Bearing
Fruit
Tony
E Dillon Hansen
A
Sermon based upon Colossians 1:1-14, Deuteronomy 30:9-14, Luke 10:25-37, Psalm 25:1-10
Let
us begin with prayer. May the words of my mouth and meditations of all of our
hearts be accepted in Your sight, Our Rock and Our Redeemer!
The
Young Student
First
a story about a young student testing for promotion in TKD - asked to break a
board. She looked at the board and the holder with serious apprehension and
looked around scared. I am sure she could describe to you how the board looked
big and menacing to her. I as the holder said, “you can do this.” She lifted up
her leg and bam - nothing broke. Then a second time, same thing . Then, I said
to her, “pause and breathe we are with you and not against you. Go through the board – don’t meet it. You can
do this!” Other people offered words of encouragement as well. She collected
herself, set, lifted her leg, bam and through the board she went. She looked
with astonishment and jumped at her accomplishment while the room applauded.
Sometimes,
we just need some encouragement that we are doing the right thing - that people
see or recognize the effort, and our lectionary today gives us some of that.
Our epistle today comes from Colossians, and this is written as
a strong encouragement for that community (and ours) to continue to be
faithful. This encouragement is done with prayer and the image of bearing
fruit is core to this message. So what does “bearing fruit” mean? (I
am glad you asked, and to help this...)
One theologian remarks that one cannot read the epistles without
digging into the other parts of the scripture, and this lesson is a perfect
example of that. Our lectionary offers some specific examples and takes us through Torah law in Deuteronomy
with “God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the
fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your soil…”
The lectionary also takes us to the story of the Samaritan in Luke with a fellow offering much needed comfort
to someone in distress.
How do these texts inform us as to what this letter to Colossae
says about bearing fruit?
Deuteronomy Fruit.
Of Deuteronomy, the scripture reminds that command in the Torah
is to do the good work of God with all your heart and all your soul. This calls
to our familial, growth, agricultural and ecological fruitfulness traits. (We
could go further into Genesis with this and observe “be fruitful and multiply.”
)
This however could be misconstrued to expect a certain kind
of prosperity as reward. (Besides prosperity for a single person might be
different than a person, like me with a family.) Prosperity can be defined in
so many ways – not just money. So what kind of reward is God mentioning in
Deuteronomy.
The fruit may be an allusion to the covenantal relationship as
the gifts of God that permeates all parts of our lives – not just at worship.
Last time I was here, we talked about justification by faith and
daring greatly to live our faith and this portion of Deuteronomy roots our faith,
our justification and our prosperity in good works of (oh oh oh not you or me
but God).
That leads us to the Gospels.
DOC General Assembly - Abide as Fruit
I should note here that Des Moines will be hosting DOC version
of GS this coming weekend. Their theme comes
from John 15 where Jesus refers to being “the vine… and those who abide in me
and I in them bear much fruit.” Thus, this fruit again talks about covenant: to
love God and to love our neighbor “with whole heart and soul.” You ask who is my neighbor?
Summary of the Samaritan.
Another great because in Luke, Jesus was asked the same
question. Jesus provides us a lesson (a parable) of a Samaritan in Luke
where two people were given a chance to help a person in need. A priest
and a Levite, people of privilege and duty, walked along the other side of the
road and who did not, could not and would not be bothered to help.
When a particular Samaritan arrives, he sees the traveler and
moves to help – the Samaritan sees (sees) while the others
ignored. The Samaritan is moved to help - without knowing the details about the
traveler.
Seeing the Invisible.
I have remarked about my work with UBFM in our work with area homeless.
In these interactions, one thing the Spirit teaches us is the value and dignity
of every single human being. For so long in my life, I would simply walk by and
not even know there was person sitting on the park bench. For so long, I
would drive by an overpass and not realize that someone has been living in the
crevice for the last couple months. (Maybe you are nodding because you
recognize your behavior.) For so long, I just did not see…
We could deliberate for a long time why we do this.
