Abiding and Fruitfulness

One of the lifeshapes is the semi-circle. This represents the arc of a pendulum swinging back and forth. Our lives are in a good rhythm if we work from rest, and if we have times of abiding in Christ (John 15). Abiding leads to fruitfulness.

I am in a time of abiding at the moment. I have had New Wine and holiday and a week of healing. I intend to keep abiding for the next few weeks as I plan the diary for the coming year and prepare for the busy time ahead when we will be starting up our huddles, Alpha, youth outreach, and the teaching programme for the Autumn.

This is one of the reasons why I am not in favour of holding an annual sale of second-hand goods in the last week of August. For the past 20 years this has been an institution at St.Mark's. For weeks during the summer all manner of unwanted stuff fills up our parish hall. This week people are going out all day and every evening to collect items in preparation for the big sale that starts on Bank holiday Monday. As you can imagine, those who take part are very tired by the end of it all. I will pop in and say hello, but I am not joining in.

Today has largely been a day of prayer and reflection during which I have received inspiration for the Autumn sermon series. We are going to look at the Good News as told by Luke, starting with the message of John the Baptist in Luke 3. God wants us to repent from our unfruitful lives. It is no good relying on our religious heritage ("we are children of Abraham").

True repentence is reflected in good deeds that make the world a better place (eg sharing your surplus goods with those in need). John the Baptist warns us that those trees that are not bearing fruit will be cut down (Luke 3:9). The good news is this - that those who want to be part of God's Kingdom can participate. All we need is repentence ie we need to agree with God's way of doing things rather than assuming that our old ways are correct.

The problem with preaching this is that not everyone likes to repent. Poor old John ended up in prison because Herod felt criticized.