Friday, May 16, 2014

4th Easter 2008, Wound Always Open


4th Easter
John 15: 1-27

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean, so that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in his love.
These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.
No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.
If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but you do not belong to them, because I have chosen you out of mankind. That is why people hate you.
Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent me.
If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.

But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning. 

4th Easter Sunday
April 13, 2008
John 15: 1-27


In this time after Easter, the gospel readings lead us back to what he tried to describe to His disciples before He died: He tried to tell them that His life continues forever.

At His death the disciples hearts were broken – broken open. Their souls were grievously wounded by their loss, the loss of their deepest Friend, the loss of all their hopes and dreams of His glory. But at Easter, Christ began to pour the power of His resurrection into the open wound of their hearts. At first they could not recognize Him. At first, their pre-conceptions about the finality of death prevented them from perceiving Him as the Resurrection and the Life. But gradually they began to receive His life-giving power in their hearts. They began to affirm and to accept the great mystery of his resurrection. An enormous reverence began to grow in them. They began to assent to a new World Way. They began to realize that He, the being of Love, had survived death.

Today we hear the wonderful words: ‘I am the true living vine, you are the branches. My father is the vinedresser. Stay connected with me, so that your souls will become fruitful’. It is our task not just to keep our souls alive; it is our task to make our souls bear fruit for the Father.

What are the fruits of soul that the Father hopes to harvest from us? They are the same qualities of soul that the disciples wrested from death—the fragrance of reverence, the fruitfulness of a  mood of all-affirming acceptance, the ripening substance of a love for all of humanity. This is the Life that the Resurrected Christ, the True Vine, pours into all souls connected with Him. These are the fruits— reverence, open acceptance, love—that the Father would harvest. These are the fruits that nourish the evolution of the world.


Staying connected with Christ is our task. It is a challenge for the heart to remain open and receptive, within love, within Him. But love is a creative act. And to create is to labor, sometimes in pain and travail. As Novalis said, “To love is to hold the wound always open.”  We hold our wounded hearts open so that Christ can pour His reverence, His openness, His love into us. We hold our wounded hearts open so that we can become fruitful. We hold our hearts open so that we can nourish the world. 

Thursday, May 15, 2014

4th Easter 2009, Rivering Every Way



4th Easter
John 15: 1-27

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean, so that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in his love.
These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.
No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.
If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but you do not belong to them, because I have chosen you out of mankind. That is why people hate you.
Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent me.
If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.

But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning. 



4th Easter
May 3, 2009
John 15:1-27


Such a beautiful image—Christ says, “I am the Vine, you are the branches.” John 15:5. Christ is our lifeblood. He keeps us alive. The Father, who holds our destiny, is the vinedresser. He is looking for healthy growth, trimming away what does not serve, in order to increase what will.

In our western culture we have grown much that was useless, excessive, even diseased. The healthy part of us accepts the necessity of a “correction”. True, the process is painful; but it is only right and just. It is meant for our good, for our health. Time to trim back. Time to become truly fruitful. Time to seek the living source.

Here, in the Act of Consecration of Man we receive such a vivid reminder that Christ is indeed what nourishes. We cluster in prayer like fruit on His vine. We receive His wine-sap, the living juice of His blood.

So that we too remain connected to His love;
So that we, too, become and remain fruitful;
So that we in turn may channel His strengthening life and love to others.

As the poet says:

…. Now

it’s your limbs He comes to fill, as warm water
shatters at birth, rivering every way. [1]






[1] Mary Karr, “Descending Theology: The Resurrection”, in Poetry, 2006

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

4th Easter 2010, Game Called Love



4th Easter
John 15: 1-27

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean, so that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in his love.
These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.
No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.
If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but you do not belong to them, because I have chosen you out of mankind. That is why people hate you.
Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent me.
If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.

But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning. 


