April 28, 2024
Lectionary Texts
Acts 8. 26-40 — Phillip baptizes the Ethiopian eunuch
Psalm 22. 25-31 — Praise… “The poor shall eat and be satisfied. … Dominion belongs to the Lord.”
1 John 4. 7-21 — God is love. … There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear… We love because God first loved us.
John 15. 1-11 “I am the vine; you are the branches.”
Preaching Thoughts
Acts
Here we have a perfect example of the Body of Christ’s inclusivity: the Spirit leads Phillip to reach out to a foreign, non-gender conforming person of color. Work with that.
Psalm
This is the other half of “My God my God, why have you forsaken me?” It’s the trust that God actually hasn’t forsaken me. I just felt like it. As with all of the laments (but one), the cry of despair works into a cry of hope, thanksgiving and praise.
1 John
Again, the gospel in a nugget. We love because God first loved us.
I take John’s theology literally: God is love, and love is God. As the ancient saying goes, “Ubi caritas et amor, ibi Deus est:” wherever there is love and compassion, there is God. God is not just some loving guy up in heaven; God is love itself, the love that begets the world and saturates the world, and begets us, and holds us and lives in us. Whenever we love, that is God being God.
“God sent God’s Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Be careful with this. Maybe John really means God intends for Jesus to be slaughtered like a lamb to make up for our sins. I choose to see it differently: love motivates Jesus to sacrifice his own life, so we might experience deep trust in God. God is not someone who orders Jesus around, but love propels him into action. What atones for our sins is not that Jesus pays in punishment for them, but that his self-giving outweighs our alienation from God and allows us to be at one with God. Jesus occupies the place of condemnation, and suffers our worst evil, and God still loves him, and still loves and forgives us. Experiencing this love (in Jesus’ sacrifice), we can let go of the fear that makes us distrust God (our sin), and we can trust God (be “at-oned”).
John
Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” He also says “I am in God, and you are in me, and I am in you” (Jn. 14.20) Paul says “We are members of the Body of Christ.” John says “God lives in us.” I think we are all one Being. Righteousness is participating. Sin is thinking (and acting as if) we’re separate. We are not separate from Christ, but a part of Christ, and part of one another. Everybody is part of everybody. And by God’s love living in us we bear the fruit of that love in our own lives. We falter in our trust that we’re part of Christ, part of the embodiment of God’s love. That’s our sin. God’s response is purely to give us more love, to bring us back into harmony with God. The life of faith is one of continual mindfulness of coming back into harmony with the love that is at the heart of our being, and bearing the fruit of that love in our lives.
“God removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit God prunes to make it bear more fruit.” We prefer to hear about God tending us, feeding us, being gentle with us. It’s a little harder to realize God also prunes us. Whatever is not fruitful is removed for the health of what is fruitful. In a dying vine even the smallest tender shoot is the deepest hope of the vinegrower. Even if most of a tree is dead, it is pruned to save what is living, what is kind and hopeful and giving. If we are willing, God lovingly removes what is unkind, unloving, selfish and fearful in us. It’s not an easy little snip-snip. We have to willingly let go, over and over. But God works in us to prune what is not loving for the health of what is loving. The vinedresser tends each branch within you, the part in each of us that is unloving, ungiving, whatever is attached to what is dead. The death of what is unkind in us is the pruning by which the resurrection of love may come forth, small and green.
Call to Worship
1.
Leader: Living God, Root of Life, we grow and blossom from your heart.
All: You are the river; we are your flowing.
Loving Christ, Flowering of Love, we give thanks for the beauty of your grace.
You are the vine; we are your branches.
Holy Spirit, Fire of God, your love burns in us, and shines into the world.
We are your candle; you are the flame.
We belong to you; we worship you; we serve you. Alleluia!
2.
Leader: Christ, you are the vine and we are your branches.
All: Our life flows from you, and we give you thanks.
You are the vine and we are your branches.
