Life in the Vineyard - What We Are

My dad is not pastor. Although growing up I did hear a fair amount of preaching from him. So I guess that kind of qualifies him as an expert on preaching.  When he knew that I got accepted into seminary he shared with me the three keys to the perfect sermon. The first key is to have a good solid beginning. The second key is to have a good solid ending. The third key is to have the two as close together as absolutely possible.

Joke’s like that, although my dad would probably tell you that he wasn’t joking, are funny because we have quite a bit of experience with sermons in this thing called the church.  They are a regular part of our life and experience together, and sometimes those experiences are better than others. But if that weren’t the case, then a joke like this wouldn’t be all that funny.

I find it interesting to think about how easy it can be to be active and involved in the life of the church without always taking time to reflect on what is going on. Who are we? What are we doing? Why do we do what we do? What are we about? So it is good to take some time to ask and answer those questions. Beginning today and going through the next three weeks we are going to be taking the time to ask, think about and answer these questions and talk a little bit about the difference that they make in our lives together.

What we are really talking about here is a vision for the congregation. This is something that will be an important part of our life together. It will be seen on all our printed materials. It will be shared with our new members. It will be reviewed and discussed in meetings and will provide direction and guidance as we move forward into the future. It’s simple enough that it is easy to remember. But at the same time it is deep and describes how we understand who we are as God’s people.

And that vision is simply this: Faith Lutheran Church – a place for life. You have already seen it a lot this morning. It is on the bulletin cover. It is on the screen. You’ve gotten an extra document in your bulletin that explains all this. We even have stickers for the windows of your car. But why do this? Why go through the work and effort in order to bring this about? Is it really necessary?

Well, it won’t make God love us any more than he already does. It won’t earn us anything extra from him. We already have all of his love, grace, mercy and forgiveness. We already have life and forgiveness and salvation. That is ours in Jesus. It is freely given without any strings attached. We have it for the sake of Jesus.

So having a vision for our life together as a congregation will not add anything to that. From that perspective, it is not necessary. However, in terms of living our lives together, and what we as a congregation do, and what guides the decisions and the plans that we make. What helps us move forward into the future in an intentional way that is bigger and more than simply keep on keeping on; well, then form that perspective, the answer is “yes.”

You see language is important. Language impacts how we see ourselves and how we see our world. It impacts how we see one another and even the very things we do. For us in the church, language is especially important in that we use it to not only talk about who God is, but also how God sees us and what he does for us. And so it is important for us to be aware of how we see, think and talk about ourselves and this thing called the church. The fancy theological word for this is ecclesiology.

Faith Lutheran Church is a community that is created and led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies and keeps us in the one true faith in Jesus. We are brought together by God in order to receive his gifts and to bear witness about God’s love in Jesus to the people around us. After all, the church is simply God’s people gathered together around word and sacrament. Those things that we gather around are life giving and compel us to then go out into our world to make known this love and grace and mercy of our God. Why is this the case?

Because God is a God who is passionate about his creation and restoring his creation back to himself. God is a God who has and is on a mission. The biblical story is a story that shows us this. God creates his creation. It is good and perfect. Then sin enters the picture. With sin the creation is broken. It no longer works the way that it was intended. Death and injustice come into the picture. People live lives separated from one another and from God. But God is not content with leaving things this way. So he works to restore his creation back to himself.

So he chooses a people for himself. He chooses a people that will be set apart. He chooses a people that will be blessed by him and live in a special relationship with him. But, not so that they can hold themselves up as being better than all the other people around them. He blesses these people so that they can be a blessing to others. God calls Abraham. And through him all the nations of the world are blessed. Abraham’s descendants are chosen to live life in this special relationship with God in order that they may bear witness to who God is. So that as the nations around them see the way they live their lives, the nations would come to know who God is and what it is to live life in relationship with him.

