"Pruning – A Necessary Pain"


Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – May 6, 2012

Centenary United Methodist Church

I John 4:7-16; John 15:1-8

 

    This morning we have a second “I Am” passage from the Gospel of John.  Last week we considered “I am the Good Shepherd” and today Jesus was teaching his listeners, “I am the real vine.”  What is interesting about this passage is that Jesus was talking about his personal relationship with God.  Jesus is the vine and God is the gardener. 

    Jesus referenced his own spiritual journey when he said, “My Father breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit so that it will be clean and bear more fruit.”  In other words, Jesus understood himself as a person that was constantly in a state of refining his skills, deepening his understanding of the role that he came here to play and improving his ability to connect with his listeners.  (Mark 4:2)

    Think of how much better we could manage our emotions and our understanding of life’s events if we understood our painful experiences as moments when we were being pruned.  In essence, Jesus was teaching his disciples that when life becomes challenging or difficult, they did not have to feel sorry for themselves, they did not cry out, “Why me, Lord,” and they did not need to blame someone for something over which they had complete control – their responses.  Being pruned is what caring gardeners do and that enables their fruit trees to produce even more fruit.

    This line of thinking, however, does not resonate with many people.  The faithful tend to understand their faith as having the power to help them cope with life’s twists and turns.  This faith orientation is fine but for many people it remains untested.  What happens to us when a significant event happens that has the potential to change the direction of our lives?

    My college roommate was a friend with whom I had grown up from our grade school days.  One day I received a phone call from his high school girlfriend.  Charlotte and Bob had dated during their high school experience.  When young people go off to their respective colleges and universities, they often begin dating other people. This happened to Charlotte.  She was now in love with someone else and wanted my advice on how to tell Bob. 

    She called Bob a day later and told him. This news represented a heart-break for Bob because he did not see it coming.  These things happen in life and Bob had a fairly rough time adjusting.  This was not one of those times when words from anyone would have helped.  The only person charged with the responsibility of navigation when the seas become rough is the captain. Bob was that captain.

    Was this one of those times when Bob was being pruned?  Absolutely!  However, this was not because God had someone else in mind that would be more suitable for Bob.  God is not a matchmaker, as a number of Christians believe.  If God is a micro-manager of our relationships, God is wrong 52 percent of the time. That is the divorce rate in western countries.

    Pruning takes place for all of us human beings when we become personally hurt by an experience.  Jesus was teaching an understanding that has become a helpful way to explain a process that occurs in everyone’s life.  As we work our way through each ordeal and begin to heal, we become stronger and more confident.  This is how we are wired by our creator.

    Bob got through this experience as I knew he would and he met a wonderful woman on campus whom he later married. Today Bob and Mimi have three children and he has become the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  Bob has dedicated his life to finding a cure for this dreaded children’s disease.  He may not retire until he finds that cure.

    When we have no explanation for why painful experiences happen to us, it does help when we realize that everyone has them, including Jesus.   While the circumstances were different, he faced the same hurtful events that all of us experience.   Jesus had a creative way, however, for understanding a process that made him stronger and more mature in spirit. (John 6:66f)

    A vast majority of people do not have the wisdom that comes from the symbolism of being pruned. In fact, most people become so preoccupied with their pain that all they can produce is anger, tears and resentment.  Creative alternatives and solutions are simply not available to them.  This is not because more healing thoughts are not there.  The injustice of what has upset them has generated such outrage that the event has taken center stage, blinding them to everything else. In so doing, they postpone their healing process.  

    Today, angry responses set the stage for road rage, for gang members getting even for the death or injury of one of their own, for responding with deadly force after being bullied, or for badly injuring a teacher for giving a student a failing grade.  We are in a different world today where appropriate behavioral boundaries do not exist for a number of people.  People who feel disrespected would laugh at the notion of being pruned to grow more fruit. 

    Not long ago in the States there was a distraught divorced husband that received his children for the weekend. Visitation rights were part of the divorce agreement.  Once the children were inside his home, he struck a match. He had emptied several cans of gasoline throughout his house.  That match ended their three lives.   He could not deal with his circumstances and reasoned that if he could not be with his children on a daily basis they will leave this life with him.