Your love flows through us, and we praise you.
You are the vine and we are your branches.
We are one in you, and as one we worship you. Alleluia!
3.
Leader: Creator God, Tree of Life, Root of Love, we live in you.
All: We grow from you; we are rooted in you; we live within you.
Christ, our Vine, your life flows in us, your strength upholds us.
Our blossoming is your praise; our beauty is your glory.
Holy Spirit, love of God unfolding within us, you give us life.
Your presence swells our hearts, and your grace ripens within us.
Alleluia! Living Vine, fill us with your grace,
that we may bear fruit in your name, to your delight,
for the blessing of all the world. Alleluia!
4.
Leader: Creator God, we praise you!
All: Risen Christ, we greet you!
Tree of Life, we belong to you; we are part of you.
Vine of Love, we need you. You nourish us.
May we be deeply rooted in you,
your spirit flowing through us.
Abide in us, that we may bear the fruit of your love.
May your perfect love cast out our fear.
By your grace prune what is not loving in us.
Come, holy vinedresser, and renew your life in us.
Come, Holy Spirit, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!
5. [From 1 John 4.7-13]
Leader: Beloved, what love the father has given us, that we should be called children of God.
All: God, we thank you.
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent the Beloved into the world so that we might live through Christ
Christ, we greet you.
By this we know that we abide in God and God in us because God has given us of God’s spirit.
Holy Spirit, we are alive by your power.
We worship by your grace.
Collect / Prayer of the Day
1.
Christ, you are the living vine. May your presence give us life, your Word give us wisdom, and your grace flow through us that we may bear fruit in the Spirit of your love. Amen.
2.
God of love, we give thanks for our unity in you. In one Spirit, by your one grace, we worship, we pray, and we listen for your Word. Make us one in your love, one in Christ, and one in service to the world, through your one Spirit. Amen.
3.
God of love,
may the flower of your delight
and the fruit of your compassion
grow in us as we hear your Word.
Amen.
4.
Loving God, you are the vine and we are your branches. Our life flows from you. Our very being is yours. By your Spirit in us, we root ourselves deeply in your presence, and receive your Word. Bless us that your grace may flow through us, that we may bear the fruits of your Spirit. We pray in the name of Christ, in the Presence of Christ, as the Body of Christ. Amen.
5.
Faithful God, you bring us forth into life and nourish us like a mother. You give us the gift of Jesus, who tends us like a gentle shepherd. You fill us with your Spirit, so that we live in you and love with your love. We thank you for your grace, and pray that in hearing your Word we may be drawn more deeply from death into life eternal. We pray in the name of Christ, who is with us now. Amen.
6.
God of Truth, you are the vine and we are your branches. Root us in your Word, so that our life flows from you. Prune the branches in us that do not bear fruit, and nourish the fruit we bear, so that we may be faithful to your love. May your love flow through us, so that we may bear the fruits of your grace, in the name of Christ. Amen.
7.
O God, you are the vine and we are your branches. Our life springs from you. Our souls are rooted in you; our bodies rise from your heart. Your Spirit flows through us, and our lives are part of you. As our lives fill with your love and our spirits swell with your blessing, we bear fruit. We blossom with joy, and bear the fruit of love in your world. We celebrate, O God, and we open our hearts that by your grace we may receive and give your love more freely. Amen.
Listening Prayer
(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)
Loving One
you are the vine;
we your branches.
Your Spirit flows through us,
your Word lives in us.
We open the veins of our souls
that your grace may flow freely.
May your grace bear fruit in us.
Prayer of Confession
1.
The grace of God be with you.
And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
God of life, you are the vine, and we are your branches.
But we confess that we have tried to live separate from you.
We have not rooted ourselves in you, or opened ourselves
to your life and your spirit and your power flowing through us,
your love and your beauty blossoming in us.
Our lives become dry and fruitless.
God of life, we desire to be rooted in you, joined to you, part of you.
