20 February - The Pain of Truth

"I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.’ John 15

Whatever we might say sometimes, most of us value and want the truth. We want it to be told to us by others, and we want to live our lives in true and authentic ways.

Much of what we say about truth focuses on wellbeing. We talk about it bringing freedom; t being a good thing, In all this our therapeutic age suggests that truth is all about feeling good.

Jesus talked about another aspect to truth. If we want to be fruitful we, like any plant or tree, must be pruned. If trees could speak they might well tell us that pruning hurts. To have growth cut away is not an easy thing.

The protestant reformers talked to two depths of pruning. The shallow pruning was when God challenged and removed the obviously evil things in our lives. The real depth of pruning is when God takes the apparently good, but which must go because we have come to rely or take comfort in it. Anything, even apparent good works, which weakens our trust in Christ, is ripe to be pruned.

The same though comes from the writing of Bill Hybells:

"You cannot grow as a Christian until you learn to ask for brokenness. Regardless of your level of spiritual maturity, there will always be areas of your life God needs to work in."

Brokenness and pruning aim at the same thing: to enable healthy growth and development. They are the way of the cross and the path for true followers of Jesus.

So the question for those who want to grow is fairly simple.

Are you willing to be pruned by God?


What will God start with?


What in your life are you unwilling to let God prune?
(attitudes, relationships, possessions, status….?)

Comments

[Rachel]

I was listening to Gardeners Question Time on Sunday afternoon and they had a piece on pruning. Just thought it appropriate to point out what a tricky and complicated job pruning is. It is different for every tree and bush - there are some basic rules, but by and large you need a book about your particular plant. It surprised me - i'm a bit of a hacker in the garden that just lops stuff off to get it to the right size. But our father the gardener isn't is he? He is tender and he knows what he is doing, he takes exactly the right bit off at the right time, but with skill motivated by love.
I realise this opens me up to questions about God causing our pain. I think of dear friends in the middle of pain and I recognise how i felt standing in a place of huge and deep pain some years ago. I really hate to admit it, and although there are caveates of how other people act also being the cause of pain, i still find no other answer other than God prunes and makes us better followers and disciples - if we let him.
The wonderful thing about hindsight (a spiritual gift i believe) is we can see the path we have walked. If we cannot learn from a painful situation then the pain is wasted. The discipline for me is to keep holding God's hand as he grows me back again, into a better, more fruitful branch.

[Rachel]

Sorry, me again. On sunday simon challenged us to comment about our "in" as a church. I hope it is appropriate to name names but the welcome in our church just wouldn't be the same without John Chamberlain (and Jacky). He has such a gift of remembering names, welcoming newcomers and doing the tricky art of connecting people. So often he introduces me to the new/young mums who venture through the door. Others do as well (all the team at the back of church are welcoming ) but I think John's gifts and love needs recognising.

My comment in not to embarrass them or to expose them in their very humble service of welcome but I hope we don't have a dangerous response that thinks - John gets me off the hook - he's much better or more reliable at welcome than me.

Wouldn't it be good if we all tried to emulate John and Jacky, not leave the job to them?

[clare]

During and after the service on Sunday I was particularly struck by the question Simon asked us to consider with a neighbour about the depth of the relationships we have with people in the church.

I liked the thought of Jesus not having many such deep relationships as I would say I am similar. I also liked the thought about the depth of relationship Jesus enjoyed with his few closest friends as I feel very blessed by the honesty and the accountablity that the few deep relationships I have, provide me with.

However I was more challenged by a comment that I interpreted as "I'm not enjoying deep enough relationships with people or persons unknown who perhaps God would wish me to know in a deeper way but in a way that may be very different from the way I relate to people at the moment or in the past." I was humbled by this and remain open to how this may change me and the relationships I have within church over the coming weeks and months.