Week 3: Growing communally - the 'trunk'

‘growing together as a church community,
drawing out & sharing all our different gifts together’

You can listen to this week's readings and reflections here.

John 15:1-11

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide 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. ⁵ I 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. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 12-13

⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵ and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 

¹² For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

A ‘cutting’ of tree wisdom (Genny Tunbridge)

What makes a tree different from other plants? Roots and leaves are common to nearly all – but unlike most plants, generally it is only trees that have a single, central, woody stem, thickening each year by growing outwards as well as gaining in height. 

The purpose of tree trunks growing so tall is to reach above other plants, to help the leaves reach sunlight. Trunks also serve to transport water and nutrients, and give strength and support to the whole tree.

Just like the skin covering a human body, the outer layer of a trunk’s bark hides a variety of different structures and processes which together keep the tree living and growing. Each concentric layer of tissue is needed for a different purpose – each brings a different ‘gift’ to the tree:

·         The outer bark protects - keeping damage and disease away from the inner layers

·         The inner bark, called phloem, transports food – acting as a supply line bringing sap from the leaves to the rest of the tree

·         The cambium grows – this very thin layer generates new cells in the growing season for the phloem and sapwood

·         The sapwood or xylem transports drink - this woody layer is a pipeline carrying water and minerals from the roots to the rest of the tree

·         The heartwood supports – old sapwood gradually fills with resin and minerals, becoming dense, solid heartwood which gives strength to the whole structure.

Damage may lead the heartwood to rot away, leaving a hollow centre – but the outer layers will keep the tree alive for many more years.

Introduction to the theme (Al Barrett)

Trees grow up and outwards, but their trunks also get thicker with age. I remember as a child counting the rings on a tree stump to see how old it was. Scientists can look at those rings and discover information about the weather and the seasons of each year of the tree’s life. A tree’s trunk tells its story.

What’s our church community’s story? What does our ‘tree trunk’ tell about us? A story of two church communities, grafted together, perhaps? With some resistance, at times, but also discovering a new strength in ‘togetherness’? A story, too, of repeated experiences of being chopped down and springing back up? And of many seedlings from this tree over the years, that have scattered far and wide – within Hodge Hill and far beyond? And of course, we might tell it as one story, but when each of us tells our story of Hodge Hill Church, we’ll be talking about something at least slightly different. In ‘ordinary time’, there are several different places where gatherings happen, and at different times of the week and month. Some of us will tell a story which goes back a long way – stories preserved in the core of the tree. Some of us will tell stories of fresh growth, on the outer rim of the trunk. But we’re all, somehow, part of the one church community, the one ‘extended family’, the one ‘body’, the one ‘trunk’ – made up of many stories, twisted, tangled and fused together.

This week, then, we’re thinking about how we are growing together as a church community, in that community’s many different ways of gathering. And in this time when we’ve not been able to gather physically, we’ve had to think even harder about how we stay connected together, how we grow together as ‘one body’, even while staying physically apart. These worship packs, phone calls, doorstep conversations, the WhatsApp prayer group and ‘coffee time’ on Zoom – all of those have helped, I think. Not being able to share communion together remains painfully hard for many of us – but we’ve found new ways of worshipping together, apart: not just as consumers of something provided for us on a screen or on paper, but as co-creators of a liturgy that we have done ourselves in our homes, with what we’ve had to hand.

As a church community, I’m really proud of the way, in ‘ordinary time’, that we’ve tried to use as many of the gifts that God has given us all, within our worshipping life, and the ways in which we connect with our neighbourhoods. Our tradition of ‘5^th gospels’ has been a great way of celebrating the many different ways we live out our faith in the wider world, and encouraging each other as we hear those stories. In these extraordinary times, one of the joys has been found in being able to read and hear reflections from people that wouldn’t normally ‘preach’ in church. And the small group of us that has met every Sunday afternoon to discuss the week’s readings and reflections has been rich and encouraging.

But our history – as a worldwide church, and locally here in Hodge Hill – also includes painful, shameful stories of some people’s gifts remaining untapped, and unvalued, for years: because their face hasn’t ‘fitted’, or because they haven’t been part of the ‘in crowd’, or because our ‘welcome’ has only been superficial. Race and class, gender and sexuality, age and dis/ability – and the way the church tends to ‘recognise’ certain ministries and not others – have all, at times, been dividing lines drawn across our church communities that have prevented many of us from being able to share our gifts as fully as God intends.

And during ‘lockdown’ we’ve also faced challenges with (as well as opportunities for) growing together communally: it’s been harder for many people to exercise the gifts they’d normally be able to offer freely, and the experience for some of ‘self-isolating’ has brought with it the agony of disconnection. Some voices that were less-heard in ‘ordinary time’ have been even harder to hear when we’ve been distanced from each other. In the coming weeks, we’ll be able to do some kinds of ‘gathering’ together again – but they are very unlikely to be all together, and they will look and feel very different to anything we’ve been used to.

So now is a critical time for us to think about how we’re ‘growing communally’ – and how we can, even in this ongoing crisis, draw out and share together the many and diverse gifts that God has given us.

