Scripture: 1 John 2:23-25; 1 John 1:1-4 Series: 2020
An Evensong sermon on 1 John 2:23-25 (and 1 John 1:1-4) exploring what it means to abide in God. Pruitt opens with learning to ride a bike as a picture of how God’s love and forgiveness become internalized. Using The Dude from The Big Lebowski as a foil for the word ‘abide,’ he explains that the church has received the kerygma (proclamation) that Jesus is risen and God is love. To abide in this good news is to abide in God, and just as living in a house involves daily tasks, abiding in God’s house means practicing the means of grace: works of piety (scripture, prayer, fasting, sacraments, conferencing) and works of mercy (good works, visiting the sick and imprisoned, feeding the hungry, seeking justice). He closes by noting that Advent begins the next week as a season of preparation.
Illustrations: learning-to-ride-a-bike, big-lebowski-dude-abides, things-around-the-house
November 22
Riding the bike for the first time. Does anybody remember. You have a few instructions. Those instructions sit in you and then you don’t have to think about them.
We learn and then it is in us. This is the same with God’s love. Once we truly learn that we are loved no matter what and forgiven no matter, it is like riding a bicycle.
1 John 2:23-25 The Big Lebowski
He only cares about his rug, man, and he is pulled into a criminal conspiracy. The Dude abides,
What does it mean to abide?
Let’s go back to the beginning of the letter. 1 John 1:1-4
We have received something, in Greek it is called the kerygma, which means proclamation. It is the heart of the good news of Jesus Christ. He is risen! God is with us! We are not alone. We receive this with our hands, with our arms, with our ears.
And then we have freedom about what to do with it. Because the good news of Jesus Christ, that God is love and in him there is no darkness at all.
When we abide in the good news that Jesus is risen, we abide in God.
And when we live somewhere, we do certain things.
The Dude doesn’t do things, except try to get his rug back, but we humans do certain things around the house or certain things to support the house.
Things around the house to do (dishes, cleaning, cooking, planning) Things around God’s house are the means of grace
Works of Piety: reading, meditating and studying the scriptures, prayer, fasting, witnessing, regularly share in the sacraments, Christian conferencing, and Bible study
Works of Mercy: doing good works, visiting the sick, visiting those in prison, feeding the hungry, and giving generously to the needs of others, seeking justice, ending oppression and discrimination, and addressing the needs of the poor.
Advent begins next week. It is the start of the church year. It is a time of preparation for Easter.