Vines and Branches

The Son is the vine; the Father is the vine-grower.  I’ve experienced this metaphor for the relationship between God, Jesus and the disciples in several varieties.  First, there’s the coloring book version: green vines and purple grapes winding around a chalice with a little loaf of bread there for good measure.  Then, there’s the artsy-crafty kind: dried grape vines fashioned into decorative wreaths for any season of the year – even the religious ones.  Many of you experienced the kinetic type at our last EVENT: stomping on grapes to make a mash for wine making. Some of you helped with kneading bread dough too.

 When Steve and I visited Sonoma County last month, I got a brand new perspective on this gospel story.  Not only did we get to taste some amazing wines, thanks to my friend Ken - - the same Ken who rescued me from my near cactus garden fall years before - - but we also drove around and visited several wineries.  More than once, Ken said “you are tasting wine that was grown just outside these doors.”  He explained the different varietals and how several wines can be made from the same grapes using different techniques.  Steve was taking all this in.  I just kept staring at the vineyards….acres and acres and acres of vineyards as far as the eye could see.  “Jesus is the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower,” I thought to myself.  Wow. 

If this metaphor gave me any enlightenment, it was that the reach of Christ is beyond comprehension and the vine-growing Father provides loving care.  The Spirit’s help is most definitely required. Grapevines don’t just bear fruit by themselves; they must be tended through a special creative process that makes possible the wine we choose to enjoy with friends and family.  Ken gave me a great way to remember this process – each of the rooms at his office are named for steps in the process: Bud Break Lobby, Harvest Board Room, Crush Conference Rooms, Fermentation Tank (Kitchen), Storage Tank (copy & work room), and Wine Cellar & Tasting Room.

With a little imagination, you can make each of these vineyard processes match up to a step in one’s spiritual journey.  Let’s see:

·         Bud Break: stirring of the spirit – sensing God’s presence with us – knowing that something is ready to burst forth

·         Harvest: engaging in a ministry – gathered together with others of the same stuff ready to fully become the Christian we’ve declared ourselves to be

·         Crush: experiencing difficulty or temptation as we are led into becoming something/someone new, a crushing experience often

·         Fermentation: maturing…sometimes with heat added…but knowing we get better with age

·         Storage: those times when not much is happening, when we need to set idle and await God’s next move

·         Wine Cellar & Tasting: arriving where God wants us to be and enjoying the gifts of the Spirit

But, Ken’s clever room name scheme forgot a step, I’m afraid.  It’s the step that we know is necessary and the one we probably fear the most:  The Pruning Room.

While most of us don’t own vineyards, we do understand the concept of pruning.  It’s when we cut out the plant material that is keeping the tree or bush or vegetable from growing at its fullest potential.  We hear it referred to as ‘cutting out the dead wood’ and that is true some of the time.  However, pruning also means cutting back live growth or removing sucker plants in order that the plant can concentrate on growing straight or producing better tasting produce.  When we talk about it that way, it sounds violent.  It’s especially so when we talk about ‘cutting out the dead wood’ as taking away employment from people we no longer believe to be productive or who we deem too expensive to keep around.  Unfortunately, I’ve heard too many church people interpret this part of the gospel in this violent matter.  “If you don’t accept Jesus, you’ll be cut away and burned in Hades.”  That makes me shudder.

I believe that this message in John’s gospel has more to do with the consequences of not being in community (with God and with each other) than it does with dogma.  Jesus wants us to abide in him as he abides in us. 

This is an intimate relationship into which we are invited.  We are vines emerging from a central root that are to cling to each other, support each other, and eventually that relationship will be visible to the world because of the fruit that is being produced.  Those vines that choose to stray from the community cannot access the community’s resources.  Without support, without love, they wither….some die. 

The community for whom this gospel was written was under persecution.  It was imperative that they stick together – supporting each other in prayer – in order for the faith (and them!) to stay alive.  There would have been no benefit in quarreling about matters tangential to the message of God’s love for them – love that was made manifest in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  What mattered was how they loved each other and how that love spilled out into the dangerous world they lived in, like grapes heavy on the vines.

It also matters that we remember that the vineyard is not ours, but God’s.  The vine dresser knows best how to coax the best fruits from the vines.  God may ask us to pinch off or cut out some idea or emotion or habit that is keeping us from fully taking our part in the community or preventing us from producing the best fruit.  I don’t think it would take much effort on anyone’s part to come up with a few of those things for ourselves if we just think about it for a minute or two.  Yes, this pruning is uncomfortable, but it is necessary for a fruitful relationship with God and equally fruitful relationships with each other.  This pruning may be uncomfortable but it is not to be feared.  God is not punishing us; God is helping us grow. 

So come to the table, drink and eat, and abide in Christ. The wine we are about to share is our tangible reminder that we are divinely entwined with one other.  Entwined and rooted in the same Lord who is Love.

(c) 2012 C. B. Park/All rights reserved