Return us; forgive us, fill us again with your life,
Silent prayer… The word of grace
More Prayers
1.
Christ, living vine,
be my life.
Let my life flow from you,
from your heart to mine.
My soul is rooted in you;
my very being is your being.
I am rooted in your love;
your love alone gives me life.
Let my love be your love,
flowing through me.
Let my life be the fruit of your presence,
my thoughts the vessels of your grace,
my deeds the movements of your spirit.
Let me receive the life that is rooted
with all others in you.
Prune all of me that does not bear your fruit;
though I cry out, I willingly surrender it.
My life is in you,
and your life is in me.
Christ, living vine, be my life,
and I will be your living branch,
your life-giving fruit.
Amen.
2.
God, this is love,: that you first loved us.
We receive your love.
Silence…
If we love one another, God lives in us,
and God’s love is perfected in us.
Dwell in us God,
and perfect your love in us.
Silence…
Beloved, since God so loves us
we ought to love one another.
Your love flows out through us
to all the world.
Silence…
There is no fear in love,
but perfect love casts out fear.
By your love cast out our fear
and perfect your love in us.
Silence…
Poetry
Vine and Branches
Holy One, you are the living vine
and every creature is a branch of you.
All whom I see are branches of you.
We are all one living being. One.
I am your branch.
Beyond believing, un-understandably,
I belong to you.
I live in you.
I grow from you.
Your life flows through me.
I bear your fruit.
Your juices run in me.
I bear you forth in the scent of my blossoms.
You are beautiful in me.
Mmmm, what beauty!
Ah! What wonder.
My, what a gift.
Vine and branches
Does the branch pray to the tree?
Does the little limb think
of the great root buried in its grave,
the wine poured up
through the sturdy chalice of the trunk?
Does the leaf seek the will
of the seed, or contemplate
the shape of the body,
the arms spread out over the earth?
Does the bud seek guidance
or understand its place
in the miracles and teachings of the seasons?
I don’t know about that;
only this:
in the branch the leaf opens,
the blossom unfolds,
the fruit swells.
Response / Creed / Affirmation
1. From 1 John 4.7-21
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God.
Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
You can’t know God without being loving, because love is God.
God’s love was revealed among us in this way:
God sent God’s Only Begotten into the world
so that we might live through Christ.
In this is love, not that we loved God
but that God loved us
and sent the Only Begotten to heal our alienation from God.
Since God loves us so much, we also love one another.
No one has ever seen God;
if we love one another, God lives in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in God and God in us:
because God has given us of God’s Spirit.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear;
for fear has to do with coercion,
and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars;
for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen,
cannot love God whom they have not seen.
We love because God first loved us.
The commandment we have from God is this:
we who love God must love our brothers and sisters also.
2.
O God, Creator and Source of all, you are the Tree of Life. We live in you, and we desire always to be in communion with you, deeply rooted in you, flourishing in your grace.
O Christ, you are the vine and we are your branches. One with God and one with us, you are our Root, our Savior, our Life. In your life and ministry and your death and resurrection you bear the fruit of God in perfect love. In your grace you cast out our fear. You gather us in communion with God and one another, transform us by your Spirit flowing through us, and send us into the world in service for the sake of love and justice.
O Holy Spirit, Life of God in us, we live by your power and beauty. We blossom with your grace. You make us the Body of Christ, one with you and with all Creation, one in resurrection, one in forgiveness, one in the mystery of eternal life. Therefore we devote ourselves to you, that bearing the fruit of your love, we may glorify you, so that your joy may be in us, and our joy may be complete. Amen.
3.
We believe in God, the Root of all living, Creator of all things.
We live in Christ Jesus, God’s Son, who loved all people and who makes us one in his love. He suffered and died, and was raised on the third day. In his death and resurrection we are also raised to new life. Christ is our Vine and we are his branches, and without him we cannot live.
