Biblical Invitations

Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you” John 15:4

O God of peace, our hearts are heavy

And our brains can barely keep up with the breaking news.
We don’t know what to say or what to do in a world so wounded.
So we come to you with hearts heavy for
All who sit in the crossfires of violence and acts of war.

O God of peace, be with the people of Ukraine.

With the mothers who carry babies to subway shelters.
With the fathers who hold their heads in their hands.
With the children who absorb the traumas.
Of violent acts of powerful men.

O God of peace, we don’t know the words to pray
For a warring world and all who are vulnerable in it.
We don’t pretend to know the extent of the damages
Or what tomorrow (or today) will bring.
But we know that you are a God of peace
And we can’t bomb our way to shalom.

O God of peace, comfort the crying and heal the hurt.
Tend the aching and soothe the fearful.
Make us instruments of your peace
Creating a sacred symphony where
Rhythms of grace are danced upon
And evil has lost its sting, now and forevermore.
O God of peace, hear our prayer.

It is a lovely image: you, Jesus, as the vine, me as a branch filled with your sap, stretching along the trelliswork, linking with other branches, drawing nourishment from the sun into my leaves, till I am heavy with sweet purple grapes. When I see the fruit, I may be tempted to imagine I did it myself. If in our encounters with others we bring just ourselves and our own ego, we bring them death. When we bring Jesus, we bring life. Abide with me, Lord.

William Willimon, American United Methodist Bishop tells of two men he knew  a barber, who, after a long day of cutting people’s hair for money, goes out to a hospital for the mentally ill and cuts hair there for free. A friend of his is an accountant who after a long day of serving people’s financial interests for money goes out at night to cruise local bars, pick up women for one-night stands, and to enjoy himself as much as possible. ... Both men, the barber and the accountant, are apprentices, people attached to some larger vision of what life is about, why we were put here. One is attached to Jesus; the other is attached to American consumerism and selfish hedonism.”  The difference between these two men: their connection. Do they abide in Christ? Do they let their lives bear fruit to show love to others?

Today we are invited to recognise our close relationship with Jesus, which he compares to the relationship between a vine and the branches that grow on it. What does it mean for our lives that the life of Jesus flows into us? What does it mean for us personally to know that we are as much a part of Jesus as the branch is a part of the vine? Are there things in our lives that would be different if we consciously realised this? What are they? Reflect on these things today.

Dear Lord, you seem to love that little word ‘abide’. You use it eight times in this passage! Let me love it too. Your abiding is steady: you are constantly at home with me. You don’t drift off or grow bored as I do. Teach me this art of abiding. Amen