Sunday, April 28, 2024 – Easter 5
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
John 15:1-8
”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. 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.”
I John 4:7-8, 20-21
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
+++
I’ve never really minded the cold… until this year. It wasn’t a harsh winter, and yet I felt cold most of the time. We didn’t have a lot of snow, but we certainly made up for it in drenching rains and endlessly gray skies. The result of all of this was that I developed an intense case of spring fever.
And so, last week, I self-medicated… at Cheshire Nursery. I was looking for some bedding plants, right here in the bedding plant capital of Connecticut. As soon as I stepped in the greenhouse, I felt as if I were born again. At one point, I literally stopped in my tracks to take a deep breath of all of that budding life. I literally felt reconnected to the earth. It was transcendent.
We all need to feel reconnected to the earth, not only because it is our divinely appointed home, but because connection to the earth represents connection to all that which is beyond our individual lives. To be reconnected to the earth is to acknowledge that we do not live in isolation. We live in community with plants and animals and water and sky and other humans. And we are all connected to that One Source. Jesus said it like this: “I am the vine and you are the branches.”
This statement represents the last of Jesus’s I AM statements as recorded in the Gospel of John. There are seven altogether – well-known and beloved sayings like “I am the bread of life”; “I am the light of the world”; “I am the good shepherd”; “I am the resurrection and the life.” But what’s interesting about today’s statement, “I am the vine and you are the branches” is that it is the only one of the seven that is not exclusively about Jesus. We are included in this analogy. We are the branches.
Now everyone to whom Jesus first said this would have been able to picture instantly what he meant. Because they knew how grapes grew. They knew that the twisting branches sometimes grew so closely together that no one could tell where one began and the other ended. They knew that the best grapes – the sweetest and the juiciest – were the ones closest to the vine; closest to the source of nutrition. They also knew that the vinedresser removed all the fruitless branches so that they would not drain nutrients from the others. And they knew that an untended vine would quickly grow out of control, making the whole plant struggle, and thus producing unhealthy fruit.
So, when Jesus said, “I am the Vine and you are the branches” he was reminding us of our interconnectedness to and our interdependence upon one another, and of our need to stay close to him who is the source of all life.
Now, staying close to Jesus sounds like a really good idea, doesn’t it? But what exactly does it mean? How exactly do we do it? How do we know we’re doing it right?
Some people will tell you exactly how they think you should do it right. Staying close to Jesus, they say, is really about accepting a particular understanding of the Bible and theology and the human condition. It’s about believing all the so-called “right things.” Therefore it is largely a function of your mind.
But is that what Jesus said with the words: “I am the vine and you are the branches”? As with so many of his teachings, Jesus doesn’t tell us how as much as he tells us what. He doesn’t give us a method as much as he points us to the end result. It is teaching by deduction. And you know you have understood when your life produces the kind of fruit that is the natural result of abiding in the vine.
So, what does that fruit look like? How does it taste? The Epistle lesson of the day makes that very clear. I John 4:7-8 declares: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
The fruit of our lives is nothing less than an imitation of God, who is love. And this love has very little to do with the way we feel at any given moment. It is not sentimental. In fact, I think that sentiment can be the enemy of true love. Because love is action. Love is a bold decision to “Do unto others exactly as you would want done to you.”
It’s simple. But it’s not easy. Because the “others” in “do unto others…” means everyone. EVERYONE. That’s why staying connected to the Vine is so important. That’s why having the best nutrition is vital to the production of this kind of fruit.
But increasingly, we’re addicted to junk food… or worse. We gorge ourselves on outrage and anger and division and tribalism. We scorn and scoff, dehumanize and demonize. And what’s worse yet, we do these things in the name of religion or patriotism. And then we wonder why we are so hungry, and why the fruit of our lives is so shriveled and bitter and poisonous.
Recently, I received two articles, from two different parishioners, from two very different publications. One article was from the Wall Street Journal and the other was from the Atlantic Magazine. And while the Journal and the Atlantic often see the world from different perspectives, these two articles were remarkably similar in their basic message.
They began by decrying the precipitous decline of organized religion in the United States. And then they made the case that this decline of congregational life was tied directly to the rise of a bitterly divided, angry, and soul-sick nation.
The authors – one Christian and one agnostic – were not so much concerned with doctrine, but with the loss of a sense of community that congregations embody; the fact that very different kinds of people sit in this room week after week, and engage in common purpose, year after year. Both authors lamented the tragic loss of the idea of the common good – that what is good for you is actually good for me. Without ever using Gospel language, both authors mourned our disconnection from the Source.
When Jesus said: “I am the vine and you are the branches” it was a reminder that branches do no grow in isolation. They grow in tangled webs of life, helping to support one another when the storms rage. Grapes grow in clusters, clinging to one another. That’s the bottom line for all of us branches and grapes. I need you. You need me. And we all need our neighbors and our neighbors need us.
So, love your neighbor as yourself. Forgive your enemies. Don’t make an idol of your own opinions. Don’t fall in love with your own voice. Do good to those who persecute you. Be a reconciler. Stand up for the defenseless. Turn the other cheek. Work for justice. Make peace.
And if any of that sounds like a tall order, it’s because it is. But we don’t do any of this on our own. We are a beautifully tangled community. And the Vine to whom we cling for our very sustenance, is the One who showed us exactly what real love looks like.