4th Easter

April 25, 2010
John 15; 1-27

The idea of ecology is relatively recent. It means that all creatures and their environments form a living entity. We human beings can appreciate in so many varied ways how life supports us. It streams to us in the sunlight, in the watercourses, in the plant and animal life that nourish us. Life surrounds and supports us in the very air we breathe. And we too have our part in this great weaving of life.

Today’s reading reveals a great open secret: it is Christ who carries the great all-pervasive life of the earth. As the true vine, the sap of His life runs through the living earth and sustains all on it. And this sap of life has a cohesion, a kind of force of attraction to it. It draws all the parts together and fits them into an organic working whole. This force is the force of compassionate love. The world is held together, interwoven by love.

Compassionate love radiates outward; it is a love that offers itself to support, sustain and to strengthen. To connect with the sap, the essence of life that permeates the world is to connect oneself with the deep love that binds the world together. It is to connect with a love that offers itself to all, that all may exist. It is a love that supports all in deep compassion. What this deep compassion asks of us is to become likewise. 

In the words of Hafiz:

The Beloved has agreed to play a game
Called
Love.

Our sun sat in the sky
Way before this earth was born
Waiting to caress a billion faces.

The wise man learns what draws God
Near.
It is the beauty of compassion
In your heart.[1]






[1] Hafiz, “It is Unanimous”, in The Gift, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 170

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

4th Easter 2011, Transformation

4th Easter
John 15: 1-27

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean, so that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in his love.
These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.
No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.
If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but you do not belong to them, because I have chosen you out of mankind. That is why people hate you.
Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent me.
If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.

But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without a cause.’


But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning. 


4th Easter
May 15, 2011
John 15:1-27

Grapevines can live hundreds of years. Those caring for them remove rank growth. This encourages the vine’s energy to be concentrated and multiplied in the fruit. The roots descend thousands of feet, drawing up water from deep in the earth. In the fruit earth’s water is transformed into mineral rich, sweet, nourishing juice through the power of the sun.

Our lives too are rooted in the earth. We draw life, strength and nourishment from her. Our task too, is cultivation, cultivation of the earth, cultivation of our own souls. We ourselves, or the Father’s angels guiding our destiny, will remove what is useless. For we are meant to transform substance of earth into fruits of pure spirit-awareness, into loving devotion.

Christ called Himself the True Vine, the Living Being of whom we are all branches. He has rooted Himself deep in the earth. He transforms work of earth into work of spirit. We, as His branches, are to concentrate and multiply His life energy into the fruitfulness of our own lives, our own souls. We are to be the bearers of His work of transformation.

When Christ’s fruit, our fruit is ripe, the angels will gather the clusters from the earth’s vine. (Rev 14:18) What will they do with the earth’s harvest? They will press out juice to become the blood of a new kind of human being, the water of a new kind of earth.

For as Rilke says:

Earth, is it not this that you want: to rise
invisibly in us? – Is that not your dream,
to be invisible, one day? – Earth! Invisible!
What is your urgent command if not transformation?
Earth, beloved, I will.[1]



www.thechristiancommunity.org



[1] Rilke, from 9th Duino Elegy

Monday, May 12, 2014

4th Easter 2012, Timeless Life

4th Easter
John 15: 1-27

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean, so that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in his love.
These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.
No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.
If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but you do not belong to them, because I have chosen you out of mankind. That is why people hate you.
Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent me.
If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.

But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without a cause.’


But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning. 


4th Easter

April 29, 2012
John 15:1-27

The vine begins its life in the ground of the earth. It first sends its roots down into the soil. Then it sends up shoots into the warmth and light of air. Eventually it flowers and fruits follow. Pulled out of the ground, or starved for light, it would die.

We too are planted on the earth. We are rooted in the ground of God’s universal love. We grow upward, seeking the light and warmth of the Christ-Sun. In His loving power we are to develop and blossom. Grounded in the Father’s love, developing and growing in Christ’s love, our own lives and souls become fruitful. They produce thoughts, words, and deeds of love. As it says in the children's service, without a grounding in love, our lives are a desolate emptiness.

