Well enough qualifications. Read it slowly for maximum effect...
Abide
06/07/06
A reading from the gospel according to John.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.
He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.
Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide 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.
I 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.
Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
The Word of the Lord. (Thanks be to God)
Let us pray.
God be in my head
And in my understanding
God be in my eyes
And in my looking
God be in my mouth
And in my speaking
Amen
They are working in the dark.
The deep silence is broken only by the water that drips down,
kissing their heads with its sweet coolness.
Maybe some food will arrive today, but then again, probably not.
No matter.
They will continue without it.
They grunt and strain,
all their being striving toward the light,
dreaming of the sun.
Some move too quickly and are burned.
Some are reticent, unwilling to leave the safety…
the warmth…
the dark.
But in some,
the brightest and most beautiful vibrant green energy takes solid form,
and with a final shuddering thrust,
the tiny shoot pushes up through the soil,
and the plant announces its birth to the great wide world.
I am the true vine.
My Father is the vinegrower.
My Father is the gardener.
My Father tills the soil.
The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting.
I planted you as a choice vine, from the purest stock.
I, the LORD, am its keeper; every moment I water it.
I guard it night and day so that no one can harm it;
I have no wrath.
If it gives me thorns and briers,
I will march to battle against it.
I will burn it up.
Or else let it cling to me for protection,
let it make peace with me,
let it make peace with me.
In days to come Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots,
and fill the whole world with fruit.
My Father is glorified by this,
that you bear much fruit,
and become my disciples.
You are the true people of God.
You are the new Israel.
Become who you are.
[BEAT]
Abide in me.
Abide in me.
Remain in the vine.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you unless you abide in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
The branches are the conduits for the fruit’s life-creating nutrients.
A skilled winemaker leaves fruit on the vine as long as nature will allow,
causing it to become sweeter and richer and fuller and more complex with
each
passing
moment.
My sisters and brothers, we have borne fruit.
Praying,
procrastinating,
researching,
writing,
rehearsing,
and finally
releasing.
It is a terrifying,
exuberant,
breathtaking mission,
to preach God’s good news to the world.
What joy!
What peace.
It is God who calls us.
God who speaks through us.
God who abides in us,
and we in God.
[BEAT]
Abide in me.
Abide in me.
Bear fruit.
Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit…
Karpos polys…
Much fruit.
(Polycarp)
Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
The sculptor explains:
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”[1]
Do you see Amy in the stone?
Do you see Tommy?
Tara?
Jeremy?
Jeff?
Jon?
Paul?
Ian?
[BEAT]
Abide in me.
Abide in me.
Apart from me you can do nothing.
The Father tends the vine…
waters it,
feeds it,
prunes it,
provides it everything it needs to grow.
The son is the vine…
the absolute encapsulation of the people of God,
the supreme archetype of Israel.
The son completely obeys the will of the Father.
How do we remain in him,
abide in him,
bear much fruit?
She rushes forth like a mighty wind,
leaving flames and tongues in her wake.
She lives in us,
breathes through us,
impregnating us with the Word that we must labor to bring to life,[2]
producing the fruit
by which we are known.
The preacher proclaims:
“There is no self-help at Pentecost!”[3]
Branches don’t make fruit grow.
The Holy Spirit,
the Lord,
the giver of life,
proceeds from the Father and the Son
into our world
and penetrates our being.
I abide in you.
[BEAT]
Abide in me.
Abide in me.
I am the vine.
The branch presents a fragrant blossom,
which develops into a grape,
which nurses on the nourishment of its vine,
growing sweeter and richer day by day.
Suddenly the fruit is jerked away.
Rough hands grab hold of it and yank it from the branch
that has so faithfully and patiently produced it.
The fruit’s destiny is to be crushed.
Without the crush there is no wine.
When the fruit reaches its absolute peak,
when it is as perfect as it can possibly be -
It is plucked and crushed.
Out of separation and violence emerges a new substance,
greater than what the fruit could ever have been
had it remained on its branch.
Only after the crush will the fruit reveal its truest, deepest potential.
I am the vine.
This is my blood, shed for you.
I am the vine…
and I am the wine…
Only after the crush
did Jesus reveal his truest, deepest potential.
Very truly, I tell you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood,
you have no life in you.
I am the living bread.
I am the true vine.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.
[BEAT]
Abide in me.
Abide in me.
My Father is glorified by this.
This gives God pleasure
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
The runner declares:
“I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast.
And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”[4]
God made you for a purpose.
God brought you here to this seminary
to this class
to this moment
for a purpose.
When you preach, do you feel God’s pleasure?
[BEAT]
We started in the dark.
The vinegrower has faithfully tended us,
pruning and shaping so we would produce.
and each of us has put forth succulent, fragrant fruit.
Our fruit…
our sermons…
our hearts…
we have tentatively, gingerly held open to one another.
They have been crushed.
We have been picked
and picked apart
and sometimes we are left with nothing more than stained fingers.
Know this: the crush is not the end of the process.
The fruit hasn’t even begun to live
until after it's been crushed.
The fruit is mysteriously transformed
from whatever we inert bumbling branches
tried to produce…
It takes on new life,
as we uncork our lips,
and the Word of God pours
into a world dying of thirst.
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and be my disciples.
My sisters and brothers, bear much fruit.
Abide in the Son,
through the life-giving Spirit,
tended by our faithful Father.
Go forth with God’s word,
giving pleasure to your Father in heaven.
Amen.
[1] Michelangelo, quoted in 2006 Fuller Focus (with thanks to Amy Meverden for the citation).
[2] This phrase from Rev. Elizabeth Davenport (sermon for Pentecost 2006).
[3] Rev. Jimmy Bartz, “Outward Action,” All Saints’ Beverly Hills, Pentecost 2006.
[4] Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire (1981).
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