
Provoked to love one another, to do good things, to love God, to grow in faith? I am
asking you – Please, PROVOKE ME! But do it nicely – from the place of love.
When I reflect on all the times I’ve been involved in a small group, I realize that I
was diligently working on my discipleship more than any other time. In my last
church, during our Sunday class, we asked one another to hold us accountable in our
prayer life. And because I committed to a formal discipline of prayer every day, and
because I knew I would be asked about it by my fellow disciples Sunday night, I
followed through on that commitment – or I mostly did, what matters is that I
prayed in a disciplined way those weeks I was held accountable.
Now small groups can be made up in lots of ways, and you don’t need me to do it:
The men’s group on Thursdays or the Monday morning craft group, or the
Wednesday night book group, can all take on an accountability element. Maybe
you’re interested in starting a discipleship group where you pray and study and
serve together.
The difference between any small gathering of people (like a book group) and a
small discipleship group is that the disciple’s will primarily and purposefully offer
encouragement, guidance, wisdom and accountability to the act of becoming MORE
LIKE CHRIST. That is the goal for the kind of small group we’re talking about, to
become more like Christ.
Now, let’s reflect on the importance of corporate worship. For a long time I was a
spectator in church. I sat in the back row and tried to soak up the music and prayers
and message. And although I attended, and sought after what I needed, I remained a
spectator, waiting to be moved by what was going on around me.
Boy did I have that wrong. Little did I realize that worship was not a performance to
be enjoyed. It is an experience to be shared. Christian worship is not about you and
I. What do we like and what don’t we like. What hymns we love and which one’s we
never want to sing again. It’s about being transformed, filled with the Spirit of Jesus
Christ so that we can become agents of Christ’s love, joy and peace in the world.
We don’t get transformed based on how well the choir sings or how relevant the
message is, we worship so that our attention is turned AWAY from ourselves and
TOWARD God.
And…. there is a difference between church attendance and church presence. Our
presence in worship matters. Not only to our own spiritual formation and
information, but EQUALLY to our brothers and sisters around us.
I knew someone who went to a specific 12 step group religiously each week. She’s
gone to that same meeting every Tuesday night for eight years. The only time she
misses is when she’s sick or when she’s out of town. I asked her if her sobriety
depends on her attendance in these meetings, and she said “Sometimes. But mostly
it’s other people’s sobriety that depends on my showing up.”
I think that is an important lesson for any church goer. We never know when our
presence will be used by God to strengthen, encourage, challenge and bless another.
Our presence and attention to one another each Sunday matters.
We are called to go out and feed the hungry and visit those in prisons and bring
casseroles to those in mourning, but first Jesus calls us to be his disciples. So let’s
not forget, that within this Christian community, we are called to serve one another,
teach one another, nurture one another, encourage one another and most especially
love one another.