Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
I Am the True Vine with Pastor Ryan Braley
The ancient world valued gardens as rare treasures belonging only to kings and the wealthy. These weren't merely beautiful spaces but powerful symbols of divine blessing, order over chaos, and sacred communion. When Jesus declares "I am the true vine," he taps into this rich imagery that runs through Scripture from Eden to the New Jerusalem.
What does it mean to be connected to this true vine? Through captivating garden symbolism and practical horticultural wisdom from a guest gardener, this message reveals how we're designed to be "mini gardens" and "mini temples"—living spaces where God's presence dwells and flourishing occurs naturally. Yet this flourishing requires pruning.
The master gardener knows exactly which parts need trimming—those dead branches that look like they're giving life but actually block it, growing inward rather than outward, preventing light from penetrating. These might be chronic comparison, negative self-talk, unforgiveness, or desperate striving for approval. They're incompatible with being fully yourself and need to be removed.
Our responsibility isn't to produce fruit through frantic effort but simply to remain connected to the source. As we abide in Christ, fruit happens naturally. This Lenten season invites us to surrender to the pruning process, trusting that temporary discomfort leads to greater flourishing. The Father knows exactly what needs to be cut away so that we can become fully ourselves—flourishing gardens bearing witness to the life-giving presence of the true vine.
Are you willing to let go of what's blocking your growth? The divine gardener is ready to help you discover what it means to be fully alive, fully yourself, as you remain connected to the source of all life.
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Okay, this morning we are in the middle of our actually we're towards the end, and Jesus says I am the true vine. Now there's this kind of language about vines and plants and vineyards and gardens and life in these kinds of ways. All throughout the scripture. In fact, the Bible opens with a story about a garden. What's a garden? But a bunch of plants that flower and grow and water and these kinds of things and the Bible's full of garden imagery.
Speaker 1:In fact, in the ancient Near East and here's probably why in the ancient Near East, if you owned a garden, they were very rare gardens were. They're very precious, especially in arid regions like Israel, which was mostly desert. So if you had a garden in these kinds of places, it was very rare, they were very precious because it took a lot of work to have a garden. You had to cultivate that thing, you had to water it. You had to have a water source like a river or a spring that would water your garden. You need to protect it from wild animals. If you didn't protect it with like a fence, it became, you know, an all-you-can-eat buffet for the local goats and that's not good. You want to keep that thing safe, so you had to have, you had to cultivate it, you had to have water to water it, you had to have it protected with a fence, which took money. And so not anybody had a garden, only the wealthy and the sort of elite, the ones who were secure and stable and who had resources. These were the folks who had gardens. So if you had a garden, if you were lucky enough to have a garden in the ancient world plants and life and these kinds of things it meant that you weren't struggling. It meant that you were doing okay in life, that you had resources and you had money and you had some things to throw at this. Maybe you had some servants that were working it as well.
Speaker 1:In the modern world, the Kardashians. They have their beauty brands. In the ancient world, they had gardens with scented myrrh trees and perfumed water. It ancient world, they had gardens with scented myrrh trees and perfumed water. It's the same vibe as the Kardashians, just less Instagram, you know, although if they did have Instagram back then they would have undoubtedly used the hashtag Garden of Flexin or Horticouture. Okay, that one worked. Okay, I'll write that one down If you don't know who the Kardashians were or are. They're like a modern version of Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor. Okay, there you go, and if you're here and don't know who that is, just stick with the Kardashians, you're fine. If you don't know who that is, here's.
Speaker 1:For example, this is a picture of one of the ancient seven wonders of the world. Anybody know what that is? It's a garden. It's actually a mythical garden. I, the world. Anybody know what that is. It's a garden. It's actually a mythical garden. I don't know if it really existed, but it's the hanging gardens of Babylon. But look at that thing. It's incredible.
Speaker 1:Gardens were extremely precious and they were very rare. Gardens, of course, were places you could walk, you could enjoy quiet, you could find true rest in gardens, because you could sit and enjoy life without fear of anything. They were walled off. They were places that were protected. So kings had gardens. Kings had gardens because they had resources, they had wealth, they had prominent staff that could man these gardens.
