week Sixteen of ordinary time

by Bruce Benedict

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” John 15:1-2 

As the sun of summer fades and the wind and wet of fall encroach, I always experience a season of melancholy and sorrow. Dark thoughts come unbidden and I think to myself, “winter is coming.” 

A recurring question that has buoyed my spirit is, “How have I been sowing to the Spirit during this ‘ordinary’ time?” 

For a few years I was blessed with the seasonal toil of participating in my family's small vineyard.  A humble family affair that blessed a few local wineries and gave great delight to my parents. This season of planting, pruning, and harvesting always enlivens my reading of scripture. The vineyard stories of the Gospels activate the sense memories of blistered hands and a sore back. They remind me of aching hands as I carefully pruned a thousand shoots that necessitate a healthy and thriving vineyard. I remember that God does this in each and every one of his children’s lives; never faltering to perfectly and joyfully cultivate our growth towards his image and likeness. 

Recently I revisited a slim volume of hymns penned by Samuel Stone, an Anglican priest in the mid-19th century. Stone wrote a series of hymns on the Apostles' creed as a devotional resource for his working class congregation to deepen their engagement with the creed (which they would have recited both in public and private worship). Much more than now, hymns were a ubiquitous element of Christians devotional lives, many owning a hymnal before a bible. 

    "Most clergymen are aware how many of their parishioners, among the poor especially, say the Creed in their private prayers. And they cannot but feel how this excellent use, as also its utterance in public worship, is too often accomplished by a very meager comprehension of the breadth and depth of meaning contained in each Article of the Confession of Faith.”

Back to our vineyard analogy: an unpruned vineyard may seem at first glance like a glorious mess of wild beauty, but the fruit will be thin, inconsistent, and unruly. A well pruned vineyard produces fruit that blesses generations, but the discipline is intense!  

As my parents' vineyard prepares to be picked I look at myself and wonder how well I have tended the vineyard of my own heart and soul this past summer. The summer may have produced a rich foliage but only the careful rigor of vineyard management keeps the fruit healthy. Allowing the sun and the wind to penetrate the foliage to bring the sun’s warmth and the breeze keeps the fruit healthy and free of mold. 

In the chaos of this season it has been a struggle to tend to my own inner mess. 

In Stone’s hymn on the 10th phrase of the Apostles Creed, he meditates on the "Forgiveness of Sin.” Here we see a deep and disciplined life spent in the vineyards of God’s word. Stone has carefully sculpted the vines of scripture to open up this well worn creed. The hymn not only helps us to chew on the bitterness of our own sin, but also to savor the sweet forgiveness of the Lord, remembering that the cup of the Lord is both blessing and curse.  Stone works the whole vineyard of God’s word and blesses us with the wisdom of a pastor who understands the spiritual terroir of forgiveness! 

My prayer for you, as you begin to walk into the untethered light of fall, is that you would tend to the vineyard of your own soul and find that the word of God is a glorious field of the Spirit to bring fruit to your life in God’s glory.

Listen: Cardiphonia “Hymns of Faith” - Nathan Partain

Samuel Stone: 

ARTICLE 10. “THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.”

Weary of earth and laden with my sin, 

I look at Heaven and long to enter in, 

But there no evil thing may find a home— 

And yet I hear a Voice that bids me “ Come.”

So vile I am, how dare I hope to stand 

In the pure glory of that Holy Land?

Before the whiteness of that Throne appear?— 

Yet there are Hands stretched out to draw me near.

The while I fain would tread the Heavenly Way, 

Seems evil ever with me day by day; 

Yet on mine ears the gracious tidings fall, 

“Repent, confess, and thou art loosed from all.”

It is the voice of JESUS that I hear! 

His are the Hands stretched out to draw me near, 

And His the Blood that can for all atone, 

And set me faultless there before the throne.

‘Twas He Who found me on the deathly wild, 

And made me heir of Heaven, the Father’s child, 

And day by day, whereby my soul may live, 

Giveth His grace of pardon, and will give.

O great Absolver! grant my soul may wear 

The lowliest garb of penitence and prayer, 

That in the Father’s courts my glorious dress 

May be the garment of Thy righteousness.

Yea, Thou wilt answer for me, Righteous Lord! 

Thine all the merits, mine the great reward; 

Thine the sharp thorns, and mine the golden crown, 

Mine the life won and Thine the life laid down !

Nought can I bring, dear Lord, for all I owe, 

Yet let my full heart, what it can, bestow; 

Like that sweet nard, let my devotion prove, 

Greatly forgiven, how I greatly love. Amen.