JOHN 15:1-8 STAYING CONNECTED

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

In a world of cell phones and the internet (not to mention i-phones and Blackberries) staying connected consumes much of our day. We share information with one another both by personal communication and semi-public broadcast (Facebook, My Space and blogging). We seem to have an insatiable hunger to be connected with the world and what is going on around us. But like yesterday’s Facebook status, this “connectedness” has little meaning beyond what I am doing at the moment. And therein lies the problem – it is rootless, like a parasitic vine growing in the trees. Claiming a life of its own, it lives vicariously off others and produces no lasting fruit.

Jesus tells us that our true connectedness can only be found in God. As his creations we are dependent upon the Creator and were made for a God-determined purpose. The fruit we are designed to bear is the witness to God’s true nature in the world. There is no way we can bear such fruit without being connected to God, without knowing him through revelation. The revelation of God’s nature is given to us through his Word (written and incarnate) and the nourishment that sustains fruitfulness is the Holy Spirit. We cannot announce and demonstrate to the world the purpose and direction of God unless we stay connected so that we can know his purpose and direction. Doing “our own thing” using God as a label brings death and not life. We are but branches broken off the vine lying on the ground in the process of withering and decay. Perhaps this lies at the root of our desperate drive to constantly communicate.

Jesus, save me from my isolation from God. You have provided the way back into communication with the Father and given me your Spirit to guide me according to his will. Through the Holy Spirit impress upon me the discipline of spending more of my communication time with the Father and less in idle conversation with the world. Amen.