Speaker 1:Temples had gardens, often right outside their walls, and of course they would, because gardens were also deeply symbolic. They symbolized a couple of things. Here's four they symbolized order over chaos, that whoever the king was in that kingdom, or whatever God was being worshipped in that temple, that king or that God had the capacity to tame nature. So it was a symbol If you had a garden with plants and they were vibrant and they were alive, that there was order over chaos, you could tame nature. These gardens also symbolized divine blessing. If you had a garden and you had a nice, luscious garden, it was like a symbol that God had blessed you and blessed your space. It was also a symbol of the ideal world. How things were ordered in the garden or a garden was like a symbol of how things were meant to be. It was an idyllic picture of the world. There was flourishing of life and water and sustenance and calm and rest and leisure and these kinds of things.
Speaker 1:And then, lastly, it was a symbol of worship, where you could go to these places. You could find time for reflection. You had time because you were wealthy and had means. You could pray, you could reflect, you could worship whatever gods you worship. You go to these places and you would worship God and the gods in these spaces, in these gardens. They would be intimate and they were close and they were at hand. This, of course, is why the garden in Eden by the way, eden was the place, this region In Eden was a little garden that had a wall around it. It was protected. Yeah, this story is a deeply symbolic story of the king of all kings who's establishing his temple here on earth. Do you see that? Now, kings and gardens and temples are always interconnected in the Bible. So whenever you see kings and gardens and temples, this is what's going on.
Speaker 1:Eden was to be a place of divine blessing and order over chaos. Here I'll go back so you remember. And it was an ideal world, how things were supposed to be structured. And the divine presence himself walked with them in the garden. He didn't run with them. No, you walk in gardens because gardens are places of rest and leisure and they would worship God and they would commune together with God.
Speaker 1:These people in this space, in this garden, they weren't afraid of anything. They weren't afraid of dying. They weren't afraid of anything. They weren't afraid of dying. They weren't afraid of being attacked because they were protected. There was no sense of scarcity. They had all they needed, all they wanted. They had everything. They communed with God. It was leisure, true and real rest. These humans were flourishing. They were allowed to be fully themselves, how they were intended to be. The created sort of intention of them was lived out in this place called the garden. Of course they would In this garden. This temple for the king of kings is what they were doing. So the Garden of Eden was this image of a temple for the god king of kings, yahweh in this case, as he's called later, here on earth.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, the humans are exiled from this garden and they're sort of kicked out and they leave it. Now what they learn is that God is with them as they go. But also there is this sense that from that point on in the story, from Genesis 3 on, the whole rest of the Bible is filled with this deep human longing and ache to go back, to find this order over chaos, to be at rest, to be full of themselves, to be alive and sustained and nourished in deep and meaningful ways. The whole rest of the Bible is trying to find our way back to paradise. By the way, later on the Greeks translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek and the word they used for garden anybody know what it is it's the word paradisos. We get the word paradise from this. Of course, paradise and gardens are synonymous in the text in the Bible, which means when Jesus says today you will see me in paradise. To the thief on the cross he could be saying today you will see me and be with me in the garden, the place of rest, the place of my presence and order over chaos, the ideal space. You'll be with me there today and you can find your rest. That's why we say rest in peace or rest in power.
Speaker 1:Some of the young kids say, years later, king Solomon, when they're in exile. Solomon builds a temple. Temples, kings, gardens is what you do, and in this temple, as it's shaped and formed, it's very clear, if you read the scriptures, that Solomon is rebuilding Eden. There's all kinds of signs that mimic the creation of the Eden story, so there's flowers carved into the sides of these stones, there's palm trees all around this place, and actually, the layout of the temple, solomon's temple, mimics the Garden of these stones. There's palm trees all around this place, and actually, the layout of the temple, solomon's temple, mimics the Garden of Eden and a garden layout. What's he doing? He's recreating Eden. Of course he would. He's Solomon. His father was a king. He's a wise man. He longs for deeply the recreation of Eden, the divine presence, rest, wholeness, holiness.
Speaker 1:Now, this temple, though, is, of course, just a symbol, because he, after building it himself, says this but will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, it can't contain you, how much less than the temple that I've built. So he's like oh well, god, I built a temple for you, this place of the ideal and how things are supposed to be, and rest and leave, but you can't really dwell in that place. You dwell in the whole thing. So this temple is a symbol of you dwell, but also you dwell in this whole thing. David knew this when he wrote earlier the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, all who live in it, the whole spirit of God dwells in the whole thing. So the whole thing is a temple, the whole thing is a garden, the place to be flourishing, where humans can be full of themselves, of rest and leisure, order over chaos, divine blessing, the ideal and reflection and worship and the presence of God. That's what it's supposed to be.