    We are living in a climate where the least inconvenience or unexpected change can produce an onslaught of volatility in some people that no one could have predicted. We hear comments from neighbors, “He was a nice person.”  “She was a good neighbor.  She kept to herself but she was always polite when she interacted with us.” “This kind of tragedy has never happened, particularly in this quiet neighborhood.” 

    Inside of each of us is an extremely powerful source of energy.  If this spirit is not harnessed and trained to express itself in loving patterns, a person can easily fall prey to unbridled emotions and behaviors the moment when something in their lives does not suit them.

    When Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God and what that looked like, he was pointing to this invisible reality that can make all the difference in the quality of human life once people understand it.  Every new generation has to learn about this invisible source of energy for themselves.  The problem is that few people are teaching about it outside the church.  Even the church is not discussing such energy in a way that inspires all people to want it.   

    When we choose to recognize every painful event as part of a pruning process, what kind of fruit was Jesus telling his listeners to produce by remaining part of his vine?

    In his book, Lift Your Sails, Vincent Dwyer wrote about what happened to a Christian community that was absolutely dead.  In a very picturesque town located in Italy, there stood a remarkable cathedral that had been built during the fourteenth century.  The sheer magnificence of the church had inspired thousands of people through the ages. 

    The structure had become a landmark that could be seen for miles.  The building and grounds were featured in all the major tourist brochures.  Annually, tourists flocked to the old cathedral and marveled at its frescos, mosaics, stained glass, marble statues of the apostles and ancient crypts located in the catacombs beneath the main floor.

    A new pastor had been assigned to the church. He was extremely excited because this was a real plum appointment.  All he knew about the church was its vast wealth and its prominence in the minds of thousands of people.  He was ready to enter its pulpit with his expensive robes and a heightened sense of power and authority.    

    His first Sunday in the pulpit, however, was devastating.  In fact, he felt awkward, out of place and foolish.  Nine elderly women sat scattered throughout the massive sanctuary.  He quickly understood that this meager group was all that was left of the congregation that once had an attendance of 1,500 people on any given Sunday.  In fact, this magnificent church had once been the site of the Bishop’s office.

    After a lot of soul searching and the pruning of many of his self-oriented attitudes, he made an unprecedented decision.  He decided to abandon the church as the place to do ministry.  The building and grounds had been heavily endowed financially through the centuries so its maintenance was no problem.  He decided to be a pastor and not a curator, the role his predecessors had grown quite comfortable playing.

    In the valley below the church, there was a moderate-sized village that was filled with young families.  The pastor painfully hung up his expensive robes—garments that had made him feel very confident and proud to be a priest.   He put away his degrees, certificates of accomplishment, awards and citations for meritorious service – all that reminded him of how important he had been.

      He began visiting people in the village dressed as they were dressed.  He listened to their stories and sensed their need for a gathering place where they could share one another’s life-journeys.  As yet, the people did not know that he was the pastor of the monster church up on that hill that attracted bus loads of tourists every year.  The people thought that he was a roaming pastor that wanted to settle in their village

    He spoke to the men and women of the village and asked them if they would like to build a simple cinderblock building on a piece of property owned by the cathedral.  The people said, “Oh, you’ll never get them to give up any of their land.”  Although none of them had ever set foot in the large church, they were convinced that the authorities there would never provide the land.  The pastor said that he would see what he could do to secure the land for them.  

    In a matter of hours, he had performed “a miracle” by getting the land.  It was then that he revealed that he was the new pastor of that monster church.  When the news of his identity and how he had built rapport with the people spread throughout the village, every craftsman showed up to build their new church. They loved the idea of a church in their village.  What inspired them the most was his desire to come to them.  The beautiful fourteenth century cathedral was not theirs; it belonged to the people who lived in another time. 

    Pruning forced that pastor to grow new skills in areas in which he had never been trained.  In most respects he had become more like Jesus than the countless graduates that had been trained in his theological seminary.

    From all that has been said, what can we take with us this morning? What we can take with us is the understanding that more fruit always grows from our being pruned.  For example, we can grow the attitude of having patience when our lives are in transition and circumstances interrupt the control we used to have.  We can grow the attitude of expressing peaceful acceptance once we learn that painful events are always a sign that new growth is about to begin. We can grow our faith that trusts that no experience has the power to stop our evolution. We can take with us the knowledge that growing fruits like these is what causes angels to be born.