Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. Our text for today is the text from Ephesians, St. Paul’s letter to Ephesians, as you heard read earlier. Fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, 100 years ago when I was a pastor in Iowa we had this cat. I named the cat Erasmus. It was an OK cat, great name so Erasmus. And so, Erasmus was just a little bit independent and full of spunk, more than a normal cat, if there is such a thing as a normal cat. So, Erasmus used to attack various dogs in our neighborhood, just for fun, not too smart really, but just a kitten, had a lot to learn. Favorite thing though Erasmus like to do, sit outside and watch the birds. He watched those birds fly around, fly from tree to tree, watch them building their nests, and finally one day he couldn’t take it any longer, and he ran up a tree after one of these birds. Now don’t misunderstand, he didn’t do this because he was hungry, he didn’t do it because of some sort of kitty peer pressure, he didn’t do it to boost his self-esteem. He did it because it seemed like the thing to do, and up the tree he went. And it went pretty good going up. In fact, he was pretty proud of himself, and he enjoyed himself immensely, crawling around, wreaking havoc amongst the citizens of bird city, but then he got bored, and he decided it was time to come back to the ground. He took one look at the ground and reevaluated. Going up had been pretty easy, but he wasn’t sure how this was all going to work in reverse. He was up a tree. Well my friends, I have to tell you the cats aren’t the only things that manage to get themselves up a tree. Human beings tend to be especially talented in this particular area. We’re not talking about trees, with wood bark, or leaves. We’re talking about paths that we go down without even considering the consequences. Decisions we make without first engaging our God-granted sense, journeys we go and head on without any idea where we’re going, or how we’re going to get there, or where “there” is. No, we are lured, tempted, encouraged to chase after these worldly pleasures. Oh, that looks good, oh check it out, oh that sounds like fun, that looks gratifying. Get out of the way, here I come. You know, when I was growing up my parents would ask me this question “I suppose if everyone else was jumping off a cliff, you’d have to jump off one too.” Have you heard that one? Yeah. Never really knew how to answer that. I thought it was one of those trick parent questions, but you know, over the course of these many years, I have thought about it, and now I know the answer “You bet. If everybody else was jumping off a cliff and said it was fun, said it was fulfilling, of course I would jump off it too.” I’m pretty sure that’s not the answer that they were looking for, but true. It’s actually true for all of us. We are lured in by these worldly temptations, the pleasures these things: self-help and wealth, power and prestige, fame and fortune, peace and prosperity, and they all really do look like something good to go chasing after. And they all end up in the same place. Up a tree. Now I would like to tell you, I would like to tell you that congregations, pastors, professors, that they don’t fall prey to this sort of stuff. I’d like to tell you that while the rest of the world is struggling with these issues, that the churches and the faithful pastors are holding firm. I’d like to tell you that, but I can’t. Whole churches, called pastors, fall prey to the same stuff, lured in by the same stuff, sucked into the same game. Yes, I know some of the temptations are unique, but they all result in same thing: up a tree. My friends, when you’re up a tree, you’re not on the ground, and that means that you can’t be rooted, which means you cannot be nourished, which means you cannot be fed, which means you cannot grow, which means you have no power, which means you have no defenses, which means you will eventually die. Roots, rooted. Saint Paul, he tells us about being rooted, rooted in holy, the holy word of God, roots that go down deep into the dark rich soil of God’s word. This is where we find or we receive our spiritual growth. This is where the substance of our faith is located. Through his word, through his Word he calls us to be his people. Through his word he feeds us, and builds us up. Through his word that beautiful message of salvation, forged on a cross, through his Word, we hear how God, in his mercy and his love, reached out to us, came to us through his only begotten son, didn’t even withhold Jesus from us, so that we would be brought into his Kingdom, covered in his blood, rooted in God’s word. It’s also essential then, that we be grounded, grounded in the sacraments. God comes to us with his undeserved grace, his undeserved forgiveness. He gives this to us through his Holy Word and sacraments, and what a joy that is. What a joy to be united together around Word and Sacrament, what a joy to be united, in spite of our differences of opinions, or difference of backgrounds. What a joy to gather around the mercy and grace of God to be bound together, tied together, as we receive the one body and blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, given and shed for us. United through Word and Sacrament, and please never underestimate, never take for granted, the importance of these sacramental acts in your worship and ministry. Now when you’re rooted, and grounded, then comes growth. Note the order. First rooted and grounded, then growth. All growth, spiritual growth, personal faith growth, church growth, Kingdom of God growth, all growth, through these means, the Holy Spirit works and provides growth. Rooted, grounded for nourishment and growth. Rooted, grounded, growing. You know my cat, Erasmus, when he was up in that tree, he started to get worried, and began to cry. He needed help, and who do you suppose climbed the tree to rescue the cat. As I reached out to deliver this cat, to save this cat, did the cat jump into my arms, did he come to the one who was going to rescue him, did he trust me to deposit him safely on the ground? No he grabbed hold of that tree and held on for dear life. I literally had to pry him off of the tree in order to rescue him. I remember saying “Dumb cat” or something like that. Here I was there to save him, to rescue him, and he fought me with everything he had. That’s really dumb isn’t it? Dumb cat. Dumb people. Dumb pastors, dumb professors, and a really, really, really smart God. We have a God who’s an expert at planting, nourishing, and growing. We have a God who knows us, and knows how we get ourselves up a tree all the time. We have a God who knows that we will even fight against the rescue that we so desperately need, and we have a God who’s not going to let us mess that up. He took charge, he took charge, he took matters into his own hands and it was painful. It was costly, cost him his Son, it cost him untold sorrow, but true love is not limited by cost. We are his, in spite of us. Our God provides Word and Sacrament that we might be nurtured, that we might grow. He provides servants to preach and to teach, he provides whole churches to grow his Kingdom, and provides all this stuff, all these blessings together, united together, that we might be united in his joy. Listen again to these words from Saint Paul in Ephesians, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith– that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Rooted, grounded, growing, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and our minds through faith in Christ Jesus, Amen.
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