We Are the Branches

The Reverend Ronald J. Kolanowski
May 10, 2009
The Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B

Today’s readings tell us a great deal about God’s relationship to us and how we grow in relationship to God.  The epistle says that everyone born in love knows God…because God is love.   In the gospel and the epistle we hear references to abiding in God.  In the 15th Chapter of John the word “abide” appears eleven times. 

The image of God this week is of a vine grower caring for the vine.  Often this gospel is preached emphasizing those parts of the vine that don’t bear much fruit, but I suggest this is a story of God’s radical love for us and the interconnectedness between God and all of creation.  If you’ve ever looked closely at a vine you will notice that it is nearly impossible to trace one branch as it twists around other branches and the main vine.  Even closer than last week’s image of a shepherd with the sheep, the image of the vine tells the deepest truth of our existence, that all of us and all that is are intimately intertwined at the level of our being.  We abide, “we dwell in God," but we also dwell in and with one another and everything that is.  The epistle reminds us that there is only one way for us to show our love for God and that is through our love of neighbor. 

The first reading gives us a clue about our neighbor.  The reading from Acts is Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch.  One of the first personal conversion stories in the apostolic age is about someone who would have been outside of the group.  Eunuchs would certainly not be part of the community.  In a passage that may sound strange to us today Deuteronomy 23:1 states that “no one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis has been cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.”  This story demonstrates that God seems to change God’s mind and welcomes those who at another time were prevented from full participation.  We see how the law of love breaks through the old law and reaches out to the margins to teach us how we are to love God through love of one another.

Philip obeys the command of the angel to go to the south road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and has a most surprising encounter – an opportunity to witness to someone he would have least expected to meet…a high ranking Ethiopian official who happened to be a eunuch.  Philip’s love of neighbor broke through the barriers of his own tradition and brought Christ to one seeking God’s kingdom and open to a new message.

This story reminds us that God comes to us in surprising ways from most unexpected sources… inviting us to leave our comfort zone and cross the boundaries of our own prejudices, and preconceived ideas to see the belovedness of all people and all of creation.  God, who abides in us, invites us to abide more fully in him by loving our neighbor….especially those neighbors who are difficult to love, those outside our group, those different for us.  God is always about inviting IN those WE leave outside. 

I find it difficult to leave my comfort zone and seek out people who differ significantly from me.  I want to share a story of one occasion in which God’s Spirit literally shoved me outside of my comfort zone to love people who seriously disagreed with me.  Several years ago in Washington, DC, we came to church one Sunday to find a group of 200 people picketing our church.  It was Right to Life weekend and we were targeted for two reasons.  First, our associate rector’s husband was a shareholder in many of the family planning clinics in DC where abortions were available.  We were picketed regardless of what individuals of the church thought or believed.  The second reason they picketed us was because our rector testified before Congress in favor of same-sex marriage. 

I was coming to church that morning.  As I crossed the picket line people called out “faggot lover and baby killer.”  What a way to come to church on Sunday!  There were undercover police in the congregation in the event the protesters became violent or pulled a gun during mass.  All through the service I prayed for an answer of what to do.  To my surprise I got a direct answer.  During the service I stepped out to use the restroom.  I came upon a man who was visiting the church for the first time.  He was about to leave because he said no one offered him the sign of peace.  People assumed he was one of the protesters and didn’t offer the peace of Christ.  The man wasn’t part of the group, but it made me stop and think about the people outside.  Then I was given a gift.  It came to me that they were children of God just as much as those in the congregation.  At the end of the service I was compelled to join the protesters and stood among them to simply love them.  The leader of the group came up to me to inquire why I was there.  I said I was standing with them as a child of God.   I was given an extraordinary grace to look them right in the eye and love them in that moment.  While I did not agree with their hateful message, I was not uncomfortable standing with them.  Slowly, one by one, they left me, except for their leader.  He and I spoke and never came to common ground.  But as I was ready to leave he asked me to bless him.  Here we were…two people loved by God blessing each other in Christ.   It was a moment I’ll never forget.  I was given a gift to see brothers and sisters very different from myself as loved equally by God.  It didn’t matter whether we agreed or not; in that moment we were given the grace to see God in each other and we parted in peace.

There is much talk in the church about being or not being in communion with one another.  The readings today tell us that is NOT A choice.  We are intimately connected as branches to the vine.  We are, by God’s design, in communion with one another.

Today’s readings recognize the radical interconnectedness between all that is and our inherent belovedness.  May we…who call ourselves followers of Christ…demonstrate to the world that we dwell in God’s Spirit through our radical acceptance and love of all God’s people and all God’s good creation.  Amen.

Copyright © 2009 by The Reverend Ronald J. Kolanowski