"Vine and
Branches"
The condensed text of the
sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore on Sunday, May 10, 2009 at Union Congregational Church, United Church of
Christ, in Somonauk, Illinois.
PODCAST of "Vine and Branches"
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I’ve been serving in ministry for more than 20 years. I’ve been a minister to children, adults – and for the majority of the time, to youth. Several years ago I was part of a group talking about this week’s Bible reading from John 15:1-8 – the one with the vine and the branches. I was pointing out how branches do what they do – they bear fruit. They do it because it is . . . just what they do.
Sure – there are seasons when the branch is in a state of rest -- but the reality of what a branch does is that it bears fruit. There isn’t an idea of "should I do this?" It’s as natural as breathing.
In the group we talked further about the part that says "Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me." So a branch needs a vine to do what it does. I asked, "What’s a branch when it’s not part of the vine?"
"It’s a stick."
We talked even further, discussing how since we are branches on the vine of God’s love, we aren’t sticks. We even talked (probably remembering the Bible reading that we talked about here last week, John 10:1-11-18 that we are one flock –no exceptions – EVERYONE enfolded in God’s love.
But that part in this week’s reading about whoever not abiding in Jesus being thrown away crept right into the conversation. There was (and continues to be) a tension between the presence of God’s unconditional and unending love and this stick burning stuff.
We didn’t ease the tension or figure it all out. I still haven’t either. What did we say about it?
"Don’t Be a Stick."
I’ve revisited that phrase this week. The tension in it still remains.
Here are some more thoughts about it, though.
What is this idea of bearing fruit?
For the original hearers – and for us, it is this
Being faithful to the covenant made between God and God’s people.
Living the most important commandments – Love God and love each other.
It isn’t a counting of how many people you ‘convert to the cause’
Can withered, burned up branches be restored?
Old Testament time:
(Ezekiel 37:1-6a NRSV) The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." 4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live;
Can God take a withered and burned stick and restore it? Yes!
Can God take a stick and graft it as a branch into the vine? Yes!
Is the truth of God’s ability to restore anything new? No!
God’s desire is that we would be restored, refreshed, renewed. And God gets to do what God does.
On the whole – maybe it’s not "Don’t be a stick," but rather "You’re not a stick."
And I think there’s another way to look at things here. You’ve seen how branches have several smaller branches growing out of them. The whole vine is this collective intertwining of branches. And we are inextricably connected to the rest of the vine and branches – God’s community. The branches are connected to the whole vine and to all the other branches. And each branch is made up of so many smaller parts.
I wonder if each of us has parts that are branches and other parts that are sticks. We are being nurtured by the nutrients of the vine, but there are things we need to have pruned so that we can flourish.
God loves us and accepts up exactly as we are. But we all have things in our lives that don’t help us, and probably hinder us from flourishing.
"Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit."
All those seeds of thought from a Bible reading about the vine and the branches.
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