I'm not as sure that they're horrible. (I think they bespeak the death of "nominal Christianity" in America more than the death of the Church.) But I do admit there are things that need to be done by church leaders to address these numbers in our churches. To that end, my most recent book is an attempt to think theologically about the Church -- about who we are and what we do -- as a pastor. And to share the wisdom I've gleaned from that thinking for the 18 years of my ordained life. (Commercial: Feel free to buy the book.)
In that book, I develop the idea that the best metaphor for going forward in thinking about who we are is "friendship". That life with God (and therefore life with others) is as friend.
I take that image from John 15.
Because, to be honest, the imagery from John 15 haunts me.
Beginning in John 13, Jesus gives a series of farewell addresses that continue until chapter 17. He knows that he will soon be lifeless on a tree -- the crucified King. And in the middle of it all, he graciously reminds us that to be his means to bear fruit and we bear fruit by abiding in him.
In John 15, Jesus describes himself as the true vine and his Father as the vinedresser. The true vine was a way to contrast Jesus with Old Testament Israel. The hearers would understand that he was saying that he was the Messiah and the fulfillment of the covenant because of the Old Testament references to a vineyard (Isaiah 5, 27).
Jesus explains that the branches that do not bear fruit are taken away, but the branches that bear fruit are pruned to bear more fruit. To bear fruit simply means to grow in character -- to become more like Christ and reflect the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22-23). And this is where we come to his command to abide: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me" (John 15.4).
Abiding is a funny word. In the dictionary, it carries the idea of obey, observe, follow, uphold, heed, and accept. It's just that we religious types have invested it with notions that seem a bit divorced from those meanings. We talk about it as if it were some kind of heavenly "rest". A passivity to the spiritual life. I don't think that's what Jesus had in mind at all.
Because what we have in John 15 is Jesus giving us an image of what abiding isn't. "If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned" (15.6).
I'm a Grade-A plant killer. If I purchase a plant and attempt to care for it, I will kill it. Inevitably. I forget to water it. Day after day. Then one day I'll turn around and -- bam! -- dead plant.
It doesn't happen overnight. It's not willful or deliberate. It's simple neglect.
So, one by one, the leaves will fall off and I'll have a corpse of a plant in front of me.
That's what I think Jesus is getting at in John 15.4-6. He explains that by not abiding in him, we're like my would-be plants.
This is such a haunting image for me that I'm preaching from John 15.9-17. Those are the verses that captivated my attention in the new book. Because it's verse 10 -- where Jesus gets to what he means by abiding. "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." To abide in Jesus means to be so familiar with his teachings that we follow them. We abide in that relationship. We pursue love with God and with others. We obey.
And here's the Good News: We do that, not because it's something we've chosen to do. It isn't something within our will or our deliberation. It's in our devotion. We're compelled to do it. "We love, because God first loved us in Jesus (1 John 4.19). We didn't choose him; he chose us (John 15.16). Apart from Christ, I can do nothing (John 15.5). Following Jesus isn't something you have to muster up the courage to do. God provides the grace -- which is to say, the strength -- to do it.
The fruit that Jesus speaks of here isn't something Christians or the Church can produce of their own. It's produced out of the relationship we have with Jesus.
So what's that relationship?
Jesus uses an image that's still startling to me: "You are my friends if you do what I command you" (John 15.13). Friendship. That's the key to being the Church.
The offer to be the friend of God is irresistible to me.
I make such a lousy Christian on my own. Sometimes, I'm really not even sure what it means to be a Christian in our culture. But whatever it might mean, surely it means this -- that we are friends of God and of others.