Sunday 10th May 2015 St. Paul's Annual General Meeting

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches.  

The reading is from John 15: verses 5-10. 

On this Sunday absolutely everything must be pared down, to make decent room for the AGM. So all I can offer you now are these famous words of William Shakespeare, to ponder at your leisure. As The Bard once said: “The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know whether or not they’re genuine”!

Be that as it may, even on this day we do need a few words of introduction on John. We’re following the Lectionary in stepping aside from our series Mark’s gospel for today. Mind you, these words of Jesus could hardly be more appropriate for this particular occasion. But it’s the occasion which also means that we must put them into their proper context. It’s helpful to begin that by saying John is both simplest, and the most complex, of the 4 gospels. It all depends on what level we are willing to engage with him at – and that very much applies today. But what matters most of all for today is that we know both when, and why, Jesus spoke those words that I’ve just read.

To jump straight to that, then: Jesus said all this (and lots more!) on the night before he died. He had a special supper with his closest friends, which included all sorts of conversations. Central to it all was Jesus trying to prepare the disciples for what lay ahead. He knew that his imminent death made way for a whole new dimension of God’s kingdom to come. The disciples, naturally, couldn’t see past the disaster that they were convinced Jesus’ loss would be. Even though it would take them ages to understand the how of it, Jesus was here telling them in advance what he wanted them to know when he wouldn’t be there to tell them in person.

“I am the vine; you are the branches”, Jesus said. It’s the simplest of pictures if you want it to be; or one of the deepest, if you start to dig into it even a little. There’s no time for that sort of digging today, of course; but plenty of resources are easily available if you ever want to. Either way, at whatever level, we need to engage with this idea today – because it sums up what we are, or should be, about. Jesus’ point back then was again very simple, and/or very deep. His disciples were to bear fruit: lot of it! That’s what vines exist to do; it’s what Jesus came to do. He is the vine; his disciples – then and now – are ‘only’ the branches through which he does that. It’s what they exist for too, then: to produce the fruit of Jesus.

Now even if you’re only visiting today you should know that this is what we want, and are trying to be, about. As it says on the front of the service sheet, “Our Aim is, in God’s strength, to bring Jesus to the centre of our lives, and to the heart of our community”. Yes, as I’ve said before it is strange to be doing this in May; but today’s about asking ourselves how fruitful we were for Jesus in 2014. What kind of branch have we been? He is the vine: apart from him we can’t do anything at all. So how have we done in staying connected to – or remaining in – him, then? What did that look (or taste) like in the year we’re reviewing? And how should it look (or taste) in the rest of this year that we are now into?

As ever, these are the key questions to bear in mind, whether you stay for the AGM or not. All followers of Jesus need to take every opportunity to check how we are doing – not least in case change is needed. It’s the fruit which proves that we are who we say we are, Jesus said. So if it’s not about Jesus, if we’re not producing the kind of fruit that he died to make possible, then we must do something about it; as quickly as possible. This is so for Christians both personally and corporately. Jesus made it very clear what happens to any branch that doesn’t bear fruit for him: it’s fit only for burning in the fire, look!

The positive alternative that Jesus offered, and offers, to his disciples is wonderfully glorious, as I’m sure you spotted. Again that’s something to explore for yourself – in all of its multi-layered splendour – at your leisure. We can ask for whatever we wish, and it will be done for us?! Do be sure not to miss how Jesus said that’s so, though: if we remain in him – because that’s the key to it! It’s key to everything, actually. Hopefully that has already become abundantly clear, even in this briefest of reflections. Unless we remain in Jesus then nothing is possible. So we must ask how we do that, then.

That answer can only be worked out step by step, as we make our way forward through the rest of this year, and on into the next. The question has to be asked of each issue that we face, and of each decision that we take: again, personally and corporately. “How can we remain in Jesus, and bear his fruit, in this?” must be the question that’s at the forefront of our minds. And our doing of that must bring us to the place where Jesus arrived at in verse 10: “Now remain in my love; … and do that by obeying my commands”.

I’ll end with a quote that I’m assured is genuine; from Mother Teresa. It’ll hopefully be practically helpful in us making our way forward from here; remaining in Jesus; being his fruit-bearing branches; remaining in his love. Mother Teresa said: “If you can’t do great things, do little things with great love. If you can’t do them with great love, do them with a little love. If you can’t do them with a little love, do them anyway. Love grows when people serve.” And may that be ever more so, to God’s glory, here in the Parish of Herne Hill, this year and beyond. Amen.