Speaker 1:Jesus, of course, many years later, shows up and uses language of gardens and a king and temples. He says this by the way, destroy this temple and I'll rebuild it in three days. And they're standing outside of the second temple. What's he talking about, though he's not talking about the building. What does he mean? His body. Well, if you're a Jew, he's saying he's the temple. What does that mean? By the way, it's out of order, but I want to go here now. So hold on, hang tight, hang tight, close your eyes, close your eyes. Oh, hang on, is that it? No, hang on, hang on, keep your eyes closed. We've got a long way to go, you guys. Okay, here we go. By the way, when he's crucified, he's crowned as a king. So you have the temple language, his king language.
Speaker 1:Then, when he's resurrected, it says this as this after she turned around, mary goes to the tomb to find Jesus, the tomb, which is now an open door, and she sees him standing there, and he asks her woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for? She thinks he's a what? Of course she does. They're in the garden again, and this garden, from which they were exiled long ago, now has an open door. Okay, what's he saying?
Speaker 1:Well, through Jesus, now, god's presence will dwell amongst us once again, in a new and fresh way, that this man is the true gardener of the whole creation, not just in this place in Eden, not in a temple that's sold, but the whole thing now. He will garden it, bring life, he'll cultivate it and take care of it. Yeah, this new garden. And, by the way, the door's open and so anybody can be a part of this garden if you want to be part of it. Yeah, this is what he's doing here. It includes the whole creation, and you and I will once again, I'm going to go backwards, so hang tight are allowed and made to be able to be fully ourselves, to fully flourish, to find leisure and rest and peace and grace in an ideal world, these kind of things. So the Bible goes on then, even more deeply, to say things like this later on.
Speaker 1:I don't have time for it, but you are actually now also a dwelling place for God. The presence of God lives and dwells in you like a temple, which means that you're a temple. You're like a little mini temple running around. You know that you house the presence of God. Also, you're to be a place of rest and leisure and sustenance and protection. You're also a mini garden running around. Did you know that that's what you're like? You're a mini garden running around. Did you know that that's what you're like? You're a mini garden, mini temple running around this place.
Speaker 1:Here's the question, though. Here's the tension. Uh, do you feel like that, a place of order over chaos in your life, a place of divine blessing, a place like your life, if I were to look at, like the ideal how, how human beings should flourish and look, do you feel like you can have times of deep reflection and worshiping God? Do you feel like a temple? Look, some days I'm just doing the best I can to not swear at my neighbor or yell at my boss or kick my dog. You know what I mean. I don't always feel like a temple or a garden. Here's the question, though why, if that's what we're designed to be, why are we not fully who we're supposed to be? What's going on? This great thinker, robert Farrar Capon, says this I love it, and then we'll jump into something else here. He says this, not that. He says uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, here we go here's what he says.
Speaker 1:Okay, he says for a plant, the failure to bear fruit is not a punishment visited on it by the seed. So when you don't bear fruit, it's not a punishment from the seed, but it's an unhappy declination, like a decline on the plant's part from what the seed had in mind for it. So the seed seed had this idea, this intention for what this plant would be, and the plant fails to be a part of that. It's a decline from what it was supposed to be. It's a missing of its own fullness, its own maturity, even in some deep sense of its own life. It's the same with us. We simply fail to become ourselves at all. So here's, then, the context of John 15. This is what he says I'm the true vine, my father's the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so it'll be even more fruitful. You are already clean. He tells the disciples, because of the word I've spoken to you Remain in me. I will also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. He goes on to say I'm the vine, you're the branches. If you remain in me and I and you, you will bear much fruit. That's the secret. Apart from me, you can't do anything. If you remain in me, you're like a branch that is thrown in the. If you do not remain in me, you're like a branch thrown away and withers, and these branches are picked up, they're dry and they're dead and they're thrown into the fire and they're burned. Because what else are they good for? If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish to be done for you. This is my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to the disciples Now.
