Blog | Trinity United Church Port Coquitlam

Trinity United Church
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 02 2021
Zoom Worship

“Connection not Perfection”

Apologies, we have no video of our service for this week. Please enjoy this written version.

WE GATHER

Greeting/Welcome:

And we are live.
Welcome to Trinity United Church in Port Coquitlam, BC.
We are so grateful that you have chosen to spend some time with us, we are glad you are here.
If you would like to join our zoom room, during the week, contact our office, there is a link to our webpage below. We will ask you a few questions and put you on our invite list.
A gentle reminder that we are experimenting on a weekly basis with our social media and the technology, and some things will work better than other. So we ask for your patience and generosity of spirit as we forge a new way forward together.

Acknowledgement of Territory:
The United Church of Canada
repudiates the doctrine of discovery
that assumed these lands were unoccupied
when European explorers and settlers first came here.
In humble appreciation,
we acknowledge that Trinity United Church rest
on the unceded territory
of the Coast Salish peoples,
the Kwikwetlem First Nations.

Let us prepare our hearts and minds for worship.

Prelude/ Lighting of the Christ Candle: CLICK HERE for video.

Call to Worship:
Come, let us abide in Christ,
who moves from death to life.
Come, let us abide in Christ,
who dances on the tombstones.
Come, let us abide in Christ,
who leads us on the way.
Come, let us abide in Christ,
who prepares us for the journey.
Come, let us abide in Christ,
who is the source of life.
Come, let us abide in Christ,
let us give thanks and praise.

Prayer of Approach:
Holy One,
you are the vine and we are the branches.
During this time of worship,
help us to find our connection in you.
Lead us to the source of life
that we might drink deeply
and produce abundantly the fruit of your spirit.
In the name of the one you raise from the tomb, we pray. Amen.

Hymn: “Crown Him with Many Crowns” VU 211
CLICK HERE for video.

Affirmation of our Faith: “A New Creed” CLICK HERE for video.

WE HEAR THE WORD

Retelling Our Ancient Story:
“Big Juicy Grapes” from Ralph Milton’s Lectionary Story Bible year B, p 113.

Hymn: “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” VU 333
CLICK HERE for video.

Reading:

John 15:1-8

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

This is the witness of the early church. Thanks be to God!

Message : Apologies, no video this week.

You are vine and we are the branches.
As we listen to, reflect on, and comment with
your sacred word, abide in us.
Help us to sense that we, too, abide in you.
And instill in us the fruit you would have us bear.
In the name of the True Vine, we pray. Amen.

"I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit."

You may recognize from last week that we have one of the seven Great I Am statements from the Gospel of John. We are reminded that for John, Jesus voice is the same voice that spoke from the Burning Bush to Moses in Genesis 3. These I AM statements are meant to have all the authority of the entire Hebrew tradition behind them.

"I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit."

Lets take a moment to reflect on the relationship of the vine, the branches and the fruit.

Jesus and John do not mention roots or leaves, but we know from our experience with plants that there is an intimate and complex relationship between roots and vines and branches and leaves. The roots draw nutrients and water up from the soil through the vine; the leaves draw light and heat from the sun into the vine through the branches; and roots and vine, branches and leaves, together produce fruit. And the fruit provides life and energy, not only to new plants, but to animals and insects. For Christians, the fruit will also become wine that will be part of the communion feast.

"My Father is the vinegrower." Jesus says, "He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes to make it bear more fruit." Jesus give us the image of a vine thriving in good health. I think It was Wendy Squires on Wednesday who described getting in the garden and pulling away all the dead brown stuff around a plant and suddenly it was like having a brand new plant in the garden! God wants us to thrive with well being. God is glorified when we bear much fruit.

As I've been reflecting on this text the last couple weeks, I've been wondering about how my "fruit bearing" is these days. And I wonder if what I'm about to describe might sound familiar to others.

On the one hand I feel fine. I feel like I'm getting done what I need to get done. I'm loving our ZOOM gatherings: worship on Sundays; coffee on Wednesdays; study on Tuesdays; various other meetings. I'm really enjoying the time we ARE spending together, at a distance, being church together.

On the other hand, I'm very conscious that I'm putting so much energy into learning ZOOM, learning PowerPoint, then Google slides; learning YouTube, learning a soundboard, learning how to share google slides so other people can screen share them on ZOOM while I'm managing the soundboard... that I haven't had time in ages to do some of the things that make me really feel like I'm thriving: like writing my own prayers for worship, writing my own childrens stories, or writing a fresh new message because I have the time and space to listen for the still small voice of the Good Shepherd speaking to me after sitting for ours with the scriptures and praying for my congregation.

