5th Sunday of Easter

May 10, 2009

John 15: 1 - 8
‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide 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. 5I 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. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.


Two reflections ago, I spoke of the importance of staying in the present moment and not allowing ourselves to constantly dwell in future desires, wishes, dreads and possibilities or in past resentments and regrets or even in the memories of happier and more pleasant times.

It is difficult to find the words to impress upon everyone how important this is for the spiritual life. Oh. Wait a minute…Jesus already said those words: “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

Definition of Abide: stay with, remain, continue without fading or being lost.

It’s that last phrase that caught my attention, “continue without fading or being lost.” It creates a pretty accurate picture of what happens to us all the time; we fade away into the past or the future, into our desires, anxieties and guilt. We fade away and get lost.

Jesus tells us in this week’s gospel that if we want to bear fruit we need to abide in him. It follows that in order to abide in him we have to stay with him where he is, which is in the present moment. Jesus is here now. Because we live in a world of illusion, it will often seem like the past and future are terribly real and relevant especially when one is dealing with broken relationships and difficult circumstances. These things will seem to be the reality we need to deal with, the situations in which we want the Lord to meet us. But, as one very astute person put it, the Kingdom is now or never.

If any of you have been trying to stay in the present with the Lord, you’ll know it’s not easy. The complaint that is often expressed to me is, “But most of the time I don’t like the present moment! There’s rough stuff happening in the present moment and when I try to be there I can’t immediately find God and so I slip off into the future or the past.” I had to find an analogy that would give a clear understanding of why we should stay as much as possible in the present even if it’s not pleasant and even if we cannot immediately perceive the Lord’s presence.

Mothers are generally careful about the diet of their children. An occasional treat is fine but most women understand that a constant diet of fatty, sugary foods and treats is unhealthy. If a child asks for a piece of cake 10 minutes before supper the mom will say no because she knows the cake will take away the appetite for the good healthy food she has prepared. And as for the idea of constantly feeding a child fast food and allowing him to snack on chips and pop and candy and desserts all day, we know that eventually good food will become unpalatable to the child and he will refuse to eat healthy food. To him it’s so unexciting, so bland and unsatisfying.

When we spend an inordinate amount of time in the future or in the past, eventually our appetite for and ability to stay in the present moment is diminished. Present moment becomes more and more unpalatable. The truth is that the present moment can be painful or at least boring or unpleasant and not easy to deal with. There’s often a burden there we have to carry. But why, oh why, would we desire to go to the past or the future and pick up more burdens, pain and unsatisfied desires and add them to the load? It’s then that we complain that we can’t find the grace to carry the load. I do that, you do that; it is human nature to do that.

The grace is there. The grace is provided but the grace is for the load of the moment, not for all the extra illusory loads we pull onto our shoulders indiscriminately.

Not only is there grace available for the given load, but also when we stay in the moment and abide with Jesus, fruit eventually starts to grow and flourish. When we are not with him in the present we can do nothing; we cannot produce fruit. Our spiritual life becomes like dry dead branches.

“Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” This sounds like a harsh condemnation but I don’t believe Jesus meant it that way. Yes, he is serious about us abiding in him because if we don’t abide in him we will become dry and unfruitful and we will get burned.

Burned and burnt out.

How familiar does that sound? So many women I have talked to lately are burned and burnt out. Jesus didn’t at some point condemn them, gather them up and burn them. It’s a natural consequence. It’s just what happens when we forget about abiding in him - forget, or never knew how to abide in the first place. So we shouldn’t immediately condemn ourselves for not abiding in Jesus because so many have not been taught how.

I have been sharing with women my personal prayer for staying in the moment. I don’t regard this prayer as one that makes things happen immediately or that guarantees that what I want and desire will come to be. It is a prayer of placement. It is a short prayer that simply brings me back to where I should be.

“I am here. You are here.”**(see note at the end of the reflection)

The prayer is simple and I don’t add to it. It is a prayer to bring me back to the moment, to remind me that he is in the moment and nowhere else. When I say to the Lord, “I am here,” I am saying, “I have come back to this present moment. I have come back to you.” When I pray, “You are here,” I am affirming to myself that he is indeed present. He is Lord of the moment and Lord of all that is occurring in that moment. It is saying that the moment is his; he owns it and I trust him to do with that moment whatever he wills, even if it means the moment stays unpalatable or difficult or boring. I am also proclaiming that the future and the past is also his, not mine, and I am going to allow him to be responsible for all the past and future moments of my life. It is a prayer to help me detach from my expectations of what I think he should be doing for me. He is always there for me but if I am always focused on my expectations I miss him 99% of the time.

God’s presence, help and inspiration often go by completely unrecognized because we are looking for and waiting for fire and wind. Our understanding of the Lord’s power has been distorted. We usually only think of one kind of power, the kind that moves the mountains we think should be moved. When we become more and more aware of the consistent and always present power of God that is quiet and non-intrusive but entirely awesome, we begin to get addicted to running back to that present moment and waiting and watching for him. The more we stay there, the more observant we become and we become adept at catching delightful glimpses of him and his actions.

The deep joy that grows from encountering the power of the Lord in innumerable small but distinct ways is infinitely superior to encountering that odd display of power that cannot be missed because it’s so obvious. As one stays present in the moment, watching for the stillness of his power, one’s connection to God grows less and less dependent on how situations are developing or on how one is feeling and begins to be based on a sense that God can do anything, anywhere and at anytime. And will! “I am here. You are here” is an official prayer of abdication. “You are the Lord, not me. I’m stepping down now. You take over.”

Jesus made this promise: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

I have to laugh about that promise. The thing is, when we are truly abiding in him, the only thing we really want to ask him for is to be able to stay there with him – while he takes care of everything else.

Sweet.


**After I’d been praying the “I am here, you are here” prayer for awhile, it came to my attention that there is a book by Lindsey Crittenden called, “The Water Will Hold You: A Skeptic Learns To Pray.” In this book she talks about using this prayer. I haven’t read the book; I just saw it on Amazon so I have no idea if she uses it as a present moment prayer or what. It just made me think that perhaps the Spirit is randomly dropping this prayer into various hearts. Love it when he does things like that!