Have you got rhythm?
I think my 18-year-old, red-blooded, sport-obsessed self would ask the question, “What went wrong?” should he be able to meet me today in my middle-age and see the joy I take in my garden coming into full bloom. My defence would be that Jesus was clear that the rhythms of creation and the natural world often reflect the rhythms of life and faith that we need to understand and there is a nourishing of our soul when we engage with the natural world.
In John 15 he describes our Heavenly Father as a gardener carefully watching over the growth of his garden. The sadness he feels as he encounters plants that are dying and branches that have broken off from the vine and how he carefully prunes the fruitful plants so that they might be even more fruitful in the future. It is a beautiful picture of the care and intimate involvement God wants in our lives and his great desire that we would flourish and glorify him.
As with all of Jesus’ parables we must first understand the story, the metaphor he is creating, and then apply it to our lives. What does it mean for us to remain in Christ as a branch remains connected to the vine? What does a process of God pruning us look like?
A simple but profound truth is that there are seasons and times within the annual cycle of a plant’s life where it is not focussed on producing fruit but on deepening root structures and being strengthened. And a plant needs to be pruned of unnecessary growth during these times so that all the energy can be focussed on life-giving, fruitbearing growth in the next season, not simply in producing more leaves and growing. So Jesus is teaching us that we need times and seasons where our focus is on allowing God to work within us, to pull us back from activity and trying to bear fruit, to focus on him, deepen our life in him, and see what he is wanting to strengthen in us. And Jesus’ own life demonstrated a pattern of withdrawal and retreat away from the crowds, and then advance and engagement as he took his mission forward.
The life of every church has a natural rhythm according to the patterns of its members’ lives and its priorities. In my experience it can be helpful for us as individuals, and a church community, to use the period of time from now until September as a time of rest and renewal. This then leads into the time when there is the opportunity to build and strengthen ministry and mission from September to Christmas. If any of that resonates with you then I want to ask you how you will use the next few months.
The key understanding of John 15 is that a time of pruning is purposeful – it is to deepen our relationship with Jesus through the Spirit (the image of the vine and the flow of water and nutrients in to the branches) and to allow the Father as the gardener to work in us and prepare us for the new fruit he wants to bring through us. So how we use times of stepping back and allowing God to prune us is as important as what we do in times of activity.
Here are a few suggestions and questions to reflect on: - Use this time as an opportunity to review things in your life and ministry. How are you? How is your relationship with God? Ask yourself the tough questions you need to ask, such as: should you be doing everything you have been doing? If not, what should stop or who else should do that instead? - Seeking the prophetic word of the Lord in these times can be really helpful. Taking time for extended prayer and inviting others to listen to God for you and speak into your life and the life of your church. It can be a time to dream – what could be? What could God do in the future in my life? This allows God to begin to release hope and faith for what he wants to do.
And of course this period of time includes the chance for holiday. For us as a family this always involves attending a week at the New Wine National Gatherings in the summer. Here we are renewed in faith as we worship and receive teaching and have the opportunity for others to pray for us, as well as having fun and deepening friendships. This extended investment of time in seeking God in an environment of faith really does deepen the sense of abiding in Christ.
Whatever you do this summer, may God bless you richly over these coming months as you seek him.
How we use times of stepping back and allowing God to prune us is as important as what we do in times of activity