In the gospel according to John, Jesus is portrayed as describing himself with seven ‘I Am’ statements. Perhaps these names are a way of connecting Jesus deeply to God who gave his name to Moses in the encounter in the burning bush – ‘I am that I am’.

The seven ‘I Am’ statements are ‘I am the Bread of Life’, ‘I am the Light of the World’, ‘I am the Good Shepherd’, ‘I Am the Resurrection and the Life’, ‘I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life’, ‘I Am the Door’, and ‘I Am the true Vine’.

It is this last one which we will be exploring together on Sunday. You can read about it in John 15:1 – 8.

Hawkes Bay is great wine country, so the image of the vine is familiar to us. But perhaps not all that many of us know about how to prune a vine so that it will yield a good harvest. In this passage, Jesus is likened to the vine, us to the branches and God to the vinedresser. Life is not all that easy for the branches! They are subject to rigorous pruning and even to being thrown onto the fire if they do not yield good fruit.

But they are given life as long as they ‘abide’ (a favourite word of the writer of John’s gospel) in Jesus, the true vine. Apart from the vine, the branches DO wither and die. So maybe this is not about being judged, but about accepting that we need to be connected to Jesus to thrive.

What does it mean to you to ‘abide’ – in Jesus? These days we can be connected to each other in so many ways. As well as actually meeting each other, we can be in touch through letters, phone, email, websites, cellphones, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn… Which ways of connecting feel most important and real to you?

How do you remain connected to Jesus amid the joys and challenges of your life? How does our being connected to Jesus link with our being connected to one another? I would love to hear your thoughts.