Vinedresser

Church,

It’s said that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The older I get, the more I realize just how much I take after my own parents!

Immediately after moving into my new home, I began to work on household projects. And as soon as the house felt settled and the warmer weather was forecasted, I directed my attention to the outdoors, just like my dad does every year.

Many of you know that this is my first home, and that I had been renting ever since college. And so I haven’t had much if any reason at all to tend to a garden, let alone devote much time to yard work in a great while. And yet I’ve found myself every day tilling the ground, relocating shrubs and trees, digging up and moving patches of grass, laying stonework, etc. every day now.

There are a plethora of spiritual analogies here to be made about this new hobby! Christ himself used agrarian talk when discipling his followers, and I believe it’s fitting that we too recognize the similarities in our Father’s world to the life of faith in his Son.

Like trimming back perennials in preparation for the spring growth, we are now experiencing the new growth coming from once-trimmed-back branches. And this is truly exciting! For this is a time in our church’s life for each of us as individuals—but more importantly, as members of one another—to think creatively about gathering and equipping on a regular basis.

Like a vine upon a trellis, we as a church will grow naturally upward when we grow along the well laid out framework God has established for us in his Word.

This week, would you as individuals and families consider the Church in Acts and how the the Lord tangibly multiplied and grew them? How might we at Christ Covenant seek to replicate their lifestyle in such a way that would also promote growth in grace and growth in reach?

Your brother in Christ,

Rich