Growing in Faith: Being Nourished
September 22, 2024 Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Psalm 1 and John 15:1-11
“Growing in Faith: Being Nourished”
Douglas T. King
When I was an exchange student in Germany one of my fellow students had one of those priceless cross-cultural miscommunication experiences. The first morning he woke up in his host family’s home and went down to breakfast. There, at his seat, neatly lined up, were eight large glasses of water. His host family had heard of Americans drinking eight glasses of water each day and they wanted to ensure he got all of the hydration he needed to sustain himself. After all, they would not want to impede the growth of a young American boy!
This is the third week in our series on growth. The first week we explored how we need a humble and youthful perspective to grow. Last week we considered the distracting anxieties we need to leave behind to grow. Today we are turning to receiving the sustenance we need to continue to grow. Our readings from the psalter and the Gospel of John gift us with powerful organic metaphors of the sustenance the divine provides. We are like trees planted by streams and branches upon the divine vine.
Throughout John’s gospel we get descriptions of the deep intimacy among God the Creator, God the Son, God the Spirit, and each of us. Earlier, in chapter fourteen, Jesus announces to his disciples, “…you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
What is interesting is that the section of the gospel where Jesus shares this metaphor of the vine and the branches and this language of our mutual indwelling with the divine is all part of Jesus’ farewell discourse. These are the final words Jesus will share with his disciples before he is crucified. One of the universal realities of growth is that it cannot always be seen. Trees and plants can be in the midst of growth that is not measurable by the human eye. The same can be true for our growth.
When Jesus was present with the disciples they watched his ministry unfold every day. They could lay hold of tangible discoveries that were shaping their understanding. Jesus was teaching and healing and revealing his identity right before them. The spiritual growth available to them was tangible on a regular basis.
Knowing this would soon change, Jesus wanted to provide them with an evocative metaphor by which they could be reminded that the sustenance necessary for their growth was ever with them. After he was gone they would run the risk of feeling disconnected from the divine. He wanted them to know that was just not the case.
The hard truth of all types of growth for us, is that there are times when all seems fallow; when we are just grinding our gears and making no progress; when whatever efforts we are making appear to be offering no rewarding dividends. It can all feel quite disheartening. When you are a child and all of your friends have had their growth spurt and you have not, it can feel like you will eternally be the shortest in your class. When you are learning to play the violin and no matter how many times you try to finger an intricate arpeggio, you find the effort a clumsy mess it can feel that you will never master it. We can hit an apparent rut in any and every area of growth in our lives, including our spiritual growth. When you are doing your best to do a devotional and pray every day and your relationship with the divine feels stuck in neutral it can be easy to believe you have lost your connection to God.
But growth of all kinds is unpredictable and uneven, at least to our comprehension. There will ever be times of winter when there is no growth on the surface to be recognized. But that does not mean that there is not vital germination going on beneath what can be seen. Our efforts that may appear quite fruitless, one day blossom forth. Over the summer that growth spurt comes and you walk into fourth grade as one of the tallest kids. Something finally clicks with your fingers and your mind and that arpeggio flows out of you, silky smooth. One day you turn to God in prayer, yet again, and this time you feel your heart opening and the presence of God flowing through you.
I do not have any wisdom to offer about the length of the winters in our efforts at spiritual growth. Jesus does not offer us one in this text. What he does offer is the most important thing for us to know. God is ever gifting us with great sustenance, ever nourishing us and nurturing us.
Of course, Jesus is also clear that as God is seeking to abide in us, we need to reciprocate. We need to abide in God. When we make no effort to grow in our relationship with the divine we cannot be fed. Both of these texts challenge us. The sustenance we are offered each and every day needs for us to invite it in. If we choose not to be fed we run the risk of withering.
But we should not be mistaken. When we seek to be fed by God, just because we do not see the growth in us occurring; just because we may have periods where we feel disconnected from the divine; this does not mean that we are not being sustained. The growth that is occurring is just beyond our perception. Winter serves the purposes of growth as well.
