Based on John 15:1-8 and Acts 8: 26-40
“I am the true vine and my father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.” These words of Jesus must strike a chord within even the most amateur of gardeners. I’m no expert gardener but I do appreciate the value of pruning to produce strong healthy growth.
These words from our gospel reading were spoken by Jesus as part of his farewell discourse to his disciples, just before his betrayal in Gethsemane. He was trying to reassure them, and get them to understand that although he was leaving them he was not abandoning them, and it was their responsibility to continue the mission he had begun. This imagery of Jesus of himself as the vine, being tended by God as the gardener, would be very meaningful to his disciples.
Vines were commonly grown in Israel during Jesus’ time, and throughout the Old Testament, Israel is often pictured as the vine or vineyard of God. “You brought a vine out of Egypt” sings the psalmist in psalm 80, referring to the nation’s escape from slavery.
“The house of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord” says the prophet Isaiah. The vine was an essential part of Israel’s religious heritage and the symbol of the nation. It was the emblem on the coins of the Maccabees, and one of the glories of the Temple was the great golden vine adorning the front of the Holy Place.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me, and I in them, bear much fruit.” But, as all good gardeners know fruitfulness does depend on pruning, and good pruning by its very nature is painful and doesn’t produce instant results. There has to be time to allow for growth to happen.
As a very amateur gardener always looking for short cuts to tidy up ragged shrubs I am often tempted to do what my sister in law, who is an expert gardener, describes as a superficial haircut, by snipping off the ends of branches. She assures me this is not the way to produce strong healthy lasting growth.
Today, pruning processes done in the name of greater efficiency and cost effectiveness are a common occurrence in industry and large organisations. All too often though, the pruning is done without nurture and can have long lasting, damaging effects on individuals with no voice.
Pruning however is a necessary process in most aspects of everyday life, including church life, and can happen both at a personal level or a communal level but to produce healthy new growth it has to be done in conjunction with nurture and nourishment.
On a personal level, I have recently undergone a painful pruning process in the form of counselling as I found it very difficult to cope when the diocese didn’t recognise my vocation to the priesthood several years ago. A decision which left me feeling bereft, angry and questioning my faith, the reason I have opted out of preaching for some considerable time.
On a communal level here at St. Mary’s and St. Anne’s, it does feel as though we are undergoing a process of being pruned following both Averyl and Adam’s departures to pastures new, and being without a curate for a year until Peter’s appointment.
Jesus’ imagery of himself as the true vine tended by God as the gardener is as relevant for us today, as a church, as it was for the disciples back then. For pruning to be effective it has to go deep, to remove all the dead branches. Dead branches which are no longer capable of further growth, no matter how much time and effort in nurture and nourishment is expended. Branches which in their time have been extremely fruitful and an example of this in our church life has got to be the painful decision to close Centre 13.
Inward growing shoots need to be removed at source, to prevent weakness and entanglement, and to allow in light and space in order for new shoots to grow. As a church it’s so easy to become bogged down with internal matters which prevent our growth and outreach to the community.
Moseley and St. Mary’s have a constantly changing population. Strong established branches are needed for continuity, but there must be space and opportunity for new people and ideas in order to reach out to the community and enable the church as the body of Christ to be relevant in the twenty first century.
I see current examples of new growth here, in the increasing popularity of the Theology Book Club, the new volunteers we have for the children’s groups, not to mention seven people being confirmed and our gradual moving towards becoming a United benefice with St. Anne’s.
Following on from being pruned, this indwelling or abiding of God in Christ, and Christ in his disciples, was not an invitation for them to settle down to enjoy a comfortable existence and forget the rest of the world. It was a summons to mission. The young vine must grow, spread its branches, and bear fruit.
An important part of Christian mission is in our attitude to caring for others, not just locally but worldwide. Hence the importance of our support for charities like Christian Aid, which provides vital living resources to some of the world’s poorest people, irrespective of faith.
This Sunday marks the beginning of Christian Aid week, a week of fundraising, prayer and action based this year on a theme of you add, we multiply, so please give as generously as you can to Christian Aid this week and if possible help in the door to door collection.
Our New Testament reading this morning is a good example of the young vine beginning to spread its branches. Philip, one of the seven appointed deacons of the early church, was in Samaria where he was successful in bringing many people to belief in Christ.
In the midst of this success, he was driven South by the Spirit into the Judean wilderness. There he met, talked with and explained the meaning of Scripture to an Ethiopian court official, who then requested baptism and went on his way, rejoicing. A branch of the vine had borne fruit in Samaria in the North, and another was about to spread to Ethiopia in the South. This imagery of the vine does help us as the church to acknowledge our own dependence on God through Jesus Christ.
Through our trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we receive nourishment and renewal for our own lives from Jesus, the main stem of the vine. We are nurtured and nourished through our own private prayer and through receiving Holy Communion.
We are nurtured and nourished through our communal worship, theological discussion and the support of other believers. But — this mutual abiding of Jesus Christ with us as individuals is not meant to be an end in itself. It is to result in bearing fruit.
As today’s branches of the vine, we are to reproduce the life of Jesus Christ through the way we live our own lives and relate to others. Jesus Christ is made visible in the life of the world today through the lives of each of us. Both as a church and as individuals, we are now the fruitful branches of the vine which will continue its growth in the twenty first century.
As a church and as individuals we need to accept the need for God’s pruning of us to remove unnecessary baggage, and to allow for expansion and new growth to occur.
Pruning can be a long and painful process as I have personally discovered, but I am now realising that it was worth all the pain, as I begin to feel the benefits. God hangs on to individuals and to his church. As the divine gardener he lovingly prunes, nurtures and nourishes, but he never lets go.