BELOVED BRANCHES,
There is an expression that has been around for a long time, perhaps you have heard it or even used the phrase. “It’s to die for.” Usually this is pulled out when we want to describe something of decadence, richness, and luxury. It is to die for because deep down we know that if we have too much of whatever it is, it will lead to death as was the case for the little lion cub, Simba in The Lion King. Simba asks his Uncle Scar whether he will like the surprise uncle is getting him. Uncle Scar replies, “It’s to die for!”
The opposite, “It’s to live for!” does not roll off the tongue with the same enthusiasm or drive as “It’s to die for!” It fails to carry the risk of stepping close to death yet surviving. Could this be the reason we have so much more ritual around the season of Lent compared to the season of Easter? In the season of Lent we take the “It’s to die for!” approach with Jesus moving toward the suffering and death on the cross and we give up things and we add more worship and offerings. The season of Easter challenges us to move through death and trust what it is we have to live for. But our feasting and celebratory rituals of Easter do not carry the same gusto or joy.
We’ve got our work cut out for us. I try to change up the treat tray for children’s sermons. We will have our cantate on The Day of Pentecost, May 19 and as well as a guest preacher. More information will come next week. We have so much to live for how can we fail to celebrate and be full of joy? Anybody want a “Sunkist” orange soda to remind you of how we have been “sonkisted”? I experienced such delight with our intergenerational time of learning and fellowship with our Generosity Project hosted by our Stewardship Committee. And this week we will celebrate with Mary Wanek as she retires from serving
children and looks forward to new life in retirement. I continue to wear the white stole and chasuble from Jerusalem. I slip it on right before Holy Communion and I feel all dressed up for the special occasion of the simple feast of bread and wine that Jesus has given to us. What do you do to enter into this season of great joy and delight?
Our refrain to the empty tomb is what we have to live for. Our refrain to the cross dressed in white linens is what we have to live for. Our refrain of repentance and forgiveness is what we have to live for. God the good gardener tends to us, and we have something very precious to live for.
In this Easter season, John’s gospel invites us into the metaphor of the last of the seven of Jesus’ “I AM” statements and the only one we are given a part in. God is the vinedresser. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branch. This picture is an astonishingly intertwined and intimate relationship. This is what is to die for and to live for. I hope you will play around with this metaphor to nurture you in this celebratory season of Easter as we bear witness to both what it is to die for and what it is to live for as Jesus paves the way forward for us. We live for Jesus and without Jesus we can do nothing and with Jesus the potential and possibilities are endless.
We are here today, these many centuries later because of the strength of the vine and branch and the care of the vinedresser. We branches are connected to the true vine and as we continue into John 15, Jesus further defines the relationship between the vine and the branch. It is not a servant relationship but a friendship with great love coursing through veins of this relationship.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
