At Home with Jesus

This Sunday at Seneca Presbyterian Church, we will continue our exploration of being a "sailboat church." Last week we talked about dreaming God's dream and thus becoming partners with God in the re-creation of the world. This week, we will talk about how. The answer is simple: abide.

The image comes to us from the Gospel of John. You'll find it in chapter 15, which is part of the amazing farewell discourse Jesus shares with this disciples in John. It is the night of his betrayal and arrest. This night will be his final opportunity to teach them as the Jesus they know. So Jesus talks to them of servants and masters and friends; of love and the Spirit and the gift of peace. He teaches them for four chapters - chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16. And then Jesus prays for them (and for us) for an entire chapter (ch. 17). Where Matthew, Mark, and Luke give us the Last Supper, John gives us foot washing - and words that have nurtured faith for centuries.

I am the vine, Jesus says, and you are the branches. Abide in me as I abide in you. Unless you do that, nothing is possible. It is the symbol that Jesus uses to describe what lies at the core of discipleship and at the heart of faith.

To abide means to rest, to stay put, to make a home and to stick with it, trusting that it is the right place to be. So what does in mean for us to abide in Jesus? We'll talk about that Sunday. Here are some thoughts to ponder.

How do you stay connected - abide - in Jesus? What activities or experiences or disciplines bring you closest to that flowing lifeline of faith?

What does it feel like to be pruned? What experiences in your life have seemed like pruning? In the end, did you find new life?

What fruits have come from your abiding - in your life and in the life of those around you?

Consider the image of a vine as a metaphor for the Church. How does it strike you?  Where's your branch? How's your fruit?