“Nourished by the Vine” 

John 15:1-8 

Introduction.  “A journalist assigned to the Jerusalem bureau takes an apartment overlooking the Wailing Wall.  Every day when she looks out, she sees an old Jewish man praying vigorously.  So, the journalist goes down and introduces herself to the old man.  She asks, 'You come every day to the wall. How long have you done that, and what are you praying for?'  The old man replies, 'I have come here to pray every day for 25 years. In the morning I pray for world peace and then for the brotherhood of man.  I go home, have a cup of tea, and I come back and pray for the eradication of illness and disease from the earth.'  The journalist is amazed.” “How does it make you feel to come to the Wailing Wall every day for 25 years and pray for these things?” she asks.  The old man responds, “Like I'm talking to a wall.”  (http://www.beliefnet.com/) 

Move 1.  Prayers don't always seem to get answered, do they? 

A $2.4 million study on prayer, one of the largest of its kind, was conducted to find out whether or not prayers done by strangers would have an effect on heart bypass surgery patients.   

“The study randomly divided bypass surgery patients from six hospitals into three groups:  *604 patients in Group 1 (did receive prayers) by strangers after being told that they might or might not receive prayer.  *597 patients in Group 2 did not receive strangers' prayers, after being told they might or might not be prayed for.  *603 patients in Group 3 (did receive)…prayer after being told they would receive it.” 

The study concluded that not only “were the effects of prayer by strangers neutral…but the selected group of patients who knew with certainty that strangers were praying for them (--Group 3--actually) experienced complications at higher rates than did two other groups who were told only that they might receive prayer.”  (Christian Century, May 2, 2006, p. 14) 

In some ways, this study reflects what some people seem to experience with prayers--they don't always work.  They don't always get the results people hope for.   

Move 2.  I certainly have seen some of my prayers go unanswered.  Yet I have also seen prayers answered, in my own life, and in the lives of others.  So when I hear Jesus say, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you,” I know that it's time to reflect once again on the meaning, as well as the mixed results, of prayer.   

I do know that prayers are answered, often in unexpected ways.  At the high school baccalaureate last weekend at the Logan Tabernacle, a young man, a senior at Sky View High School, told of a speech tournament in which, with little experience, he was entered in the impromptu competition.  Like the other impromptu competitors, he was given three possible topics on which to speak, at which time he would have a combined 7 minutes for preparation and speaking.  Even before receiving his topics to select from, he was nervous and scared, and so he prayed, “Lord, give me hope.”  Then, he was given the topics: the first was Ronald Reagan; the second was ecological crises; and the third was “hope.”  He took 1 of his 7 minutes laughing over God's sense of humor.  (thanks to Steve Kent, address at the high school baccalaureate, May 7, 2006) 

I know that many things are much more serious, however.  I certainly have had experiences similar to one recounted by a pastor named Clayton Schmit, who writes this: “Wally, one of my parishioners, struggled with stomach cancer for many years.  He would often get good news that his cancer was in remission; then, soon after, it would return.  For a long time it flourished just enough to keep him sick, then abated enough to give him hope that God was healing him.  Over the years, Wally developed a remarkable resilience and faith.  He once told me, 'Pastor, if I had the choice today whether to be healed completely or to go back to the level of faith  I had before all this started, I would choose to remain ill.  Through all of this, God has strengthened my faith to the point where I cannot imagine being without it.'  Wally died a few years later.  His funeral was a great celebration of a man who knew what it meant to abide in Christ.”  (Christian Century, “Testing God,” p. 5)  I would guess that Wally prayed for healing, and was prayed for; yet he was answered in a different way than he or others initially may have wanted.   

I read something recently that in “prayer we see others as creatures loved by God and in need of God's grace…. in prayer we put others in God's hands.  In putting others in God's hands, we begin to see them clearly… 'in all their need, hardship and distress.'”  In this way of thinking, prayer “is intertwined with Christian community.  It's noteworthy, by contrast, how this latest medical study of prayer (is) indifferent to community; the research (makes) no reference to whether the patients wanted prayer, or were part of a community of prayer.”  (“Testing God”) 

I know that none of this proves prayer's effectiveness.  But I do get a sense that not only are prayers answered in unexpected ways, but they also are meant to help us recognize needs around us, and to see one another as brothers and sisters in faith. 

