Christ Lutheran Church

1701 Arroyo Chamiso

Santa Fe, NM 87505-4775

(505) 983-9461

church@clcsantafe.com

  

 

May 10, 2009

Fifth Sunday of Easter

 

GOSPEL: John 15:1-8

 

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.  2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.  3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.  4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.  5I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.  6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

 

Church Organization 101 

+ In nomine Domini.  Amen.

The question that arises from our Gospel Reading from the Gospel According to John this morning is this: How are people of faith structured?  How are people of faith organized?

And there is a second question that arises from the first: What does it mean for Ministry as we answer the 1^st Question?

The Church, as we experience it, has and still does look like a top-down organization.  You know what this looks like: leader at the top, sub-leaders below the leader, committees and task-forces and programs underneath the sub-leaders, and then … the people at the bottom … a pyramid.  Authority comes from the top and goes eventually through the whole structure to everyone at the bottom.

It’s the Church of History.  There is the Pope, there are the Cardinals, there are the Bishops, there are the Priests and the Religious Orders, and then … here we are.

The Pope, in Jesus’ name, issues a statement, and the statement is then lowered through the various levels of organization until the people hear the statement and by virtue of the structure itself are supposed to then obey and live out the meaning of it.

It is how most people see the Church, as simply another organization, much like a secular corporation.  There’s a CEO at the top and there are workers at the bottom.  Authority flows (trickles down) to those who are making the whole thing run in the first place … the workers.

The higher one goes in the structure, the more power there is; the lower one goes in the structure, the less power there is.

When someone asks me, “Well what does the Church have to say about ______?”  I know we are dealing with the top-down model.

The same thing happens when a congregation (in our own ELCA) says, “Well, what is the synod going to do about this!?”

Or, “Well, you’re the Pastor …”  Which usually means with regard to a question, “Here’s my question, you’re the Pastor, you work for God, obviously you know the mind of God, so tell me the answer.”

You see … authority and power at the top, everyone else at the bottom.

+++

The first problem with this model, is that it doesn’t work very well.  It works … that is true, but with a lot of problems, with a lot of confusion and chance for abuse.  

Popes, Bishops, Pastors, Committee Chairs … when working with the top-down model sometimes wonder why everyone else doesn’t see things the way they do … and instead of consulting and talking and maybe even praying … they simply edict! 

It’s easier, it’s faster, it’s more efficient.  I’m the boss, do it this way.

The first problem with this model is that it doesn’t work very well.

The second problem with the model is that it’s not biblical.  And that’s what comes from our Gospel portion this morning.

Here’s the context where the story takes place.

The author or authors of the last Gospel in the canon, the accepted books, of what we hold in our hands as the New Testament tells the story in chapters 13-15 of this Gospel we call John – of Jesus’ last words to his disciples.

Quite frankly it is a re-arranging of the story by this Gospel Community; remember … the Gospels are not historical verbatim, they are not newspaper accounts, they are stories of faith. 

This Gospel Community tells their story of faith, their story of Jesus in a way that addresses a very real problem in their church, in the last part of the 1^st Century.  When we read the First Letter of John, in the second chapter, we see hints of this issue, hints of the danger of a split emerging in the church, in the community of followers of Jesus.

So in these chapters toward the end of John’s Gospel that we have been reading here in this Season of Easter, we find in these last words of Jesus to his disciples, a great deal of advice.

It’s what happens in the lives of significant people, especially in the Bible.  Jacob gives blessings in the end of Genesis, Deuteronomy offers Moses’ final words.   And if you look at the earliest of the four Gospels, Mark, and read the 13^th chapter, this same thing is found there in an earlier way.  Jesus gives advice to his followers in his final speeches to them.

Now, what does he say?  Well in the Gospel of John Community, he emphasizes unity. 

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Now there’s a different model of ministry for you.  It’s the model where the divine is not above us, as in the corporate picture, but beneath us, rising up within it.

It’s what inspired Luther to take on the condescending model of the Medieval Church.  When he stood up at his trial in Worms, Germany and declared the importance of Scripture and Christ as the basis for authority, not the Pope or even Councils of the Church meeting together in political debate … he was expressing the model of the vine and the branches.

Look.  What’s the first thing we Lutherans do when we find ourselves faced with a question or an issue?  What is the first thing we do?

OK, we drink coffee … that’s the first thing we do.  But after that, what do we do?

We open the Bible.  We read the Story.  We do it all the time.  We’ve done it for the last 8 years in our ELCA as we have been working on a Social Statement about Human Sexuality … we don’t say, “Well Bishop Hanson, what do you think?”  and then go with the answer.  Of course we ask Bishop Hanson what he thinks, and we ask all the bishops what they think, and all the theologians and teachers and pastors of the church what they think, and we ask all the people of the church what they think … (that’s what makes us different you see!) … but the way we do our thinking is to look at the vine …  and the way we look at the vine is to open the Book, read the story … and tell the story and do it with eyes wide open and brains fully engaged … (that’s also the difference … it’s the Jesus Model … it’s how Jesus taught his followers … use your heads, use your hearts, use the gifts God has given you … think, speak, love, act!).

We do it all the time.  Today at our Council meeting we will go over the agenda, and we fill talk about the money and the mission and the ministry and the program and the possibilities, but underneath it all … is the vine, the story, the faith … we always have that in our heads as we talk and figure things out!

How are people of faith organized?  Vine and Branches.  We are attached … irrevocably.  And when we see things like war and poverty and bigotry and hatred and oppression … going on around us, we think to ourselves … someone got away from the vine, a branch has fallen off and taken root elsewhere… but no longer attached to the One who is the Source of Love and Peace and Truth and Hope.

That’s what happens when you’re not attached to the vine, you end up thinking that you yourself are the vine … and that is dangerous, and quite sinful.

This is the answer we find this morning … to be the faithful people of God we structure and organize ourselves not from the top down but from the divine upward, attached like branches to a vine, where the very presence of the Holy One flows upward through us into the lives of those around us and the world in which we live.

+ Deo Gratia.  Amen.

The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III, Pastor