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
John 15:1-8
”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. 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.”
I John 4:7-8, 20-21
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
+++
I’ve never really minded the cold… until this year. It wasn’t a harsh winter, and yet I felt cold most of the time. We didn’t have a lot of snow, but we certainly made up for it in drenching rains and endlessly gray skies. The result of all of this was that I developed an intense case of spring fever.
And so, last week, I self-medicated… at Cheshire Nursery. I was looking for some bedding plants, right here in the bedding plant capital of Connecticut. As soon as I stepped in the greenhouse, I felt as if I were born again. At one point, I literally stopped in my tracks to take a deep breath of all of that budding life. I literally felt reconnected to the earth. It was transcendent.
We all need to feel reconnected to the earth, not only because it is our divinely appointed home, but because connection to the earth represents connection to all that which is beyond our individual lives. To be reconnected to the earth is to acknowledge that we do not live in isolation. We live in community with plants and animals and water and sky and other humans. And we are all connected to that One Source. Jesus said it like this: “I am the vine and you are the branches.”
This statement represents the last of Jesus’s I AM statements as recorded in the Gospel of John. There are seven altogether – well-known and beloved sayings like “I am the bread of life”; “I am the light of the world”; “I am the good shepherd”; “I am the resurrection and the life.” But what’s interesting about today’s statement, “I am the vine and you are the branches” is that it is the only one of the seven that is not exclusively about Jesus. We are included in this analogy. We are the branches.
Now everyone to whom Jesus first said this would have been able to picture instantly what he meant. Because they knew how grapes grew. They knew that the twisting branches sometimes grew so closely together that no one could tell where one began and the other ended. They knew that the best grapes – the sweetest and the juiciest – were the ones closest to the vine; closest to the source of nutrition. They also knew that the vinedresser removed all the fruitless branches so that they would not drain nutrients from the others. And they knew that an untended vine would quickly grow out of control, making the whole plant struggle, and thus producing unhealthy fruit.
So, when Jesus said, “I am the Vine and you are the branches” he was reminding us of our interconnectedness to and our interdependence upon one another, and of our need to stay close to him who is the source of all life.
Now, staying close to Jesus sounds like a really good idea, doesn’t it? But what exactly does it mean? How exactly do we do it? How do we know we’re doing it right?
Some people will tell you exactly how they think you should do it right. Staying close to Jesus, they say, is really about accepting a particular understanding of the Bible and theology and the human condition. It’s about believing all the so-called “right things.” Therefore it is largely a function of your mind.
But is that what Jesus said with the words: “I am the vine and you are the branches”? As with so many of his teachings, Jesus doesn’t tell us how as much as he tells us what. He doesn’t give us a method as much as he points us to the end result. It is teaching by deduction. And you know you have understood when your life produces the kind of fruit that is the natural result of abiding in the vine.
So, what does that fruit look like? How does it taste? The Epistle lesson of the day makes that very clear. I John 4:7-8 declares: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
The fruit of our lives is nothing less than an imitation of God, who is love. And this love has very little to do with the way we feel at any given moment. It is not sentimental. In fact, I think that sentiment can be the enemy of true love. Because love is action. Love is a bold decision to “Do unto others exactly as you would want done to you.”
It’s simple. But it’s not easy. Because the “others” in “do unto others…” means everyone. EVERYONE. That’s why staying connected to the Vine is so important. That’s why having the best nutrition is vital to the production of this kind of fruit.
But increasingly, we’re addicted to junk food… or worse. We gorge ourselves on outrage and anger and division and tribalism. We scorn and scoff, dehumanize and demonize. And what’s worse yet, we do these things in the name of religion or patriotism. And then we wonder why we are so hungry, and why the fruit of our lives is so shriveled and bitter and poisonous.
Recently, I received two articles, from two different parishioners, from two very different publications. One article was from the Wall Street Journal and the other was from the Atlantic Magazine. And while the Journal and the Atlantic often see the world from different perspectives, these two articles were remarkably similar in their basic message.
They began by decrying the precipitous decline of organized religion in the United States. And then they made the case that this decline of congregational life was tied directly to the rise of a bitterly divided, angry, and soul-sick nation.
The authors – one Christian and one agnostic – were not so much concerned with doctrine, but with the loss of a sense of community that congregations embody; the fact that very different kinds of people sit in this room week after week, and engage in common purpose, year after year. Both authors lamented the tragic loss of the idea of the common good – that what is good for you is actually good for me. Without ever using Gospel language, both authors mourned our disconnection from the Source.
When Jesus said: “I am the vine and you are the branches” it was a reminder that branches do no grow in isolation. They grow in tangled webs of life, helping to support one another when the storms rage. Grapes grow in clusters, clinging to one another. That’s the bottom line for all of us branches and grapes. I need you. You need me. And we all need our neighbors and our neighbors need us.
So, love your neighbor as yourself. Forgive your enemies. Don’t make an idol of your own opinions. Don’t fall in love with your own voice. Do good to those who persecute you. Be a reconciler. Stand up for the defenseless. Turn the other cheek. Work for justice. Make peace.
And if any of that sounds like a tall order, it’s because it is. But we don’t do any of this on our own. We are a beautifully tangled community. And the Vine to whom we cling for our very sustenance, is the One who showed us exactly what real love looks like.
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