A sermon for John 15:1-8 Presented at Christ Church, Bordentown NJ, May, 13-14, 2023.

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On the Episcopal Church’s website, there is a truly inspiring video from Michael Curry, our Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, in which he discusses the Way of Love. Curry states in the introduction that, “In the first century Jesus of Nazareth inspired a movement. A community of people whose lives were centered on Jesus Christ and committed to living the way of God’s unconditional, unselfish, sacrificial, and redemptive love. Before they were called “church” or “Christian,” this Jesus Movement was simply called “the way.””

The “Way of Love” as Bishop Curry states is a pattern of seven practices: Turn. Learn. Pray. Worship. Bless. Go. Rest. I’m curious_How many people have seen or have at least heard of this 4-minute video?

In short,

To TURN _ Pause, listen, and choose to follow Jesus

To LEARN _ Reflect on Scripture each day, especially Jesus’ life and teachings

To PRAY _ Dwell intentionally with God each day

To WORSHIP _ Gather in community weekly to thank, praise, and draw near God

To BLESS _ Share faith and unselfishly give and serve

To GO _ Cross boundaries, listen deeply, and live like Jesus

To REST _ Receive the gift of God’s grace, peace, and restoration <which also means sleep>

For me, the video is a testament to the Episcopal Church’s commitment to following Jesus’ words and what makes worshiping in a Episcopal tradition so special.

The word “Way” in this context is a method _ a way to do something. But the word ‘way’ is also a direction and can describe a series of connections _ for instance a high-way.

Today, Jesus talks about a Way _ about being the vine and that we are the branches. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” Now anyone with a basic knowledge of plants and trees can understand that this would be the result. The internal mechanism of all living things is a series of connections _ say_the original superhighway. Without these ways, or without these connections, we don’t grow, we don’t develop, we don’t bear fruit…..That’s what happens when we don’t have a connection.

But the same can be true if we don’t have a Way of doing something. Without a way, we wander aimlessly, arbitrarily or without purpose.

For example

Imagine coming to Church _ and there was no Book of Common Prayer, or Hymnal, or even a Bulletin. Imagine instead of colorful vestments, Father Matt was wearing a hoodie, and sweatshorts, and sneakers. Imagine if instead of reading the Gospel, Father Matt read “The Great Gatsby” out loud in its entirety. Imagine if there was just milk and cookies instead of bread and wine. And imagine that when you come back next week, none of that stuff happens, and Father Matt says, “and-now-for-something_completely different”.

Of course that doesn’t happen. The Episcopal Church one could say is_ set in its ways. If you’ve been attending service for any length of time, you know that. And if you’re new then I’m sure you’ll catch on quickly to these liturgical rituals.

And they are rituals and they are rituals with a purpose. The Sunday Eucharist service is a series of deliberate acts of proclamations and responses that work all of our senses.

For our eyes, it’s the beautiful colors, icons and flowers that adorn the altar. It’s the physical space of the church.

For our ears, it’s hearing the scripture read aloud, along with a sermon to not so much tell you what the scripture means, but to start a dialogue. And it’s hearing the beautiful voices of our choir.

For our nose, it’s the incense from the thurible.

For our taste, it’s wine and bread.

For our touch, it’s the aerobics during service of sit down-stand up-sit down-kneel-stand-up _ and the handshake, fistbump or hug during Peace.

This sensory information that we experience is first sent to the emotional center of our brains, connecting how we feel about what is happening. A short period follows and the information is sent to the cognitive center of our brains, connecting how we think about what is happening.

And that sensory information is memorized, and when repeatedly experienced, it becomes a ritual, a pattern, and it’s a pattern that we practice each week. And we treat it like practice, because the more we do it the better we become at it.

But what we’re getting better at, when we come to Church, might be knowing when to “sit-stand-sit-kneel-stand” or knowing the words of the prayers. But what’s really happening is that we’re practicing to become a person before God, that enacts the higher values that are bestowed to us, and to take those teachings and go out into the world and enact those values.

And the cool thing about this is you don’t have to do it alone. As a Christian, as Jesus said today, you can’t do it alone. You have to be connected. That is the way.

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, esteemed Episcopalian and author wrote, <quote>“… religion (ought to be if it isn’t) a great deal more than mere gratification of the instinct for worship linked with the straight-teaching of irreproachable credos. Religion must be life made true; and life is action, growth, development–begun now and ending never.”<unquote>

For us, we must stay connected as branches to the vine. We must grow and develop. We must stay active and practice the Way of Love. When we do, we will bear fruit “now and ending never.”