BEaster5 Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:24-30; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8 May 10, 2009 – Mother’s Day Metaphors are wonderful things. I really discovered their richness when I was involved in EFM (Education For Ministry). Part of the time each week in EFM is spent in theological reflection and metaphors are used so the group can narrow down what’s being presented and have a common focus to work from. The group chooses a metaphor and it becomes like an icon that they look into together. We have to give metaphors some play and not try to over-analyze them or take them literally. From the magazine The Door, I read a funny article about when metaphors are taken too literally or too far. This humorous fusion of metaphors was in it: Jesus taught that we must become like children as small as mustard seeds that grow up and give away all their fruit to the poor until they fit through the eye of a needle so that their father will graciously welcome them home and kill the fatted goat that has been separated from the sheep which the good shepherd went looking for but was unable to find among the lost sheep of Israel and so he found a coin which he paid to the innkeeper and so there was great rejoicing in heaven for the lawyer who loved God and his neighbor and had faith the size of a camel.” Our metaphor today is the vine and its branches. I can imagine Jesus, as he speaks to his disciples, trying to prepare them for the separation they will experience when he is gone; He wants to give them a way to understand that he will remain with them through the Holy Spirit that will move through their lives, like sap through the vine. He probably looks through the window and sees a vineyard nearby, bright green tendrils stretching out from darker, sturdier vines. His listeners would have been thoroughly familiar with vineyards. In winter the vine is pruned back to its main, twisted vine stock. The main stock often looks gnarled and lifeless. But, in spring the vine is transformed into a hub of activity. New branches and shoots sprout from the vine with incredible speed and energy. They can grow several feet in a period of a few weeks. I’m growing some ornamental beans and the minute they sprouted, it’s been like a time-lapse film as they have found the twine and are spiraling their way up it. And then, in order for the fruit to develop the vine has to be pruned so that strength won’t be spread too thin and it can be diverted towards the developing fruit. As summer turns to autumn and the fruit begins to ripen, the vine becomes heavy with grape clusters hanging in the sun. The form of the grape clusters, their color and very number, convey a powerful image of life and fruitfulness. The vine and branches metaphor in the gospel of John is used to talk about the believer’s relation to Jesus. Based on where people are in their own theological thinking and their own life experience of relationships and religion, they could take the metaphor in a lot of directions. It’s not far-fetched that some Christians read this part of Jesus’ last words to his disciples and interpret it this way: If you don’t live the life you’re supposed to live God’s going to cut you off. Not only will God cut you off, but you’ll get thrown away and you’ll wither. Then, you’ll get gathered up with all the other sinners and thrown into the fire and burned up! Thanks be to God for the first letter of John! which expounds on Jesus’ use of the vine metaphor to talk about his abiding with us and we with him. We hear in John’s letter: ‘God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.’ He goes on to write: ‘There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.’ So, if we fear God, or fear others, causing us to hate them or blame them, well, we haven’t quite gotten the gist yet of the nature of that sap that flows into us and out from us. It is love and only love that comes to us from God. There are so many rich insights about the abiding, lively, moving presence on Christ we can glean from this vine and branches metaphor. But here is just one to take with you. We tend to see ourselves as disconnected individuals. Everything we do begins and ends consciously with us. We have to get the love we need. And we try in so many ways to create it, earn it, conserve it. And then who deserves it from us. The flow of life does not begin with the branch. The branch does not have to first figure itself out - that it is grape or bean or ivy- and go seek the right vine. The branch is the very essence of the vine. And without any will or strength of its own, or any particular self determination it receives from the vine the life it needs. God’s love is always with us, Before us, within us, from us. whether we are conscious of it or not, God’s love is always with us, moving through us. Mother’s Day made me think of someone very special to me When I was thinking about how God’s love comes to us. A few years ago I went to see a lifelong friend. We grew up across the street from each other. I guess you could call us ‘cradle to grave’ friends. Her mother was in, I guess you’d say, the middle stage of Alzheimer’s disease and was living with my friend. I hadn’t seen her mom, Jackie, for a few years and could tell the changes. She couldn’t say my name anymore, but had a glimmer of recognition in her eyes. She had always been one of the purest, kindest, most patient people I had ever known. I could be totally myself, unself-conscious, with her because I knew that her love for me would always be the same. From childhood through adulthood, when I was around her, I felt loved and connected. Her love just gently and steadily flowed forth, Even if she appeared a bit fragile and retiring. I guess you could say, as I probably play too much with the metaphor, I got grafted on and felt like one of her very own branches. When I was visiting my friend that day a few years ago, Jackie looked at me when I was getting ready to leave. She looked at me like she knew me but didn’t know quite how she knew me. And she smiled and with her voice and her eyes she said, “I love you.” And I felt like the universe had said my name. More recently I went with my friend to visit her mother Jackie in the Alzheimer’s facility where she now lives. She hasn’t recognized anyone or shown any self-awareness in years. Jackie’s room was painted her favorite shade of blue and I noticed cards that had been brought in for her birthday. After we had taken her to the dining room for her dinner, my friend and I sat in Jackie’s room, looked at old photos, and my friend told her mother all about what was going on in the family, things the grandchildren were doing. Then, she got her mother ready for bed, tucked her in, and lay down beside her for a little while until Jackie fell asleep. I asked my friend if it was hard to go through all the motions – Visiting, carrying on one-sided conversations, sending birthday cards, providing attractive clothes, keeping the room so nice and welcoming, all when Jackie had no awareness that it was all for her. Why do you do all this when she doesn’t know who you are? She smiled and said, “She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is and I love her just the same.” And that’s the abiding love that Jesus promised – like the vine as it sends life into the branches, connecting them all. God is love – Simply and yet profoundly, let us love one another.