abide
The opening paragraph of the Portland Rose Festival web site says,
"Welcome to the season of the Rose. For the next three weeks no matter what, the Rose Spirit happens in Portland, Oregon. With three weeks of unique fun and celebration, the 103rd Portland Rose Festival opens this Friday (May 28 at 5:00 p.m.) with a human powered vehicle parade around Waterfront Park, featuring the 2010 Rose Festival Court."
Lily and I have fun memories and a silly video I made of our first Rose Parade. The parades are well worth the hassle of getting in to park and then getting out once the parade is over.
Is it just me or do the parades always seem to follow the rain? Do we make the connection between the Rose Festival and roses, roses and their vines, vines to the roots and roots to the rain? Everything is in relationship and the wonder of it all is the exquisite balance necessary for everything to be as it is, even though we certainly rock the boat.
In John 15 Jesus taught how we are to be in relationship, union with God. We are supposed to be united in him the way the branch is united in the vine. We, the branch, receive our spiritual life from the vine. Just so, we also receive our strength from the vine. If we are going to produce fruit, it too must come from the vine or it will not be sustainable. Each Rose Festival the roses are so beautiful, but so temporary. You and I are temporary, but the fruit of our life can remain, if we are connected to God.
Ministries begin with the best of intentions, but somewhere along the way they become disconnected from their source of power, the vine. Unless you and I stay continuously connected to the vine, in intimate relationship with God, we will lose our power to continue to produce, and just like the ministries whose failure is promoted by the media, we too will fail. We have to learn that despite the psychological bombardment, life is not about us. Do self-help books really help the audience or merely line the pockets of their author?
I love the metaphor I heard Bob Gass preach. He said we are called to be extension cords, not lights. Stop trying to be a big light and be content to be an extension cord. Remember, extension cords are under the rug, behind the chair, out of sight. The media does not write songs, books or movies about extension cords, and if you somehow lose an extension cord, is it really a big deal? After all, there is really only one Light, and neither you nor I are God.
But if a pastor seems to be a light, especially a big light, what happens when the pastor leaves? An old advertisement asked, "Where's the beef?" Well, where is the lasting fruit of that ministry? Where are the changed lives? Has hope replaced despair or has ministry become another self-help book? Roses are beautiful and fragrant, but temporary.
Even if we cling desperately to the vine, always recognizing that it is indeed our source and that we can do nothing apart from it ... we will still be cleaned and pruned through discipline and blessing.
Then of course there is the whole matter of prayer. How can we pray the effectual prayer of a righteous person if we are not connected to the vine?
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