Streams of Mercy

Yesterday we gathered in the sanctuary for worship for the first time in fourteen months. Wearing masks, sitting in family groups, and observing social distancing, together we worshipped with joy in being together again.

After months of keeping on keeping on; months of just trying to make it through all that’s been going on in our world; months of separation from loved ones and friends and from familiar ways of being and doing; after months of remote learning and working from home, Zoom meetings, conference calls and face-timing with friends and family near and far; after months of dealing with the pandemic and with calls to confront injustice in our land - Jesus’ call to “abide in his love” was a welcome invitation.

“Abide in my love,” Jesus says. To abide in Jesus’ love is to stay with, to remain close to, to settle into a loving relationship with, to make a home with, to allow him to direct all that we do and say, and to fill every moment we live. It’s abiding in love that teaches us how to love. As we abide in love, we grow our love to become a shelter for one another, and together we do the hard work of putting our faith and love into action for the good of all people.

“I am the true vine,” says Jesus, “and you are the branches.” The image of the vine and branches describes Christian life as a community of loving interrelation where we give and receive love and grow and become more able to live and share that love. We are called to be a community of vine branches, connected to Jesus, the true vine, and rooted deeply in the heart of God, our true place of belonging.

After months without seeing one another and being the church in familiar ways through gatherings for worship, study and fellowship together, the reminder that together we are branches of the true vine, our Lord Jesus Christ, that we are intended to be connected to him and to one another, was a reminder – and a challenge, as we find our way back to one another.

Both that welcome invitation (to abide in love) and that reminder and challenge (to be vine branches connected to one another and to the true vine, our Lord Jesus Christ) fill our hearts as we enter a new season of ministry, which we pray will bear much fruit.

Elizabeth