Presbymom

  Last week we talked about twisty vines on which we are the branches – branches hanging onto Jesus, The True Vine. We dug into how we abide with God talking about the nuance of that Greek word ‘mineo’ – abide, to remain, stay with me. If we abide in God, God abides in us. This scripture from John is the continuation of Jesus’ speech to his disciples at the last supper. If you were looking at a red-line Bible, you know the ones that put Jesus’ words in red, this would be Jesus all over the page. Jesus commanding us, his friends. Listen for God’s word, listen to God’s Word as he speaks to us. John 15:9-17 9  “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  10  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  11  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  12  My command is this: Love each other as I have...

  These words from John come to us from Jesus’ Farewell Discourse at the Last Supper right after he had washed the disciples’ feet. It is also the last of the “I am” statements we hear in John. John 15:1-8   “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.  2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.  3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.  4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.  5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.  6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and i...

  This Sunday is often called Good Shepherd Sunday. I hope the lectionary texts speak for themselves with why that is. The first scripture we read is from 1 John, and now we turn to the gospel of John. It is thought that The First Letter of John was written in 100CE by followers of a Johannine school. The gospel itself is thought to have been written by a disciple of the apostle John – one who wrote John’s teachings. Hearing things aloud wasn’t and isn’t always enough. The tie between the two books – John the gospel and 1 John the letter is that the letter expounds on and teaches the new Christian churches what the gospel means and how to live into it. Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees who argued about why he healed the blind man and then had trouble understanding his parables about a shepherd and a gate. Hear now God’s Word from the gospel as Jesus elaborates to the pharisees what he meant by a story about a shepherd entering through the gate and the sheep following because ...