REPENTANCE=FAITHFULNESS AND FRUITFULNESS

3RD Sunday in Lent                                     March 11, 2007

United Lutheran Church-Red Wing, Mn.

Luke 13:1-9

Grace and Peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.

              Repenting or repentance is a consistent theme throughout the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.  Repentance is also a very significant emphasis during the Lenten Season as we move steadily toward the crucifixion of Christ.  In Luke, the primary content of our proclamation of the Good News of Jesus is about repentance and forgiveness.  As the Gospel of Luke comes to it’s close we read this words in Luke 24: “THUS IT IS WRITTEN, THAT THE MESSIAH IS TO SUFFER AND TO RISE FROM THE DEAD ON THE THIRD DAYS, AND THAT ‘REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS IS TO BE PROCLAIMED IN HIS NAME TO ALL NATIONS, BEGINNING IN JERUSALEM.’”

              The call to repentance is not primarily a call to worship or to praise God but to repentance which gives import to all else in our faith.  Richard Jenson in his book, Preaching

Luke’s Gospel writes: “Repentance isn’t a fruit problem, it’s a root problem.  The root of who we are.  We need God’s Vinedresser to work on the roots of our lives. Give us new life, God. Give us your life.”  God does change lives and changes who we are.  In the words of St. Paul in Galatians 2:20…”IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE, BUT CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME.”

              The word, in Greek for repentance is “metanoia”.  It quite literally means to “turn around”.  It means to take a new direction in life.  Like a conversion or awakening it can be a re-visioning which the Spirit of God implants in our lives.  It may or may not be like “a bolt out of the blue”, but perhaps builds over time after a time of discernment and evidences itself in the form of an opportunity that comes into life.   Perhaps a seed was planted and comes to fruition over a season of time.  However it transpires a new direction begins!  When faithfulness has been a significant part of life(especially in the life of faith in Christ), but there has not been a season

of fruitfulness or evidence of growth; when maintenance overcomes mission (which can be the experience of any faith community), the potential for something new and challenging can bring about a revitalized, refreshed, and renewed community in Christ.

              In the Gospel for this morning from Luke 13 those last verses tell of the vinedresser coming to prune the fig tree saying that if the tree has not produced fruit, cut it down.  But the gardener says, “Sir, let it alone for one more year until I dig around and put manure on it.  If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”  Those words have been stirring within me over the past two weeks.  I believe that what I, along with the mission team to Argentina witnessed and experienced within recent days is a living example of a nurtured fig tree that has received new life, new direction, and increasingly become a tree that will not be cut

down for it is bearing and will continue to bear new fruit.

              I’m speaking of our recent Mission Trip to San Carlo de Bariloche where we went to walk alongside, to work with, to listen to, and to worship together with the people of Cruz del Sur—The Church of the Southern Cross.  It is the faith community with whom we have been connected for the past two years. Though Lutheran Partners Global Mission we have been yoked

to these wonderful people.

              It was about a year ago that Pastor randy spoke of the first mission trip to Bariloche and the congregation of Cruz del Sur.  There have been presentations, testimonials, added efforts to strengthen our relationship with our sister congregation.  Those who took the first trip have told of the people of faith, we have prayed for them, send financial assistance, and stayed in touch over this past year.  But it was the telling of experiences, reaching into the barrio, the worship,

the struggles, their tenacious spirit, their needs and desire which all struck a chord within. The visit from a year ago was indelibly etched upon the hearts and minds strengthening our desire to grow this relationship with our sisters and brothers in the Southern Hemisphere.

              So perhaps the message this morning ought to be entitled, “Cruz del Sur Revisited”.

The city of Bariloche is located is the real center of the northern lake district in the middle of the Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi.  Nestled between the Andes Mountains of Chile and on the edge of beautiful clear freshwater lakes, it makes us think of what it would look like to have the Rockies of Colorado nestled next to the most beautiful of Northern Minnesota lakes.   But as beautiful as the city is, there are two distinct cultures and divisions.  One follows the lands along the lakes with its lush, picturesque scenery inviting tourists from around the world to fish, raft, ski in the winter and more.  The other culture is away from the lakes and lush vegetation a bit higher and out on the fringe of the city of 120,000 people where the land is marginal, dusty/rocky, and where the people may have settled on the land that they own or perhaps do not own.  Here the people live on marginal means as well.

              The congregation, Cruz del Sur, has struggled to remain a vital faith community, both ministering to its members and reaching into the barrio to meet basic human need.  Though the congregation is small in numbers, it makes up for its size by its faithful and dedicated core of members.  Welcomed and embraced upon our arrival, we of United were received as brothers and sisters in Christ, one with them and they with us.    Although Christi was the only returning member from the 2006 visit, it was apparent that we all could have been returning as beloved members of their family.

              We had come to listen, to learn, to experience their walk in Christ.  We had come to work alongside them, to hear evidence that the Word of God was alive in their midst, to share in their worship and the Eucharist, and to be companions with one another seeking to understand what had transpired since the last visitation.  We had heard, in part, of some decisions, but we were not clear how significant these steps of faith had been.  That would come; but first it was hospitality and welcome that took center stage.

