God's Transformation

TrinitySundayB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 31, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            As I stepped into the treatment room in one of the evenings of this past week, I went about my scheduled routine.  Just before any ointment was put upon my resident, we suddenly saw a bright flash, like that of a very large camera.  He says to me, “Did you see that?”  I work on the dementia unit, so questioning what one sees or hears is frequently a way to test one’s hold on reality. I confirmed that what he saw, I also saw and then we saw another.  It was the beginning of a powerful, but short-lived rain and wind storm.  The usual conversation ensued when I mentioned that my hope was that it stops by the time I get off-duty so I don’t get doused on my way to my car that sat in the parking lot below. Being the perfect gentleman, trained in the proper way from many years before me, he offered to allow me to borrow my umbrella.  I declined the offer, mentioning that I had an umbrella.  Unfortunately, my umbrella was in the trunk of my car, in a place that wasn’t of much use should the storm continue for a few more hours.  Fortunately, the storm raged for just an hour afterwards, the aftermath consisted of the gently groomed and laid beauty bark spilling out onto the sidewalk and roadway.  As I and my co-workers walked around it on my way to the parking lot to get into my car to drive home, I thought to myself that the groundskeepers would definitely need to put it back in the intended space.  Later in the week, I received the news that a portion of my home town, Rockford had a flash flood covering the street by the city park with rushing, muddy brown waters as well as running straight up to the basement windows of the Rockford United Methodist Church.  A new pastor had just moved into the parsonage and apparently reported that the toilet downstairs had regurgitated a bit.  She was told to not be concerned, the water was receding.  My thoughts went back to the flooding in Texas which was of a much greater amount and more widespread.  On Wednesday morning, a father and son came to visit during our mid-week Eucharist from Houston, at least temporarily escaping the devastating effects.

            Although in our day and age, we may dismiss such happenings in the weather as just a meteorological event, our ancestors would see these quite clearly as acts of God.  As kids, I remember my dad telling us every time it would thunder that God was bowling.  Other kids were told similar stories or explanations.  In Old Testament times, for example in Psalm 29 that I just read such nuances in the weather were seen as the almighty God at work.  God was showing us that God is the God of all creation, as well as the heavens.  God was God over people, the world, and all of the heavenly places and was throned in heaven as the King of kings.  There was no one greater than God. There are no small gods, for example one for the weather, one for the crops, one for fertility. That is what God through the prophets and preachers was trying to impress upon the people throughout the ages before Jesus, during Jesus’ stay here on earth, as well as now. Because there are no small gods, those are merely idols and things which people somehow think are more important.  We, as people want to manipulate and control, not heeding the Biblical witness to God who is in control and ultimately has the final say in what happens to us in our lives.  The minute we step out of the Biblical thinking and into our own is when we enter the world of delusion and self-deception.  God has the final say.  No one yet has been able to harness the tempestuous sea or the earthquakes and tornadoes.  We somewhat have the ability to predict when these happenings will occur, but controlling them remains elusive.  God does not take sides.  We are told that the rain falls on both the good and the evil.  Compared to God, we are small, just as a baby is small compared to fully grown adults.

            God gives us the freedom to go with God or against God, although God remains in control of our lives and all that is around us.  Within that freedom, it is by God’s grace that we can trust in God who nurtures us to become more and more transformed into what it means to be God’s people.  We are always living in the context of God’s being our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. We are admonished by the words of St. Paul, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.  When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”  Our greatest temptation in life is to fall back into our old selfish ways of being in the world and following after things and ideas that draw us away from God.  We must always be engaging in self-examination.  Am I listening to the voice of God in my life?  Or am I so wrapped up in my own thoughts and problems that I can’t see beyond them? The challenge of dementia is that it can overtake a person’s memory, but there can still be pockets of clarity.  One resident offers the use of his umbrella and another resident offers to pray for my safety to get home during the storm. Another way that God works is our ministry to each other, to be thankful enough for others that we show it by acts of offering practical action or praying for them. Still another question we can ask ourselves is this: how can I be the love of God to this person, at this moment?  Am I open to the Spirit of God’s movement within me?  How can I show God’s compassion to those around me?  You and I are children of God today and into eternity.  As children of God, we are joint heirs with Jesus, the same Jesus who died for us on the cross.  Through the blood of Christ, we are brothers and sisters, called to walk in the way of God.  There will continue to be challenges along the way in our attempts to be compassionate to our brothers and sisters.  The road is not an easy one.  It has many obstacles, many rocks and pot holes that threaten to steer us away from God.  Sometimes people will be mean and rude to us; they will take exception to or outright oppose our words and our ethics. Yet still, this is our calling.

