Messages, Meditations, and Musings on the Life of Faith by Rev. Dr. Scott E. Olson, Interim Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Preston, MN

Sunday, June 15, 2014

"A Fruitful God" - Sermon for Trinity Sunday

A Fruitful God
Trinity Sunday – Summer Series
June 15, 2014
Grace, Mankato, MN
John 15.1-17; 16.12-15

I blame the Trinity. I blame the Trinity for becoming a pastor, or perhaps more accurately, the doctrine of the Trinity. Most of you know that I was a lay person in the business world for 16 years before going to seminary. One day, I asked my pastor, Wally Jensen, to explain this Trinity stuff to me, thinking he’d sit down with me and lay it out. But, he did what any good pastor would do: he took a book from his shelf and handed it to me. (It was Robert Jenson’s Triune Identity.) I was caught returning the book by another parishioner, Jim Bittner. He said, “If you keep reading that stuff, you’ll wind up with your collar turned around.” Jim would know; he was heading to seminary himself.

Today is Trinity Sunday and some cranky ones say it’s the only Festival Sunday dedicated to a doctrine rather than person or event. But it’s also the day when I can blame the Trinity (or Wally and Jim) for being a pastor. Since then, Trinitarian theology has been a thread woven through my studies, and not just the usual history of the creeds and councils that discussed the doctrine. It was a major piece of my doctoral work on missional church leadership. I wish I could say I was an expert.

At its heart, the Trinity is a way to try to express something of this God who is by definition inexpressible. It tries to answer questions like, “How can one God be three?” or “How can three be one?” Perhaps the most important question was, “How can God be both close and also far away?” One part of the church used sending language to express this mystery (the Father sends the Son, etc.) while the other branch used relational language (the three are in such tight relationship that they act as one).

Metaphors like St. Patrick’s shamrock nibble at the edges of the Trinitarian mystery, but good images are found in scripture, such as our texts from John. Though not explicitly Trinitarian, John 15 and 16 relate the image of God as the Vine-Grower, and Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches. Relying on relational image of abiding (remaining, staying, resting), Jesus tells us that we are to stay connected to him and he to us, and that connection means everything to us. It means life. Last weekend we made a road trip with our daughters and one of their phones needed recharging. My car adapter is temperamental and after multiple tries of it cutting in and out, I finally got her phone charging. When connected, her phone charged; it had life.

It is important about this metaphor is that there is a creative tension in our relationship with God. On the one hand, as branches our connection to God is a given; it is a gift freely granted to us that we don’t do anything to earn. On the other hand, there is a response to be made to this gift: that we continue to abide in God. Part of the reason is that we are to be followers of Jesus, and followers bear fruit. But another part of the reason is that life happens and leaves debris behind that must be cleared away. God prunes the junk and refuse from our lives so that we can have life.

There is a story of a pastor’s visit to a member who hadn’t been coming to church. The parishioner invites him in and the sit wordlessly in front of a coal-burning fire. After a while, the pastor gets up, grabs some tongs, and puts an errant and cold coal next to the burning ones. Soon, the once-cold piece of coal becomes hot and burning. Again wordlessly, the pastor gets up and leaves. The next Sunday, the parishioner is found in church.

This summer, we are going to explore deeply what it means to bear fruit in our lives, “Fruitful Living: Growing in the Spirit.” Today, we begin by noting the importance of being connected to the “fruitful God,” what it means to abide. Next week, we’ll look at what stands in the way of bearing fruit, the “works of the flesh,” as Paul says in Galatians 5. Then, on June 29, we’ll have a little side trip celebrating how God gives the growth as we install John Odegard as our new Minister for Discipleship and Faith Formation.

Then, on July 6 and each Sunday after, we’ll explore each of the nine fruit of the Spirit in depth: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Abiding in the relational Trinitarian God, being a disciple, and bearing fruit, is a life-long journey. It doesn’t mean that you’ll wind up with your collars turned around, just closer to God’s intention. Oh, but it does mean that you can blame the Trinity. Amen.

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