Introduction
“Because we are all made out of shipwrecks, every single board. Washed and bound like crooked teeth on these rocky shores. So come on and let’s wash each other with tears of joy and tears of grief and fold our lives like crashing waves and run up on this beach. Come on and sew us together. Just some tattered rags stained forever. We only have what we remember.” – from Wooden Heart by Listener
As we close in on our official name change to Vine and Branch, it might be good to consider the meaning of metaphors and how they influence our study of Scripture and ways we understand and practice what we find.
“Metaphors matter because they allow us to give a voice to those profound experiences and concepts that evade us, because giving voice to those things is satisfying, clarifying, honoring, and humane, and because the metaphors we choose and use direct our actions, our orientation in the world. – Joy Marie Clarkson. You Are a Tree: And Other Metaphors to Nourish Life, Thought, and Prayer
This Sunday we’ll look at two of the most prominent metaphors used for describing our calling as Jesus’ apprentices; being letters and stones. We’ll also do a quick review of our particular approach to Paul’s letters as we jump back into our chronological study of those letters picking up with 1 Thessalonians.
Grace and peace y’all,
John Ray and the teaching team
Text:
2 Corinthians 3:2 “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 3 revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.”
1 Peter 2: 4 “So as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
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Responsive Reading for Vine and Branch
Reader: Friends, today we affirm our identity and aspiration with the following declaration.
Everyone: Jesus you are the True Vine and we, your church, are a branch
Reader: Sisters and brothers and siblings, apart from the Vine, we can bear no lasting fruit.
Everyone: Holy Spirit help us to remain in you and you in us.
Reader: It is God’s will that we have life and have it in abundance.
Everyone: Jesus is the Way, the truth and the life. We abide in Him.
Reader: As we abide in Him not just for our own sake, but for the sake of others and the healing of all creation, to the glory of the Creator.
Everyone: We abide in you Jesus, align our hearts and minds, souls and spirits to yours.
Reader: In the Name of the Creator, Jesus the Messiah and God the Holy Spirit, Amen.
