Hard, but not burdensome

That is what the writer of 1 John wants us to understand: The commandments of the Lord are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world.

It is a breathtaking claim.

It seems so impossible, so unlikely, so out of touch with the struggles we face day after day.

But of course it is not.

It is a most realistic assessment of our true position before God.

I was thinking about old East Germany the other day, the gloomy place that I visited in 1971.

Why were the buildings so gray back then?

Why were the people we saw there so stony-faced?

Not just because of economic problems; not just because of the problems left over from the horrors and privations of WWII;

not just because of the brutality of dictators.

At root the grayness was because of the loss of the center of life,

the loss of the connection with God,

loss of hope that binds us to the prayers and praise of every nation and people across all the centuries of God's church.

Not many of us feel that this is a happy-go-lucky time in our nation's history.

The difficulties of the industrial giants have a rippling effect on every one of us, whether one had a pile of money or very little.

But the call to us today is not to lose sight of the center of our life

even in the middle of our concerns about employment, health, family, or whatever else.

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. reports Luke in Acts 10 today.

The book of 1 Peter expresses expands upon this thought. He says:

...like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house

...to be a holy priesthood...

You are a chosen race,

a royal priesthood,

a holy nation, God's own people

in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people but now you are God's people.

And today's Gospel reading adds:

You did not choose me, says Jesus.

I chose you,

and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last....

Set apart for God's special use;

we are God's holy people.

But to be God's holy people does not mean being removed from the difficulties and challenges of human life.

Rather, we are even more conscious that things as they are now are not right,

that there is much that is out of step with the will of the Father,

and that there is much that we are called to say that will be difficult for us to speak,

and difficult for others to hear;

that there is much to be done

which others will not appreciate;

that we cannot hide forever in the crowd,

since we are God's called-out, his holy people,

who simply must bear fruit as an inevitable part of being who we are.

I had a pear tree that refused to ever have a single blossom.

I feed and watered it for years.

I pruned it and threatened it.

I finally dug it out and threw it away, since it would not live up to its calling to bear fruit.

You get the idea; fruit bearing is not optional.

It is part of the essence of who we are as God's people.

Last week in Israel I had a person give me the classic line about how he doesn't need to be connected with anyone else.

He says he can be his own religious person out on the hills and in his own home without saying or doing anything with anyone else.

He thinks that will be good enough for God.

No fruit. All the nourishment that God gives is just for himself.

No fruit. And it doesn't matter, that man thinks.

Our lessons indicate otherwise this day.

It is work to bear fruit as Christ wills it.

It is hard work, but not burdensome.

It is work, but it will not weigh us down.

The Christian writer C.S. Lewis lost his wife to cancer after only a short marriage.

What a hard thing!

And yet he was able to write an autobiographical book about the experience titled Surprised by Joy.

Hard, but not a burden.

That is the way that C.S. Lewis understood his Christian life.

Ralph Milton tells this story about his father who was a schoolteacher in Canada long before there were unions and grievance procedures.

One of the students was really messed up and needed much help.

That student's father was chair of the school-board and thus Mr. Milton's boss.

One day the chair and the teacher were having a conversation.

The teacher kept trying to talk about the boy's difficulties, the chair kept changing the subject.

In exasperation, Mr. Milton said, “Sir, I think that you are more interested in your pets than in your son who needs you desperately.”

The man turned on his heel and left, called a board meeting and had the teacher fired immediately.

That night Mr. Milton sat down and wrote a long letter to the chair,

not about being fired,

but about the boy,

and what needed to happen for his welfare.

This bearing fruit, this following Jesus, this loving as Christ has loved us,

is hard work, sometimes painful work,

but not a burden.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a brilliant theologian and dynamic leader, very much opposed to Hitler's policies against the church.

During the late 1930's he was able to travel to New York, was honored there, and had the opportunity to stay and teach there where he could be physically safe during the coming war.

But after a bit, he got back on a boat and headed back to Germany, was a leader in the training of young pastors facing impossible odds, and eventually participated in the resistance movement against Hitler.

It would cost him his life.

But he later said that when he got on the ship, he was filled with a great sense of peace because he knew that he was obeying what God wanted him to do.

Bearing fruit; hard, but not burdensome to Bonhoeffer or to us, because it is the right thing, the faithful thing, the thing that truly praises God.

Over the past two weeks members of the congregation have had the opportunity to read the annual report booklet, a review of some of the ways in which we as a gathered congregation have borne fruit over the past year.

As we might expect, some fruit has been sweet and full,

such as the dozen who began their growth in the Christian faith in Holy Baptism,

the ten who joined our number by transfer,

the ten who bore the ultimate fruit in their birth into heaven,

the ones who assisted in the service projects across the year,

the ones who have sung and prayed together, praising God in worship throughout the year.

And there is fruit that is still hard and green,

such as those who still think that what God has loaned to them is their own possession rather than a trust.

In our Divine Drama Bible study the other evening, Dr. Wendt asked us what we paid for the loaf of bread we bought.

The answer is not $2 or $3, but 0.

We have paid for the work of the farmer to plant, tend, and harvest;

we have paid for the work of the miller to grind and the baker to prepare and the grocer to put it on the shelf.

But for the bread itself, we have paid nothing; it is God's gift to us, his fruit for our benefit.

What do we pay for the Sacrament of Holy Communion?

Nothing! We pay for maintaining a place to gather, for the training of leaders, etc., but the Sacrament is a gift.

Truly it is Christ's fruit for our benefit.

He knew it to be hard, even brutally hard, but not a burden to live, to serve, to die to be raised...for us.

Can we, should we, may we be following in his way, bearing fruit, fruit that will endure?

What might the report look like in another year?... the full report, not just the one that we write down in our booklet, but God's report that has all of the details...what will it look like?

How will we be receiving God's gifts with joy?

How will we be using them to best advantage for the good of all?

How will we be growing toward tithing in our financial resources and generosity in other ways as well?

How will study lead us to action?

How will the joy of the worship of God spill over into all of our other activities?

How will we be bearing fruit,

fruit that will endure,

fruit that will need work and tending as it grows,

fruit that at length is full and ripe?

It is hard work, this living together in Christ, but it is profoundly joyous.

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete, says Jesus.

...and his commandments are not burdensome, adds 1 John.

Bearing fruit: hard, but not burdensome.

Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.