“I am the vine, you are the branches,” John 15:5 begins with familiar words, “those who abide in me, and I in them, bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” Abide. At first glance, we might think abide means to chill out, relax, and “just be.” We might think of quiet time, or making it to church every week. But, looking closer, to “bear much fruit,” a branch must be tapped into the life source of the vine.
Getting quiet, seeking solitude is an old practice. It’s part of that list of spiritual disciplines we sometimes see – disciplines that call for being intentional, slowing down, working to incorporate the practice into our schedule. There’s a reason abide is a verb.
In trying to live a reflective life, we are attempting to capture a way of living in relationship with Christ – continually tapping into the life of our vine, and lining up our efforts with what God’s doing in the world. But what about when it’s hard? What about, when we’re really honest about it, it’s hard to even care?
This is not a new concern – St. John Cassian, in the fourth century, referred to a “dangerous peace” that could come from merely reciting prayers, or just going through the motions of faith. He knew that true prayer is a powerful spiritual discipline that can lead us toward great love; the kind of love that necessitates what Richard Rohr calls a leap into commonality and compassion.
Richard Rohr points out that true prayer doesn’t lead to individualism, but to an experience, where we are held by the whole, and that we are not alone anymore. We are a part. And, if we are a part of the whole, then there is mutuality – an I and you relationship, rather than an I and it relationship. We are not to treat the experience as a commodity, there we find that “dangerous peace.” But to explore the relationship that exists within I and you during prayer is a powerful thing – if we can enter prayer with the intent to simply listen to God, not adjusting, not fixing, not controlling, or even trying to explain anything. Listening and respecting. Abiding. Working to hear and honor what God is doing – which, spoiler alert, will always be love. And then tapping into that life, and bearing compassionate fruit. Being Christ wherever we are.
contributed by: Adrianne McGee
photo credit: anne arnould via photopin cc
