Hi folks, this week we are meeting at 7.30 at the Tavern Galley in Whitley Bay, we hope to see you there. This weeks blog is written by John.
As I sit and write this, Claire has just given me one of the very few strawberries our plants have produced this year. It was soft, warm, sweet, and full of flavour. The ideal strawberry.
I was given the title: Kingdom of GOD Seeds and growth – but I’m going with fruit – sue me!
In a few of my blogs, I’ve mentioned that Claire and I have been influenced by the slow movement. Modernism, at the beginning of the 20th century, called for speed: everything needed to be as fast as possible, from transport and communication to food and songs without intros so you get to the hook quicker. Wimbledon and strawberries go together because that’s when they ripen in Britain. But what about a pavlova at Christmas? We need that, surely? So we need to force our strawberries to grow out of season, or bring them in from other countries. To do so, they are picked before they’re ripe so they don’t spoil in transit. They are plucked from the vine underripe and, although they go red, they are starved of the sunshine that creates the sugar and flavour that a fully ripe strawberry has. They are crunchy and flavourless. But we can have them year-round. The slow movement, like seasonality and full flavour (as well as really long song intros).
Jesus talks about fruitfulness in John 15:1-8: the vine and the branches. We’ve all sat through sermons where some bloke whacks us around with these verses. You have to be fruitful, which means working for the church, being at meetings, giving cash, etc., etc., and warning that if you don’t, you’re for the bonfire. But the verses don’t really talk about hard work; they’re about connection, abiding, and being fed by the best source of nutrients.
The Message puts it like this:
“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.”
The fruit is a natural outflow from our faith relationship with GOD, Jesus, the divine.
One of my favourite BFX moments was me, Rob, Kat and Pete walking along a country lane picking blackberries. Collecting and eating. Eating some of what we picked and sharing life and the experience. Fruitfulness indeed.
In his book ‘What if Jesus was serious?’ Skye Jethani compares the forced fruit of ‘The evangelical industrial complex’: effectiveness, power, impact, influence, popularity and relevance – with the fruit of the Kingdom of GOD: generosity, mercy, honesty, gentleness, faithfulness and humility. And he says this fruit is defined by character, not accomplishments.
The fruit’s not dependent on our efforts, but on our feeding on the slow development of our character through our relationship with the divine. It can’t be forced or manipulated; it’s imbibed and slowly grows us from within.
A few years ago, I was ordained as a minister. As far as others were concerned, I reached the top of the tree. My ministry was my fruit, and it was fruitful – in a conventional sense. I then left, and by a strange path, I ended up back in a school, first as a teaching assistant and now as a teacher. I feel like my life is more fruitful now than it has been in years. Not just that I’m happier (I am), but that I have more opportunity to be the fruit of my faith in a way I never felt as a minister. That’s not to say that all ministers should train as teachers or that our fruitfulness is about our jobs. Just that whatever ripens from my faith is good for where I’m at. I think that is patience, humour, silliness, seeing children as people, my work ethic, etc. Basically, it’s being the best version of me and finding where that fits. In some ways, the church sees only a few characteristics or job roles as spiritually relevant. But I think GOD wants a fruit salad, where each of us is the ripest, sweetest, most flavoursome version of ourselves. It reminds me of John 10:10.
“…I came so that they could have life—yes, and have it full to overflowing.” NTFE
So how about we set about being our best fruity selves?
Questions:
- What’s your favourite fruit?
- Have you ever eaten a food straight from the plant, or in its native country, and had the kind of revelation I had with the strawberry?
- Have you ever felt forced to grow in a way that felt alien to who you are, or been limited by the options of what people think fruitfulness is?
- What is one of your character-fruits?
- Are there any character-fruits that are ripening in you, or that you feel you need to grow?
- Do you like the fruit salad analogy? Develop the analogy until it gets really ridiculous.
I’ve been a member of BCFX for about 4 years. I love it. It’s home and hearth, welcome and challenge, ebb and flow.