03/28/2024
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By Rev. Dr. Chris Denny, former Pastor of Elizabethtown Presbyterian Church

Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 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.”

Lord,

I often do not understand fully your farming metaphors.

I grew up in the suburbs.

I know riding bikes and climbing trees, not fig trees and vines.

That is until I lived in a house that came with a scuppernong vine.

Every summer its leaves would be lush green.

And every summer I would be disappointed to find very little fruit, here and there maybe a grape or two, but never a whole cluster.

If left unattended, grapevines can become unruly, and fruiting will be poor due to overproduction of vegetation.

It may look lush and green, but without pruning it will produce little fruit.

Lord,

I thought of this when I read John 15 recently.

Even if from the outside things appear healthy, that may not really be the case.

Pruning is necessary to bear much fruit. I think of the church:

dollars may be coming in;

people may be coming in;

things may appear healthy by outside measures, but what about the fruit?

It is just a random grape here or there, or is there much fruit?

Lord, your pruning may be required.

A program at church that did not produce fruit (even if people liked it) might need to be pruned in order to bear much fruit.

Things that seemed to matter so much before the COVID crisis, might not be so central now and could be pruned back, so that something we undervalued may grow and bear much fruit.

Lord,

Help me welcome your pruning work.

I know now that pruning is necessary and desired in order to bear much fruit for you.

May it be so in my life, and in your church.

Amen.

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