            Although the traditional viewpoint of the story of Nicodemus is that he was just an inquirer of Jesus, not a real follower, there is an aspect of this story that points to promise and openness.  He is open to what Jesus has to say and later argues with the Sanhedrin against arresting Jesus, stating that Jesus had not been given a fair hearing.  So despite the supposed secrecy of his meeting with Jesus at night, he did risk his own life by defending Jesus.  He knew enough and considered what Jesus had to say that the seed of his belief in Jesus grew and caused him to grow as a believer in Jesus and Jesus’ teaching. He demonstrated openness to God that allowed him to see God’s work in Jesus, perhaps even to the point that he believed Jesus to be the incarnation of God.  Regardless, he remains an example for us to be open always to God’s transformation of us.

            

United We Stand

PentecostB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 24, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            Raising a family can be seen as a time of years of preparation.  A woman becomes pregnant, the couple announces the pregnancy after a couple months, and family and friends show their interest.  As the months go by, family and friends hold a baby shower or two to show their support both emotionally and financially. In addition to gifts, the couple also gathers clothing, diapers, blankets, bibs, and other essentials that ease the process of raising a baby.  In the meantime, the baby grows in its mother’s uterus till the water breaks and labor begins.  There is great joy expressed when the baby is finally born. The transition from infancy to toddler, to pre-school and kindergarten can either be enhanced or complicated at any given time by the presence of others. Some friends and relatives may even be called upon to babysit so the parents can get a break and because most people love babies and the promise and laughter they bring. If the child has siblings, the children learn to share their lives and perspectives with the new baby.  They learn practical tools of language and socialization which will be needed before stepping into the first grade classroom.  But this is only the beginning of growing to maturity into adulthood when the children themselves become parents and the parents become grandparents, and so on.  That is the cycle of life, generation after generation, as we have more babies; we also lose those we love as they pass on into eternity.

            The life of the Church can be seen in the same manner.  Luke’s narration which spans the two volumes of the Gospel according to Luke and the Book of Acts predates the actual Church year, both as it was initially formed as well as in its current usage.  One of the ways of viewing the Gospel according to Luke is to see it as a preparation.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the formation of our knowing who Jesus is according to his teachings and his life.  It is a biographical sketch, descriptive of God’s purpose to gather together and bring salvation, making it available to not just the Jewish people, but to all.  At the completion of Luke’s telling of the story of Jesus, the incarnation of God, he does not stop there.  There is more.  There is a lot more.  He insists that there is far more than just the life of Jesus to write about.  He sees that the life of Jesus continues beyond his physical life on earth.  After the resurrection, Jesus promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us forever.  In today’s world, after the pageantry of processions and extraordinary music of Christmas and Easter, Pentecost not only seems to be a letdown, but culturally, with all the graduation hoopla and the distraction of warmer weather, it can be viewed as an absolute anti-climactic blip. Most people could articulate what Christmas and Easter are all about, but are a bit fuzzy when it comes to the celebration of Pentecost.  Well, they wear red, put up balloons and the altar hangings are red.  The red is for fire—you know the tongues of fire that were on people’s heads and they also spoke in tongues.  Some will recall the speaking in tongues as mentioned by Paul, but don’t realize there is a distinct difference.  In the Pauline literature, speaking in tongues is in need of interpretation. In Acts, everyone hears and understands in their native language without interpretation. In recent times, the churches tried to get the point of Pentecost across by having various readers from the congregation read the lessons for the day in different languages. There was a time in this country when this was not possible because immigrant congregations were groups who spoke the same non-English language, attending the same church.  For example, there were German Lutherans and Irish Catholics.  The reason there were so many churches of the same denomination is because they were necessarily separated by a language barrier.  English was not a language that could be learned overnight; it took a couple of generations to learn it well enough to be understood and to speak it fluently.  For some, the transition to English wasn’t soon enough and they demanded services in English.  A Lutheran bishop in Pennsylvania actually told congregants that if they wanted a service in English, they should join the Episcopal Church! Some congregations, in order to accommodate the earlier immigrants and those who had already learned English to transact business, offered services in both the native tongue and English. The result was a much divided Church, just the opposite of our account of the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts.  The work of the Holy Spirit is always meant to be uniting rather than dividing. The message of the gospel was proclaimed so all could understand, even though all were gathered in the same place.

