Branching In

John 15: 1 - 8

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 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.

 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 was 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 he is the vine and we are the branches. If we want to bear fruit we need to abide in him but there is only one place where the branch connects to the vine. The branch does not grow in and out of the vine at different points along the length of the vine. There is just one point of connection where the branch melds with the vine and where it receives all its nutrients for growth. The nutrients do not come from anywhere along the branch itself or outside of the branch. That branch may grow, develop and spread far and wide but there is still only one point where the branch and vine are fused together, one place where the reality of the vine remains constant and vital to the branch.  In order for the branch to abide in the vine it has to stay connected with the vine and that critical point of connection for us is the present moment. 

Jesus is here with us right now. Because we live in a world of illusion, it will often seem like the past and future are terribly real and relevant, especially if one is dealing with illness or broken relationships or other difficult circumstances. Future possibilities and past history will seem to be the realities 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.

In this day and age it is difficult not to be aware of healthy nutrition. An occasional treat is fine but most of us understand that a constant diet of fatty and sugary foods is unhealthy. If we feel like eating piece of cake 10 minutes before a meal we know it’s better to resist because the cake will take away our appetite for the good healthy food that is being prepared. And as for the idea of constantly feeding ourselves fast food and allowing ourselves to snack all day on momentarily satisfactory but unhealthy foods, we know that eventually good food will become more and more unpalatable and we will lose the desire and will to eat healthy food.  Good food will seem unexciting, bland and unsatisfying.

When we spend an inordinate amount of time in the future or in the past, eventually our appetite for  staying 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 in that moment that we are called to carry. But by heading off into the past or the future we usually pick up even more burdens and pain, adding them to the load we are carrying right now. Then 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 completely available. 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 of the moment but also when we stay in that 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 and we cannot solve our problems. 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. It’s just that the consequence of not abiding in him is that we become dry, brittle, unfruitful and very easily burned up by the fire of life.

Burned up and burnt out.

How familiar does that sound? So many people are burned up and burnt out.  They feel consumed by the heat of their struggles, challenges and busyness. Jesus hasn’t condemned them, gathered them up and burned them; it’s just what happens when we forget to abide in him - or we never knew how to abide in the first place. We shouldn’t immediately condemn ourselves for not abiding in Jesus because so many of us have not been taught how and have not been made aware that this is where we should be.

I have a prayer for staying in the moment. I don’t regard this prayer as one that makes things happen immediately or one that guarantees that what I want and desire will immediately come to be. It’s not the key or The Mythical Secret Prayer That Makes Everything Great. It is simply a prayer of placement. It is a short prayer that brings me back to where I should be.

The prayer is: “I am here. You are here.” 

The prayer is uncomplicated and I don’t add to it. It is a prayer to bring me back to the moment, to the point of my connection with the vine. It is a reminder that God is in the moment and nowhere else. When I pray, "I am here," I am saying, “I have come back to this present moment. I have come back to you. I am consciously placing myself here.” When I pray, “You are here,” I am reminding myself that he is indeed present. He is Lord of the moment and Lord of all that is occurring in that moment. I am proclaiming 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 are 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 and interpretations I miss him 99% of the time.

God’s presence, help and inspiration often go completely unrecognized because we are looking for and waiting for fire and wind that look like the images in our minds. 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. However, 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. The more observant we become, the more we catch 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 and stays attached to the vine watching for the stillness of his power, one’s connection to God grows less and less dependant 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.