Rooted and Sent

The readings from John and from Acts for Sunday, May 10, may at first read seem to go against each other. The image of the vine and branches in John 15 is an image of stability, continuity and rootedness. The story in Acts 8 of the scattering of the Jerusalem church and of Philip moving here and there by the guidance of the Holy Spirit is a story of motion, change and of being sent. How do we both stay rooted and get up and go?

In the Isaiah passages below we see how central the image of the vineyard is in describing Israel’s relationship to God. For Israel the image of the vineyard is closely associated to having a specific place in the world, namely the Promised Land. But as Christians we do not share in this same promise of being given a special piece of land, of being a settled people. How do we relate to this image of vineyard?

A better way to imagine this image may be to think of what it means to be a fruitful people. In Genesis God’s first command to humanity is to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth, in others words to be fruitful and to get up and go. We are called to be a rooted people, but we are rooted in the person of Jesus and not to a special piece of land. Paul’s words about the fruit of the (Holy) Spirit help us what it understands to be fruitful and sent. Wherever we are we embody the Christ-like virtues and by doing so make God’s presence tangible.

Another way to think of the dynamic of being rooted and sent is to be “inwardly strong and outwardly focused,” which is the motto of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship, a group within the PC(USA) that seeks to help churches become sent communities and not static institutions. I encourage you to check out their blog postings and see what insights are valuable or perhaps provocative.

What kinds of roots do we have –both spiritual and to family, neighborhoods, work and other places? How can these roots not be barriers to being sent, but the very places we are called to go to and bear fruit?

Monday, 5/11
Isaiah 5:1-7
Galatians 5:16-26

Tuesday 5/12
Isaiah 32:9-20
James 3:17-18

Wednesday 5/13
Isaiah 65:17-25
John 14:18-31

Read Psalm 80 each of these three days.