We live by the Holy Spirit, flowing through us so that we may bear fruit for God, the fruit of love, the fruit of justice, beauty and joy. In the Spirit we are one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world. Amen.
Eucharistic Prayer
[After the introduction, the body of the prayer may be read responsively with the presiding leader(s) and congregation, or by the leader(s) alone.]
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.
Christ, you are the vine and we are your branches.
Eternal Love, we spring from you.
Nothing can separate us from your love, for we are part of you.
You hold us when we stray and when we falter.
As the scattered seeds are made into one loaf,
as the many branches grow from the one vine:
we are one with you and with all your beloved.
You set us free from all that oppresses us,
from all that diminishes love or the wholeness of life.
You prune what is unloving in us,
so that in us your love may flourish and bear fruit.
We come to this table to feast on the fruit of your love in Christ.In one voice with all Creation we sing your praise.
[Sanctus, spoken or sung:]
Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
Hosanna in the highest.
[or alternate version]
Blessed are all who come in your name, and blessed is Jesus your Christ;
he loved us so that we may love.He forgave us so that we may trust.
His perfect love casts out our fear.
He made us into one Vine, one Body, in your Spirit,
a community of love and forgiveness
that includes everyone of every race and nation,
every gender, every place on the journey of life.
He was crucified and buried; the vine was cut down.
But you raised him to new life, and the vine lives on in us.
(The Blessing and Covenant) *
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.
Therefore, remembering these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
[Memorial Acclamation, spoken or sung:]
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
—or—
Dying, Christ destroyed our death. Rising, Christ restores our life.
Christ will come again in glory.
[or alternative]
Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts, O God,
that they may be for us the Body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pour out your Spirit on us, that we may be renewed as your people,
the Vine of your Love, the Body of Christ.
You are the vine and we are your fruit.
May your spirit flow through us as sap through the vine,
that we may bear the fruit of your love in this world.
By your Spirit in us may we be perfected in your love.
Make us one with you, one with each other and one with all Creation,
for the sake of the wholeness of the world,
in the name and the Spirit of Christ.
[Spoken or sung]
Amen.
_____________________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]
On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.
Prayer of Dedication / Sending / after Communion
[Adapt as needed.]
1.
Gracious God, we thank you for (the mystery that you give yourself to us / this mystery in which you have given yourself to us.) We are one in your spirit, and one in service to the world. May your grace flow through us that we may bear the fruit of your love in this world, for the sake of the coming of your Realm, in the name of Christ. Amen.
2.Gracious God, we thank you for (the mystery that you give yourself to us / this mystery in which you have given yourself to us.) You love us perfectly and cast out all fear. May we then love one another and all the world without fear, in the name of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
3.
Gracious God, we thank you for (the mystery that you give yourself to us / this mystery in which you have given yourself to us.) May your love flow through us, and your beauty blossom in us. By your Spirit may we bear your fruit in this world, and offer your love to all in the name and the Sprit of Christ. Amen.
Suggested Songs
(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)
Offering Song (Tune: This Is my Father’s World)
[Included in Offering Songs,a collection of one-verse songs to familiar hymn tunes.]
We give our gifts, O God, as branches of your vine.
The lives we live, the gifts we give spring from your grace divine.
So may we do your will, in all we say and do,
the fruit we bear, the love we share, flow from our life in you.
Vine and Branches (Original song)
You are the vine and we are your branches,
one with your life and rooted in your heart.
Flowing with grace, with life you fill us,
strengthened that nothing can break us apart.
You are the vine and we are your branches.
Deep in our hearts your life is flowing through.
Rooted in you, we grow and flourish.
You live within us, and we live in you.
You are the vine and we are your branches.
One common blood flows through all of our veins.
We all are part of one another.
We all are branches of one living vine.
You are the vine and we are your branches,
flowing with power greater than our own,
bearing your fruit to all Creation,
till all the seeds of your love have been sown.