Pax et Bonum

The Online worship resource for St. James Parish

May 13, 2009

As long as earth endures:
Seed-time and harvest
Cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
Day and night will never cease.
---Genesis 8:22---
We were enclosed,
O eternal Father,
Within the garden of your breast.
You drew us out of your holy mind
Like a flower.
---Catherine of Sienna---

I Am the Vine...

In the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus likened himself to a vine, and called his father the vine tender. We are the branches that bear fruit, depending upon our ability to abide in the vine.

I grew up spending my summers in a vineyard. My grandfather was a farmer in the central valley of California and raised grapes, not for wine, but for raisins. Each summer we would spend several weeks at my grandparents’ farm, as the grapes grew closer and closer to that precise moment when the sugar content was just right for raisins. Near the end of summer, one could smell the sweetness of the grapes in the air.

At harvest time, the grapes were picked by hand, laid on paper trays between the rows of vines, to dry in the sun. Prayers were said that there would be no rain during the week or two that it took for the raisins to dry; rain upon that drying fruit was disastrous.

And so the grapes, severed from the vine, shriveled and wrinkled, turned brown, and were sent off to the Sun Maid plant.

The vines that bore such sweet fruit were old and gnarly, and had deep roots. And the branches were pruned to stay near the vine, so that the fruit would be the best possible harvest.

We are called by Jesus to stay close to the Vine. To abide in Him, as He abides in us. What does that mean for us on a daily basis? It means staying close to Christ, aware of Christ’s presence during the day, willing to listen for instruction in difficult times, staying near in heart and mind, as we stay near a spouse or loved one.

Christ is ever-present, already abiding in us. Let us turn to Christ for strength, for grace, and in love.

Holy Wisdom,
Do not let me forget
That I need to make choices
And say
No
To those things that hinder
My growth.
Give me faith
In the Spirit’s strength
To revive itself
And lead me to a new life.
---Wayne Simsic---

Daily Morning Prayer

Daily Morning Prayer

This Week at St. James

Bishop Sutton will be here for the annual Bishop’s Visit and Confirmation on Sunday May 24th in all three services.

Sunday School and Worship 9 end for the summer on May 31.

Prayers Etc.

Let me sink deep in the dark, fertile ground,
Become planted within it, breathe it,
Receive nourishment from it.
Sustained by you, God of Mystery,
Let me uncover
The direction
Of my life
And the pattern of my growth.
---Wayne Simsic---

For those on our prayer list:

For Matt Rogers and his continued discernment.

For those who are deployed and their families.

In Closing:

Lord, you are my lover,
My longing,
My flowing stream,
My sun,
And I am your reflection
---Mechtild of Magdeburg---

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

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