            Just as those who gather around the arrival of a new baby are a uniting force for good for the baby and the family, so also is the family of the Church.  It doesn’t matter so much if they are speaking the same language, such as English or German, what matters is that they are there to show that they are united for the welfare of the baby, to love and nurture the baby to someday make his or her choices in life independently, yet also interdependently as a member of society.  Growing up is a time of deciding what is just and compassionate, living in the midst of people who may see things in a different light than we do.

            Tomorrow, we commemorate once again the wars and conflicts that our nation fought in.  More importantly, we remember the sacrifice that many soldiers made, some who were members or friends of our families.  Although the national holiday is meant to honor all those who served in the Armed Forces of this country, we are also reminded of the many families that were affected.  Through the years, as a nation, we have supported or declined to support a draft, certain wars or conflicts.  Our consciences have been challenged as to the rightness or wrongness of any war.  Some are conscientious objectors or will serve only non-infantry positions.  Some think about all the children and others in countries that suddenly become part of the warring nation, who had no say in its country’s strife.

            In any case, as a Church family we are also citizens of this country which was created mostly by those disillusioned by the governments of other countries.  It is based on the freedom built into separation of Church and State, where we can vote for what we believe is right.  We are called by God to continue to wrestle with ways to be peaceful citizens, yet also to seek justice for all people because that is how the salvation of God is made known to all and for all.

            We are simultaneously citizens of the City of God and of the United States.  Various configurations of the Church will seek to be a witness to Jesus Christ, but it remains that we act and believe according to our conscience as it is informed by our understanding of God and by God’s Spirit.

Grandma's Gift, Part II

7EasterB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 17, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            Grandma, the organist for the church in Fairfield, was confirmed in the year 1904 in the German language in Hendricks, Minnesota. The church she was a member of still stands and was renamed Trinity. She did not talk about her early life to me except to say that I shouldn’t be too eager to grow up and get married.  She said she made her husband wait.  That was an accurate statement because she did not wed my grandfather until she was thirty-one and a half years old.  They lived in adjacent counties, one in Minnesota and the other in South Dakota. At some point, they came to this area and were married in 1923 in Spokane.

            I mention her confirmation because this is the time of year when those confirmations took place.  Confirmation is a profession of faith, similar to what is termed “believer’s baptism.”  Unfortunately, it is also approximately the time for people to graduate from school.  The concepts of confirmation and graduation seem to get confused along the way. Several in the church do not see the need to continue to attend any sort of Sunday School or Bible Study which quite possibly result in an arrested spiritual development in their maturity as Christians.  As to whether or not these same non-Bible Study attendees read their Bibles or pray is not known to me. I have not taken a survey or verified such behavior.  I suspect not, because most of them also no longer attend church.  Memberships and attendance have both dropped in our churches today, especially among the young. The prevailing attitude is that one can be spiritual without the church even though the church remains the way to follow Jesus as a guide and provider of fellowship among believers as well as an inspiration and actual action of living out that faith. Our gospel lesson for today is an important one in that it points out Jesus’ prayer for his disciples and models for us a lifetime practice of praying for our ministry and the ministry of others, one that is strengthened by prayer.  The Psalm for today focuses on the need to continue the study of the teachings of the Bible. Praying and studying is in no way childish.  It is our anchor in life, a life that is rarely smooth sailing, frequently beset with stressors and changes.

