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5 Easter B—May 3, 2015
Acts 8:26-40
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8
The Rev. David R. Wilt
There isn’t a farmer alive who would be satisfied with a beautiful field of trees or plants or anything if it did not produce whatever it is they were trying to grow. Whatever it may be, apples, grapes, cauliflower, tomatoes, it would not matter, if the crop did not produce, the farmer would not hesitate to plow it under and start again. In fact one of the techniques that farmers use when the ground has become unproductive is to let it lay fallow for a time. The whole purpose of tending and pruning is not for beauty sake but rather to reap the most bountiful crop.
In our story from John today Jesus spends a lot of time explaining the pruning process but he saves for the last line the purpose that any of that is necessary, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
Anything else may look nice, it may be impressive to some, it may even conjure up bragging rights of being the biggest and the best, but in the words of the Jesus, in whom we are to abide, it is worthless and meaningless unless God is glorified. And, that happens when much fruit is bourn and we become disciples.
If the vine that Jesus is referring to is a metaphorical description for the church, then again, this same logic applies and its sole objective is to glorify God, which translates into bearing fruit and becoming disciples.
CS Lewis would describe the church’s function in Mere Christianity this way: “It is easy to think that the church has a lot of different objects—education, building, missions, holding services…the Church exists for nothing else but to draw (people) into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.”
So, with that understanding, we can begin to envision in our minds what it is we are really called to do; abide in the vine, which is Christ and glorify God, which is to produce fruit and become disciples. Simple, right, then why do we make it so complicated.
Well, there is this little technique that was developed by the Chinese about 2000 BC to make better stronger, healthier, more versatile, and more productive plants, trees, shrubs, whatever. And, that technique is known as grafting.
Grafting is described as a technique whereby tissue from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets may join together. The intended result is some better and stronger, and more resilient than either tissue by itself.
Oh my, I’m starting to get this picture.
You take an all men’s club, the Episcopal Church clergy 40 years ago and add women to it. You take an all-white organization that could be just about any church prior to the Civil War and add blacks to it. I could go on and on with this, and with each grafting of something new into the church, the tissues join together and each time it becomes stronger, healthier, more resilient and, looks more like Christ.
Suddenly, instead of just plain old red table wine we have a vineyard of classic Merlots, and Malbecs, and Cabernets, Blushes, Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays.
Suddenly, our understanding moves to concern about reaching those who have yet to be grafted into the body of Christ and not so much as pampering and preserving the church for the mere sake of tradition and history.
Now, let me take a few minutes to tell those of you who might not know and to remind those who do, of a group that began being grafted into the church in about 1944. That group is those who have participated in a weekend called Cursillo and then maintain a regular discipline of spiritual self-examination.
Cursillo can be defined as a short course in Christianity. It is led by lay people. It is designed to help those who are already active in the church to find their gifts and to more readily understand the concept of grace. It is a three day weekend of talks, introspection, worship, singing and lots of eating.
It is intended to bring leaders back into the parishes as better leaders. It is intended to make the vine stronger so that it can bear more fruit and allow others to become disciples.
The concept of grafting is a very important aspect because if it tries to operate separate from the church, or, if it tries to prevent the joining together of the myriad of tissues that form the church then it fails in its purpose to provide solid leaders to make the church stronger. As with any part of the body of Christ, there is no secret hand shake or password, there are no secret meetings
Cursillo is not a religion but a vehicle to make religion bear fruit and make disciples. As such, it is worthy to be recognized and celebrated as one of those wonderful graftings that have graced our church over the years.
I would like to ask that anyone who has attended a Cursillo Weekend please raise their hand. You will notice the hands are scattered throughout the congregation. You will notice that those who raised their hands look exactly like those who didn’t. For those who didn’t raise their hands but are curious I invite you to talk to anyone who did and ask any questions you may have. Please do that after the service and not now.
CS Lewis would say, “Jesus works on us in all sorts of ways, through nature, through our own bodies, through books, sometimes through experiences which may seem at the time anti-Christian…But above all Jesus works on us through each other. People are mirrors or “carriers” of Christ to other people. Sometimes unconscious carriers.
Be drawn closer to the vine, be pruned and trimmed, always leave room for new tissue to be grafted to the vine for through that the vine becomes stronger, bears much fruit and invites everyone to become a disciple. For always, that is how God is glorified.