Sermon, May 15, 2022

Fifth Sunday of Easter
We all know that Jesus uttered words of despair or something close to despair on the cross. We all know the words: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? They are from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, the end of which we just recited this morning.
We all know how 23rd Psalm begins. They are some of the most soothing words in all of Scripture. We can easily recite the opening words and much of the rest of it: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” We recited it last week.
What are these psalms doing right next to each other in the Bible – despair and confidence right next to each other in the holy scriptures? One answer is that despair and confidence are just part of life, and the psalms deal with life in all of its triumphs and tragedies. Another answer is that the Psalms were collected in no particular order, so there they are – deal with it.
Then we should go on to notice that if you read all the way through to the end of the 22nd Psalm, which is what we recited this morning, you find that the Psalm as a whole is not a cry of despair at all, but a confident prophecy and declaration of faith in the person and power of Jesus:
28 To him – Jesus, the Messiah – alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship;
all who go down to the dust fall before him.
29 My soul shall live for him;
my descendants shall serve him;
they shall be known as the LORD’s for ever.
Then the best part:
30 They, my descendants – the descendants of the psalmist, namely us – shall come and make known to a people yet unborn the saving deeds that he has done.
It is an amazing declaration of confidence that a people yet unborn 3,000 years ago, namely us, will hear of and proclaim the saving deeds of Jesus. It’s also interesting that the first humans arrived in Samoa, we think, about 3,000 ago when King David composed and recited the psalms.
We gather of a Sunday morning to celebrate the whole Christian story. We celebrate the good news that somehow this amazing life and death and resurrection of Jesus makes a huge difference in our lives so many years later.
King David knew the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, and was confident that at the end, through the grace of God, we will be victorious.
In this light Saint Paul said in his letter to Romans: ” . . . I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8: 38-39)
Also in this light, Saint John wrote his letters and his Gospel and passes on to us this morning the famous words of Jesus: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you.”
Paul states it one way: Nothing can separate us from the love of God. John puts it another: Jesus abides in us as we abide in him. We are all connected in space and time, to one another and to the risen Lord.
That’s our message for today. Somehow here we are, all connected to King David and his people 3,000 years ago, connected to the first people who came to Samoa 3,000 years ago, and to the first people who arrived here in California, some 15,000 years ago and connected as well to those folks who were somewhere in Europe or Japan or somewhere else way back when; and here we all are right now, today, the few of us here, conscious of some 7 billions other people on this planet, living breathing – we’re all connected to each other, and of course, connected by the Holy Spirit to the Almighty God. Somehow by coming together here, by coming to still ness, by praying, learning, praising we heal our souls and we heal everyone on the planet. Yes, we do. This is the Gospel.
For a contemporary illustration, I heard an interview on Public Radio a little while ago with some sort of expert on forests who said that trees and actually all plants communicate with each other. After taking all this all in, the interviewer said, “I read your book one afternoon in preparation for this interview and then sat down to dinner with my family, speared a stalk of asparagus and looked it and paused and then thought: Gosh, just a few days ago this asparagus was in the ground communicating with its neighbors – um, should I be eating this little creature? The author of the book said, yes, go ahead and enjoy your asparagus. Food chains are what make life on this planet possible.
But the point of this interview, and of this sermon, is that as even plants are connected to one another, so are we. Somehow we are connected to our ancestors and our descendants and all creatures on this earth. Mystics have often said this, but now scientists are saying it, too.
3,000 years have passed since King David wrote the psalms. 2,000 years have passed since Paul and John proclaimed the Gospel. From age to age, however we proclaim it, the Gospel remains the same. Somehow Jesus made a difference. The surrender to death and the triumph over death to the resurrection life – this whole Christ event makes a difference. Even though the resurrection happened 2,000 years ago, we are still connected to it. It makes a difference. We live in the aftershocks. Throughout winter and summer, victory and defeat, good health or bad, God is with us.
Thanks be to God.

Psalm 22:24-30 Deus, Deus meus
24 My praise is of him in the great assembly; *
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.
25 The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: *
“May your heart live for ever!”
26 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, *
and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.
27 For kingship belongs to the LORD; *
he rules over the nations.
28 To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; *
all who go down to the dust fall before him.
29 My soul shall live for him;
my descendants shall serve him; *
they shall be known as the LORD’s for ever.
30 They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn *
the saving deeds that he has done.
1 John 4:7-12
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
John 15:1-8
Jesus said to his disciples, ”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you 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. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”