Among my grandmother’s remaining items is some organ music she actually played.  Of what survives is a piece specifically written for Confirmation.  There is only one verse to it, which makes me believe that it was part of the actual ceremony, perhaps a choir anthem since it is written much higher than a hymn, not a congregational hymn.  I have no idea as to author or composer because all that is on the sheet are the initials “MD” at the bottom of the page.  The words are these: “Lord, look down upon Thy children, Gathered here before Thee now.  Pour on them Thy richest blessing, Let them not forget their vow.  At Thine altar, Lord, they promise Steadfast to remain in faith.  Help them, rather than to leave Thee, Suffer all things, even death.  Thou hast promised those who love Thee, And in faith endure the strife, Thou would’st give to them salvation, And, at last, the crown of life.”  It is similar to another confirmation hymn, leaving out the return by grace when one has fallen away. People do fall away and sometimes we feel the darkness of a prayer life that seems empty and hollow. Some people continue to worry about past sins, forgetting that God is always receptive to our pleas for mercy.  I suggest that the verse from a third hymn best expresses the idea with these words, “And through the years thy wondrous grace Has followed all the way; Thy love has never let us go, Though we are prone to stray.”  Regardless, the intent is to sum up the Christian journey of faith, a journey that continues throughout our lives, in no way is it a graduation or a completion.  We continue to need God’s grace and support to grow towards maturation in our understanding of what it means to be a Christian as well as discernment to guide our actions.

This leads me to our first lesson from the book of Acts.  It is the beginning of the church after Jesus has ascended into heaven.  The disciples find the need to replace Judas.  Judas, to say the very least, has proven to be unfaithful to Jesus and Jesus’ teaching.  Although we might actually be appalled at the way Matthias was chosen as Judas’ replacement, by casting lots, the rest makes sense in choosing leaders of the church even today.  They looked for qualifications and they prayed about it.  It is still common practice when choosing church leaders to pray for discernment.  Despite our own experience of and misgivings about prayer in our own prayer lives, this remains the community standard.  Prayer still has meaning as a connection to and communion with God and all that God has given and continues to give.  God’s presence is made known to us in prayer.  Some strong Christian leaders see it very clearly as a means of God’s grace.  Prayer should never become a burdensome chore or obligation as much as it is an invitation to enter into God’s realm.  It is where we meet God, as much as we are able in our own limited way of knowing and perceiving as human beings.  The silences in corporate prayer are not meant to be awkward because the one leading the prayer doesn’t know what to say, but your chance to say a prayer for certain situations or people that are just as important to God as any pre-written prayer.

And finally, I would like to say this.  Notice that Matthias is never mentioned again in the Biblical text or anywhere else.  It is as if he just melted into the background.  He is similar to Andrew who is overshadowed by his much more popular and dynamic personality, Peter.  Don’t let that kind of detail scare you or make you think that you are less-valued by God.  Remember that we are all God’s children, all made of the same substance.  We are all loved to love those around us in whatever way we can.  We are called to tell about the love of God to all around us, to plant the seeds from God who propels us forward in our lives, who causes the seeds to grow in due season.  Just as God is patient with us, so we too need to be patient with others, yet remain available to encourage and support the children of the world as they go forth into the world, a world that can be very challenging, a stumbling block to their faith.