Today is one of those particularly Presbyterian Sundays, as we ordain and install officers. We stand strong in our belief that the manner in which we are most likely to discern God’s will in our midst is by bringing forth representatives from our own membership to listen for God’s will together. Randy, Vicki, Julie, Jim, Scott, Carol, John, Nathan, Connie, Tim, Cheryl, Alana, Cindy, Roger, Matt, and Carol, we will call you forward in a few minutes. We will ask you to once again affirm your faith in Jesus Christ. Those who have been previously ordained will lay hands upon you. And we will pray for God’s Spirit to abide with you in all the ways you are being called to be a servant leader.
As the spiritual leaders of this congregation we invite you to continue to grow in your relationship with God as you serve. There will be times when you will feel God’s Spirit in the midst of your service, while visiting a church-member, planning a retreat, serving communion. And there will also be times when that Spirit will feel absent, a meeting that runs long with what feels like little accomplishment or some event that does not go quite as planned. You may wonder where God is exactly present as you are doing your best to be faithful but seemingly spinning your wheels.
Trust in these words from John’s Gospel. Jesus Christ is indeed the vine and we are the branches. God does indeed abide in us. All growth is not always so easily comprehended. But just because sometimes we are incapable of understanding how God is at work in our lives, and our life together as the church, does not mean that the divine is not at work.
We may not get eight large glasses of water presented to us on the breakfast table each morning but what we need to sustain us is available each and every day. And growth is occurring each and every day, if we invite it in. There will be times when the growth may be in winter mode, when it is hidden beneath the surface. But that does not belie its existence.
There is not a moment in each of our lives or our collective life together when God is not offering us the sustenance we need to continue to grow. We are called to trust in this reality in every season. When we approach our lives and our spiritual journeys with humility and a youthful openness to learn; when we turn from our anxieties and lean toward God’s sustaining presence; when we trust in the reality that God is seeking to nourish us every day, the growth available to us is beyond our imagination.
Drink up.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Psalm 1 and John 15:1-11
“Growing in Faith: Being Nourished”
Douglas T. King
When I was an exchange student in Germany one of my fellow students had one of those priceless cross-cultural miscommunication experiences. The first morning he woke up in his host family’s home and went down to breakfast. There, at his seat, neatly lined up, were eight large glasses of water. His host family had heard of Americans drinking eight glasses of water each day and they wanted to ensure he got all of the hydration he needed to sustain himself. After all, they would not want to impede the growth of a young American boy!
This is the third week in our series on growth. The first week we explored how we need a humble and youthful perspective to grow. Last week we considered the distracting anxieties we need to leave behind to grow. Today we are turning to receiving the sustenance we need to continue to grow. Our readings from the psalter and the Gospel of John gift us with powerful organic metaphors of the sustenance the divine provides. We are like trees planted by streams and branches upon the divine vine.
Throughout John’s gospel we get descriptions of the deep intimacy among God the Creator, God the Son, God the Spirit, and each of us. Earlier, in chapter fourteen, Jesus announces to his disciples, “…you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
What is interesting is that the section of the gospel where Jesus shares this metaphor of the vine and the branches and this language of our mutual indwelling with the divine is all part of Jesus’ farewell discourse. These are the final words Jesus will share with his disciples before he is crucified. One of the universal realities of growth is that it cannot always be seen. Trees and plants can be in the midst of growth that is not measurable by the human eye. The same can be true for our growth.
When Jesus was present with the disciples they watched his ministry unfold every day. They could lay hold of tangible discoveries that were shaping their understanding. Jesus was teaching and healing and revealing his identity right before them. The spiritual growth available to them was tangible on a regular basis.
Knowing this would soon change, Jesus wanted to provide them with an evocative metaphor by which they could be reminded that the sustenance necessary for their growth was ever with them. After he was gone they would run the risk of feeling disconnected from the divine. He wanted them to know that was just not the case.
