I

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.

Over the past few months, Pastor Hillary has been leading this congregation in a “visioning process” to help us all clarify our sense of God’s calling for the future. Soon the Vision Task Force will present its proposal for adoption by the Administrative Council. The process has challenged us to prayerfully revisit our mission and purpose, and renew our commitment to follow where the Spirit is calling us next.

Dr. Leonard Sweet has some suggestions for churches as they come together to move forward.

—We need our traditions—to be rooted in the best of what has made us what we are—and yet, not "root bound."(Wesley was always on the move!)

—We need to listen to each other; open to what others are saying, and double checking that we are truly hearing what they are trying to say, and not just what we want to hear.

 —We need vision: a sense of the bigger picture. We need to see what's happening not so much as either/or, but to look for the and/also a vision that brings together what may initially seem like opposites, but which from a larger view from the stars are mutually embracing, not mutually exclusive.

—We need collaboration: the future of the church is in team work. We need to be a community that empowers people. From the stars the vision of the world is an inter-related world, with all the parts included and working together. The loan researcher is ineffective today. Those who can share their knowledge and work with others that bring the discoveries and the breakthroughs.

In Africa there is a word "Ubuntu." It means that we are so interconnected that what happens to one affects all the others. If one is marginalized, unheard and unheeded, then we all suffer. Each one is important. We need that connection to God and to one another for the creative juices to really flow and to be part of the Spirits work of creating new.

The church is about team building. As leaders of this church we are about building teams of support in our various relationships, friends, classes, choirs, groups.

An image that I have enjoyed thinking about lately is one Jesus used: I am the vine and you are the branches…unless you are connected, you can't bear fruit! The image suggests that we are all inter-connected, drawing strength from the central vine, working together to bear fruit, to offer something juicy, nourishing, and life-giving to the world. Amen.