St. Paul’s United Church Sunday May 10, 2009

The Fruit of the Vine – Rev. David Mundy

1 John 4:16b-21 John 15:1-8

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I am constantly amazed at this time of the year by the flourishing of plants that have been dormant through the winter. I see all this as one of God’s minor miracles, although some of those plants I wish wouldn’t impress me quite so much, such as the dandelions and the thistles in my lawn.

Others do make the heart glad, including those which have that powerful natural urge to creep and crawl upward as vines. Some of them put forth beautiful flowers. The clematis and the honeysuckle are lovely examples. Then there are the edible examples such as runner beans and peas, along with the unlikely candidates such as melons and squash which can be trained to climb.

Of course there are also the grape vines which delight because of their fruit which can be eaten and turned into one of God’s more delightful gifts of transformation in the form of wine.

Whether we are talking about flowers, or vegetables or fruit, they all benefit with a little help from their friends. Although our plants sometimes have a mind of their own, they can also be directed and shaped by a gardener who knows how to prune at the right time and the right place. And many of us make sure that our plants have a framework of some kind which makes the climbing a little easier for them to display in all their glory.

When we lived in outport Newfoundland years ago, a neighbor used cast-off fishing net for his beans and peas. Lots of us build or buy something called a trellis so that the vines can find their way upward. Trellises can be very simple or quite ornate and beautiful structures which allow the plants to become their very best.

I know that you didn’t come to worship for a horticulture lesson this morning, but did you notice this morning that in John’s gospel Jesus describes himself as a vine – actually as the true vine? He also says that God is the vine grower. Last Sunday I mentioned that in John there are a number of “I am” statements that make this gospel unique. These statements are the framework on which this gospel grows. They include:

I am the bread of life

I am living water

I am the door

I am the good shepherd

These first four are all metaphors taken from the everyday life of those who are listening to Christ’s message – they are “down to earth” images pointing to a heavenly reality. There are two others which are less earthy, but

I am the resurrection and the life

I am the way, the truth, and the life

The seventh “I am” statement is the one we heard this morning “I am the true vine.” Jesus is the one who gives us life as a living entity, here and now, and we can also say that Jesus is the structure, the trellis, on which our faith flourishes and grows.

It shouldn’t surprise us that the imagery of both the vine, which is Christ, and the structure on which that vine grows have continued to be so important through the ages. There is a wonderful book called Benedict’s Dharma which I have given to several people through the years. I like it because three Buddhist writers compare their dharma, or Rule, with the Rule of Benedict, the founder of one of the great monastic movements. In the end they agree that every religion needs to have structure and discipline, but in the introduction to the book the editor points out that the Latin word which is translated as “rule” is a word that can also be translated as trellis.

Marjorie Thompson picks up this same theme in her book called Soul Feast which a number of us studied earlier this year. She too uses the image of the trellis and the plants which grow up on its structure:

When it comes to spiritual growth humans are much like [vines.] We need structure and support. Otherwise our spirituality grows only in a confused and disorderly way. The fruit of the Spirit in us gets tangled and susceptible to corruption, and the beauty of our lives is diminished. We need structure to have enough space, air, and light to flourish.

You know what she is talking about. There are people we have all met who are enthusiastic about

their spiritual lives but are constantly shooting off in all sorts of directions. They just can’t seem to get settled, even though they are earnest and sincere about growing in faith. Maybe we feel this way about ourselves, that we never get to the point where we are “bearing fruit” spiritually. Perhaps it is just the spirit of our time that we produce plenty of foliage but not much fruit.

To discover structure for our faith through our relationship with Christ doesn’t mean that we all have to think the same or act the same, as some denominations suggest. If you have ever walked in a vineyard you know that no two grapevines look alike even though they have all been tended by the same vinedresser. All of us do need the spiritual discipline which will permit our fullest growth.

For those of you who aren’t big on plants, I’m going to change metaphors for a moment. This past week NBA star Lebron James won the Most Valuable Player award for the league. Lebron is six feet, eight inches tall, which is a help, but if height were the only factor I might not be standing here this morning! I would be enjoying a pleasant retirement from the game of basketball. It isn’t even a matter of talent, because James has excelled at basketball since he was a kid. This past summer this elite player went back to the gym and worked for untold hours on going to the net with his left hand, even though he is right-handed, so that he wouldn’t be predictable to his opponents. He worked on his outside jump shot, to perfect his repertoire. He hit the weight room so that he would be stronger in the scrums under the net. So what we see in his game as a thing of grace and beauty is the result of hard work and discipline. And now he is the MVP. You know where I”m going with this, don’t you? Why would it be any different for our life in faith? And of course we have the best personal trainer in Christ, who opens us to a world of new possibilities.

You may be thinking that it is fine to say that we are the branches of the vine which is Christ – a very positive image – and you may be okay with being shaped for the best possible growth. But this stuff about being pruned and burned sounds harsh, like something we would hear in churches that are judgmental.

Or perhaps not. Some of you will remember that five years I went for a two-week visit to the Taize Christian community in France. I had no idea before I went there that the countryside would be so beautiful and even though it was February, farmers were already out ploughing their fields and getting their vineyards in shape. On my return from France I mentioned to you that one day I climbed one of the hillside roads and saw a plume of smoke ahead of me. Eventually I walked past a woman who was pruning the vines and I had one of those “aha” moments. Immediately after cutting off the dead or diseased branches she put them in a little stove which was on a platform like a wheelbarrow. Every few minutes she would move forward and continue her work with a practiced eye.

I have learned since then that the diseases which affect grapevines have windborne spores, so the best way to make sure that they don’t spread is to immediately burn the affected branches, and that was what she was doing. There was no malice or anger on her part. She was simply doing what was necessary for the health of that vine and for the entire vineyard. Her pruning and burning that day five years ago may have resulted in a harvest of grapes which in turn was transformed into a lovely wine that may have come to maturity for drinking today.

Earlier this week I asked our bible study group what they would prune from their lives, and the answers included anxiety, selfishness, greed, anger, bitterness. In the fifth chapter of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians he speaks first of all about the character traits and habits that are destructive in our lives, including anger and jealousy and quarrels and envy. These things are very much like a destructive disease that chokes out the fullness of life we all hope for. Getting rid of our spiritual deadwood can be good for us.