In this morning’s reading from the Gospel of John [15:1-8] we heard these words of challenge and reminder from Jesus, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart form me you can do nothing.”[1] When I was a young child living is Syracuse I used to play in my grandfather White’s grape arbor, and when the season was right I used to eat many of the deep purple grapes. After the family harvested the grapes and the leaves would fall off, the older adults would trim back the branches so that in the next year we would have a larger harvest. I often wondered why the vines where never trimmed back. It wasn’t until later in life that I learned that if the vine was cut back, then the plant would either die or it would take many years to grow back to full strength.Jesus is reminding his followers that he is the vine; the central life giving force of our faith. Jesus is also reminding us that we are the branches; we are the ones who are responsible for expanding the church. We have been called upon to produce the fruits that will feed others and produce new congregations that will reach out to others.
Our challenge is to reach out to others while holding tight to the foundations of our faith. Our challenge is to introduce to others the foundation of true faith and invite them to develop their own deep relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. If they remain with us, then we will become a stronger branch. If they leave us to open a new branch in a new location with a new worship pattern, then we have done our job. We have been asked by Jesus to share with others the message of God’s great love for all of creation.
When my father moved us from Syracuse to Lysander, he brought with him a handful of grape seed. These seeds where planted close to our barn. I know that they produced vines, but we left long before they were large enough to product any fruit. But I can still hear the voice of my grandfather telling me that our job was only to plant the seeds.
The author of the 1st John letter shared with us this morning that, “The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”[2] We as mortals are called by many voices. We are called to action by our country and its political leaders. We are called to conformity by our dynamic and fluid society. We are called to obedience by our Church Leaders. And all too often we have discovered that these calls are in conflict with each other. Each of us however will have to make our own choice as to which voice we will obey, and the truth is that we will be judged by all of them no matter which we chose to follow.
My word of advice is this: God will be forever. When all the other voices have been silenced and faded away, God will still be active. When all of the rest of creation fades into darkness, God will still be the source of true light and life. God will be the final judge. When all the other rules and regulations conflict and clash in confusion and choice, I still believe in that, “those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”[3]
When we pause to think about those who love us, we know that it goes beyond the warm fuzzy feelings. When we pause to think about those who love us, we know that they have loved us in spite of our many differences … and we have known that they where willing to love us to the end of time.
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