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Be Happy! Day 8

Branch out

[Jesus said,] ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.’ John 15.5–8

The idea of being a community can have a bad reputation in the part of the country where I live, and I have no idea why. I’ve just moved into a new flat, so I’ve been knocking on all the doors in the block to say hallo. One of my new neighbours said, ‘We’ve got a good group of people living here now. They all keep themselves to themselves.’ Time will tell whether they think I am a good neighbour, because I have the wrong kind of temperament for keeping myself to myself!

In contrast, I went on holiday with my friend Paul to south-west Ireland. Probably my best holiday ever! It was Easter and we were staying in a bed and breakfast on the Kerry peninsular. We said to the owner, ‘Can you recommend anywhere for us to eat tonight?’

She said, ‘Sure now, they shouldn’t really be opening because it’s Good Friday, but if you go to the hotel by the beach they’ll cook you something grand.’

Next morning at breakfast I said, ‘Oh, by the way, we went to the restaurant you recommended.’ She said, ‘Sure I know you did. I’ve been on the phone. Which one of you had the steak and which one had the fish?’

[Jesus said,] ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no-one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ John 15.9–13

I would hate to be caught in the middle of a scandal there. But, oh boy, wouldn’t it be great to have that kind of closeness supporting you when you are in need, and rejoicing with you when you’ve got something to celebrate!

This is the kind of craic that Jesus was talking about when he compared himself to a vine and his followers to its branches. He explained it to his disciples so that they would be happy, or as he put it, ‘So that your joy may be complete.’ He envisaged leaving behind him a community of believers closely attached to each other; safely attached to God. A community that keeps each other good, so that scandal isn’t going to scar it within. A community that is generating goodness, so that all around it people notice what’s going on and are attracted.

The branches of a vine. What a terrific image! All connected to each other; all joined to the one root; all producing fruit. Not just ordinary fruit, but good grapes for a gorgeous wine. That’s us he’s talking about – those who are seeking to follow the way of Jesus, gathered into some kind of local Christian community or church. Wherever you gather with a handful of Christian people, it becomes the wine-producing region of your district. You are there so that the people of your neighbourhood can be merry. Wahey!

When the Stranger says, ‘What is the meaning of this city? Do you huddle close together because you love each other?’ What will you answer? ‘We all dwell together to make money from each other,’ or, ‘This is community.’ T. S. Eliot, poet, 1888–1965

Can you be a Christian all by yourself and not be part of a church or community? Well, look at it this way. Can you drink a bottle of wine all to yourself and not be part of a group sharing it? Well, you can if you’re a sad old git, but what’s the point? That’s nothing to do with being merry; that’s being drunk. It’s no good to anyone, least of all you. But with Jesus as the vine and you as the branches, glorious fruit grows.

Jesus’ theory was that three things would allow a cluster of believers to grow in all the ways he envisaged. The first was remaining in Jesus, the second was loving the others in the community, and the third was showing others that it works.

Remaining in Jesus means keeping open the life-giving channels between you and him that are going to make you thrive – praying, listening, praising, learning about God, talking about God. To make a habit of those turns the fact of God into a vivid reality flowing up and down you.

This morning I suddenly remembered an experiment we did at primary school. We stuck a stick of celery in a glass of ink, and when we came back the next day the blue had risen up through the stalk and was coursing through the whole plant. I can’t for the life of me remember what that proved! But it does remind me of the goodness of the living God coursing energetically around a human, and that is what remaining in Jesus can do for you.

I cannot give you a kiss, so instead the bearer of this letter is bringing you two little kegs of wine. As a mark of our love for each other, please use them for a couple of days’ rejoicing with your friends. Boniface, missionary to Germany, in a letter to Bishop Ecgbert, his friend left behind in England, 672–754

Loving one another is the second aspect. And just in case anyone questions this because it sounds a bit soft-centred and frilly, Jesus goes on to explain what he has in mind by that love: ‘Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ He is talking about the same kind of love that he showed to those around him during his life. Rock-hard, sacrificial, unsentimental love – the kind that improves people’s circumstances. The kind that knows what is going on in people’s lives, investigates the best thing that could happen to make things better, and then puts the required effort into making that happen.

Lord Jesus, please give me good friends who share my determination to stay close to you. Amen.

Without moving from the window of my flat I can see the homes of three people whose lives would genuinely be improved this week by someone inviting them round for a coffee. It ought to be me, I suppose. It’s not exactly laying down your life, is it? ‘Greater love has no one than this, to boil up one’s kettle for one’s friends.’ But you could start with that and see where you go next.

Jesus described showing others in the neighbourhood that following him works as ‘bearing fruit’. The way he put it was: ‘This is my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.’ How will you know that you are bearing fruit? When you see that the values that make up the kingdom of God are being adopted by those next to whom you live. They are values such as peace, love, justice, tolerance, compassion.

You will know that this community of the vine is having an influence when you see that people are meeting and enjoying their neighbours, instead of grumbling about them. You will know it when you notice that the concern people have for the future of the earth is leading them to behave responsibly towards the local environment. And when you detect that people’s generosity towards the poorest communities in the world is becoming greater. And when your neighbours turn out to want the best for despised members of society – asylum seekers, ex-offenders, people with personality disorders – instead of seeing them as a problem to get rid of into someone else’s neighbourhood. And frankly, you will know it when you see people come to Christian faith and join us as branches of the vine.

We are a community of the vine so that others will be glad to be alive. Merry as can be! Remaining in Jesus, loving one another, showing other people it works. We can’t do this by ourselves. None of us can! But in the streets around you are the resources you need to do this – like-minded fellow Christians. And within you is the Lord Jesus, who called himself the vine. Time to branch out! Sláinte! Cheers!

Be happy! I can’t think of a better way of responding to today’s step of this spiritual journey than by opening a bottle of something luscious. But not by yourself, obviously! This is something to share in community.