Message...February 28, 2010

Text:  John 15: 1-8

These last couple of weeks, we enjoyed watching the Olympics at our house.  It’s really inspiring, I think, to see all of these countries come together in such a peaceful, playful way…I don’t think there is anything else like it. I also couldn’t help but notice just how emotional it is…watching the hopes and dreams of these Olympians on the line in an opportunity that only comes along every four years.

 

As I was watching the skiing, or the ice skating, or the … snowboarding, or whichever sport happened to be on, I noticed that one particular word seemed to come up in the conversation again and again – it was a word used by both commentators and the athletes themselves – and it was a word that was used specifically in regard to athletes who were participating in the Winter Olympics four years ago, and didn’t do as well as they wanted…can anyone here guess what word I’m talk about?   The word is “REDEMPTION”…many of the athletes were trying to find “redemption.”

 

“Redemption” seems like such a serious, heavy word to me.  As many of us know, “redemption” is about making amends for a fault, or something gone awry, at least in the sense that the athletes are using it.  Every time I heard that word, “redemption” as I was watching the Olympics, I couldn’t help but think of the heavier, theological tones to the word…it made me think of other heavy, serious words, like “salvation” or it led me to think about Jesus, coming as our Redeemer, to help set us back on better path.  I started to feel glad that I was hearing the word so often…because at this time of the year…it is a word that characterizes/it seems to fit this lent and Easter season so perfectly …and how good it is that in one way or another, so many of us can identify with that experience of wanting to make something better, or wanting to make amends for some flaw or mistake made in the past, or to restore something which had seemed lost….   

 

This word and idea of redemption was on my brain as I was reading and rereading our passage from John… “I am the vine; you are the branches” Jesus shares.  “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.”  There is something so beautiful about these words…as I was saying them over and over to myself, I was really struck more and more with what a loving message this was to the disciples…and I’ve been struck anew with the simple and humble thought that only real union with God, is going to bring about restoration and wholeness to my life. Jesus is the spiritual life and strength of my life, nothing changes this fact.  We might notice that nothing is said in the passage about the Lord not abiding in us, it’s only a question of whether we will abide in God…God never withdraws his love and support.  And so the responsibility surely lies with us. 

 

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches.”  Have you ever noticed how down to earth the Lord’s parables and images always were ?– how wonderful it is that He is trying to help us understand something about the Divine in an image that isn’t from above or on high, but one that comes from ground level, “literally down to earth”/or even deeper/lower.  Like so many of his images, the vine was something those around him could relate to.  Not living in Napa Valley myself or anywhere near a vineyard, unfortunately for myself, I’ve been feeling that I’ve been missing some of the wisdom in this passage… because I really don’t know very much about vines and grapes, and I especially do not know how to prune them – Jesus said, every branch that does bear fruit is pruned, so that it will be even more fruitful.  I do know that when I cut back plants at my house, while they might not look good immediately to my untrained eye, it does make for a healthier plant! 

 

So I did a little research…I thought I would try to learn a few things about growing and pruning grape vines….

 

The first thing I learned was that a grape vine should be allowed to grow any which way its first year of life…having a lot of stems and leaves will help develop a strong root system…there is to be no pruning at all for the first year…

 

Then, in its first winter, one is to pick out the strongest looking stem and stake it so that it will become the trunk of the plant…and all of the other stems at the base of the plant are to be pruned….but stems should be allowed to grow from the main trunk. 

 

After this, it gets a lot more complicated, and requires a lot of precision and care.  And how the plant is pruned in its third winter is crucial to fruit production.  Only so many buds and stems are to be allowed in the first years, enabling the vine to grow healthy grapes…

 

Learning to grow and prune grape vines sounds like it could be a complicated task, and certainly one that requires much patience and care… I think the same can be true for learning how to abide or remain in God. 

