John 15:1-8

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 

Let us pray, 

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts, be pleasing and acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer…

Growing up, we had a big lilac bush in our front yard. It would bloom every spring with these beautiful, fragrant lilac flowers. Every summer, my mom would spend a Saturday afternoon pruning it. See lilac bushes can double in size. In one summer. If you aren’t careful. So, Mom would thin out the overgrown branches. Cut off any dead flowers. While she was doing this, it was my job to pull weeds. So that the bush had “room to breathe” she told me.

I always hated pulling the weeds. Cause I felt like I was ripping plants from their homes. It also made me a little sad to watch mom cut down our big beautiful lilac bush into half of its size. But Mom assured me that the pruning was actually good for the bush. If you don’t prune in the summer, you won’t have flowers in the spring! I remember her telling me.

I always think of Mom and her lilac bush when I read the scripture passage about God the gardener. This passage is a metaphor for how human beings are to relate to God. We are the branches and God is the vine. The branches are able to bear fruit because the branch is true, and the vine is good. The branches cling to and are nourished by the vine. Because the branches are interconnected with the vine, they run the risk of being pruned if they don’t receive nourishment from the vine.

The NIV translation of Scripture reads: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Here is one instance where I think the King James Version of Scripture is more helpful. It reads, “If you ABIDE in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” I think it’s more helpful to translate the Greek into “abide” instead of “remain” because to abide means to dwell with, to find one’s home among. The nature of the relationship between the branch and the vine is more a relationship of making one’s home among, then finding a place to stay put for a while.

The branch makes her home with the vine so that she can produce fruit. If we are the branches in this gardening metaphor, we bear fruit because we abide with a good vine, God. The branches cannot produce the fruit on their own. They cannot squeeze fruit out of themselves. They need to constantly return to the vine for the nourishment they need to do the work of producing fruit. In turn, the vine’s love, presence, and pruning are gifts!

It's also important to note that the branch always runs the risk of pruning if it refuses to receive nourishment from the vine. I remember as a kid wondering why some branches of my Mom’s lilac brush produced lilacs and other branches didn’t. Especially since the plant itself was healthy and in a good sunny spot. One thing I learned is that some branches just cannot produce fruit. Other branches simply do not want to produce fruit. The vines job is to give her branches the best possible shot at producing flowers. But she cannot fully control how the branches behave. If the branches choose not to receive the vines nourishment. They need to be pruned for the health of the whole branch.

I think the purpose of this Scripture passage is to use a gardening metaphor. To get us to reflect on what does it mean for me to abide with God? How do we the branches position ourselves so that we have the best possible chance of producing fruit. As I reflected on this question, I came up with three things that help me draw closer to God. And help me help other people draw closer to God. These three things are prayer. Worship. And service.

Now that the weather is nice, I’ve really tried to do my prayer time outside. I have an app (Pray as You Go) that has daily prayer meditations on it. So I sit in the sunshine, take in the beauty of nature, listen to the meditation, and offer my joys and concerns to God. I don’t always have as much time as I’d like to sit outside and pray, but I try to get outside as often as I can. This practice centers and calms me in stressful seasons of life and ministry.

Worship. So there is something about the body of Christ gathered in one place that makes it easier for me to experience the presence of God. Maybe it’s the hymns we sing. Maybe it’s professing my faith week in and week out. Maybe it’s the process of putting together the week’s sermon. Whatever it is, worship is a weekly anchor for me. It draws me out of my own concerns and reminds me that I am a part of something larger than myself. That I belong to God.

And finally, service. The older I get, the more I realize that the most precious gift I can give to someone else is my time. Spending time with people. And offering my gifts and talents to them. Not only helps the person I am spending time with. But I feel better too. Lately a lot of my service has been teaching people how to socialize again. So organizing safe spaces for people to get together and celebrate major life milestones. Because if I’ve learned one thing after a year of social isolation. I have learned that we need each other.

Friends, if you are looking to abide with God, please consider ways that you can incorporate prayer, worship, and service into your life. How you do these things will look a little different depending on what stage of life you’re in.

Busy parents may need to sneak prayer time in early in the morning, or after the kids have gone to bed. Young adults may sometimes be worshipping online. And sometimes in person. Some of you will volunteer at local food pantries, while others will serve on the PTA.

The point is to find an activity that draws you closer to God. And stick to it. We want to draw closer to God because we know that God is the source of all that is good in our lives and in our world. God nourishes us so that we can go out into the world and produce fruit. And if we want to follow God, we have to be in relationship with God. And you can’t be in relationship with a person you aren’t spending time with.

My hope and my prayer for all of us this week, as we head back out into the world, is that we would find ways to abide with God amidst the busy days ahead.

Thanks be to God,

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.