Matthias is just a name and a record of being an apostle.  We know nothing about him after that.  He probably never established a congregation or became a great preacher.  My grandmother also wasn’t very important in the world.  She only raised two children and only had seven grandchildren.  But she passed on the gift of music to Mom who played the trumpet in high school concerts, to me who became part of a cathedral choir, to my nephew who won a music scholarship for college. My grandmother wasn’t much to the world, but she planted the seeds of music that continue to spread the gospel.

Grandma's Gift, Part I

6EasterB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 10, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            I am a quilt.  My job is to become the soft, comfortable place where people can meet, tell about their dreams and their sorrows.  My journey began when I was made by Grandma.  She gave me as a wedding present to Mom and Dad. I was brand new.  I had a garden of flowers on me and was brightly colored in shades of pink, yellow and red with green stems that reached from corner to corner, from side to side. On the bottom were the words, “Abide in my love.  John 15:9b.” I was special and meant for special work.  Mom and Dad were married in 1943, during World War II.  Love was in the air but even though finances were tight, they had dreams of a farming business and many children to help on the farm.  Mom had no idea what she was getting into because she had never lived on a farm and only had one brother.  She worked hard cleaning chickens, but needed the help of her more experienced sister-in-law getting the chicken feathers off the bottom of the cupboards and kitchen floor. At the end of each day, Mom and Dad settled in for the night under the quilt.  It was a gift of comfort for all those long days.

            Before long, the quilt was there for the first child, Son #1.  He was born in 1943. I held him, providing a soft place to change his diapers and to cover him when he was nursing on Mom. An accident occurred when he was just two.  He was playing in the yard when Dad didn’t see that he was there and somehow backed the truck over his head.  He was rushed to the doctor, but they were unable to do anything.  His eyesight was permanently damaged.  He would need stronger and stronger eyeglasses every year.  School was difficult.  He felt isolated and alone because Mom and Dad didn’t have the opportunity for education past high school.  His dream of becoming a doctor would never be realized because math and Latin were just too difficult to learn. I cried for him and encouraged him to seek a way to serve God in the world.  I wondered if I would go with him to his family, but that was not to be.  Mom cried at his wedding.  The silver gloves she wore were oh so pretty and sparkling, but the silver ran onto her arms and face as tears of love and sorrow flowed freely.

            Son #2 came on a cold, snowy day in 1946.  His personality was entirely different.  This son was quiet and shy, but very smart and independent.  He was soon joined by Son #3 who was born in 1947.  I was disappointed when they became best buddies and picked on Son #1.  They liked to conspire and pull tricks on Son #1 and laugh and laugh.  They thought it was funny and that Son #1 in their opinion was way too serious.  Son #1 thought at one point that he wanted to be a pastor.  It remained a mystery as to why that never panned out.  Maybe he was thinking about the words on me that read, “Abide in my love” and thought that would best serve the Lord, to abide in God’s love.  Forgetting the family history, Sons #2 and 3 decided to join the military voluntarily before the government had the chance to draft them.  Son #3 had flunked all his college courses except Golf, so he was definitely at risk for the draft. They didn’t have the option of evading military service, like Uncle Charlie who went to Canada.  I’m sure that by now they had heard that their great-great grandfather came to this country so he wouldn’t have to serve in the Prussian Army. Mom and Dad worried about them, especially when one of their friends was killed in a helicopter in Viet Nam in 1969.  That made the whole family sad.  Despite that, Son #3 stayed in the Air Force and met a woman in Spain on one of his tours of duty.  They were married not long afterwards in the States.  Mom wanted him to marry in a church, like she did; but instead, they were married by a military chaplain.

            Daughter #1 arrived in the late fall of 1951.  She became the apple of Dad’s eye.  Nothing she could say or do was wrong in his sight.  He bragged about her all over town.  She was his favorite and everyone knew it, including Son #4 and Daughter #2.  She stayed close to home and after being jilted by her steady boyfriend of four years, married another guy.  She became a nurse, but if you asked Dad, she was smart enough to be a doctor. 

