Is this passage of Scripture familiar? The quote \u201dI\nam the vine and you are the branches\u201d does stand out and feels like a message\nthat really fits in this season of Easter. It seems especially appropriate when\nyou think of it as preparation for Pentecost too, especially in the sense of\nthe vine sending out branches, as we read in John\u2019s Gospel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are still understanding what Easter means to us\nin this place and time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have heard stories of an encounter with Jesus on\nthe road to Emmaus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We heard the story about Jesus as a \u2018good\nshepherd\u2019, and the beautiful prayer that is Psalm 23 reminding us that we are\non a pilgrimage and we know that Jesus is with us. We are also getting close to\nJesus saying good-bye to the disciples, and he wants to be sure they (and we)\nknow what to do next. So, hearing such a familiar text might tempt us to say,\n\u2019we already understand it\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, do we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s \u2018go down the garden path\u2019 together and go into the vineyard and take another look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You do not have to be a gardener to understand the\nlanguage in this passage. We know that grapes, raisins, and wine come from\ngrape vines. That is the easy part. But what does the vine grower do to produce\na plentiful and healthy harvest? Just for a moment, picture a vineyard in the\nlate autumn or early winter. It is time for pruning: a vine grower walks into\nhis vineyard with a very sharp knife. Beginning at one end, and working his way\ndown the rows, each plant is pruned; no plant is ignored. There are obvious\ndead branches sucking away the life-giving force of the vine. They must be\npruned to save the vine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other branches are pruned back too so that they\nwill bear more fruit in the next growing season. Then there are the branches\nthat are just not strong enough to hold the weight of the fruit. It is better\nto prune those back now rather than the risk of an inevitable break to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When vines may need some extra help. The vine\ngrower may cut into the vine and graft another more viable variety onto it to\nmake it stronger and hope for the new fruit that will come from the graft<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our reading today, John describes God as the\nvine grower who has planted a vine, Jesus. The Father removes every branch that\nbears no fruit and prunes the other branches so remains on the vine and John\ntells us that we cannot bear fruit unless we remain in Jesus just as Jesus\nremains in us. Here is where the familiar phrase comes into the text. Jesus\nsays, \u201cI am the vine, you are the branches\u201d Jesus tells us that by abiding in\nhim we will bear much fruit and that apart from Jesus we achieve nothing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This part of the Gospel really asks us to think \u2013\nto think about our standing with Jesus. Maybe you have never thought about God\nas the vine grower, but certainly God is the Creator and God did plant Jesus\ninto our lives. The four gospels give us four different perspectives of what it\nmight have been like to be living as a disciple of Jesus. By reading them and\nengaging with them in our lives, we become intimately involved in the\nmessages. We can then assume the role of\na \u2018pilgrim\u2019 alongside Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
God is the vine grower and Jesus is the vine. Our\nrole is to be the branches. This so clearly describes our roles in God\u2019s\nmission. God planted Jesus in our lives and that vine produces branches. If we\nare the branches, then we are also going to have to deal with the pruning part.\nThat sounds like it is going to hurt. Every branch is cut even if it is bearing\nfruit now, because by cutting it will bear more fruit. If we are the branches,\nthen what in us might need to be cut or pruned?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking around you might be thinking of some things\nthat are obviously in need of being cut away. What about those things that are\nweighing us down? As branches, are we at risk for breakage from the weight? Might\nit feel good to have some of that removed? Think of what it might feel like to\nlose some of the baggage that is weighing us down<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems as if there might be many things that fit\neasily into this category of \u2018needing to be pruned\u2019, and some not so obvious\nthings too. One way or another, though, we know that pruning is has to happen\nand it will probably hurt to some degree. The end result though promises that\nwe will be more fruitful. Our job here seems to be identifying what needs\npruning in our own lives and letting it go. Our job is also to be open to being\npruned of everything holding us back and our job is being open and welcoming to\ngrafting because it will make us stronger. The hope in this whole business of\npruning is the promise of fruitfulness and the assurance that just as Jesus\nabides in us, we abide in Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We could all probably think of many things that\nwould fit into these categories. A topic on many of our minds these days is\nabout how to be Christians, individually and corporately, and what that means.\nAs an example, we know that the sins of racism and classism and sexism, and all\nthat indeed all the many other \u2018isms\u2019 that keep us from being fruitful,\nwholesome, accepting and loving. Amen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Prayer for You:<\/em><\/strong> A message from Rev Alistair McLeod for the Sixth Sunday of Easter. The Gospel Passage this week is: St John Chapter 15 verses 1 to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2777"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2782,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777\/revisions\/2782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Father, please grow in me a deep love for you and a selfless love for my family and friends and all those I meet each day.<\/em>
Father, please grow in me a joyful spirit so that I can rejoice and give you praise every day.<\/em>
Father, please fill me with your perfect peace that passes all understanding and grow in me the ability to trust you rather than worry and fret.<\/em>
Father, especially at this time grow in me the grace to be patient and help me to endure all the hardships of this present time calmly and without complaining always knowing that you are always at my side.<\/em>
Father hear my prayer through Jesus Christ the Lord.<\/em>
Amen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/vineandbranchesweb.jpg\")
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