A Place to Abide

A Place to Abide

A Sermon on John 15:1-10

By Doug Keenan

For the Beloveds of First Austin: a baptist community of faith

On The Fifth Sunday of Easter

April 29, 2018

This morning as we are reminded of our task to care for the earth I want to do so in the context of a word study.

What does this word “abide” mean? The dictionary definition include words such as enduring, long lasting, unending, steadfast; we often think of abiding love or abide with me. Other translations offer: remain, stay joined (CEV), live, stay, make yourself at home (The Message), rest in, but there is something appealing to me about that old word Abide (pause)

We don’t use that kind of language anymore, I can understand the thou’s and thee’s going out of fashion but a well placed “abide” like the rare but emphatic profanity inserts energy into the conversation.

I am reminded of an old movie from the late 1990’s that some of you may remember: The Big Lebowski. At the end of the movie the title character, better known as the Dude returns to his peaceful dwelling place of the bowling alley after being assaulted in a case of mistaken identity, seeing his friend, Donny, die of a heart attack, along with other escapades that are not appropriate for Sunday morning where he encounters the story’s all-knowing cowboy narrator. After a brief exchange of pleasantries "How have things been going?" "Well, you know, strikes and gutters, ups and downs" the Dude heads back to bowling and cowboy says take it easy, I know that you will to which the big L responds “the dude abides.” The cowboy turns to the camera and adds I don’t know about you but I take comfort in that, shakes his head “the dude abides.”

That’s one of those lines from a movie that fans and critics will debate its meaning ad infinitum. I like what one blogger wrote  “The whole chapter expresses the idea that human affairs are of only fleeting importance, and are insignificant in the context of the unchanging earth and its natural cycles.” Perhaps he is sensing a kind of contentment that is lacking or a connection to some greater reality. When the Dude abides, it's a state of being not an action.

Jesus liked the word (or at least John’s version of Jesus’ teaching like it.) He uses it in the first 10 verses of chapter 15. 10 times (that’s an average of 1 per verse for you statisticians).

In remembering the Genesis passage, perhaps what God might have told those first human creations was to go abide in the garden then they might not have been tempted by those divinely-restricted trees.

Abiding is more than just sitting but as the meditation reminds us, it takes some time on our knees.  I think that was what God intended after creation. Abiding can be a time of Sabbath; following the pattern of the Creator God who rested after making the world. Abiding is a state of being not action but this rest can be an active rest. I learned several years ago that the rest that comes with Sabbath can be enhanced by weeding the garden, mowing the lawns, or tending to that nagging undone chore.

So what am I suggesting in this idea of “abiding”. Let me tell you a story that may help explain it. And it begins on mother-in-law’s back porch. First you need to know that I am a native Texan and I am used to sweating most of the year. Nanny, as we call my mother-in-law, lives in Iowa and I had no experience with that much less tepid state until I met my future wife in California (that is a whole other story for another sermon).

Anyway Iowa in the summer is a place to abide, a little cooler, no sweat and when I am there usually on vacation nothing is required of me but to relax. So in the middle of the day when I would be running indoors in Texas to avoid the heat I can rest on her back porch that looks out onto a luscious green garden (another rare occurrence for Texas summers).

The backyard opens to a greenbelt and there is no back fence to separate us; Flowers and other vegetation grow in abundance populated by a variety of birds, a couple of rabbits (probably more than a couple), and other small creatures. I sip on my favorite beverage (coffee of course) and enjoy the company of family and occasional friend that drops by. Oh, the garden may need a little weeding every now and then and Nanny has been known to share some of plants and flowers with others. But my task is simply to find refreshment by abiding in the back yard garden.

As I have reflected on those experiences I have come to realize that the kind of abiding that I am describing has more than one component to it:

First, there is the place of abiding. None of this can happen without an opportunity to experience the beauty of the earth and that will happen only if we take care of our surroundings. One of the strongest lessons we can discern from the Genesis passage is that we are placed on this earth to be good stewards of this amazing gift.

Gus Speth, an environmental lawyer and advocate, once said, "I used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science, we could address those problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy ... and to deal with those we need a spiritual and cultural transformation."

Somehow, someway, the church must encourage and model love for God's creation. We cannot fulfill the greatest commandment to love God with everything that we've got and love our neighbor as ourselves unless we do practice creation care. These go hand in hand.

Second, there is the Patience of abiding or the need to share the space with others/family. Abiding can be (dare I say, should be) a time of community where we are connected to one another and to the source of our rest, thus we allow it to become a spiritual experience. I call this the patience of abiding because just as the fruit that comes from the vine takes care, cultivation and time so do the relationships that join us in this practice. But our Sabbath is not complete unless our time is shared with others. One of my favorite mantras “it is not all about you” we are called to invite others into our time. The fruit of relationships is the evidence of our connectedness to true vine and our willingness to embrace the patience of abiding.

Which moves us to the final thought, we get to the purpose of abiding: to be propelled out into the world, to take our moments of abidenment (I think I made that word up) and invite others to join us in that time. More than just sharing the space with others we have a calling to be active in these moments. It is an invitation to find and maintain a connection to the source. Wait, that almost sound like evangelism. Who knew a creation sermon would have an evangelistic appeal? But for me that is the connection of the Genesis passage with what John is saying here. To abide in Jesus is to receive God’s love and to share with others the love that we have received. To abide in this world is to be a good steward of the beauty of the world around us that we have received, that we have been blessed with; and encourage others to join us in this stewardship of our world. The secret for growth in both images is connection to a reliable source, loving God means loving God’s creation, otherwise the vines are useless and are chopped up for the fire. We don’t want to see that happen to the world around us.

Today we celebrate earth day and what better image can we offer to take care of the earth than to make it a place to abide…

I close by returning to our The Glory of the Garden by Rudyard Kipling. While Kipling focuses on England as a garden let us expand our vision to include all the world as a place to abide

OUR England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.

For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,
You'll find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of all
The cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dung-pits and the tanks,
The rollers, carts, and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the planks.

And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys
Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise;
For, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare the birds,
The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.

And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows ;
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,
For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.

Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:-" Oh, how beautiful," and sitting in the shade
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives.

There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thick,
There's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick
But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.

Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,
If it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner In the Glory of the Garden.

Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!
And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away ! 

*artwork: Old Vines, Painting by Darcie Kent, darciekentvineyards.com