Let's abide in Christ

Thursday 4th August 2022 11:06

August is a month of rest in the life of the church.

None of us can work 24 / 7 / 365 and so the Ten Commandments teach us to have a Sabbath rest every week. In the same way that garden plants grow and fruit and have a dormant period so the activities of the church grow and bear fruit and have a dormant period. This is what Jesus is teaching us when he says “I am the vine, you are the branches, keep on abiding in me”.

In spring, the vine grows vigorously and the gardener lifts up the trailing branches, ties them into the bottom wire and cleans the mud off the leaves. In the summer, the fruit begins to form and we prune each branch, two leaves beyond the fruit, so that all of the energy of the branch goes into the fruit. And after the harvest, we prune off all of the branches about an inch from the trunk, so new buds form in the right place next year. 

In the same way, in the life of the church, August is our dormant month, when we abide in Christ. Weekly worship continues but the other activities are pruned back. So home groups and toddlers and schools work all take a break and we focus on the core activity of reminding ourselves that we are in Christ and he is in us. This month let’s simply abide in Christ.