John 15:4
In the metaphor of the vine in John 15, Jesus declares that He is the vine and His father is the vine-grower. The careful pruning of branches as part of a growth process. In recent years, we have experienced a stripping and a violent cutting down of things that once were fruitful and flourishing. Things that seemed to work pre-COVID no longer work now. How can the Living Vine speak into life in today’s world? Nothing that I write today will be able to change your circumstances, yet my hope and prayer is that it can change your center. The word “abide” is used nine times in nine verses in this passage. The word as it is used here means: “to remain, to stay, not to depart, to continue to be present and to be held.” It is not a static word. It is an active word, an active response to God’s presence in the face of pain. It is an invitation to believe, to faithfully follow, to persevere and to continue to trust, even and especially when the news can rob us of any hope and peace. The vine remains steady, strong, and steadfast. The vine resists quickness and easy-fixes, just like this writing isn’t a quick fix, because abiding is slow. The vine invites us to resist productivity and instead to be present. If the pandemic did anything it changed my perception of production, which was stripped of any extravagance during the pandemic. Productivity looks different now. The simple vine is our life-giving source that we can return to time and time again in times of anxiety. Our Christian life has a center and a source. The soul of our service and ministry also has a soil. The vine is our starting point, our base, our origin, our beginning and our end. The vine is the Alpha and the Omega and everything in between. The vine is not separated from pain but proximal to it. The vine sustains all things by God’s powerful word in the midst of the storm. The vine also holds us when we stand in the tension and waver between abiding and being apart. The vine invites us to return and remain without question as to why we fluctuated in the first place. To return to the vine is to return to the root: it is thick, strong, deep, and wide. The vine does the work. Our work is only to remain connected as we abide. The fruit we bear will flow from that living connection. I believe the soil is the steadfast and unconditional love of God that nourishes the vine, which in turn holds us and upholds us. The Vine is Jesus and we are the branches in desperate need of abiding. Our service and ministry, indeed every ounce of our lives, must depend on being connected to the vine. May you be deeply rooted in the soil of God’s love and may you be held and upheld, sustained by the source. May the soul of your discipleship grow a thick and deep root in the soil of God’s own love. My hope is to remind you to stay connected to the soil of God’s own love for you and your community. Abide in this love today. The harvest of this abiding will come tomorrow. There’s nothing more that you need to produce today. The vine invites you to be present today. Be present to yourself, to God, and to others. We are in this struggle with one another. You are not alone. Comments are closed.
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