The culmination of this is seen in the incarnation, where God himself becomes a human being. He does not just take on the appearance of a human being, but he becomes a human being himself. This is Jesus, God in the flesh, our Emmanuel, God with us. In the perfect and sinless life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God has reconciled the creation back to himself.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And those of us who have been reconciled to him then live our lives as his body in this place. We become ministers of reconciliation and take up the work of proclaiming and showing that God’s kingdom has come near.

As we live life as God’s people, the church; as we are gathered around word and sacrament we experience life lived in God’s kingdom. But we do not yet experience this kingdom in the fullness of its glory and power. That day will come when Jesus comes back. And on the day that Jesus comes back, heaven and earth will be new. God will live forever with his people. There will be no more sin, or suffering, or sickness or sadness.

Jesus did not come into the world in order to condemn the world, but so that through him the world would have life. This life is life lived in relationship with God. It is life as God intended it to be lived. It is life that is found only in Jesus. Apart from him, this life is not possible. But living and experiencing this life is what God desires for his creation. That is why God is about the work of reconciling his creation, and bringing it back to himself. The Father sends the Son. The Father and the Son together Send the Spirit. The Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies and keeps. Father, Son and Spirit send the church into the world to live as a sign and a witness to God’s presence and activity in the world, and to point the world to Jesus so that through him they might know life.

So when we say that Faith Lutheran Church is a place for life, this is one of the things that we have in mind, the life that is found and given in Jesus. The word “life” can also describe the days that we live on this earth. It is the very act of living. Life can be the sum of our hopes and dreams, fears and anxieties. Life can be the experiences that we have had and those influences that make us who we are. Life is what is experienced by those who want to live.

Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” It is only in Jesus that we know this abundant life. So as we think about this congregation and our ministry together, what better word to describe what we have than life? Faith Lutheran Church is a place for life.

The word life can also refer to the number of days that we live on this earth. So that if you belong to a place for life, you belong to it for the rest of your days. Not only are you committed to that place, but that place is also committed to you. We live in a culture that is very transient and moves around a lot, so what an awesome comfort to know that we have a place where we belong. Faith Lutheran Church is a place for life.

So then what better image to use for this than a vine? The imagery of the vine comes right out of the scriptures. It is one of the images used in the Old Testament to describe God’s people. We see this in our Old Testament lesson for today in Isaiah. God redeemed his people from slavery to the Egyptians, established a covenant with them at Sinai, and took them to the promised Land, in doing this he planted his vineyard. In the lesson from Isaiah this song is calling the people of the vineyard to remember who they are and what they are to be about. So that they can bear fruit in accordance with who and what they are supposed to be.

In the New Testament the imagery of the vine is also used to describe the people of God. This is both Jew and Gentile together in one vineyard. Jesus describes himself in John’s Gospel as the vine. “I am the vine; you are the branches.” And apart from him we can do nothing. So in talking about the vine and the imagery of the vine we are talking about the very life and connection that we have to our savior.

Now, the way this all came together was kind of cool. When I got here a little over a year ago, the website had just been redesigned. And on the website where these cool little vine designs. Those were then used in the stationary, logo and business cards for Faith. And for no other reason at the time than to provide continuity with the website. How cool was it then, when we start to think through this vision thing and put the imagery idea together to see that the vine had been there this whole time, or at least the whole time I have been here. Faith Lutheran Church is a place for life.

I am very excited about this and what it means. I am humble to be here at this time in the life of the congregation and to be able to do ministry together with you. I pray that as we go through this journey in these next weeks and beyond that this would be a great blessing to you, that it would get you excited about ministry and living and experiencing the life that we have in Jesus in this place for life.

There is much more that I could say about this, but it probably isn’t a good idea to begin a sermon with a joke about long sermons, and then preach the longest sermon you have ever preached. So I will save the rest for the remainder of this series.

In the meantime, may the abundant life that you have in Jesus be a constant source of joy, hope, peace and excitement for you. Now and always. Amen.