Abide

John 15:1-8

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

Abide

May 2012

It’s spring.  

We have had a little rain, and now trees are turning that glorious green that only spring brings.   

And it’s time, for those of us who adore gardening to get on the gloves, pull out the  tools, and get to work.  For those with less of a love affair of gardening, well, even lawns need to mowed--if we have lawns. 

So, our text today, likening our relationship to the Divine with the image of a vineyard, is timely.  We are the branches, and Jesus, is the vine, that nourishes.   God, as  Vineyard Keeper, makes sure that fruit comes forth from the vineyard by keeping things shaped and tidy with Godly Pruners.      

Let’s talk about those pruning shears, shall we?      

When we first moved to our home in Medford, I was so excited because there is a  Japanese Maple Tree in our front yard--I love Japanese Maples, and wanted to care for it properly.  After a little research, I learned that proper pruning was essential for their shaping.   

Keep in mind,  this tree is a regular Japanese Maple, and is quite a large choice for the half a postage stamp sized front yard we had.  So, my mission at first, was to keep it small and trimmed and beautiful.  Like a life-size bonsai tree, except it’s not a bonsai....

The first couple of years, I pruned back the branches in the spring...trying to keep it from stretching out its arms to back, over the front porch, or stretching it’s arms to each size, reaching over our front walk way, and the neighbor’s driveway, and reaching out front, into the street....while trying to keep it from growing up.  

The results, have not been pretty. I may have overpruned.  

It’s a bit lopsided,

and wonky, and scraggly.

There are others in my family who love the pruning shears.  One time, I came home to my beloved who sheepishly admitted to over-enjoying the pruning shears on a lovely forsythia bush that had been a little wild.

It had been sheared to a nubbin. 

Take away?  

Know how to use those pruning shears.   

In our story, it appears that Divine Vineyard Keeper loves the pruning shears--

cutting away branches that bear no fruit, 

pruning those do bear fruit so they might bear more fruit. 

I have a friend that doesn’t care for this text, and I can understand why.  The image of pruning seems to demanding perfection and performance, and completely results driven.  What about those poor branches that aren’t producing fruit--to think they are just cut off and cast away into the fire doesn’t seem all that loving, does it?  It “feels” more like the survival of the fittest in the vineyard of Christian Discipleship. I don’t know about you, but most of the time, I am just happy to be hanging on to the vine, not even close to thinking about bearing fruit.  And God is going to clip me off the vine? 

It certainly isn’t comfortable news, is it?  However, the point of a vineyard is not to look pretty, the point is to bear fruit.  

How many of you like to grow tomatoes?   I remember the first year I grew my own tomatoes--in a pot on my deck.  My step-father, the Tomato King, taught me to pinch off all of the “suckers”--the branches without any blooms on them.  I carefully pruned away the suckers, so the branches with little flowers would receive more nourishment, and grow stronger and bear much fruit.  I had tomatoes coming out of my ears!  It was fantastic!  

All this is to say, a little pruning is a good thing.  Because if we, as branches, were left in charge of bearing fruit without a little help from the Divine Gardener, there might not be so much fruit.  Thank goodness it’s not up to us.  It’s up to God...and the Vine, that nourishes the branches.   

In fact, according to this text, all we are to do as branches is to abide.   

Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.   

What good news is this?  We are being given permission--no not permission, but the directive, to Abide.  It’ not up to us to produce,

to grow, to bear fruit--

Our role as branches is to simply abide, live in the vine, as the vine lives in us.

Abide. 

Dwell. 

Literally, to tarry.  When is the last time you simply just tarried--

just sat an extra few minutes, and lingered in a moment of being-ness?

Sometimes, tarrying is a relief.  

Actually, I would say 99.9 percent of the time, it’s a great thing. 

However, I need to remind you about the nature of grapevines.  They get all tangled and messy and wild.  And you aren’t the only branch on the vine.   By using the grapevine as a metaphor for community, Jesus reminds us that we are all tangled up with each other and God.  It can be a mess of interconnectedness that isn’t always--or is rarely perfect.   We are dependent, of God and others...and there is not an option of independence, but interdependence.  We need each other, we need God, to be fruitful.   (Nadja Bolz-Weber, The Hardest Question Blog, May 6, 2012) 

Sometimes, it’s hard to tarry when the branch next to you is irritating you.  Sometimes, it’s difficult to stick around the grapevine when other branches don’t communicate that well with you.  Sometimes it’s laborious to wait peacefully when you feel like you have failed, or haven’t had the right kind of time to give to being a branch in the vineyard.   Sometimes it’s painfully arduous to be in community when there are too many questions or not enough questions or when it seems that only a couple of branches are doing all of the work, or when there aren’t enough volunteers to teach Sunday School or be Greeters or.....

and frankly, when a crisis hits, it’s not your Yoga Teacher that is going to show up at your door with a casserole and helping hands.  It’s your sisters and brothers on the vine that will, 

no matter how much of a tangle and mess we are.

And for now, for today, all we need to do is Abide. Stay put. 

Dwell. Live within Love, as Love lives within us. 

So today, 

I invite you to tarry a little while in your community, this church. 

Linger as we share God’s feast together in community. 

Have a little more coffee or juice.  

And abide in the wildness and wideness of Love, 

Manifest here today,

in all of those branches sitting with you in those pews today. 

Abide in the tangle and joy. 

Amen.