I am also aware that I have a very low threshold for interruptions. Sometimes it's a little interruption like a phone call while I'm trying to concentrate about something that I can't do anything about. But this week I was interrupted by a police officer as I was driving home between work and a zoom meeting to be told that my car wasn't properly insured the last year! I was so angry I couldn't process what the police officer was saying to me. Then when I was talking with the BCAA agent who was explaining that when I renewed my insurance last year, they only renewed my optional collision, but not my basic insurance. I was apoplectic. I had some very inappropriate words for him and he hung up on me.

That is not the kind of fruit I want to bear. That's a long way from the image Jesus offers us of "those who abide in me and I in them."

There was an article in the New York Times this past week by the psychologist Adam Grant that described an emotional landscape between "Depression" and "Thriving" that he calls, "Languishing." By the popularity the article has seen on my Facebook feed, I suspect it describes what many of us are feeling at this stage in the pandemic.

We are no longer living in paranoid fear as we see the vaccine rolling out, but neither are we flourishing in a new world order. We are figuring out new ways of being that are working for us, but, we still aren't finding deep, nourishing comfort.

It was interesting to me that last Wednesday when we gathered on ZOOM for coffee, how many of us described boredom as a feature of our week.

It's not bad; but neither is it particularly good. Just kind of "meh."

That is not what Jesus wants for us?

How do we manage Languishing? How do we move on from Languishing?

First of all, we need to acknowledge it. Anyone who knows anything about a 12 step program will know that the first step to a solution is to admit the problem. So we now have a really helpful word to describe this place between depression and thriving. Languishing: not doing badly, but not doing well.

And, maybe you aren't Languishing, but you recognize it in someone else. Maybe you're not feeling it right now, but you've been there. Or maybe you're on your way and you just need to keep this in mind for later.

Acknowledging where we are. We can't start anywhere else, only from where we are.

We are fortunate in our Christian tradition that we have lots of resources in our scriptures for expressing our longing for deeper connection, to the source of our lives, to God.

Psalm 42: "As the deer pants for water, so my soul longs after you, O God."
Isaiah 26: "At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks you diligently"
Psalm 73: “Whom have I in heaven but You? and besides you I desire nothing on earth.”
Later in the service we are going to sing: “from deep inside we yearn for you, O God.”

Again and again our scriptures affirm that we can and should express our longing for deeper connection, to experience that sense of "you abide in me and I in you." I am the true vine, you are the branches.

So first, we acknowledge the languishing, then we pray the longing for deeper connection.

Next, let go of expectations of how God might fulfill our longing.

Earlier I mentioned how I miss writing my own prayers, my own stories, and fresh messages... Those were such fulfilling ways of feeling connected for me and feeling like I was flourishing. They don't happen much anymore... But watch me paint and sketch. Connection is showing up in a new way.

God will not take us back to the way things were. God will lead us forward. It is always the better path for us to be grateful for what is, rather than resentful for what isn't or what is no longer. Joy begets joy; gratitude begets gratitude; resentment begets resentment; anger begets anger. When the longing is fulfilled, rejoice! However that longing is fulfilled.

May we acknowledge the languishing;
may we give voice to the longing for deeper connection;
may we let go of our expectations;
may we receive fulfillment with joy
And above all,
May we abide in Christ, as Christ abides in us. Amen.

Special Music

WE RESPOND

Offering: your financial gifts, your gifts of time and skill are what make our ministry possible. If you are not already on Pre-Authorized Remittance, we invite you to participate in our ministry by making a financial gift, either by sending a cheque to the church office, or by going to our website and clicking on the donate now button.

We have been blessed, not only by the generosity of our membership and adherents, but also by the courage of our leadership to learn and navigate in a very different world than the one we knew a year ago. Let us give thanks.

Holy One, you are the vine and we are the branches.
Thank you for the gifts you have so generously shared with us: the time, the skills, the willingness to learn and experiment, the courage to take risks doing something new. May we plant the gifts you have given us. May those gifts sprout and grow and in time, and produce the fruits of the spirit: justice, peace, joy, love and liberation as they ripen under your care.
In the name of the one who satisfies our hunger, we pray. Amen.

Prayers of Thanksgiving and intercession:
“O God We Call” VU 411

O God, we call; O God we call;
From deep inside we yearn,
From deep inside we yearn,
From deep inside we yearn for you.

Mighty and Tender God, hear us as we pray
You are the vine and we are the branches.
You are our source, the ground of our being,
You provide us with all we need to grow,
to heal, to be renewed, and to serve.