From the Pastor's Pen

Dear Friends, 

I’m back from vacation and feeling more rested and more myself again.  It was an unusual vacation as we stayed home for much of it with a couple of day trips – one to see my granddaughter in Grand Rapids, the other to find a beach to lay on.  We failed on the beach, by the way, because the beaches were way too crowded with few people wearing masks or social distancing.  We did have a nice day cruising the west coast of Michigan though.

Most of the rest of the week was spend reclaiming our gardens and yard with intermittent bathing in the hot tub that came with our house.  One of the most frustrating parts of the yard reclaiming were the vining plants.  Our neighbor has a vining plant that runs the length of our yard and grows through our fence into our gardens.  It’s a challenge to deal with because I assume my neighbor likes this vine and so I can’t just destroy it, which is my inclination.  The other vine was on the side of the yard and growing up the bricks of our house.  I had no idea it was there until I saw it growing over our living room windows.  When I went outside to deal with it, it was attached to the bricks.  So I just cut it at the bottom so it would die and then pulled it off the side of the house.  Mike had the special job of digging out the root!

Vines are strong, but when you cut them off the root branch they wither quickly.  Jesus said something like this and John recorded it in his gospel.  “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.” ( John 15:5)  I was reminded of just how true this is last week while on vacation.  With extra time on my hands, I took a little more time reading scripture and in prayer.  It was incredibly life giving!

I invite you to nurture your connection to Jesus the Vine in these days.  We draw strength to be God’s people from him.

Peace,

Pr. Sally