In the face of that, I submit that the Holy Spirit works magic, and that
can yield unexpected and remarkable changes our lives. You can no longer
un-see, and you might suddenly realize how beautiful your own life is with wonders,
privileges and joys in the midst of our own brokenness, bills, worries – when
you are willing to see. This is not necessarily a sense of righteous pride but
realizing the privileges that we have been afforded are things we could lose.
Seeing is Mutually Beneficial
I can tell you stories about some of these encounters where the
sustenance we provided was received with joyful tears of honest, grateful
blessings upon us in turn. While they were appreciating the food and
supply, one thing I feel is that we seeing them instead of looking away or
ignoring is the important part.
As someone who studies martial arts and self-defense, this is
two-fold. Seeing means I recognize who is in my environment, but seeing people
is recognizing God’s child and God’s
creation right there in some actually interesting and subtle beauty.
We don’t hand out money but when I do see a person on a corner
holding a sign -- I no longer quickly turn up the windows or hastily look busy
trying not to make eye contact. I, at least, acknowledge they are there – and
that can be powerful for each of us.
I know some people and media like to paint a picture that these people
are just manipulating our good emotions, but I guarantee you people are in real
distress all around our community. And all God’s children deserve to be treated
with dignity rather than ignored. Go ahead and say hi!
That is where the Samaritan is important because this person
crossed culture lines and walls of society but gave no question of condition
for giving comfort – like a good caregiver would do.
Bearing Witness
So these texts reminds us of our covenant to God and our
neighbor and compel us to see our neighbor – and does not put conditions on
that.
That brings us back to our epistle. Another way to read
Colossians is in parallel where bearing fruit is bearing witness.
When we witness the suffering (whether racial injustice, kids in
cages at the border, Native Americans having water rights stolen from them,
shaming or bullying), are we moved to help? -- because that is what God is
calling us to do.
That seeing might make us uncomfortable and uneasy, but loving
God and the rewards of that Spirit call us to do the good Christian work
“daring greatly” even when it makes us uncomfortable.
It could be easy for us to quietly brush aside someone’s hurt as
someone else’s issue or when we defiantly refuse to see what is happening… We
are forgetting the command we have been given – to love God and our neighbor
with our whole heart.
What if it was you?
You could even flip the roles. What if you were put in a
position where you felt like you had no one to help you, the system fails you,
or people were constantly avoiding the systemic problems while calling it “good.” You might be a little annoyed and would you
feel hurt. (Our theme from General Synod is to be the seasoning and to light
the world with God’s love, less we are tasteless and buried from sight. )
Transformative power of God
Thus, we are called into service, we can “dare greatly”, and we
can “rise strong” in our faith. That starts with us seeing and witnessing the
power of God and light in the children of God that are all around us. We can
see the blessings of humanity in all the nooks and crannies of our lives, the
world. There, we will see God at work.
When we see and we witness God working, then our lives and our
hearts can be transformed by the mighty power of God. Then no one will be able
to put out your light or that of others because you felt love of God deep in
your heart.
We can be rescued from the power of evil and transform into the
full power of grace, faith and hope. That becomes contagious in good way.
Wouldn’t that be nice? To see a whole community moved to be and do the graceful
work of God (rather than be consumed by division and hate because we refused to
see.) All it takes is just one act to start – to see, to bear fruit, and to
bear witness.
When the TKD student felt encouraged and in community with us, then
she witnessed what she could do, and she lit up and filled the whole room with
her joy!
Lift up your eyes, bear fruit, bear witness to the light, bear
witness to God, bear witness to your neighbor (no matter where they are on
life’s journey) and be moved to mercy with love, compassion and faith.
Then, you may be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding
as you share that witness with our neighbors – near and far. Then together, we
can all lift up God’s grace, and bear fruit that God has blessed us all, as
children of God, with these wonderful gifts with all your heart and all your
soul.
Thanks Be to God.
