May 14, 2006

Jane Knowles

Fifth Sunday of Easter
     Acts 8: 26-40     
John 15:1-8

Once upon a time, all the best stories start like that; Once upon a time, I lived in the village of Little Sandhurst in Berkshire, and we had a beautiful but small garden and in the garden was an overgrown vine. Now that's quite unusual in England. It's usually too cold, but we had a vine and it grew and it grew and it grew, and no one touched it and it choked all the other plants around it, and then one day I decided to ask a friend to prune it and the other plants in the garden whilst I was at work. I came home to a veritable scene of destruction. It looked as if a helicopter had landed in the garden with its blades still running. I was horrified.

Gradually I got used to it and I could see that the plants and the vine began to flourish again and the whole thing looked much better, and then Alleluia in the Autumn the vine produced some fruit; not just some, a lot; it was dripping with large bunches of grapes, and I was able to take some to our Harvest Festival.

Now I know there are many gardeners amongst you and you will know the value of pruning. There is no doubt that with good pruning the plant will thrive and produce fruit and will continue to flourish.

The gospel we have heard today is one of the most well known passages in the bible, and we all can see in our mind's eye the picture that it paints of the vine with many branches, but behind it there is something rather frightening, for who is not afraid of the pruner's knife, and who is not afraid of the surgeon's knife?

But when I read this passage, I do not hear words of brutality, I hear words of love. I do not hear all that frightening stuff about withering away or being burnt. What I hear is the urgency of Jesus in his pleas to his friends. He is saying “for my sake, if you love me, please listen to me. It really is important, the difference between life and death. I can promise you everything if you listen to me”. He is saying I am the way and the truth and the life; that is his promise and it is such a huge promise.

How can that be? How can he make such a statement? What do we have to do? I'll leave that with you for a moment whilst I tell you something about the baptism services that I take.

Baptisms are some of the loveliest services that we have in church. They encompass the essence of the Christian faith even though those who attend are not always aware of that, and at a baptism, there is usually so much love around. There are 3 symbols that we use and 3 promises; one that with the oil of baptism, the child will be spiritually healed throughout its life come what may; 2 that with the water of baptism he will be forgiven by God throughout his life and will know forgiveness if he asks; and the 3rd symbol is that of a lighted candle, and that candle is a torch and then I remind everyone of the darkness of the night and the necessity to carry a torch to show them the way, and if they follow the light of Christ they will not get lost in the dark; special symbols and easy to identify with. Now do you see the connection?

Clay and I have been having very interesting theological discussions since I have been here and we have been exploring each other's belief's and thought processes and although we range far and wide, one of the conclusions we have come to at this moment is a very simple one and that is when all is said and done, look to Jesus. He showed us how to live; he was radical and beautiful and human and divine, and most of all he really cares for and loves us, and notice I use the present tense. In this passage from John, Jesus is desperate to show us the way, to be the torch, the candle, the light, and so often we are blind; we blunder around without a torch, but we know deep down that what Jesus says is true. We know that a plant thrives when it is pruned and cut back; so do we. We know that a vine bleeds when it has been pruned; so did Jesus. We know that a branch that is cut off and separated from the plant simply withers and dies and so do we spiritually; we need our community and we need to be in touch with God through prayer. We know too that the best thing to do with garden rubbish is to clear it up and burn it, and that's the difficult bit; but we do have to let go of the rubbish that we have allowed ourselves to store up.

That's why when we come to Holy Communion it is so special. We all have doubts and fears and we certainly all have faults and things which we would like to be rid of, and being here in church helps us to look towards the truth and beauty of Jesus, and as we do so to shed the rubbish as we say our confession; then we are able to share in the body and blood of Jesus. It is mystical and it is a mystery. When we come here with all our humanity, Jesus shows us how to live; and yes we fail time and time again. There are times when we are not kind to each other even here in this holy place; yes there are times when people get upset and there are times when outsiders can indeed point the finger and accuse us of not practising what we preach, but we are here and we are here because we want to be and we need to be and we are on a journey which will lead us more and more towards the love of God which is the centre of all our being.

So when you come to the altar rail today, if you have any grievance with anyone leave it at the foot of the cross. Let it be pruned away. It is the greatest gift that we can give to Jesus, and a gross arrogance on our part if we hang on to it. Jesus died so that we will have life in all its abundance; he wants us to be in true union, communion with him.

Our gospel reading for today continues with the words, “I have spoken thus to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy complete”; words that speak of the experience of pain and the knowledge that we all have to suffer, to dwell in the valley of the shadow of loss as Clay so eloquently put it last week, in order that our joy may be complete. Make no mistake about it God loves us, and wants to share that love with us, but we too have our part to play.