Pruning

"...every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."  John 15:2b

When my father returned home from World War II he did what many people around Yoakum, Texas did in those days - he farmed tomatoes.  Back then Yoakum was a major tomato growing area, thus the annual "Tom-Tom Festival."  Nothing in farming is easy and farming tomatoes can be particularly difficult.  You had to protect plants from freezes early, fight the damage of insects in the middle and avoid getting your crop to market too late at the end.  But the thing my father thought was the worst part of being a tomato farmer was pruning.

When the plants bloom, there is a certain branch under the blossoms that is pruned or cut away so that the plant produces more fruit instead of more vines.  It is not that hard to prune that branch, you can snap it off with two fingers, but pruning a field meant you had to do that stooped over, all day long as you went through hundreds of plants, row after row.  It was monotonous, back breaking, mind numbing, finger staining work.  In the end, you hoped it would be worth the pain.

Jesus used a picture of his day to teach his disciples that he "prunes" us.  Maybe this is a pruning time for you.  Some things have been cut out of life or dreams or possibilities or plans or careers.  When we come to a place in life where we ask ourselves, "What is God doing?"  Chances are we are being pruned and he is producing fruit. He always produces more fruit.  It is not pleasant at the present but the outcome is worth the price and the pain. Trust him.  He is good at this.

We will look one more time at the Fruit of the Spirit this Sunday.  It will help with the pruning times.

For the journey...

Growing Fruit

Most Baptist pastors will not admit to knowing much about wine making but a little research on the "fruit of the spirit" turned up these truths about growing good grapes and about making fine wine.

-To plant a vineyard, you start with shoots not seeds.  Shoots grow better.  After the first year, you cut the shoots back and do not let them produce fruit.  You do the same in the second year. 

-Only in the third year to you actually produce grapes, but then they are usually left on the vine.  Only after four years do you harvest grapes for the best wine.

-After bottling that first crop, it is allowed to age seven or eight years before the wine is even tasted.

-Most vineyards don't break even on the investment until year fifteen, eighteen or beyond.

Conclusion:  It takes serious patience to produce fruit of the vine, it is no quick process.

God has some serious patience with us.  He does not say he wants to produce quick results, he wants to produce fruit.  Like an experienced vintner (that is the proper term for someone who plants a vineyard) he knows the best harvests come with the most time.   We have to allow him that in our selves.  The production of the fruit of the spirit is not an overnight process, it is life-long, on-going, time consuming.

Maybe that is part of the reason Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."  John 15:5

For the journey...

"And That is All of Us"

I saw my words in a Face Book post this week.  Two brothers were spending the night with another elementary aged boy; as the three finished up their bed time prayers altogether there was a final, all inclusive, "Amen."  One of the boys then responded, "And that is all of us."  That last phrase is something I have unconsciously gotten into the habit of saying when we all as a church say "Amen" to some one's commitment to join our church.  He picked it up and used it at an appropriate place.

I wonder what else those little ears throughout the congregation are picking up and looking for an opportunity to use?  What else do they latch on to and think, "That is the way church is supposed to be?"  What kind of things do they see and it enters their mind and soul, "This is what we do at church?"

My prayer is that they see a church loving each other and come to believe, "This is how it is supposed to be."  I pray they hear positive words of encouragement and commitment given to one another in church and begin to believe, "This is what it should be."  It is my desire that they hear words of worship and sense hearts being given to God and think, "This is what we do in church."  And I pray that they see such a life in those of us going before them that they aspire, "That is what I want to do."  I hope they pick up the Christian life and following Christ from us so well that when they come across a place in life that doesn't measure up to what they have known and seen here, they would be able to see what should be and what could be and follow God to find it.  May they all come to know a gospel that tells them how God loves the world and they will be able to say, "And that is all of us."

Marathons for Religion

Marathon Monk.  That is what they called Genshin Fujinami.  He completed a seven year, 24,800 mile journey for spiritual enlightenment.  Fujinami is a Buddhist priest who began his pilgrimage this way - the first three years, he had to rise at midnight for 100 consecutive days to pray and run 18 miles per day, stopping 250 times to pray along the way.  Then the next two years he had to up the same routine for 200 consecutive days.  For the fifth year, following this prescibed pilgrimage to enlightenment, he had to sit and chant mantras for nine days with out food, water or sleep in a trial called, "entering the temple."  Year six - he had to walk 37.5 miles every day for 100 days.  The seventh and final year, he had to run 52.5 miles for 100 days, 18 miles for another 100 days and then complete a 234 mile trek back to home.

The Associated Press article did not say if Fujinami found enlightenment.  That would seem to be pretty important after all that but no word on the outcome, just a lot of words about the effort.  The article did say this about the prescribed pilgrimage, "Once a monk starts the journey he must finish or kill himself."  Talk about religion by works!

I am so glad that there is no such pilgrimage to get to God in Christianity.  I would never get to God because I am not able to make that kind of effort.  It seems that in religion the effort can become more important than what it is supposed to bring about.  How odd to go through all that and nothing is said about what is really accomplished.  Did he find what he was looking for or were his efforts in vain?

We look again this week at how no effort of ours can reach God, but God made and even greater sacrifice than the Marathon Monk to reach us.  I hope you will join me Sunday.  You can just drive to church.

For the journey...