Reflection (Gloria Smith)

I’m not sure how many of you are gardeners, but I’m sure you probably know that you can become attached to your plants. Today the gospel reading is all about a gardener, a vine and its branches (although I’m leaving the branches for someone else’s reflection next week). The analogy involves the gardener as God and the vine (or, as in the picture, the trunk) as Jesus. The trunk is a really important part of the tree as it provides a pathway for the nutrients that come from the roots to feed the rest of the tree. The branches and fruit cannot survive without the trunk any more than we can survive without Jesus. We are part of this living tree, not just as individuals but also as part of a worshipping community of believers – the Body of Christ. So there are relationships going on here, not only between God and Jesus and between us and God through Jesus, but also there is relationship with each other. Have another look at the picture of the trunk. Can you see the connectedness?

In the passage from John there are numerous references to the word abide: ‘abide in me as I abide in you’, ‘you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in me’, ‘abide in my love’. There are six different phrases about abiding. What does abide mean? The dictionary says: ‘to remain in a place’, ‘to stay with’. This is about a relationship with God through knowing Jesus. It’s not a one-way thing, it’s reciprocated. One line connects all three together: ‘abide in my love, just as I have kept my father’s commandments and abide in his love’. There is a mutuality that exists between us and Jesus, one that is necessary to both sides. We are growing communally. Not just with God through Jesus but also with each other.

Does Jesus abide in you and do you abide in him? If someone abides somewhere, they usually do it because they feel welcomed and loved. Do you feel welcomed and loved by God? Does Jesus feel welcomed and loved by you? Do we feel welcomed by others and do others feel welcomed by our church?

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he writes about recognising those gifts which each of us have and which we can use communally as the body of Christ. Paul makes it really clear that although there are many activities and gifts, they all come from the one spirit. That means we are all connected in a deep and meaningful way. Over the past three months it has not always felt like that, but the way in which our church has been able to reach out to not only members of the congregation but also to the community has been wide and varied. This has relied very much upon the gifts of individuals. Gifts that enable us to create the resources in the first place. Gifts that enable us to physically produce and distribute the resources that are sent out each week. During this period, without all people using those gifts there would not have been such a seamless process. However it is so much more than that. People who have had to stay at home because of their physical vulnerabilities have been able to keep in contact through texts and phone calls and of course there have also been plenty of meetings on Zoom. We are still the body of Christ, separated by physical distance but not by our common need of each other and our reliance upon Jesus. This lockdown period has made it difficult to keep in touch and feel like community, but I think we have managed through those gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit and shared communally for the benefit of all.

Does that mean we have grown communally over this period? I think there are signs we have, but the question now as lockdown ends is how are we going to continue to grow communally?  This is why as a church we are being really cautious over opening up. It is so important everyone feels included and no-one feels they are being left behind. We have come through lockdown stronger, I believe, and we need to do things that enable that communal growth to continue.

Reflection (David Walton)

Reading the parable (in the reading from John’s gospel) has brought back childhood memories from my preschool days in the mining town of Bedlington in Northumberland, visiting my grandparents, grandmother in the kitchen baking her famous apple pie and special cakes, she would send me up the garden to take something to grandpa who was in his greenhouse.  I would carefully run up the path, this was no play garden it was full of produce for the kitchen and most precious of all grandpa’s prise winning leeks.  The greenhouse was warm and grandpa welcoming as he pottered around his plants.  But most fascinating for me was a vine.  It grew out of the ground at the far end of the greenhouse right to the top then along the ceiling all the way to the door.  Grandpa told me that it was really old so it roots must be long and deep and be drinking deeply.  Grandpa looked after it well, pruning, feeding, guiding the vine in its elevated path. At the right time of the year big, juicy, black grapes hung between the leaves.  Grandpa would reach up, cut a bunch, and send me back to grandmother who would wash them and sit me down with some to feast upon.  As with all his produce the whole family and the neighbours around all shared in the gifts of harvest time.

The image of pruning and throwing away and burning can all sound a bit frightening and harsh to those who are not gardeners, but this image here is one of fruitfulness, intimacy, and love. Pruning cleanses the vine taking away what may cause disease and prevent the growth of fruit. As we drink deeply in God’s word Jesus is saying here that we too are cleansed and already prepared to be fruitful. Fruit-bearing is not something that the branches do by force of will. The fruit happens organically because the vine is true and the gardener good. But the branches in the parable do choose to abide. Abiding is important in John, where love of God means mutual indwelling. Abiding places are places where one is deeply at home.  The vine is a way of talking about love.  Jesus is inviting us to abide in a community of love to be fruitful through our learning together and our support for each other.  So as the body drinks deeply, it will grow, as it grows it will be pruned, guided, directed, and prepared to be fruitful. Paul reminds us that the fruits are many and varied.  We will not all have the same gift. So, we are dependent on each other. Nor does the vine feast on its own fruit but provides it for others.  So as my Grandpa shared his harvest, our gifts, our fruit are for sharing.  As we share God’s love, and rejoice in abiding, the body will grow.

