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Tedd Pullano
Ogden 10-15-2017
John 15:1-11
15‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide 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. 5I 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. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
Growth
Sometimes I struggle when Jesus uses examples I cannot connect with – like when he talks about sheep and other stuff like that, I struggle a little and can easily get lost. I've not had any experience with sheep, so that concept is harder. But, today’s passage – this one I get – you know why? Because I happen to have, on my property, a grape vine along the side fence in my yard. (picture) It produces sweet, delicious concord grapes. This time of year, especially when I go out and mow the lawn, I always eat a few sun ripened grapes off the vine – seeds, skins and all. Delicious. And what makes it even more special for me is having watched the grapes grow from the little green “grapelings”to semi-mature blue-green fruit and then into fully grown and ripened delicious grapes. This happens every year and I'm always amazed at how this vine, with all its branches,produces fruit.
And this year something happened. As I watched the grapes begin to mature on the branches of the vine, I noticed one branch seemed to be lagging behind in growth – it didn't look healthy. I didn't really think too much about it, until the grapes on most of the other branches had fully turned purple and were ready for eating – but there was this one branch whose grapes appeared to have stopped growing; and in fact those grapes were shriveling up. So one day as I was mowing the lawn along the fence I stopped to assess the situation to see what was going on. Why weren’t these grapes growing? And I as I looked around, I noticed that someone had cut that branch off from the vine. So this one particular branch was completely cut off from the vine – completely disconnected from the source of its nutrition and water and sustenance. (picture) And as it was cut off from that vine, as it no longer “abided” in that vine, it began to wither and was no longer able to produce fruit – the one thing it was supposed to do – just like Jesus said. Through this experience, this passage makes such sense to me – I've seen it happen, I've experienced it in real life. I have learned how important it is for the branches to be connected to the vine – if they are going to survive, grow and produce fruit.
Sisters and brothers – you know in our passage today that those are not grape branches Jesus is talking about, right? He’s talking about you and me and our relationship with him. And he’s talking about the call on our lives to be and what it means to grow as disciples. Because that really was one of his main tasks– to grow disciples – to build up and train people to be like him. And thus that's’ one of the church’s’ main tasks as well – training and creating disciples – making people who:know what Jesus knows so they can do what Jesus does so they can be like him in the world. And this parable points out one really important concept – that it is in Jesus that we find all the nourishment we need for our growing as disciples. In this parable, Jesus is the vine and we are the branches – and in order for us to be healthy disciples who produce fruit, we must “abide” in Jesus. I love the word he uses here – this word “abide” – which means “to stay, dwell, continue, endure” – it has a strong sense of remaining, being deeply connected to, of staying for a long time. And that's why he says in this passage – repeatedly – that we are to abide in him, to stay connected to him, to endure, to remain in him. Because that is where our spiritual strength, our spiritual growth and our spiritual wisdom come from – from being deeply connected to him. And it is very much like the vine in my backyard – when we stay connected to him, we stay healthy and grow and produce wonderful fruit. But when we don't, when we don't abide in him – when we are disconnected from him like that one branch in my backyard, we shrivel up and wither and do not grow as disciples and do not produce fruit. It is so important for us to remain connected to the vine that is Jesus.
Now, this all sounds beautiful and meaningful, but what does that look like, practically speaking? How do we abide in him and grow as disciples and produce fruit? Well, here at Ogden Presbyterian we do that in a few wonderful ways. One way is right here in worship – in worship we sing and pray and praise and we examine God’s word. That is abiding in him. We also do it through the many Bible studies we have here. I continue to be so impressed at how intentional everyone here is at studying the scriptures and abiding in Christ through them. Taking that time out to read and sit with God’s word is probably the most important way we abide in God and grow. And you all are very intentional about it. I mean having 3 different Bible studies that are well attended? That’s amazing. Another way we grow here is through living out being a disciple through acts of service – of caring for each other and those around us. When we do those things we are acting like Christ in the world and we are bearing fruit as we abide in him. Again, reflecting on this past year, I have seen this happen in many ways, including stuff we talked about last week. Quite honestly, I am so honored to be part of a congregation which is so intentional about growing as disciples and tries so hard. That is fantastic.
And I am also strengthened by the plans coming together for this next year. It sounds and feels like many committees are taking seriously the challenge found in our Stewardship Campaign “Oh the Places We’ll Go.” I know worship committee is looking at ways to enhance the worship experience next year through using a variety of music and having the youth share their musical talents as we saw a few weeks ago. I know our Christian Education program is looking at ways to continue to grow the younger disciples in our care. And as I spend time with the Discipleship committee I hear of more and more plans to try and develop a full blown discipleship program to help all of us abide more fully in Jesus – to remain connected to the life giving vine. I know we are continuing to look at the best and most appropriate Bible studies to share. I am hoping to invest in and add more and deeper Bible studies that can really help us grow in Christ – including one on prayer. And I love that we have added Christian movies to our menu and we look to continue to do that as one of the “Places We'll Go” next year.
And one of the most exciting “Places We’ll Go” with the Discipleship Committee is the new “Season of Caring” we are rolling out in Advent. It’s so cool. It’s a way of being in service to each other during Advent – because that’s what disciples do – they serve. So what we are proposing is that people can offer a service they feel called to give – perhaps gift wrapping for the holidays or visitation or dusting someone’s home or babysitting for an evening. Then we put these service offerings on little cards and if you can use that service, you take the card, call the person and make it happen. And in the process relationship are strengthened and service is given and we are strengthened as disciples as we abide in Christ. I think it’s an exciting offering and opportunity and a wonderful place we will go.
I am really excited about the direction we are headed as a group of people trying hard to live out Jesus’ call on our lives to be and grow as disciples. And as we stay busy with all ofour activities, I need to remind us to stay connected to Christ – to do those activities which keep us healthy like branches connected to the vine. As we go places, all good places, let us abide in Christ first and foremost through prayer, worship, study and service – because that is where our spiritual strength and nourishment come from. Let us continue to be committed to our growth as disciples and commit our resources to doing this as we draw our spiritual nourishment from our deep and continued connection to God in Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen.