“How do you know if this will be a good season?”

By Rev Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai

At my induction service on the 7th of April 2020 Rev Les Solomona preached about this being the 4th season of my life.  Hello, I thought speak for yourself.  We are the same age, and I am older by two months.  Anyway, he was referring to ministry, but he likened my life or was it my ministry to a basketball game and playing in the 4th quarter.  I do not believe that I am in the 4th quarter, maybe more the 3rd quarter and that I still have at least a good 30 odd years of my life left, just like our Janice Gault who celebrates 90 years of life today.  I want to reach that same milestone too.  God willing.  But do you like me, when the New Year comes around again, think, well I hope this year will be better than last year?  Or in the words of Queen Elizabeth in 1992 “Annus horribilis” a year marked by scandal and disaster for the British royal family.  We do not know what each season of our lives or each season of the year will be like for each one of us.  When my dad in 1999 and my husband in 2014 had strokes, I knew that for these particular seasons of my life, these would be an opportunity to say goodbye.  A time of loving, caring, farewelling and grieving.  As much as I wished to stop the clock and even turn it backwards I couldn’t.  Many of us here can relate to what I am talking about.   

In the natural world growing a lush vine will take three years.  The first year the vine does not appear to be doing anything, but below the surface the roots are starting to spread out.  This is the sleeping phase.  The second year the vine is in the ground it starts to creep just a little bit.  But what happens in the third year of cultivation?  Abundant growth follows in just three years.  

In many vineyards you will see rose bushes planted at the end of the rows of grapevines.  It is not for decoration.  Does anyone here know why they plant rose bushes there?  It is because roses are very susceptible to fungal diseases such as rust, more so than grapevines. By planting rosebushes at the end of rows of vines, the vintner can see the rust infestation on the roses early and can act on it before it becomes a major problem in the vines.  He or she is able to try and stop the rot before it spreads because they have been forewarned and as much as they can aim for a successful harvest.  However, nature has the last say and the climate and the weather will in the end determine the success of each harvest each season.  Most of the time it is out of our control.  Which is the same for us, much of what happens in our different seasons is out of our control.  However, being warned, for example, my blood sugar hitting the roof tells me I must change my lifestyle.  I now go swimming twice a week, go to the gym and walk the dog every day, I am trying to eliminate sugar where and whenever I can but do have cheat days when I need to join someone in a celebration like today, eating some of Janice’s birthday cake.  As they say, forewarned is forearmed.   

Our gospel reading talks about Jesus being the True Vine.  As you know from my E News this week I showed before and after pictures of the recliner my husband bought for me in 2009.  We bought it together with a black leather 3-piece lounge suite and Rewi picked out the recliner especially for his hard-working sweet heart.  Unbeknownst to us it was only imitation leather and over time, infact not even 10 years after purchasing it, the imitation leather began to peel away and all that was left was ugly bald patches and so it no longer graced my living room.  I hid it in the garage and because it had sentimental value for me, I could not bear to throw it away, so it even followed me here to Wellington.  Hey presto, the upcycled recliner now graces my lounge again in all its light blue Italian leather glory.   

But the question is how do we know the real thing from imitation or fake?  Can there be a fake vine?  What could this be?  Parallel imports pretending to be authentic the real thing, in a matter of months they are broken like my recliner with the fake imitation leather that did not last the distance.  If there is a true authentic vine then there must be false vines, counterfeit sources of energy and strength that we might seek to empower us to bear fruit.  But these bogus sources will ultimately prove worthless. 

John’s gospel suggests that Jesus is the True Vine.  What does this mean?  Jesus is the vine, the true source of life. We are branches connected to his vine, drawing that life from the true vine’s branches draw the necessary nutrients to survive and flourish. At first glance, we may assume that branches bear fruit, but in another sense, it is really the vine that makes it all happen. 

Perhaps the claim to be the true vine contrasts with the use of the image for Israel. The focus is not, however, on differentiating this vine from others, but on the need to remain in the vine and to bear fruit. The historical Jesus had spoken of good trees and good fruit. Paul uses the image of fruit of the Spirit. The image is useful in explaining behaviour as the result of the state of our being. In John it refers directly to Jesus and the community of faith.  

Remaining in, abiding in, the vine is crucial. The language of abiding in or simply being ‘in’ is the language of intimacy but expressing a continuing relationship of closeness.  This fits well with the image of the vine. Branches need to ensure they remain connected. Fruitful branches will be carefully pruned -a reference to persecution? It need not be. In fact, the pruning is likened to purifying. so, care for the branches means teaching and nurturing them.  

The image of the tree, vine or plant is a rich source for spiritual reflection. It invites us to sense the divine as beneath us, Papatuanuku, whenua, fanua, vanua, mother earth, soil rising up, rather than hovering and judging from above us condescending. The top-down model has its attractiveness, but it is often associated with notions of power which confuse or abuse. The simplicity of the image of life from below shows us that it is where relationship is what matters, and how we live is determined solely by that relationship, that flows from it. The vine and its resources enable the branches to grow and bear fruit. The image invites us to transcend its contours and imagine ourselves as being able to connect and disconnect from the source. Our spirituality consists in letting the flow happen. 

In our Epistle reading the signs of God’s presence are going to be acts of love which we are called to live and share and mirror.   

Love generates love. Being loved enables us to love not just by offering an inspiring example, but because love frees us from the things that would otherwise block us from loving, including guilt and fear. That love is enabling, the more we let it reach us and set us free. 

But the author then asks what is the evidence for God? No one can see God. But there can be evidence. It comes when God’s love produces its effects in us, comes to fulfilment in our lives in a way that we show love. It is a wonderful claim: if you want to see God, look at people loving. That is your evidence!  

Love deals with fear. A fear-based life, including a fear-based spirituality, needs liberation.  The relationship of love will deal with fear which may have been in the relationship. God is to be acknowledged, held in awe (fear in that defined sense), but not feared. The author contrasts the God of love with an implicit theology which is based on fear. It is God’s initiative which sets in motion this liberating process which enables love to happen. Love does not happen because we do what we are told by God – certainly not in fearful obedience.  God does not wave a big stick. It simply states that claims to love God which are not matched by sharing God’s love with others are inauthentic. Something is fundamentally askew with them. People may bolster their assertions of spirituality and perfection with such things as big numbers like the mega churches, fantastic miracles, deeply moving experiences, profound inner peace of mind and tranquillity, but if the primary evidence is not compassion and caring, right down to the level of straightforward involvement in social justice (3:17), then it is just religion.  That well known verse from Corinthians 13:4–8a (ESV) says that Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.  Being human is letting love reach its fulfilment in our lives.     Amen.  

Audio of selected readings and reflections

Audio of the complete service