Staying Connected
John 15: 1-8
Spring is finally here, and with the breath of spring has come a resurgence of life and energy – Personally, I feel alive again!
Increasingly each day, as I go for my walks, I can hear the sounds of laughter and play. I love the sight and sound of children at play; it is one of the purest expressions of life and joy.
Every time spring rolls around, and I see the children at play, and I hear the birds singing, and I see the little lilies pushing back the mighty sod, I am reminded that this is indeed a wonderful world - as is so beautifully expressed in that song by Louis Armstrong.
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
It is indeed a wonderful world. But David Lose, former president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, draws our attention to the reality that we live in a world of great beauty and blessing, and yet so many things happen that make us wonder.
It is a wonderful world, and yet … yet we live under the gloom of a raging pandemic with has left so many dead and so many more in dire circumstances.
It is a wonderful world, and yet we continue to hear of so many senseless, unjust and unlawful killings in various parts of world.
It is a wonderful world, and yet there are many who are dealing with crippling situations in their daily lives.
At any given moment, even when things are going relatively well, there are still so many difficult things with which we have to contend, and it often feels like we are being pruned.
Indeed, sometimes it feels like more than being pruned, it sometimes feels like we are being cut down - cut down by life’s tragedies great or small, cut down by disappointment or despair, cut down by illness or other circumstances beyond our control and left to wither and die.
As we read the passage about the vine and the branches from The Gospel as recorded by John, it’s easy to see this passage as one of judgment and threat – to read Jesus as saying if you don’t abide in me, you will be cut off and cast away – discarded and abandoned. But I don’t think that this passage is one of judgement and threat - I think the message of this passage is one of promise.
It is important for us to note that Jesus is offering these words to his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. He knows what is going to happen – both to himself and to them. They are about to be cut down by his crucifixion. And he is assuring them that it will not be a mere senseless cutting, but that they will survive and even flourish. With God’s pruning, the focus is be less on that which is lost and more on the new life that this process creates.
No doubt that was hard for the disciples to believe, and no doubt it is also hard for us to believe as we deal with our own circumstances as well. So much of life seems to tear at us with no evidence that it is toward some more fruitful purpose. But amid our uncertainties and distress, Jesus promises us that he will not abandon us, but rather will cling to us like a vine clings to a tree, so that we can endure, persevere, and even flourish among our difficulties.
“Abide in me,” Jesus says, “as I abide in you.” This is more than just good advice. More than just an invitation. This is a promise. A promise that no matter what happens, Jesus will be with us and will see us through.
Keep in mind, that these words are said just before Jesus goes to the cross. And what is the cross all about? The cross is above all else a statement of God’s commitment to wrestle life and hope from the very place and situation that seems most devoid of life and hope.
The cross was not the instrument that made it possible for God to love us, the cross is evidence and testimony to just how much God already loved us and God’s promise to be with us through all things. In the same way, the resurrection is the promise that no matter how much tragedy we endure, these hardships will not have the last word when we stay connected with God.
When Christ invites us to abide in Him, he is not calling us to a life of restrictions and deprivations; he is promising us a life of beauty and fruitfulness. He is calling us to a life that is connected to God and to others through God. A life that is lived in constant awareness of God presence and love, and appreciation of creation’s goodness and worth – especially that of our fellow human beings.
To abide in Christ means that we must also embrace each other. We need God and we need each other. We triumph together when we Centre our lives on God.
That’s the only way we can survive – especially now.
Spring is here, and as we step outside to tend to our plants, one of the tools we reach for is our pruning shears. We go out with our pruning shears not because our intention is to destroy the plants, but to enable them to bloom more abundantly and look more beautiful.
That too is God’s intention for our lives.
As we witness again the emergence of life and beauty, even as we continue to wrestle with the brokenness of our lives and our world, it is helpful to hear once again that the difficulties and setbacks we endure are not wasteful cutting but pruning for a more abundant future, and that no matter what happens, God will not abandon us, neither should we abandon each other.
Let’s stay connected.