There’s a question lingering in the air this morning. Can you hear it?
It’s an interesting question. Some might say…a vulnerable question.
It’s a question people get asked sometimes when things get tough or go wrong.
It can…I think……be a scary question.
And here we are this morning, all of us set the alarm, got out of bed, got dressed, came through
these wooden doors, took our seats, and now…this question.
“Do you want to leave?” “Do you want to leave?” Jesus asks it.
I don’t know in what tone he asked this question….If it was:
DO YOU WANT TO LEAVE TOO?!?! (angerly) or
Do you want to leave too? (softly) I don’t know. I don’t know.
Either way, though, it’s a question that carries some heartache in it. Do you want to leave?
He asks this question after a group of disciples – we don’t know their names, but according to
John’s gospel – they were his disciples, people who had been following him, listening to his
teaching, eating, drinking, and laughing with him. Until this teaching of his…we’ve been
listening to it the past few weeks from John chapter 6. It’s a tough teaching, layered meanings,
striking imagery – Jesus talking about his flesh and blood and manna and the bread of heaven.
And it just got to be too much I think…and they began to leave. Disciples left and right, young
and old, began to pack up the cooler, gather the folding chairs, told the kids to get their toys,
and they left. They left.
And Jesus, watching them all leave – turns to his closest friends, the disciples he spends the
most time with – he looks at them and asks, “Do you want to leave too?”
Have you ever wanted to leave?? You know something I’ve been thinking about…
I know people who’ve left. I have good friends who’ve left. I do. Still talk to them,
travel with them, love them. They’re in my life. They’ve left.
But, interestingly in a strange turned-table of events alongside our reading this morning…
They’ve left the Church…but they haven’t left Jesus. It’s true. They pattern their life after
Jesus’ teaching, they’re immersed in the scriptures, they’re in community with other people,
serving, loving, generous. They’ve left the Church…but they haven’t left Jesus.
Can’t have Jesus without Church. We sure?
“Do you want to leave too?” Jesus asks them. But…and we shouldn’t miss this.
Jesus doesn’t just want his disciples to stay. He’s not asking them to just stay. He’s not asking
them to just put on a stiff upper lip and stick-it-out. No….Jesus is asking them to do something
else. And though it’s not in our reading this morning, it is absolutely a part of this same teaching
moment – and it’s several verses back, but it’s there. He speaks a word he’ll say over and over
again – Jesus is asking them to “ABIDE.”
“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood ABIDE in me and I ABIDE in them.” And being good
sacramental Episcopalians, we might assume he’s referring to the Eucharist, to communion –
but not here. No, Jesus is saying “my way, my teaching, my love – consume that like your
ancestors did manna in the wilderness – consume that and it will bring you life.” ABIDE in me
and I ABIDE in you.” Throughout all of John’s literature in the New Testament, from John’s
gospel to his 1 st , 2 nd , and 3 rd pastoral letters the word ABIDE is used 66 times. To understand
what John is showing us about Jesus, we have to understand ABIDE.
So what does that mean? What does abide look like? Well, there’s different ways we can
talk about it but this is a way I am coming to understand what it means to abide in Christ and
that Christ abides in me.
Our daughter – yall call her Libby, I’ve always called her Betty – well Betty and I we use
Duolingo. The app that helps you learn different languages. I fell in love with the Irish language
several years ago when I spent time in Connemara with some college friends. And Betty got a
kick out of it – so we Duolingo Irish. Now, I know learning Irish lacks the regional practicality of
Spanish or the gravitas of French or Italian. But I find it beautiful. Betty is further ahead than
me. I can order tea or coffee but I wouldn’t dare do that yet because I haven’t learned how to
say “Where’s the bathroom?” So…we also are learning little phrases. The Irish language is full of
these beautiful, poetic phrases. For instance, there’s many ways to say I love you in Irish. You
can say:
Coo-Shil Mu Cree, which means “pulse of my heart”
You can say, Graw gee yal-mucree, which means “bright love of my heart”
Or, one of my favorites… It’s the one that parents often say to their children. It’s the one I say to Betty every night when I tuck her into bed – and yall can ask her what she says back to me. But I say this…
Tow mu-cree ish chug int, and that means “My heart is inside you.”
And that is how I’m learning to understand abide. That Christ places his heart inside us. The
heart we can love with, lead with, grieve with, and laugh with can be the heart of Christ.
Not that that’s easy. I sin. I get fearful. I get lonely. I can be difficult, full of flaws, personality
quirks, and hang-ups. All these things can hide that heart Christ gave me. Just the other day, I
was having a phone conversation with a friend, someone I love and respect – and I felt myself
getting defensive and accusatory and not listening well enough. Because I was speaking from
this place of fear, and insecurity, and failure as a leader. But I believe there’s a heart beneath all
that…that Christ placed inside me – where I abide in him and he abides in me.
Jesus is not asking his disciples if they’ll just stay…he’s asking them to ABIDE.
And I think about those friends of mine who have left Church, and maybe you have some
too…and I think about some of the anxiety and wringing of hands we see around people leaving
Church…and I think about Jesus’ call over and over for us to abide.
And I am beginning to see one of the reasons – for the past three generations Church has
become increasingly futile and pointless in people’s lives. Why it just doesn’t make sense any
more to so many people…Is because we became very focused on teaching people how to stay
in Church, and frightened of showing people how to abide in Christ. Because with one of those
we get to talk about success, data, and attendance, and with the other we have to talk about
failure, struggle, and share our stories. And that’s hard to do sometimes.
But one of the reasons I am so thankful I get to be your priest. Is I see in you – in so many ways
– this impulse to move further and further away from the former and embrace the latter. You
share your stories, you serve those who often are overlooked, you risk trying new things in new
ways, you’re adventurous, you laugh loud and love big. And that is a gift.
Because I believe a Church who is discovering together all kinds of ways to remind people that
there is a God at work who, even in the most painful and challenging moments of our lives,
whispers to us, Tow mu-cree ish chug int.
My heart is inside you. Remember, my heart is inside you.
That Church. That Church. Abides in Christ and Christ Abides in it.
That Church loves and leads with the heart of Christ.
That Church when the tough gets going, can join Peter and say,
“Do we want to leave?? Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.
And we have come to know and believe you are the Holy One of God.”
Amen.
Comments