            Daughter #2 arrived in 1957.  Son #4 arrived in 1960.  Daughter #3 arrived in 1969.  At that point, Mom was tired and suffering even more from heart disease.  Having all those kids and being involved in all those lives took its toll.  It was time for Mom to have a hysterectomy.  It was medically necessary. Though Mom, loving kids as much as she did, wanted more children she was actually almost forty-four years old when Daughter #3 was born.  The structure of the family changed immensely at that point.  Daughter #1 began cooking all the suppers and helped taking care of Daughter#3.  Daughter #2 did all the baking.  Daughter #2 and Son #4 did the dishes after every supper and meals on weekends.  By this point, after seeing seven children and going through the wedding anniversaries, I was tattered and torn, worn to pieces in places I’d never imagined.  The flowers I so gracefully displayed had become faded and some were ripped off from baby’s hands, hands that clung tight to me and rolled and played on me.  But through it all, the words on the bottom remained, “Abide in my Love.”

            Son #4 decided that he wanted to be a veterinarian.  Never mind that he never seemed to be around when Daughter #2 helped Dad with the pigs, sheep, cows, and chickens.  He despised chickens.  They were just stinky, pooping things that pecked at your hand when gathering their eggs. They were messy when you had to pluck their feathers and clean out the insides to prepare for cooking.  I never understood why Dad allowed all those 4-H projects for the kids.  He’s the one that did most of the work.  He’s the one who brought spoiled grain slop home from work and cat food for the cats.  What a menagerie!  There were animals all over the place!  But still, this was his way of abiding in God’s love.  He loved his wife, the people of the town, the kids, and the animals on the farm.  This was a way of life he grew up with and continued as he grew older.

            And Mom grew up in the little church just six miles down the road where Grandma lived until her death in 1970.  Grandma was an organist at one point, serving God in that way and being an ear for all of Mom’s heartaches, all seven of them.  I see her bringing comfort to Mom just like I did.  I hear the organ swells, the powerful pipe organ, so loved by her and the congregation.  I see her eyes light up in joy as she leads the congregation in singing.  I savor the words I longed to drive home to all her grandchildren as she plays the beloved hymn in the last verse, the foot pedals fully engaged: “Hold thou thy Cross before my closing eyes, Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies; Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.  I sigh deeply as I remember Grandma and remember how hard it was to learn English and wish I could join in the final sung Amen, but alas, I am just a quilt.

I Triumph Still

5EasterB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 3, 2015 by Annette Fricke

May is a month of flowers and flowering fruit trees.  Most people know the phrase, “April showers bring May flowers” and for the most part, those living in the Northern Hemisphere, it is a truism. Although today’s gospel imagery probably has grapes in mind as opposed to apples, apple trees are more familiar to those who have lived in this area for any length of time.  Washington is a leading producer of apples in the nation and in order to keep that production going, there needs to be people who are invested in keeping that reputation as the years go by.  Just this past week, on the front page of the local daily newspaper was an article about apples.  It piqued my interest.  This story was about a researcher whose goal was to search for “lost” varieties of apples.  What do I mean by that?  Apparently, some apple trees left from orchards of earlier settlements were still alive, not noticed due to present location.  For example, one lost variety was found inside a state park. It is estimated that there are indeed 17,000 of these lost varieties of apples that originated in the hands of early European immigrants.  Even a nursery that once existed near present day Oakesdale, WA through historical records has been identified as a source of these lost apple trees. These so called “heirloom varieties” are being recovered and will continue to feed the already 100 million boxes per year of apples grown in Washington State.[1]

What do apples and grapes have in common?  They are both fruit.  As fruit, both grow at the tip of the branches and contain seeds (never mind that what we actually see on the market now are seedless grapes), in Jesus’ time, grapes were not seedless.  It was the seeds that produced apple trees until it was discovered by cultivators of this fruit, that one could also graft different varieties onto the same apple tree.  Thus we get out the Gurney seed catalog, whose nursery is located in Yankton, South Dakota and discover that we can order an apple tree with five different varieties. Though each fruit, if left long enough can rot and die, each still has the potential to live through the seeds it produces.  Similar to this, my mind takes me to Jesus cursing the fig tree that did not produce figs.  It wasn’t about the figs at all since it was not the season for figs to appear.