Speaker 1:Now, I'm not a gardener, so I brought one to talk with us this morning. Would that be all right? Would you give some love to my friend Dorinda? Dorinda, yeah, come on up, dorinda. This is my friend Dorinda, and I heard a while ago that she's really an avid gardener. I'm like you've got to come and share about gardening with us to help this text come alive a bit this morning. So I said, dorinda, read this text as a gardener and as a Christian and tell me what are some of your thoughts. So here she is, and so thank you for being here. Is your mic on? Yes, wonderful? Okay, so this is our plant, and what do plants need to flourish?
Speaker 2:They need light.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have you come up over this way.
Speaker 2:There we go, light and good soil and they need water and they need to be in the right place in the garden and they need some plants need to be pruned to be to give it to make them look the best and be the healthiest they can be.
Speaker 1:Okay, so plants need pruning. So, talking about pruning and trimming, how in the world does that help a plant? Because I mean pruning and trimming. I'm not a gardener, but if I'm cutting the plant out, that seems like I'm doing harm and hazard to the plant. Is that not the case?
Speaker 2:Not no.
Speaker 1:Okay, tell me about pruning and trimming.
Speaker 2:Well, depending on what the plant is.
Speaker 1:This is a flourishing rose, bush. It's a lovely rose, thank you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so like roses and vines. Okay, they are two types of plants. Well, especially vines, they actually bear fruit. Roses they get their flowers, but they need to be trimmed off at certain times so it can put all of its energy into making flowers. Basically.
Speaker 1:Okay, so there's energy in the soil that's kind of coming up through the roots into the plant. Yes, yep, and so when I trim off some of the branches, that energy doesn't go there any longer, right, okay?
Speaker 2:If you cut it in the right spot, there's a bud there and then the energy will go into the bud to make that open and have a rose and be fruitful in that way. What?
Speaker 1:do you see here?
Speaker 2:There's buds at the top. I feel guilty cutting those out, okay.
Speaker 1:Well, you mentioned that. Sometimes the buds, which is the flowering part, it'll be pointing the wrong direction. What does that mean? I didn't cutting those out? Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Well, you mentioned that there are sometimes the buds, which is the flowering part.
Speaker 1:Yes, it'll be pointing the wrong direction.
Speaker 2:Right. What does that mean? I didn't know about this.
Speaker 2:Well, there are, because roses can get fairly big and so it just wants to make leaves and wants to make flowers. So sometimes buds will be towards the inside of the stem Okay, and that's fine. But if all the buds and all the stems come inward then it blocks the light, it's poor circulation for the air to get around, so there can be fungus and disease that gets in it and it just eventually will not be a healthy plant anymore and it won't have flowers. It won't do what it's supposed to do.
Speaker 1:I don't want to make too much of a plant life here, but, like, the buds that grow inward are the ones that have to go. Did you catch that? And they block the light from the outside and they become full of fungus and decay. So you catch that, and they block the light from the outside. They become full of fungus and decay. So those ones that are kind of growing in on themselves, by the way, also plants want to or the rose bushes want to get big and large. Such an egotistical plant, if you ask me. Okay, so you cut those off, and you told me that that sometimes makes you nervous when you cut these off.
Speaker 2:Yes, because it's growing yeah, yeah you can see that it's growing like that's life there.
Speaker 1:The bud is life. Why would I cut that off, right, yeah?
Speaker 2:and so I don't know, maybe I, maybe not all gardeners feel that guilt, but I feel that guilt. Um, it's when it when you, when it looks dead, that's not a problem I mean, you know you have to get rid of it right, but when it's growing and Right, but when it's growing and there's buds on it, it's just kind of like, okay, I'm going to cut this and you know, am I doing the right thing, Is it? You know?
Speaker 1:is it going?
Speaker 2:to survive? Or am I cutting too much or not?
Speaker 1:enough. Yeah, some things in the plant look like they're life, but they've got to go because they're actually blocking or robbing life or growing in the wrong direction. Some things aren't bad, they're just going in the wrong direction, right, okay, excellent. Now you said that you don't trim all your long, you don't prune all your long and you don't prune half of the thing. So when do you prune and how much do you cut off?
Speaker 2:Well, typically most of the time, you prune for growth in the spring. So just as it's coming out of dormancy and it's just starting to grow, that's when you can see the buds that you want to trim up to or whatever. You don't trim it all the way down.
