LEARNING TO BE A BRANCH

John 15:1-5

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  

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.  

3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  

4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  

5 I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

This is a reminder from my One Month to Live study.

Our English Service will be -- for the first time in the Indonesian Evangelical Church's history -- hosting a Christmas Celebration in December.  A month ago, I met with Pak Tim for the first time to plan this Christmas Celebration.  After the meeting, I went home to put pieces together with mixed feeling of excitement and anxiety.  Feeling incapable, little and insufficient to carry the Church's great mission.

In my preparation, I constantly asked God, "Can we?  Should we?  Why we?  Why now?"  Sometimes I forget my role.  And I try to be the vine .. working on the planning to make everything happens according to the Church's dream.

Fast forward one month later.  It's Sunday, October 4 .. the first Christmas Brigade meeting.  It hasn't changed my perception of how big of a milestone this event will be for our Church.  Great milestone that requires great preparation and collaborative execution.  But one thing has changed in my prayer and understanding.

I no longer pray, "Oh Lord, help us grow the Church through this event."

I now pray, "Oh Lord, teach me what it means to grow."

As I prepare for this event, it's clearly laid out before my eyes how far we are as a Church from being prepared for the growth.  I believe it takes pruning on each individual before a Church can produce the best fruits.  With this changed understanding God implanted in me, I know I haven't lost anything but have gained abundantly just within a month of planning.  Even more after I have spoken to each Christmas Brigade.  I can't wait to see what God will lay out in the next 2 months.

I don't regret having spent every second in this planning.  As tiring as it has been and will be, I know God has promised that nothing will go in vain (1 Thessalonians 2:1).  He counts every sweat and second.  The Bible says that it is not up to me to produce the results.  Jesus is.  He will give me the power to do everything I need to do.  If it is not this year that we (as a Church) will generate a good number of newcomers from the Christmas Celebration, it is definitely this year that God is pruning each one of us harder than ever before.

If faith is not tested, it is not faith at all.  And if it is a test of faith that I am going through, then the Christmas Celebration is my end-of-semester celebration.  I'll celebrate it with Jesus' birthday.  :-)

For Christians, what looks like a detour may actually be a new road to blessing.

May this be a blessing to you!