Sermon - John 15: 1-8

Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song and Praise

As many of you know, Ken and I now have seven grandchildren, three of them having entered this big, beautiful world in the past eight months. And, I must say, I love being a grandma. I love watching the little one’s grow, and I marvel at the rapid changes in their lives, changes that are daily taking place. One of the things I find so fascinating is the independence that begins to develop at a very young age. It does not take long for a little one to begin saying, “Me do it myself!” That self-will and determination set the stage for many challenges as children want to do multiple things for themselves, some of which are not always healthy and wise. That fierce sense of independence and the development of self-identity is something that we as Americans hold dear. Independence of self and the “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps” mentality is a treasured aspect of American identity. However, it is also something that runs contrary to Jesus’ teaching, especially today.

I love what Nadia Bolz-Weber says as she reflects upon the challenge of today’s gospel reading. She writes:

I’m nothing if not independent. Reportedly my first sentence was “Do it self!” Yes, I will do it myself, thank you. See I want choices. And I want independence….What I wish Jesus said is: “I am whatever you want me to be. And you can be whatever you want to be: vine, pruner, branch, soil….knock yourself out.” What Jesus actually said is: “I am the vine. My Father is the vine grower. You are the branches.” Dang. The casting has already been finalized. Vines, and branches off of vines, are all tangled and messy and it’s just too hard to know what is what…Not only are we dependent on Jesus, but our lives are uncomfortably tangled up together. The Christian life is a vine-y, branch-y, jumbled mess of us and Jesus and others. Christianity is a lousy religion for the “do it self!” set.

Yes, Christianity is a lousy religion for the “do it self” set. And, nowhere does Jesus teach more clearly that we are not independent do-it-yourself-ers than here in today’s gospel reading. You see, nowhere does Jesus demonstrate more clearly that we cannot go it alone, that we cannot pull ourselves up by our bootstraps when life puts us down, and that it is completely unreasonable to expect anyone else to either. Today’s gospel reading is all about being connected to the vine, remaining connected and staying connected throughout this life journey we all are traveling. It is not about independence, do it alone, and “me do it myself.”

As we enter into today’s gospel, we find ourselves back on that evening of Maundy Thursday in John’s account of the Jesus story. Jesus knows he is about to die, leaving the disciples behind. So, he is urging them to remain in him, stay connected to him, and remain in fellowship with each other. Jesus is saying to the disciples and to each one of us, “Stay connected. Live in relationship to me. And, stay connected and live in relationship to each other. Make your home in me just as I do in you. Continue on in my teaching and example and remain in fellowship with each other.” And, he gives us this wonderful image of the vine and branches.

Now, if we think about wild grapevines, or any vine for that matter, one thing we soon realize is that vines and branches are tangled and messy. And the truth of the matter is that our lives, our families, and our places of work or study or play are all messy places. Life is just that way. And, sometimes, as Nadia says, it is just too hard to know what is what. Life is just a vine-y, branch-y, jumbled, tangled mess. Yet, when we look at a cultivated grapevine, we can see that the vine grower has put an anchor to the main vine. The branches are sorted out, trained and even disciplined. There is a wire structure that supports the vine from below and from above. All of the dead branches have been removed. And, the vines and branches that are cultivated end up producing large quantities of grapes.

With this image that Jesus shares, he shows us that Christ is the source of all life. Our very existence is dependent on God, who nurtures and cultivates us. We are not and cannot be the vine that gives life to all. Neither are we the vine grower, the one who cultivates, stakes, supports and yes, prunes the branches, though sometimes we try to claim this authority. We are the branches and, if we are to flourish, we need to stay connected to the vine, abide and remain dependent on the vine.

To abide is all about remaining, staying, taking up residence, and making one’s self at home. It is about living in the community of Christ, participating in the life of that community, and staying connected to that community. When we abide in Christ, God’s love is perfected in our lives. When we abide in Christ, love grows in us, casting out fear and hatred, and empowering us to act boldly.

Abiding in Christ means admitting that we are not independent, do-it-yourself-ers who can boast saying, “Me do it myself,” or “I did it my way.” Abiding in Christ means accepting that we are dependent on Christ and on each other. It means graciously receiving the support Christ offers us, most often through the caring of our brothers and sisters. It also means consenting to be pruned. It means letting go of the things that hinder our growth in love, things like fear and hatred, greed and jealousy, grudges and resentment, shame and guilt, and all the other vine-y, branch-y, tangled things that mess us all up. And, abiding in Christ is always about belonging, belonging to the One who gives us life, life that truly matters. You see, this abiding in Christ is all about relationship.

The relational connectedness Jesus is speaking of is a connectedness that is only found through experiencing life together within the context of a faith community. And, yes, living in this kind of relationship, abiding in Christ and staying connected to Christ the vine, means it is not always going to be comfortable or easy. It can be difficult. Living in relationship with others requires give and take. Such living requires us to be vulnerable. Living in relationship with others means there will be ups and downs as we travel this journey together. You see, living life together in community means we have to put up with real people, some who are nice and some who are not, some who want things their way and others who don’t want to challenge the status quo. Quite frankly, life together means having to put up with people who are sometimes jerks. And, let’s be very honest about something – it also means recognizing and having to admit that sometimes we are the ones who are being the jerks. The truth is, real, authentic community is something we often would rather shy away from because it can be uncomfortable. And, because we do not like to be uncomfortable, we are sometimes like a little child who says, “Me do it myself, I don’t need anyone else.”

However, today Jesus invites us to be real, to be deeply connected, to be planted in the very life of God and live in intimate relationship with him and with each other. Jesus invites us to be honest about who we are and what we are. Jesus invites us to come together and confess our hopes and fears, to share our dreams and disappointments, to be honest about our accomplishments and our failures, to be open about our blessings and our sin, and to be dependent on Him. In Jesus, we are invited into deep, authentic relationship with one another so that we can discover we are accepted, loved and forgiven by God who loves this whole world enough to send the Son.

It is by being connected, being planted in God and participating in Christian community, that we learn what real love is all about. When we stay connected to the vine and live together in authentic Christian community, the love that happens and is born enables us to then love others as we have been loved. It is that kind of love that brings others in and grafts them to the vine. And, it is that love that sends us out to make a difference in people’s lives both here and around the world as love becomes the fruit of living in relationship to God and others.