Abide in my Love…

When I first moved into the house, I was in the midst of a transition from full-time Active duty Air Force Chaplain to Pastor of First Presbyterian Church. One afternoon in May of 2011, I was sitting on the back deck reading. I had just returned from an outprocessing appointment at Hurlburt Field. Still in uniform, I was soaking up the sun and enjoying the book I was reading. All of a sudden, I heard what I can best describe as someone or something clearing their throat. I looked up and saw a gray fox standing about five feet from me. I said hello and we sort of looked each other over. I guess the Air Force camouflage didn’t work very well since the fox clearly saw me!

Over the course of that summer, I would see the fox and its mate romping around in the back yard and sniffing around the patio furniture. They were fun to watch. They returned again in 2012. The summer of 2013 the pair returned again and this time they had kids in tow. The family of two had become a family of four. Once again, they became a source of amusement and intrigue as they staked out their territory underneath the back deck and romped around the yard. This past summer the family was up to five. Momma, Dad, and three young ones who romped all around the yard. It was a bit of excitement when our Chihuahua Pixie (all 4.5 pounds of her) raced out the back door and discovered the foxes! She charged and they, thankfully, retreated. After that encounter, we were very careful to look out the window and see if the yard was all clear before letting the dogs out. Buddy (our 15 year old Chihuahua/Terrier mix) with his hearing and sight issues was oblivious to all the ruckus his little sister was creating. The family left, once again, as they had in years past, for parts unknown. Yesterday, Denise texted me the above picture. One of the foxes had returned and was scouting out the familiar territory.

This is the fourth summer that we will have had a fox family abiding with us. In a sense, it is like welcoming old friends back after they have been away on a journey. I wish I knew exactly who all the characters were. I assume that it is Mom and Dad returning each year to raise a new set of kids. Denise and I wonder what it is that brings this family back each year. We were worried that our dogs would scare them off but that doesn’t seem to have happened. I guess being related via the canine family, they will get used to each other.

The Gospel lesson for this Sunday is John 15:9-17. It is a part of the larger section (15:1-25) that my study bible calls “Exhortations: abide and love”. The first part of the chapter is where Jesus talks about being the vine and how we are called to be the branches. That was the subject of last week’s blog: https://scotsirishpadreblog.wordpress.com/2015/04/29/vines-and-branches/

This passage invites us to explore our lives and our communities. The whole concept of abiding (mentioned nine times in this chapter) is not a spatial definition. We aren’t talking about living in the same house or living next door to people in the physical sense. What we are talking about here is relational. The concept of abiding in Christ, of being a part of the vine, is all about a relationship. Today’s passage brings that relational concept home as Jesus talks about love.

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” (John 15:9) In a way, I guess you could say that our fox family abides with us. It isn’t like we sit down at the table together and have conversations over meals (although that is exactly what my first encounter with the fox felt like in 2011); but we do live with each other with some sense of harmony. What Jesus is talking about in our Scripture reading is far more intense than the fox families relationship with their two legged neighbors!

Abide in my love… abide in my love… let that phrase sink into your soul, dear reader. Allow it to wash over you and permeate the very fiber of your being. Abide in my love…

Isn’t that what the Christian community is supposed to do? Isn’t that the dream of the peaceable kingdom that the prophet was talking about in Isaiah 11:6-9? “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

The only way that Isaiah’s vision can be fulfilled is found in John 15! “Abide in my love… love one another as I have loved you.” I was having a discussion with some folks the other day about the greater church and the decline in membership. This is a problem that transcends denominational boundaries. Several research polls from a variety of perspectives (ranging from purely sociological to evangelical Christian) have discovered that one of the major reasons the under 30’s crowd is opting out of organized religion is due to the fact that the church in their view has become too wrapped up in politics, bigotry, and fear-mongering. It is sad how far that is from either the vision of Isaiah or the words of the Lord himself.

As Christ-followers, I believe we are called to live in the messiness of this world. Pious platitudes and bumper sticker theology just don’t cut it any more. I am not sure if they ever did, frankly. The church is not called to be a fortress to keep “them” out and keep “us” pure. The church is called to be a literal sanctuary. I believe it is called to be a sanctuary where the wounded can find healing and the abandoned can find a family and a home.

Dear reader, I am not so much concerned about the brick and mortar church surviving. Why? Because the church is not about brick and mortar. If we are more concerned about buildings and structures, we are frankly missing the point. I actually know of some churches who have sold off their property and decided to rent a place to meet for worship and fellowship. Why did they do this? In part they did it because the large facilities had become a boat anchor tied around their necks. But I think the greater reason was so that they could live and work and worship and serve outside of the box.

For me, it still comes back to the statement Jesus is making in John 15. Abide in my love… If we abide in his love… live in his love… we can be transformed by his love… and then we can share the love of Christ with others and be the love of Christ to others. Am I a dreamer? Perhaps I am. I am because Jesus calls us to abide in his love and allow his love to transform our lives. And I am certain that lives transformed by his love will make a difference in this world! His love will break down the barriers that the world has established.

Will you join with me, dear reader? Jesus calls us to abide in his love… abide in his love… abide in his love… Are you willing to be transformed by that love?