Abide in Me
In the gospel of John (chapter 1: 37ff), Jesus begins to call his disciples to follow him. When John the Baptist sees Jesus walk by him, he exclaims, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” When he proclaims this, two of them begin to follow along with Jesus. Jesus turns and sees them following him, and asks, “What are you looking for?”
They reply, “Rabbi (teacher), where are you staying?” Interesting question. Sounds like they want a physical address. Yet Jesus’ reply is also interesting: “Come and see.”
The gospel then tells us that “They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day.”
The Greek for ABIDE or REMAIN or STAY is MENO. It is a very active verb in the Greek—pro-active, rather than a passive verb. You can read more about ABIDE in John 15:9-11, where Jesus tells us to “abide in my love.”
What is the point? The point I want to make is that maybe those two disciples do NOT want an address. Maybe they are really not interested in where Jesus lives, but HOW. How does he live in the center of God’s love and show that deep center in his teaching, preaching, healing?
If we just exist in our daily lives, without much thought, self-reflection or intention, I am not sure that honors our Creator fully. For example, when I faced a diagnosis of breast cancer five years ago, I did what countless others have done. I panicked. My mother had died of aggressive breast cancer, and I had to remind myself (more than once) that her illness happened in 1977 and not in 2021, when much more research has been done, and different options of treatments available.
Once we had a treatment plan, I felt much better. Yet how would I live in this new reality? Where and how would I “abide”? Thankfully, I got some guidance from the Holy Spirit. That was NOT to ask “Why me?” For some reason, I never went down that dead end. Instead, I decided to stay in the present as much as I could, and to be grateful. In every experience of surgeries, chemo, radiation, I asked God what God wanted me to learn. I said “thank you” to many folks—whether they were sitting at a desk checking me in, a radiation technician, multiple doctors on my team, the surgeon who I thanked for saving my life, and the amazing nurses who administered chemo with skill and compassion.
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Salisbury, MD
I am currently working as part-time Interim at a parish on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and one of my “to-dos” is to work with a Stewardship Team to put together a Stewardship plan for this fall. In reflecting on the best ways to do that this fall with this particular faith community, I’m re-reading my colleague Charles LaFond’s book, Fearless Church Fundraising, which I highly recommend.
Here is one of his quotes on abiding:
“To abide is the art of living rather than the function of living. To abide, to live well and beautifully, takes attention to the ingredients of life. To abide takes special and regular attention to details like love, prayer, work, other people, giving time, giving talent and giving money away, receiving from others’ generosity, giving and receiving kind words, walks in the woods, worship, vegetables, fruit, water, intimacy, friendship, fidelity and lots and lots of truth. . .
. . . “Giving our selves away is the primary ingredient to abiding. . .it’s a process. . .To abide is to live in God’s bounty, to see God’s bounty and to share God’s bounty with a tired, hungry, cranky and hardened world.” (from Charles Lafond’s book Fearless Church Fundraising: The Practical and Spiritual Approach to Stewardship, (New York, Harrisburg, Denver: Morehouse Publishing, 2012, pp 3-4.)
Abide in God’s love today. Then turn and give that love away. You won’t be sorry.