              We were extremely fortunate that the Mission Project Director, Gustavo Driau, would accompany us most of our stay.  Formerly an architect, but now a key connection in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Argentina, Gustavo would become our translator, communi-cator, group facilitator, “chief engineer”, brother in Christ, trusted friend, and so much more. His hopeful spirit spread amongst all with conviction and humor. 

              Just days/weeks prior to our arrival, after discerning their future directions for mission and having a desire to serve the poor more significantly in the barrio, an opportunity opened up.

A newer member of the congregation offered a home in the barrio for the pastor and his family in exchange for a room and space in the present parsonage adjoining the church. Pastor Octavio and Sandra moved to the barrio with their children to become a real presence among the people. They desired to be a ministry of presence and to share in the experience of living in that part of the city.  They would accompany the people in their need.  To me, that became a human connection, a visible sign of the presence of Christ in their midst.  It would be an example of their willingness to walk in the shoes of those who resided in the barrio.  To be “at one” with them.  And through the family, a tangible sign that the congregation was intentional about their ministry and care for the community far beyond what they had evidenced before.  While the church council did express their anxieties and fears about the new direction for the congregation, they agreed together that this was the much needed direction and vision for mission if they were not only to be faithful, but fruitful in reaching people for Jesus Christ.

              There in a very modest, simple home, they would live and there it would become a mission/post with Friday evening worship for any and all to be welcomed.  We were blessed to share in the second service on the Friday we were in Bariloche, a service of song, spoken word, and the Eucharist.  It was followed by a simple meal of soup and bread, symbolic of Lenten fasting.

              Just a couple of days prior, a cross that had been sitting unused on the church property had been erected in the front yard of the house near the side of the road.  It was a simple begin-ning, but again a visible sign of the presence of Christ in the midst of the people.  The conviction held by the members of Cruz del Sur to worship on Sunday’s at the church near the heart of the city and the faithful example of Octavio and Sandra in the barrio were both contagious, powerful signs of the new direction…the turning in a new direction.

              At the church site in the city the office space would become the location for a Christian radio station established by the very man who offered his home in the barrio to the pastor. When fully functional it would reach all around Bariloche with Christian music and eventually the spoken Word of the Christian faith—a ministry of Rudolfino and the Council of Pastors.

              This was the new beginning which we were privileged to experience. One of many new signs of hope in their vision for the future.  The vision includes a small chapel on the site of the home where worship would be held, a purchase of land where a multi-purpose facility might be used for worship, church activities, offering opportunities to help educate youth and provide a place for them to play and gather, as well as an ongoing ministry to families and children with many needs living in the barrio.

              The Senior Center built by the government but without actual programming has begun to flourish with a staff, meals for seniors, a bakery, and social services already has a relationship with Pastor Octavio.  It was there that we poured cement for an additional space which would house the bakery and provide additional meeting space.  Just five blocks from the residence of the pastor and his family and a few blocks in another direction to the local elementary school, the home is centrally located for the new beginnings. A direction of faithfulness and fruitfulness.

              Two words were enriched within me during these days:

One: The word “accompaniment” (companionship)---To walk with the people as Jesus did on the Road to Emmaus after his resurrection from the dead.  “Didn’t our hearts burn within us, as he spoke along the road.?”  Didn’t our hearts warm in the presence of these faithful sisters and brothers in Christ as we ventured with them in their mission? Walking and working alongside, laughing and being moved to tears by their love and acceptance of one another and us as well as their willingness to risk a new venture.  Together with their hope that we will accompany them in this journey of faith well into the future.  They taught us what it means to live out the good new of Jesus Christ in very tangible ways.

Two: The word “abundance”.  The definition is not about wealth and prosperity, but about fullness, faithfulness, fruitfulness, and joyfulness.  Like a cup that runs over, spilling over with the blessings of friendship, communion, and love for Christ’s people.  For surely, there is an abundant life they are living out…another lesson they are teaching us.

              Each of us who traveled, lived, worked, worshipped, and experienced these sisters and brothers of Cruz del Sur have our own stories to tell and a burning desire to continue to walk more deeply in companionship with them as a congregation here at United.  You will hear and see a vision for mission, so fitting for us this year as we continue to explore what it means to be

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST…FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD.

              Repentance may not equal faithfulness and fruitfulness, nevertheless I believe it does lead to both.  It also leads to a sense of joy, to celebration, to hope, to vision, to mission, and to the Kingdom of God with sisters and brothers of faith as far away as Bariloche, Argentina and as close as our neighbors next door.

              In the text this morning, we are reminded that we are among the ones for whom Christ comes to die.  The story that becomes increasingly clear in the Lenten Season.  Because of our inability to be as faithful and fruitful as God desires us to be, God sends his Son to suffer and die. And like the fig tree that is spared to grow and flourish, so are we through the mercy of Christ.  What god has planted in us, God continues to tend, nourish, and grow.  What God first began in us, God will bring to fruition.  It is God, then , who never quits tending to the needs of God’s people.  God never walks away from the seeds of faith that have been planted.

              From the strength of the Gardener’s love, the seed of faith that has been planted in our hearts and in the hearts of our families of faith in Bariloche.  And it will continue to grow and produce fruit. Theses words of Jesus are not words that bring fear, but rather words that speak of hope, new life, and growth.  God grant that it may be so always in our lives.   Amen.

                                                                                                                              Pastor Clark Cary