This grounding of ourselves in the very being of love is a process of many seasons. It is a work in progress, as we grow and develop. For as Wendell Berry says:

As timely as a river
God's timeless life passes
Into this world. It passes
Through bodies, giving life,
And past them, giving death.
….The sun
Comes from the dark, it lights
The always passing river,
Shines on the great-branched tree,
And goes. Longing and dark,
We are completely filled
With breath of love, in us
Forever incomplete.[1]






[1] Wendell Berry,“III“, in Given


Sunday, May 11, 2014

4th Easter 2014, All Depends

4th Easter
John 15: 1-27

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean, so that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in his love.
These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.
No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.
If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but you do not belong to them, because I have chosen you out of mankind. That is why people hate you.
Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent me.
If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.

But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning.

4th Easter

May 11, 2014
John 15: 1 -27

A good gardener removes dead branches. This is not only for esthetics. It is also because on some invisible level, a dead branch becomes something that prevents the plant or tree from filling out its own form properly. Something dead becomes a place the plant has to work around. It weakens the tree’s energy.
We too may have dead areas in our lives. On the physical level, the ‘dead branches’ are those things and objects we never use. We may even be paying rent, pouring out our monetary energy, to store them! Emotionally such branches may be relationships that are no longer living, perhaps even debilitating. Spiritually our dead branches may be practices in prayer or meditation or reading that have become stale and no longer vital. Once we remove what is no longer living, our life, on all levels, can take on its own proper form. For the essence of living things is change – new growth, another flowering, seeds for new life. And because we are all connected, this new life affects everyone. The poet says:

Vine and branch we’re connected in this world
of sound and echo, figure and shadow, the leaves
contingent, roots pushing against earth. An apple
 
belongs to itself, to stem and tree, to air
that claims it, then ground. Connections
balance, each motion changes another. Precarious,
 
hanging together, we don’t know what our lives
support, and we touch in the least shift of breathing.
Each holy thing is borrowed.  Everything depends. [1]

Christ is the sap of our lives, individually and collectively. He bears and orders the life of the world.  He would penetrate us, give us new living forces, so that we may truly live, so that our lives together are fruitful, physically, emotionally, spiritually. The Good Gardener helps us trim our lives clean, so that we all remain strong, healthy and productive.




[1] Jeanne Lohmann , in Shaking the Tree

4th Easter 2013, A Great Need

4th Easter
John 15: 1-27

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean, so that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in his love.
These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love one another as I have loved you.
No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out of the fullness of my power: Love one another.
If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but you do not belong to them, because I have chosen you out of mankind. That is why people hate you.
Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent me.
If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.

But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without a cause.’


But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning. 


4th Easter
Corrine Vonaesch
April 21, 2013
John 15: 1-27

Once in a while an appliance fails to work. Experience has probably taught us that the first thing to do is to first check that it is plugged in to the power source.

We humans are ‘plugged in’ to two different power sources. One is a survival system that is set to save our individual lives. Fear is its early warning system. When activated, we either fight or run.

The other power source is aroused by seeing need in others. It activates nurturing and cooperation. It supports the good of the whole. Another name for this is love.

Interestingly this second power source can override the fear-based one. Sourced by love, people can do amazing and courageous things, things which may threaten or even end their own personal survival.

Christ is the energy source for this second power source in us. To choose to act out of love is to connect with the Source of Love itself. Connected with Him, motivated by His power, tendrils of love grow into the world. They blossom into nurturing deeds, based on working together. They bear its nourishing fruit to all who need it. The poet Hafiz says:

Out
Of a great need
We are all holding hands
And climbing.
Not loving is a letting go.
Listen,
The terrain around here
Is
Far too
Dangerous
For
That.[1]


Amazingly, Christ also needs us in order to operate in the world. Without our being sourced in Him, He can do nothing. He also needs us, needs us to be connected to Him, so that He can operate in the world, so that He can continue to keep the world alive.

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[1] “A GREAT NEED”, in The Gift – versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky). Picture: The Good Samaritan, by Corrine Vonaesch.