 

I can’t help but feel that it is significant that when beginning to grow grapes, nothing is pruned that first year.  The plant is just beginning to grow, and the trunk has yet to be established or recognized.  If we compare our lives to this new vine…think how many times we have lived without recognizing the trunk – or recognizing God as our foundation…probably it is more natural to do so when we are younger, and first learning about the world and its ways – I’m thinking perhaps of school age days, or even young adulthood..  In our younger years, this is perhaps the time we are developing a first sense of self…and we need that first sense of self…as a teacher of mine once put it, we need a self to be able to give away, or more to the point in our passage, we might say that we can only be present to the Lord, or remain in the Lord, if we have been present to ourselves.  But as many of us believe… there comes a time, if we are concerned about the well-being of our spirit, to finally recognize the vine that is to be the strength and foundation for all its branches, and raise it up with stakes (in a manner of speaking)…finally beginning to raise up God in our lives.    

 

Really, in some sense, our notion of reality is challenged in this passage…The reality of our lives is that we basically, generally feel that we alone are accomplishing things in this world…our thoughts seem our own, our feelings appear to be our own.  Jesus is challenging us to remember that this is not so.  “No branch can bear fruit by itself” Jesus tells us.  I know that many of us believe this (that God is with us) – a question we might ponder is how much of the time do we remember it and feel it to be so?  How many of us walked in the door this morning, thinking, God’s love is enabling me to walk in this church right now…  And then maybe a kind thought popped into our minds, and we immediately recognized… “oh, this is inspired by God…God is responsible for this”…. In a way, we are constantly called to find the right balance in our lives…this is something Swedenborg wrote about…learning to acknowledge and truly believe that it is God at work within us, giving us the strength even to breathe in every moment, and being responsible for every good thing in our life, and yet at the same time, making our way through the world believing in free will, and acting “as if” I am in charge…

 

Many of us, I imagine, would hope that we are a branch, not on a new vine in its first year, but a part of one that is bearing much fruit.  We hope that we are recognizing our great unity with God more and more moments in a day. 

 

A lot of thought and reflection could be given to this passage…the more I read it over, the more every sentence seemed to be filled with so much meaning that I can only begin to tap into…

 

That being said, one more aspect I would like to mention is the fruit…many through the years have questioned just what the fruit symbolizes… Some would say the fruit we are to bear is evangelism, Some turn to Paul’s words to explain what the fruit means…it’s a very lovely passage (Galatians 5:22)…our tradition offers the explanation that “fruit” in this particular passage symbolizes good works. 

 

As I mentioned a moment ago, we don’t always right away recognize that so many of the thoughts or ideas or feelings we have aren’t necessarily our own, or just how closely tied we are to the spiritual world.  As I was thinking about this message as I was trying to put it together the other evening, my mind began to wander.  And I started thinking about all that I wish I could accomplish…Looking around me, I was wishing the toy room/office was clean, I was wishing that I could bake some cookies for Monroe…I was wishing that I could find the time to concentrate more on the ministry here at the church….I was wishing I could find a moment and finally take some supplies I had sitting around to an organization in town that needed some donations…. 

 

Now, clearly, wishing I could do something, and actually doing it are two different things, but I realized in that moment (with a little heavenly inspiration), that these are my grapes, Or I should say…  If I could get them done, they would be my grapes…this one is giving to the needy, this one is taking care of my family…each grape could represent something good that I can do for others….they are a cluster, because they are united with an intention of wanting to do something good for others…and the best thing I can do for myself, is to make sure that each good work is formed not only with the intention of doing good for others, but doing something good for others, because God wants me to care for others and share goodness, God’s goodness.  And I want to love God, and show my love for God by doing something good.  And then it all remains connected…the vine, the branch, the fruit. 

 

As I try to come to a close here this morning, may we all remember this season of Lent, that we each are called to carefully tend to our lives…may the words we find in John’s gospel stay with us…may we try to remember in more and more of our moments, that we are not acting alone, that God gives us the strength and power not only to live but to do good.  While what we do may appear good to others…and have good effects for others…the only way it is truly good, is if our intentions behind our efforts, dwell in God’s love.  And even if we think we are doing all of the above, we find we are called to humble ourselves even more, and be willing to submit ourselves to a process of reformation.   We are encouraged and challenged to always let our God prune our branches