Cut it Out

Today I was outside for much of the day pruning some of my neighbor’s bushes, in particular, a large forsythia that kept me busy for some time.  It gave me plenty of opportunity to think about how often the Church and our own personal lives also often need a good pruning. 

(For those of you who don’t know, my family looks out for and takes care of my elderly neighbor, Barbara.)

Barbara’s forsythia isn’t just huge, it’s humongous.  I bring out a ladder to reach some of the top stuff that needs trimming.  It takes a long time to shape and thin.  (My hair dresser can probably say the same thing!)  This year I was going to pay the price for having neglected this task for the past two years as I face three seasons of growth.

Long tendrils of forsythia branches had grown almost down to the ground.  New growth shoots on the inside of the bush would struggle to grow if the heavier growth on the outside was allowed to shade the interior.  

A very old, and very large forsythia in the process of being pruned.

It’s a very old bush.  Many years ago I got out there and cut out a lot of the thicker and older branches to allow some room for new shoots to fill out and strengthen the infrastructure of the bush in upcoming years.  Each year I cut out the dead wood from the previous year.  Each year I try to trim down one or two really old stalks so that the process of new growth can continue.  It seems to be working.  It is amazing to me to see some of those thick old branches still shooting off new growth, even down inside the bush.

Truthfully, I’m not even sure if I’m really doing it right.  It took me a year or two (a long time ago) before I understood that I should really prune forsythia after it is done flowering in the Spring, not in the Fall.  But in the end, the bush seems to hold a nice shape, flowers beautifully in the Spring, and my neighbor is happy that I keep it from becoming an unsightly monster.  It’s exhausting, but fulfilling.  I imagine that it would hurt (if forsythia had feelings), but the result is worth the work or pain. 

God encourages us to do pruning in our own lives and in the Church as well. 

A healthy Church does not allow individuals or groups to sway it from its Mission.  A healthy Church will, by keeping its Mission in focus, eventually trim away those whose ideas or self-interests are at odds with its Mission by not giving them the power to alter the Mission.  A healthy Church gives rise to new ideas and ways of doing things that still support the vision of its Mission.   A healthy Church builds new life upon the strength and wisdom of healthy older lives that encourage new ideas, new visions, and new ways of being Christ to our communities.

Of course, a healthy Church knows its Mission in the first place and has its roots grounded in Christ.

God encourages us to do the same with our own lives.  We are to prune away the things that weigh us down and keep us from growing… the over-commitment to things that ultimately mean little, the addictions to things that keep us from being committed to the One Thing that can make an eternal difference for our lives, and the people and things that poison our hearts and minds and keep us from seeking out the nourishing and life-giving Grace of God, to name a few.

When we do these things…our lives, and our Churches, will grow and bear fruit with the abundance that God has intended to fill our lives.

John 15:2  “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Amen.  

Are you willing to cut away the dead wood in your life?  What sort of things (or people) hamper or come between you and your relationship with God?  What can you prune away to stimulate your spiritual growth?

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