Speaker 2:most of the time you trim maybe half to a third, just so it still is healthy enough and it doesn't have to support to come all the way back from from being cut really short. So you just cut a little bit, um, and then also you just look at each individual stem and decide if it's, the buds are in the right direction, um, if it's, if it's good and healthy. If it's thicker, then you can. Um, if you see the bud, then you can trim it to that bud and you know you. Just you have a good idea of what's going to look, okay, good so did you catch this?
Speaker 1:that the? Uh, there's a season for pruning. You know, the thing isn't being pruned all the time. It's like just these moments where and also you don't like hack at it you very gently, just like a little bit at a time. Uh, like a master gardener, a gentle gardener, would just trim off a little bit at a time. It's too overwhelming to do it all at once. You following me? Okay, now you talked about this is a rose bush. What about vines? So in the ancient world there have been a lot of vines. Jesus is talking about vines, which is like grapes and grape vines, that kind of thing. So how is a vine maybe different? Or what do you think about?
Speaker 2:it Well, I'm not a professional.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's okay. You can tell them that you are. They don't know anything different.
Speaker 2:Anybody, but typically a grapevine. They want it to have one main leader stock whatever and then a few branches that go off the sides of it. That is the ideal because it once again it puts the energy into growing on those. The side shoots for the same thing. It's for air circulation, for the plant to put the energy into the right place, and also for ease of harvesting the grapes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, okay, yeah. So now are these? These are roses here. This is actual rose budding here, yeah, okay. And then down over here, there's one over there. I think so. But if the plant isn't careful which I would say, this is like the intention of the plant like to bloom roses, right, okay. But if the plant isn't careful, actually it'll start to shade itself out and it won't be able to fully be what it's supposed to be, right, and it won't be able to fully be what it's supposed to be.
Speaker 2:Is that what you would say? Yeah, and also, a rose knows it needs to bloom. But, if it has too many blooms, they're not good blooms. I mean they're smaller and they don't look as nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so when you trim or when you prune, the ideal is to get it to look fuller, to look more healthy, to be beautiful. So that's it kind of depends. If you want to have a good, healthy looking, large bloom, you trim it back.
Speaker 1:You trim it back and turn it. Okay, okay, anything else you want to share with us that comes to mind?
Speaker 2:If you want to learn more about God, you should be a gardener.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, any gardeners in the house? Okay, awesome, would you give Dorinda some love this morning? Thank you, dorinda, I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:Lovely.
Speaker 1:I love it. Yeah, that's it. So that's you. By the way, jesus says I'm the vine, you're the branches. And he says remain in me. So how does one flourish as a human being? How do we become these fully flourishing gardens or mini temples, places where the Spirit of God kind of flourishes? Well, remain, jesus says. And John, just remain in me, abide in me, I'll abide in you.
Speaker 1:I'm going to do some trimming on you and it might be scary at first because you got. You know there's some things coming off of you that you didn't want to let go of or let be trimmed off. But let me do it. I'm the master gardener. You don't know what you're doing yet. You know I'll take care of it and I'll prune the things and it looks like nothing will grow back. But don't panic, just trust me, I'll take care of it and I promise I know what I'm doing. Things will grow again and I'm just helping you to be fully yourself. There are things in you that got to come out. They got to, got to go because it's innate, it's disabling you from being full yourself.
Speaker 1:So Jesus says remain in me and I'll remain in you. In other words, you could also say it this way. Hey, don't wander off, you know. Just don't wander off, just hang around. The sheep, he says look, remain in me and I in you. Where are they already? Where are they? They're in Jesus, and where is Jesus? Where is Jesus? He's in them. So just stay where you are, remain in me and I'll remain in you. By the way, how does a sheep end up in the pen with the shepherd? Well, the shepherd adopts him or her and then repeatedly goes to rescue him or her when they wander off and fall into holes or off cliffs. If you were here last week, so that's what he's doing. John 14, so one chapter earlier, he says this because I live in you, jesus says to them and you also live in me, you'll also live. On that day, you'll realize that I'm in the Father and you are in me and I am in you. There's like this mutual indwelling I'm in you, you're in me, I'm in the Father, the Father's in me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just remain where you are, and if you do, you will produce much fruit. It's a natural byproduct of being connected to the vine, to the main stock that Doreen was talking about. If you just hang out, let me do my work in you remain there, be open to what I'm doing, let go of the things I'm trying to take out of you. Naturally you will just very naturally you'll produce fruit. I mean, does this plant seem like it's trying really hard to produce a rose? Do plants struggle to produce fruit? No, they just produce fruit if they're in the good soil and there's water and there's someone taking care of it and pruning it and they remain in the soil. If you take that out of the soil, it won't produce fruit, but otherwise it's a very natural byproduct to produce fruit.