The bottom line is this: Jesus calls us to not only abide in him, but to produce fruit and it is not just here, but in several other Biblical passages that we are asked to bear fruit, as early as Genesis where God tells us to “be fruitful and multiply.  For a long time I tied the two together as if multiplying and being fruitful were one and the same.  It also seems to have been a misconception of the Church, because that became its form of evangelism rather than reaching out to others to invite them to believe in Jesus Christ.  This cannot be done if you say nothing to others outside the faith and outside this worship service.  We are not alone as individuals to affect this task.  We are each the fruit and branches attached to the vine, equally.  There are no distinctions here between clergy or laity or various positions in the Church.  We all bear the name, “Christian” and are called to walk as Jesus’ body here on earth.  Jesus is the vine.  Jesus supports us at all times, having the everlasting support of God.  Like the tap root of an apple tree that will help stabilize a hillside, keeping it from sliding downward, God holds us firmly, through every storm of life.

First and foremost, we are a community of believers.  Whatever we are able to contribute to the whole of the community and reach out as a community, this is our vocation.  My ministry here is not so much as an outreach of the cathedral of which I am a member as it is as a Christian who is to bear fruit, just as all Christians are called to bear fruit.  In that sense, it doesn’t really matter to what denomination I belong either.  When I am at work, I interact with many different denominations, supporting them in their faith.  I also have conversed with a companion who is still exploring Christianity and the Bible.  You also have opportunity to do that.  You don’t need to be profound or know all the answers.  Don’t be afraid to say anything because you might not know how to answer certain questions.  Remember that Jesus is the vine who supports you in all that you do and loves you more than anyone here in this world. But most of all, remember that many others believe as you do.

Sometimes I see the artificial barrier of age.  Remember, there are no boundaries and we are all equal in God’s eyes.  Don’t allow a difference in age to discourage you from sharing your faith with others.  They need to know that God loves and cares for them in a way that surpasses all their other relationships, especially that relationship some have with their phone.  Real relationships face-to-face are of ultimate importance in sharing the love of God.  There is no substitute for that.  You can teach them how to connect one-to-one rather than through the social media via electronic devices.

And, finally, the image that John paints for us is one of anonymity.  If you were to look at the grapes or apples while they are still attached to the branches of a live plant or tree, you will notice that they look pretty much the same.  In a box also, the grapes and apples are of a relatively uniform size and color, if, of course, they are of the same variety.  All the grapes get thrown into the same vat and all the apples into boxes and more boxes.  They are essentially without distinction.  We are as well.  God does not make exceptions for what we have or don’t have, our personalities, talents, or gifts.  We are to use all that we are given so that we produce fruit for God.  The mark of the body of Christ is that it bears fruit, that we love as God has loved and continues to love us.  It doesn’t matter who we are in the world, but only that we love.  Any branch is able to love if it remains with Jesus. We are all God’s children, united in God’s love for us.  We need to see beyond being a tree and see ourselves as part of a forest of believers because that is who we are.  We are an orchard of apple trees.  We are a vineyard.  We are God’s vineyard rooted in God’s love.  Be fruitful—every day.

Allow God to work in your life daily to prune away the dead branches so there will be potential for more fruit.  Practice repentance as a daily discipline, for it will put your heart in a place to accept God’s pruning and enable you to be more humble before others.  As in the words of a favorite hymn of mine, “I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless; ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.  Where is death’s sting?  Where, grave, thy victory: I triumph still, if thou abide with me.”

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[1] http://www.appleblossom.org/about/legend-of-the-apple.html