“CONFESSING A BLESSING”

JOHN 15:5-17

5  I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

6  Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

7  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8  My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

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

10  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

11  I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

12  "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

13  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.

14  You are my friends if you do what I command you.

15  I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

16  You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

17  I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Jesus had a choice to make that night when he gathered with the disciples in the Upper Room.  It was a choice between feeling sorry for himself and counting his blessings. Now, it would have been easy for Jesus to feel sorry for himself.  After all, this was the Last Supper – his Last Supper. So, Jesus knew that Judas was about to betray him. Jesus knew that all the other disciples were going to desert him. Jesus knew that in just a few hours he was going to be tortured and tormented.  At the same time, Jesus knew that overall the disciples had been there for him time and time again. After all, these were the disciples who answered his call and left everything to follow him.  They’d been through some hard times together; three years of emotional ups and downs; three years of conflict and controversy with the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the scribes.

All those trials and tribulations brought them closer together and Jesus was truly thankful for that.  Jesus was thankful for that because he knew that sometimes those hard times don’t bring people closer together. Sometimes those hard times drive people away from each other. Sometimes all the anxiety and animosity gets to be too much for you. Your blood pressure goes up and your ability to be patient goes down. When that happens you end up feeling the same way an orchestra conductor and one of his drummers felt one day.  The drummer wasn’t exactly the most accomplished musician in the world.  So, the conductor worked with him to help him improve his performance. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.  So, one day during a rehearsal with the entire orchestra the conductor’s frustration got the best of him.  “You know,” the conductor said, “when a musician can’t handle his instrument and doesn’t improve when help is given, they take away his instrument. Then they give him two sticks and make him a drummer.”  At that point the drummer turned to another musician in the percussion section and whispered rather loudly, “And if he can’t handle that, they take away one of his sticks and make him a conductor.”

Unlike that conductor and that drummer, the hard times that Jesus and the disciples went through brought them closer together.  You know what that’s like right?  It makes you really appreciate the people around you. Jesus really appreciated the disciples. That’s why he gave them an incredible gift that night.  You see it was there in that Upper Room that Jesus told the disciples for the first time that they were his friends.  “No longer do I call you servants,” Jesus said, “but I have called you friends…”  Jesus told the disciples that they were his friends!  It was his way of thanking them for their loyalty and their love.  It was his way of thanking them for their dedication and their devotion. “I have called you my friends.” What an incredible grace filled moment.

Like Jesus and his friends, we’ve been through some hard times ourselves these past few months.  We’ve had to say some really difficult goodbyes.  Some of those goodbyes were expected and some were unexpected. Some of those goodbyes came much too soon. Some of those goodbyes haven’t really hit home yet.

Jessica Graham

Doug McGirr

John Rideout

Fred Bauer

Priscilla Mayo

Andy Geljookian

Skip Rooney

David Osgood

It’s been a difficult journey these past few months, but I’ve noticed something.  Like Jesus and his disciples that difficult journey has brought us closer together.  That difficult journey has made us better.  We’re still standing and our faith is strong.  You can see it everywhere you look.

You can see it in the people who baked and were there to serve at all the funeral collations.  What an incredible ministry that is to families in their times of sadness.  You can see it in all the people who showed up Saturday after Saturday to paint the outside of this sanctuary – this sacred place.  You can see it in the fun and faithful fellowship that people are sharing as they cook and create all kinds of crafts for Frosty’s Fair. You can see it in the way we all stepped up when the stewardship plea went out last spring.  The challenge was to increase our giving by 10%.  Well after every thing was said and done our giving didn’t increase by 10%.  It increased by 12.1%.

All of this is why it isn’t hard for me to understand how Jesus felt that night in the Upper Room when he looked at his disciples and called them his friends. It’s the same way the Apostle Paul felt when he wrote his letter to the Ephesians.  Paul opened that letter by writing, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.” (Ephesians 1:16)

That’s the way the Apostle Paul felt about his friends in Ephesus. That’s the way Jesus felt about his friends in that Upper Room and that’s the way I feel about you. 

So, as we prepare for all the feasting and the festivities that are a part of our Thanksgiving traditions I want to say that I’m thankful for all of you. The faith and the fellowship that we share is something that should never be taken for granted.  I was reminded of that last June. At the time I was sitting in a room full of people from different churches around the state.  We were all there for a seminar on new ways to do Christ’s work in our churches. We started off by introducing ourselves.  We were all asked to say our names and where we were from.  We were also asked say why we were there.  I listened as one person after another told a tale of woe.  They couldn’t get people to volunteer to teach or to serve on committees or to pledge. They had too much to do and not enough people to do it. As I sat there the parable about Anybody, Everybody, Nobody and Somebody came to mind.  Are you familiar with the parable?  It goes like this, “Once upon a time there was an important job to be done.  Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it by Nobody did it.  Well, Somebody got angry because it was Everybody’s job.  Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized Everybody wouldn’t do it.  So, Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.”

I walked away from that seminar feeling incredibly blessed.  I felt incredibly blessed because of the faith and the fellowship that we share.  It’s a faith and a fellowship that understands that God has called us to be the Body of Christ.  It’s a faith and a fellowship that understands that the God who was in Christ and loved us from the cradle in Bethlehem to the Cross in Jerusalem has called us to continue Christ’s work by planting seeds of healing and hope. That’s what Jesus was getting at when he said, “I am the vine you are the branches, those who abide in me bear much fruit.”  Together we are the Body of Christ, called to bear much fruit, called to be ambassadors of his peace, called to be instruments of his love. It’s a sacred calling and it means that all of us in one way or another are ministers.

That’s one of the reasons why we decided a little over a year ago to do away with the word committee.  We don’t have committees anymore.  We have ministries because it better reflects who we are and what we’re all about. By the way, I came across some really good news this past week when it comes to committees. It will give you something to look forward to someday. According to an old legend when God created the heavens and the earth the angels were blown away by all of the emerging beauty.  They watched in awe as God created one animal after another.  Finally, the angels asked if they could give it a try.  God thought about it and then agreed.  So, the angels then got together and formed an Animal Creation Committee.  After a great deal of discussion and deliberation they eventually put together a platypus which is a creature with the bill of a duck, the fur of a dog, the tail of a beaver and the feet of a frog.  Since that day, there have been no committees in heaven!

We don’t have committees anymore.  We have ministries because it better reflects who we really are and what we’re really all about.  Together we are the Body of Christ. We are ministers who have been called to be stewards of God’s love by receiving it gratefully and sharing it humbly with others.   When you understand that you understand what a little old lady was thinking one day shortly after she fainted. According to Pastor Eric Hulstrand of Binford, North Dakota the little old lady fainted right in the middle of his sermon.  Unfortunately, when she fainted she struck her head on the end of the pew.  Immediately an EMT in the congregation called for an ambulance and went to help the little old lady.  After the ambulance arrived they strapped the little old lady to a stretcher. Just before they got her to the door of the sanctuary, the little old lady regained consciousness.  That’s when she motioned for her daughter to come closer.  Everyone thought the little old lady was summoning up her last bit of strength to convey what might be her final words.  So they watched as the daughter leaned over and put her ear close to her mother’s mouth.  And do you know what the little old lady said to her?  She didn’t offer her any parting words of wisdom.  She didn’t tell her how much she loved her.  All she said was, “My offering is in my purse.”

While that story makes you smile, that’s the faith that I see as I look out at all of you this morning. It’s the reason why I understand how Jesus felt that night when he called this disciples his friends. It’s the reason why I feel very blessed and incredibly thankful. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

November 19, 2006 – Thanksgiving Sunday