The hard truth of all types of growth for us, is that there are times when all seems fallow; when we are just grinding our gears and making no progress; when whatever efforts we are making appear to be offering no rewarding dividends. It can all feel quite disheartening. When you are a child and all of your friends have had their growth spurt and you have not, it can feel like you will eternally be the shortest in your class. When you are learning to play the violin and no matter how many times you try to finger an intricate arpeggio, you find the effort a clumsy mess it can feel that you will never master it. We can hit an apparent rut in any and every area of growth in our lives, including our spiritual growth. When you are doing your best to do a devotional and pray every day and your relationship with the divine feels stuck in neutral it can be easy to believe you have lost your connection to God.
But growth of all kinds is unpredictable and uneven, at least to our comprehension. There will ever be times of winter when there is no growth on the surface to be recognized. But that does not mean that there is not vital germination going on beneath what can be seen. Our efforts that may appear quite fruitless, one day blossom forth. Over the summer that growth spurt comes and you walk into fourth grade as one of the tallest kids. Something finally clicks with your fingers and your mind and that arpeggio flows out of you, silky smooth. One day you turn to God in prayer, yet again, and this time you feel your heart opening and the presence of God flowing through you.
I do not have any wisdom to offer about the length of the winters in our efforts at spiritual growth. Jesus does not offer us one in this text. What he does offer is the most important thing for us to know. God is ever gifting us with great sustenance, ever nourishing us and nurturing us.
Of course, Jesus is also clear that as God is seeking to abide in us, we need to reciprocate. We need to abide in God. When we make no effort to grow in our relationship with the divine we cannot be fed. Both of these texts challenge us. The sustenance we are offered each and every day needs for us to invite it in. If we choose not to be fed we run the risk of withering.
But we should not be mistaken. When we seek to be fed by God, just because we do not see the growth in us occurring; just because we may have periods where we feel disconnected from the divine; this does not mean that we are not being sustained. The growth that is occurring is just beyond our perception. Winter serves the purposes of growth as well.
Today is one of those particularly Presbyterian Sundays, as we ordain and install officers. We stand strong in our belief that the manner in which we are most likely to discern God’s will in our midst is by bringing forth representatives from our own membership to listen for God’s will together. Randy, Vicki, Julie, Jim, Scott, Carol, John, Nathan, Connie, Tim, Cheryl, Alana, Cindy, Roger, Matt, and Carol, we will call you forward in a few minutes. We will ask you to once again affirm your faith in Jesus Christ. Those who have been previously ordained will lay hands upon you. And we will pray for God’s Spirit to abide with you in all the ways you are being called to be a servant leader.
As the spiritual leaders of this congregation we invite you to continue to grow in your relationship with God as you serve. There will be times when you will feel God’s Spirit in the midst of your service, while visiting a church-member, planning a retreat, serving communion. And there will also be times when that Spirit will feel absent, a meeting that runs long with what feels like little accomplishment or some event that does not go quite as planned. You may wonder where God is exactly present as you are doing your best to be faithful but seemingly spinning your wheels.
Trust in these words from John’s Gospel. Jesus Christ is indeed the vine and we are the branches. God does indeed abide in us. All growth is not always so easily comprehended. But just because sometimes we are incapable of understanding how God is at work in our lives, and our life together as the church, does not mean that the divine is not at work.
We may not get eight large glasses of water presented to us on the breakfast table each morning but what we need to sustain us is available each and every day. And growth is occurring each and every day, if we invite it in. There will be times when the growth may be in winter mode, when it is hidden beneath the surface. But that does not belie its existence.
There is not a moment in each of our lives or our collective life together when God is not offering us the sustenance we need to continue to grow. We are called to trust in this reality in every season. When we approach our lives and our spiritual journeys with humility and a youthful openness to learn; when we turn from our anxieties and lean toward God’s sustaining presence; when we trust in the reality that God is seeking to nourish us every day, the growth available to us is beyond our imagination.
Drink up.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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