Move 3.  Indeed, as Christians, we all are included as part of a divine vine.  We hear Jesus say, “I am the vine, you are the branches.”  We are connected to one another by our attachment to Christ.   

In today's society, many of us accept the idea that in order to succeed, people must become rugged individualists, striving by their own power to get what they want.  We know that in some cases, this way of living brings positive things to communities and societies, and at other times it doesn't.  But do we recognize that, just as a lamp cannot give light without being plugged into a power source, we as Christians cannot give the light of God's love without being connected to Christ, and therefore connected to one another.   

We are nourished by the vine.  “We cannot live the Christian life and be fruitful Christians apart from Christ any more than…limbs (can) live after being (broken) off the tree trunk.”  As branches, we draw our identity, our sustenance, our very life from the vine.  No two branches are alike and yet (we) are all the same…. Every Christian is unique and yet every Christian is the same.  Our identity is derived from the Vine.  We are known by the Vine.  We receive our sustenance and life from the Vine.”  (Gerald Whetstone, sermon, “Personal but Not Private,” www.sermons.com) 

When we are connected to the vine, we are not free of hardship or distress or challenges.  In fact, we are pruned.  We sometimes are put in situations where the non-essential elements of life become unimportant, and so they are cut off and priorities become clear.  Like the branches of a vine that are pruned to produce more fruit, when we are pruned, we too are shaped for growth and learning, faith and fruits.   

Hopefully, we will see this pruning, not only as individuals, but also in terms of what we go through together as a Christian community, as something positive, helping us to grow, learn, and bear fruit.   

Move 4.  This divine vine, the branches which grow out of it, and the fruits which they produce, are a great image for Christian congregations.     

For one thing, the branches can produce grapes that are either sweet, or sour. “Pastor Larry Daniels tells the story of a particular lady who was in his little country church in Tennessee.  Before he even met her, he was told how religious she was.  Indeed, Pastor Daniels found that she carried her Bible everywhere, prayed exquisite prayers, and talked about religion constantly.  But he noticed a problem: “when it came to people who were down in society--the poor, the unemployed, divorced persons, alcoholics--she was relentless in her criticism. She was without mercy and compassion. There was judgment and nothing else.”  Daniels said this: “After a while, despite all of these outward appearances of religion, and despite everyone calling her a “religious” person, I had to begin asking myself the question: Does this individual really bear the fruits of the Christian life?”  (“Bearing Fruit,” www.SermonIllustrations.com)  Sour or sweet grapes can grow from our branches.   

Another way this is a great image is that the vine and its branches grow outward.  Yes, they do stay somewhat together, and intertwine around one another; but they don't simply tangle around one another like a ball.  Instead, they are constantly growing, spreading, reaching out in various directions.  Isn't this congregation, likewise, called to reach out into those places God wants us?  The vine, which is Christ, if we are attentive to its direction, will lead the way.   

Examples abound in our congregation.  There's the person who is constant in inviting others to worship and Bible study.  There's the person who brought up a faith issue explored in worship one Sunday and had a spontaneous discussion with a group of others until 2 in the morning.  There's the person who stood up at her quilting guild, consisting mostly of Latter-Day Saints--she thanked them for the financial gift from the Logan Central Stake toward our building fund and invited all of them to our recent Almost Broadway show.   

Branches producing sweet grapes, and branches producing sour grapes, exist in all of us in one way or another.  Those sour-producing ones need to be pruned, so that the sweet-grape branches can thrive even more than they do already, and reach out to many.   Through prayer and staying connected to Christ, the sweet fruit can flourish.   
 
Conclusion.  The strongest point on any vine, vineyard owners tell us, is that place where the vine and branch are joined together.  That's the weakest point on a tree--it is there that, if a branch is pulled, it will break.  But the strongest point on a grapevine is there.   (King Duncan, sermon, “Connected,” www. sermons.com) 

The strongest point of our relationship with Christ is where we are connected to him, and the argument certainly can be made that this point happens at baptism.  For it is in baptism that we are drawn fully into the family of Christ, and the strong connection is made not only with Christ, but with all who are also branches along the vine.  

We now get ready to celebrate the baptism of Chyeanne Smallwood.  Chyeanne, will you please join me and Rev. Marie Henry up front. 

May 14, 2006

Rev. Dave Hedgepeth

First Presbyterian Church

Logan, Utah