Speaker 1:But apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you cannot be full of yourself. Apart from me, things will die. I was out in my garden yesterday. I don't really have a garden but I've got just some landscaping and I had to get my black-eyed Susans out. Like this is, I can't make a table out of this. This is good for nothing other than making a mess. My bad, yeah. What are you going to do with this? I could burn.
Speaker 1:This Fire is a deeply symbolic image for judgment in the Bible, but he's the fire that burns but doesn't consume us. There are things in you incompatible with life. They've got to go. You've got to let them go. Maybe it's your own sort of chronic comparison, comparing yourself to other people. Maybe it's your negative self-talk that's got to go. Maybe it's your addictions, things that just latch into you. Maybe it's anger, bitter resentment. Maybe it's jealousy, judgment of others, trying to inspect everyone else's fruit, not worry about your own fruit, you know. Maybe it's unforgiveness that has to go.
Speaker 1:And what are the dead things in you? They gotta go Because it's blocking life, it's robbing you of life and they're only good for burning up in a fire. Maybe it's you striving really hard to be a good person. If I just do X, y or Z, I'll finally be welcomed and loved by people. It's your pride, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Whatever it is, it's not really good for anything other than burning in the fire, because it's dead, it's not full of life. So there are parts of you that you're clinging on to that you think are giving you life, but they're not. They're dead branches. They're sucking the nutrients out of your life, and maybe there are some buds that look like life, but they're going in the wrong direction. Ask a friend, they'll tell you what those things are, by the way. Or ask your pastor I'll tell you too. They need to go. Let the Father, the good gardener, let him trim them. These dead parts are dead and they're only good for fire because they're incompatible with being full of yourself. You're fully and liberated self. So maybe you're here today. I got a boogie because I'm going to wrap things up.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're here today and you're like I need to let the Father trim things out of me dead things. Maybe you know what they are. It's time to let them go. Let them come and trim them out of there. It might hurt a little bit, it might feel uncomfortable. I don't know if anything's going to grow back. Trust him, but also notice. Either way, there's some pruning and trimming that happens. He tells the disciples you're already clean and pure and you're already producing fruit. I'm going to trim you some more, because plants that are producing fruit are vibrant and life-giving and they also have to be pruned. Maybe you're here today like I don't have much dead stuff in there. I don't think I'm maybe, but uh, I've been producing fruit, but, but.
Speaker 1:But god wants to prune you even more. Maybe that's you. You gotta just get ready for him to prune you some more in order that you will produce more fruit. There's more things that God wants to do in your life. Your job, I'll remind you, is just to abide and remain.
Speaker 1:Here's how the Bible ends, by the way it opens with a garden. There's a garden, rest and peace and leisure, and there's all kinds of talks about gardens and kings and temples, and you guys rest and leisure and the divine and the ideal, the presence of God, the blessing of God, and he'll prune you and help you be a flourishing sort of version of yourself, so you can be fully yourself and fully alive. Because we're in the in-between too, where it's still a tension. There's still dead things in me. I've got to get them out, I've got to have these things pruned up. But one day all these things will come to a close, and here's what Revelation says.
Speaker 1:By the way, this book also ends with a garden, the end of the Bible. The angel showed me a river of water of life as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb of God will be in the city and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face and His name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more nights, there will not be more light to the light of the lamp or of the sun, for the Lord, god will give them light and they will reign forever and ever as kings and queens. In the garden once again, the temple, the house of God. We end where we began in the garden Central Lutheran Church.
Speaker 1:May you remain connected to the Father, to Jesus. May you allow the Father, the good gardener, the vine dresser, to come and to prune the dead things out of you. This is what this season is all about the season of Lent Letting go, repenting, turning away from these things that don't give life, letting the Father come prune them out of us. Maybe you're here, just let the Father prune the parts that are producing fruit. May you not worry about other people's fruit or even your own fruit. You don't have to try to produce, just remain and abide and let him take the things out of you that he wants to take out of you. He knows better and today may you experience in some small ways this idea of rest and garden and temple and to be full of yourself. Amen.
