Sermon Manuscript: Silence and Solitude

Text: John 15:1-11, John 3:16

I can remember clearly the first time I met my wife Susan. I stepped out of a van onto a street in the inner city of Chicago. A place I had been warned about as dangerous to the unitiated. I had in my mind this being a real adventure with me not knowing anyone. A time to cut the apronstrings and become grown-up. And hear I was on the streets of this unfriendly and forboding place when I hear my name being yelled and someone running toward me. "Todd, Todd, hey Todd." I have perfect vision but I could not for the life of me figure out who this person was. As she got closer, I even became more confused. "Had I dated her in another life?" How does she know my name? Who is she? What is going on! Talk about an experience out of the "Twilight Zone".

I did come to learn that this woman was part of our missionary group and had been told I was coming. She thought it would be fun to pull a prank on me like that. Little did she know that I would have the last laugh, that is still not over, for the next 21+ years. About the only other time she has shocked me like this was when she told me she was pregnant.

Why was I so taken aback then and I wouldn't be now if she ran down the street calling my name? Because we have spent the past 21 years together in some form of relationship; shocked acquaintence, friend, great friend, the guy who hoped she would dump her boyfriend, boyfriend, fiancee, and husband, father of her children. Each passing day and each passing event brings with it a richness and depth that words cannot express. We have talked, we have cried, laughed, and lived together. She can finish my sentences or so she tells me.

I was shocked because we did not have a relationship at all. I had never seen her face; talked to her; or even been in her presence. She and I had no shared experiences. We had no common denominator. YET...The reason I mentioned all of this is NOT to hold out our marriage as something extra special or different. I tell you this story to help us visualize what it takes for a relationship to evolve. It takes time, shared experiences, conversation, sharing, hanging out, and so many other things. A relationship does not happen over night. It is just superficial and merely words to say we "know" someone who we have not met or spent time with even if we know there name. Each relationship evolves in a slightly different manner and pace. And the bottom line is that the relationship grows and those in the relationship are never again the same.

I have said often that God wants a relationship with us. That relationship begins through faith in Jesus Christ as John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life." The relationship is not fully developed at that point. Some say it is the most important part, and I would tend to agree of its importance. For without this first step, the introduction if you will, nothing further can develop. But that is not the rest or the end of the story.

Willow Creek Community Church, founded in 1975, has grown into one of the most influential churches in the world. They attract thousands of people to their weekend services. Their pastors are renown authors and speakers who speak all over the world. They have spawned hundreds of churches and are responsible, in my opinion, for the seeker sensitive model of kingdom building along with Saddleback Church. In every sense of the word they are have been mightily used by God. That is why it so intrigued me that they did a study in 2004 whose results are entitled, "Reveal". Here is reader's digest version. Church activity does not assure spiritual growth. Attendance does not necessarily produce mature Christians. Church programs fall short of being all that a person needs to build a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Wow. What an indictment on the church. The gauntlet has been thrown down against so many things we have come to know and love. Well, not necessarily. As I interpret it, the church is not failing, it is simply badly positioned. We church folk have lost sight of what the church father's knew and practiced from the beginning. Our very own Methodist tradition was started as not a "church" plant, but as a re-awakening of church people to the transformational power of what we know as spiritual disciplines or as John Wesley called them "means of grace." It is those practices which help you and me develop a relationship with God.

Think back to what it takes to develop a relationship with a friend or your spouse. Time together, conversation, shared experiences are just a few of the things that it takes for a relationship to bloom. These same things are vital to grow in our relationship with God. Vital like air, and water, and sun, and soil are to a tree. Vital like a heart, a brain, a stomach, and skeletal system are to a human. Vital like chocolate cream pie is to...well...me. You get my point.

Back to the statement above. What is a spiritual discipline? It is an activity that God has chosen to use to bring us closer. Examples of a spiritual discipline are prayer, study, worship, Christian conferencing (fellowship), fasting, and many more. Over the next four weeks will be looking the spiritual disciplines, or practices if that sounds less ominous to you, of silence and solitude, study, prayer, and worship. Not only are we going to be talking about these practices, but I want to encourage us all to try to implement some of these practices in the course of our everyday lives.
Now, will it be easy? Nothing in life that is worthwhile is. Will it be natural? Not at first. Is it worth it? Yes. Isn't this saying that I have to 'do' things in order for God's grace to be applied to me? No. A quote from Dallas Willard's book The Great Omission stuck with me this week. "Grace is not opposed to 'effort', just 'earning.' Spiritual disciplines are like gravity. They are pre-set ways that the world works. They are God's way of drawing us into a place much the same way God invited Moses to Mt. Sinai, and Jesus to the Mt of Olives, in order to commune with us. To shine His light upon our life and to transform. Can it happen in other ways? Yes. Bot for us to demand that it does is a direct attack upon God's sovereignty. It is like saying to the President, the only way I will meet with you is on my terms. Let us not overlook the fact that we have the opportunity by quibbling about 'how'.

And this brings us to our passage for the morning taken from the 15th chapter of John's gospel. It is part of Jesus' final address contained in John. It is his parting words to those who would be counted upon to carry on the work after Jesus' death and resurrection and ascension. Therefore, we can be encouraged to pay attention to how Jesus is trying to give them truth that can be counted on for the rest of their ministry.

The Vine and the Branches

15:1 “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. 15:2 He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit. 15:3 You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you. 15:4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. 15:6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. 15:8 My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are28 my disciples.

15:9 “Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love. 15:10 If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 15:11 I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.

If Jesus were giving us this teaching today, I doubt he would use the same analogy. Jesus' ministry took place within an agrarian society which would have understood implicitly what was meant. Today, we might understand this same concept as Jesus saying I am the power chord and you are the computer. You have been created to do some wonderful things. You can add, create databases, balance your checkbook, create movies, and so much more. But without being plugged into me, you remain dormant. Full of potential. Accomplishing nothing for which you were intended. You might find other avenues of usefulness, but they will never satisfy like the avenues God wants to do through you. The powerless computer could be used as a doorstop or a bookend or even a blunt object to strike rodents with (maybe that is going too far). But we would all admit that none of these uses come close to the one it can accomplish when it has a power source.

Jesus says that remaining together is the goal of the life of a disciple. There is a promise that if we remain, he will always remain. That is the pre-set way that we talked about earlier. Whether the word is remain or abide as some translations render it, the idea is that we have a strong connection to God. That foundation for this connection is through times of silence and solitude with God which centers itself in a contemplative lifestyle which allows our inmost being to reach out to the truth of God. It is those moments, perhaps on a hillside or in the middle of a crowd, perhaps in the middle of conversation or the middle of drifting off to sleep, where we become so focused upon God that it is all consuming for us. Please hear me when I say that I am less concerned with "how" and more concerned with us doing it. Growing up, these were called quiet times. It was those moments taken during the day to read, pray, and generally give them to God. This is where our relationship with God takes form and takes hold of us. Thomas Merton in his book New Seeds of Contemplation says the following. (elongated quote from book).

How often is it that we set aside time to focus upon God? Is it daily? Is it weekly or monthly? Wherever you are, that is where you are. And that place is not to be judged by anyone, most assuredly me. That is your starting point to move forward. My message today is not about how little we are doing, but rather my message is that the God of the universe wants to relate with you and me. Doesn't it make sense for us to take the time and see what God wants to show us, to know how God wants to love and care for us, to understand how we might work in concert with God's will for our lives instead of fight against it. And just like every other relationship you have in your life, it takes time together in order for it to be strong and meaningful.