‘5^th Gospel’ Reflection (Martin Millman)

Throughout our lives, as we develop from an infant to a child through to an adult, we go through many stages of development.  During these physically and spiritually growth changes we encounter many challenges, some emotional changes happen quietly and sometimes unnoticed, others are more obvious changes as in our appearance. Some are very obvious to ourselves and those around us, however without support the more emotional and spiritual changes can present challenges, that at times we struggle to understand.  This is when the support around us is vital.

When a tree sapling is first planted the roots and trunk require protection and nurture to ensure that it can establish itself. So it can become strong and resilient, to withstand storms, high winds and drought.  Without this care and attention the fragile young trunk can break, which can affect the trees ability to provide growth to the branches and leaves meaning fruit may not develop and flourish.

Similar to a tree trunk, our spiritual growth is one that requires support and encouragement. I for one can say that my family, church family and many friends throughout my life have provided this important gentle encouragement, that has allowed me to grow in faith, belief and confidence. Without this support during these growth and development stages, which are still continuing today, and will do until the day I meet with our Lord. I certainly believe my outlook, beliefs and faith could have been very different and more challenging, if I had to face the challenges on my own.

The trunk of a tree gets nourishment from the roots that are firmly rooted in rich soil. This solid grounding allows the trunk to not only survive in all conditions, but also aids new growth of branches, leaves, blossom and fruit. This is very much the same as my own and our church family’s journey as we grow together spiritually. The roots are our families, loved ones, friends and church family and the experiences we go through together affirm us, we then become more confident and resilient for the challenges we face.

This vital support makes us a trunk that through the love and gentle encouragement of those we have around us showing us love, builds us up in strength and resiliency with a strong solid base.  Which allows us to show love and support to others in our communities, through daily connections and in the way we conduct ourselves.

I would like to think that through the support I have received I am a balanced, understanding and empathetic adult, who is in no doubt, that I still have many areas to grow and develop and still learn from the mistakes made along the way.  This is only possible through the firm grounded supportive roots which supports growth that in turn provides abundant fruit to my personal and church relationships, in turn affirms others in growth, love, support and confidence, in the belief we hold in our faith and relationships with God. Exposing ourselves and our own vulnerabilities is hard and to be honest I still struggle with verbalising at times what my faith means to me, this is still a work in progress supported by our church family.

I hope and pray as we continue to support each other young and old, no matter what stage of the journey we are on, will continue to grow and bear fruit. In the ways we approach our communities and all other connections made. This is only made possible through the love, support and encouragement that we continue to receive as we journey on together.

Questions for reflection / discussion

As I read / listened to the readings and reflections for this week…

·         what did I notice, or what particularly stood out for me?

·         what did they make me wonder, or what questions am I pondering?

·         what have they helped me realise?

·         is there anything I want to do or change in the light of this week's topic?

On this week’s theme – growing communally (‘trunk’):

·         In what ways am I noticing us growing together as a church community during this time?

·         What are the things that are helping me [or us] grow communally at the moment?

What am I noticing at the moment that it would be good for us, as a church community, to nurture and develop, in the coming months, to help us continue to grow communally?

What is not happening at the moment, that am I missing, that would usually help me [or us] grow communally?

Is there anything that is not happening at the moment, that we have an opportunity to let go of?

Any other reflections…

A prayer for this journey:

God our Maker, Jesus our Grounding, Holy Spirit our Living Water,
in you is our hope, in you is our life, in you we grow and flourish:
in the changes, challenges and uncertainties of our world,
help us to reach down deep, as we root our trust in you;
help us to reach out wide,
in loving connection with our neighbours near and far;
and may we see and share your goodness
as the life of your kingdom springs up in us, around us and beyond us.
Amen.

Activities / conversation-starters with young (and not-so-young!) people

If you’re able to get out walking, can you find the tree on your walk that has the broadest trunk? Spend some time ‘up close and personal’ with it, using as many senses as you can. Can you reach your arms all the way round the trunk? How far up does the trunk go before it branches off in different directions? How does the trunk look? How does it feel? How does it smell?

Can you take a photo of a tree trunk – up close, or showing it towering upwards?

You might want to bring some paper and crayons with you on your walk, and do some ‘bark rubbings’ – put a piece of paper against the tree trunk, and rub over the paper with a crayon until the bark pattern emerges.

Talk together about the tree trunks you’ve seen, and spend some time wondering together: what stories might this tree trunk tell?

This week, we’re thinking about the tree trunk as a metaphor for what holds us together as a church community, and the different gifts each of us brings to that community (see Genny’s ‘cutting’ of ‘tree wisdom’, above)…

o   What are the different communities that you belong to – including the church community?

o   How does it feel to belong to each of those communities?

o   What do you think other people in that community value about you? What do you value about them?

o   What roles are you able to play in each of those communities? What role would you like to play? How could that happen?

You can listen to the readings, and one or two of this week’s reflections, by phoning:

0121 227 5533

You can find these resources, and those from previous weeks, on our dedicated ‘Trees of Life’ website:

www.treesoflifehodgehill.blogspot.com

If you’d like to explore some of the reflections and questions here further, with some other members of our church community (either on the phone, in someone’s garden, or on a short walk), get in touch with
Allannah, Gloria or Al (07738 119210).