I worked so long and hard on this sermon, only to really “stick to the script” at two of the service. So i thought that you would like to have it here…and I wanted to be able to share it with you.
The Scripture it is based on is the Luke 24:13-35. My prayer is that your roots dive deeply into the soil in which you have been planted.
Living Faith: Seeds of Faith
At my house we recently got a couple of plants that we will hopefully put into the ground when it gets to be a bit warmer. One of the things that we got was a raspberry bush. Now I don’t know if anything is going to come out of it. I know that the goal is that it will bear fruit…eventually. But there is a lot that has to happen between now and then. I can remember picking raspberries on the canal in DC with my summer camp kids and thinking about how great it would be it I has my own bush and gather the sweet fruit it produces.
In the Bible there is a lot of talk about things bearing fruit. Probably because a good deal of the audience at the time were people who worked in the fields and they knew a thing or two about fruit and when you could pick it and stuff like that.
Katie and I have high hopes for this little bush, but we know that it will be a while before any fruit comes from it. There is a process, there is growth that is needed before the plant is mature enough to make the berries that I loves so much. We know that the plant will need time to get used to the new soil, to have time to develop a deep root system so that it can be firm and not knocked over by wind or storms. But for right now the seeds and saplings that we have all of this hope for, are still just being cared for. They are like plants in training.
Today I would like to think about the two men walking to Emmaus as if they are saplings just like my raspberry plant. They were new in their faith and they didn’t have a lot of experience living their faith. We can tell this because of where we find them in our story.
You see they were going in the totally wrong direction from Jerusalem. They were going back to the life that they knew and that was comfortable. They had already been uprooted but the teachings of Jesus. While he was with them their faith sprouted and was thriving. But when he was gone all of their hope was lost. Their roots weren’t deep. When the nourishment that came from the presence of hearing Jesus was gone the disciples roots were dry. And, rather than staying in the place where they could thrive, they decided to go to Emmaus and begin life again. They had put their hope and trust in Jesus the man, the rabbi. But, our First peter reading tells us that there is more to the story than just than just Jesus being physically with us (good thing for you and me). It says that the Word of God is imperishable. It is with us forever. It is this trust in the imperishable word of a loving God.
Often times we would like to have the fruit without the work of the roots…perhaps this is why we go to the grocery store. Tending to gardens is not an easy thing. But we have to spend time watering, feeding, weeding and nurturing them if we want to see the fruit. Tending to our hearts is a similar thing, we have to spend time being rooted in time with God. We have to spend time in prayer and scripture. We have to be people who study and are in community with one another. We have to be willing to commit to sinking our roots into the fertile soil that our creator has to offer us.
Our sermon series is all about having a living faith, as opposed to a faith that is stagnant. I don’t use the word dead because there are plenty of us who have faith that is on life support.
Plenty of us feel like God is not there with us or we can’t grow unless we are on the mountaintops of faith. Unless the rain is pouring down and we are able to soak up nourishment from our shallow roots we will be in a time of spiritual drought.
Developing a root system that is able to go deep and keep you firmly planted is what Living Faith is all about. It is a faith that is alive in you even through the tough times. This doesn’t mean that every day will bring nourishing rain of spiritual wonder. My daughter has a CD of praise songs and one of the ones she really likes (which translates into stops crying for) is one with terrible lyrical theology. It says that “I am inside outside upside downside happy all the time.” Being deeply rooted doesn’t mean that you will be happy all the time or so “high on Jesus” that you are oblivious to the hurt and sorrow around you.
But it does mean that you will be able to draw from more than just the surface when seeking nourishment for your soul. We cannot rely on worship alone, or study, or service, or community. But when we have a network of roots that grow in all of these areas then we are able to draw deeply for the life that God has in store for us. Just like a basketball player wouldn’t spend all of her time shooting free throws in practice, while casting aside the conditioning, set plays and defense, we have to be well rounded in our faith practices. This is in hope to come to know God more fully.
We are an Easter people…Still!!! Just because the bunny is gone and the eggs have been found (well maybe there are a couple that are just waiting till next year), but now that all of the hype is over and the dust is settled we come to understand what it is to be a resurrection people.
The disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t know what it was to be a resurrection people, and that is why they were going back home with Jesus was not with them physically any more. Being a resurrection people means that our feet are dug deeply into the soil of faith. We have built our hope on the everlasting promises that God has in store for us.
Many times we look to others and see the fruit that they are bearing. We think about the way that we wish we had this or that. We find ourselves thinking about the faith someone else has because of the fruit we see, but how often do we look under the surface. How many times do we realize that the genuine fruit that someone bears is not just because of rain and sunshine, but because of a deep root system.
I have seen times where I thought that the stuff someone was doing was great and fruitful but because they weren’t rooted in the right way it didn’t take long to find that the fruit on their branches was rotten. Perhaps it is pride that spoils our fruit and keeps roots shallow, maybe it is that our sights are set on the wrong things.
Sure there are other things that we are engaged in that allow us to grow in God. A lot of them are of the above ground variety. Worship, using those gifts (being fruitful), serving others are all ways that others can see our faith. But if these things are not grounded in a deeply rooted heart of faith they will always long for more. Worship becomes more about being filled than giving praise, service becomes the end in its self, and using your gifts without being rooted opens the door to pride.
It is not an easy thing to grow deep roots. But there are a number of things that we can do to get us toward a deeper more enriching faith.
The first is spending time with God. This is time in prayer. Sharing life with God. Talking and listening to what God is doing in your life. Being in relationship with God. God created us to be in community and relationship. This is why we talk about god in such personal terms, as a father or loving parent. We were created to love God and we can’t do that with being with God. Being in relationship with God is the root work that allows our roots to hold firm. When we see God acting in our lives we are encouraged even through struggle.
Second we need to be in the word of God. We need to read study and digest what the bible is saying to us the church universal and us people of faith in the 21st century. As we read the text we need to become part of the story. We have to ask some hard questions. Even simple questions like “what is this saying, what does this mean and how does it apply to me,” can give us great insight into what God is saying to us. This root work enables our roots to go deeper and draw the nourishment from life that dwells below the surface.
Finally, taking the time to make sure you are on the right track and being accountable for what you do. Accountability is hard for us today because we want to be the perfect person that God would have us be without a lot of the struggle and pain. Being accountable is some root work that is done to keep out soil cultivated and gives us an understanding of how we can become the person we have been created to be.
It is through the simple things, the foundations of our faith that we are able to take root. Just as Jesus took root in our hearts with simple teachings that have changed the way we do life. Through the seeds of wheat at grapes let us now prepare to come to the table in a time of communion and think about digging in our own roots.
Brothers and sisters I bid you peace.
