Soul Healing By W. Rian Adams
Lectionary Gospel: John 15:1-18 Fifth Sunday after Easter, Year B
Listen carefully in this Gospel reading for the opportunity to find soul healing. It reads, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I 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.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.“
Sometimes soul healing happens when we let go.
When I lived in California I was fortunate enough to visit a vineyard in Napa Valley. The tour guide mentioned that the fall harvest often depends on the pruning from the previous spring. Yeah, that’s right, pruning, cutting things back, is normal for the sake of growth.
I’ll confess that I hate the idea too. I cringe at the thought letting go of some of my favorite hang-ups. I did not wake this morning and say, “Yes, today is the day the where I grow out of some vindictive attitudes.”
The classic notion in Christian spirituality is that God does the pruning. Apparently God does this to… make us better people… or something like that.
I propose something much different; I think the story of vines and branches is best understood as a metaphor for proximity the soul to the true seat of the self. It’s not God’s job to “prune” the parts of us that need to change. That’s for us! We need to be big boys and girls and help the soul grow for ourselves.
Here in John’s Gospel Jesus offers a description of what a life of growth looks like. The vines that no longer make grapes need to go. There are old ways of thinking that need to go!
We all have spiritualities that no longer produce wine for the soul. It’s not that they were wrong, it’s simply that they no longer offer nourishment for the soul.
One of the biggest boundaries to spiritual growth happens when we hold on to what once worked and stubbornly declare the methodology good for all time. I’ve watched numerous people, in counseling contexts, cry about their lives yet resist every effort to change where they were.
I’ve watched entire Christian congregations bemoan their declining numbers while clinging to one particular liturgy, one style of music, or one political persuasion, all in the name of God. As a result, they continue to struggle as they pray old branches will grow grapes.
Most importantly, we must recognize that it’s never easy to know what we need to let go of in order to grow. One insight to that challenge is in this passage… find the areas that don’t nourish them, and let them go. Relationships require a lot of energy, sometimes they reach a point where they do not nourish the soul. Old ways of thinking about life will
Perhaps God will do the work if we will open ourselves to the sheers of self-awareness. If we open ourselves to God soul healing can occur.
Rían
Lectionary Gospel: John 10:11-18
Fourth Sunday after Easter, Year B
Mercy
By W. Rian Adams
I’ve always found “Good Shepherd Sunday” a bit forced. In my experience the church uses this Sunday to show, prove even, that we are in the hands of a good God. A God who will take care of us. The message is, we are the sheep in the Christian fold and Jesus is the good shepherd. While this message is heartwarming and filled with nostalgia, it seems to overlook a small portion of the passage, the “other sheep.” It piques my curiosity. I wonder if the other sheep are, in fact, sheep because of mercy.
Traditionally the church has taught that there is one way to God. Of course, the way is through the church. The church has taught that receiving its sacraments, praying it’s prayers, or giving one’s heart to God was the means of salvation. That is how one gets into fold. The church says that the sheep fold is surrounded by precise boundaries. On one hand we have those who are “in” and on the other hand those who are “out.” This division is unfortunate.
This past week I saw a video of the Bishop of Rome embracing a young boy who suffered through the pain of his father’s death. The boy, perhaps four or five, asked the pope if his father went to heaven even though he didn’t believe in God.
Pope Francis continues to amaze me as a pastoral theologian and spiritual teacher. The boy’s father baptized all his children. The pope said this was an act of faith and should tell the boy what kind of man his father was. He went on, while the boy cried, to embrace him and tell him that it takes more faith to baptize when you don’t believe than when you do. He told the boy that his father was with God.
You can watch the video here:
Understandably traditionalists were upset because the pope didn’t hold a hard line on church doctrine. One person said, “He let the man off the hook.” One woman commented that the pope is a “heretic who used a child to promote the destruction of the church.” However, I see the pastoral exchange differently.
The pope highlights a theme that is great among the spiritual and mystical… mercy.
I’d like to use my imagination and apply the passage, not to myself, but to my treatment of others.
I do not think the passage is just a simple story about God loving us, the in-crowd.
Such a reading insults the complexity of the relationship of the shepherd and sheep of other pastures. I hear this passage as a call to be the shepherd, the Christ, to the world. If we want to follow Christ we begin by following his example and, like the pope, focusing on God’s mercy. The “other sheep” – the ones who do not met our standards of behavior and belief – need mercy too. They need someone to show compassion when they disappoint us. Jesus never ostracized a sheep, quite the contrary, he left the ninety-nine to find one. May his mercy be my guide.
If you would like to read more of my lectionary blog each week, it can be found here.