Thought for the Day - Saturday 11 July

Thought for the Day – Saturday 11^th July

‘Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “‘Sir, ’the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”’ (Luke 13: 6-9)

Part way through Lockdown I was allocated to a Presbytery Team which meets virtually and which has been tasked with looking at the way forward for the church and in particular for local churches in our Presbytery Post-Covid 19.

Obviously we can all agree that ‘church’ as it was has changed so much during our time of Lockdown and in many ways what ‘church’ once was and once represented may never be the same again. So many people have discovered new ways of being church as they have engaged with virtual services, some congregations have discovered that actually they can be ‘church’ and function as a church without a building and the burden that building places upon them and some have perhaps discovered that they actually have no need of a minister or parish worker because they can still serve their parish as God would wish. Ministers too have found a whole variety of different ways to maintain contact with those they serve and with those who live in their parishes. So as we prepare to come back out of Lockdown it follows that with these new perspectives abounding in reality church and churches may indeed look and feel a whole lot different to what they were before.

One of the main topics our team has been asked to consider in relation to all of this as we reflect on the way forward is that of ‘fruitfulness’ – you know, is a church actually displaying a fruitful mission and fulfilling God’s purposes of growing his kingdom there in the place that it serves or is that not the case. I suppose the resources of the church become ever more limited particularly due to Covid-19 which has caused a huge drop in income, it still has too many buildings not always in the right places or as well-equipped as they could be and there is always the issue of falling numbers of people coming forward to serve. Hence the need to reflect on the way forward.       

So as you can imagine I have been reflecting rather a lot during Lockdown on that word fruitfulness and I have come to the conclusion that the definition we ascribe to it is so important in relation to the way forward for the church and individual churches!

Just how do you decide if somewhere is being fruitful in their mission?

What does fruitfulness look like?

Some would say it is a church full of people – disciples of Jesus - even if no mission is evident beyond its walls; others would say it is a small congregation where numbers are declining but a faithful few are doing all they can to show God’s kingdom and bring God’s kingdom to those around them in their parish and community.

What would you say are the signs of fruitfulness? There’s a question for you to ponder!

Some believe that where there is no evidence of fruitfulness or mission that such churches should just be closed because with limited resources the few resources the church national has could then be put where they will bear the most fruit for God and his Kingdom.

Yet, I think when we look to this passage for today Jesus is saying – okay, this fig tree – or we could read it I suppose as this church - is bearing no fruit at present and has not done so for many years but let’s just give it another year, let’s nurture it, let’s support it, let’s see if it can become more fruitful and therefore more deserving of its presence in the vineyard.

Jesus is saying let’s give it a little more time, let’s give it another chance, let’s put in a little more effort, let’s put in a lot more hard graft, let’s feed it and encourage it to bear fruit and then if that still doesn’t work, if it still bears no fruit for the kingdom of God then…. maybe perhaps it will just have to go for the sake of the whole vineyard – for the sake of the growth of the kingdom of God!

Time, investment, intervention, nurturing, support and encouragement can all bring fruitfulness but hand in hand with that fruitfulness is hard work and there needs to be a living out of the gospel so that the kingdom of God is grown and in turn bears more fruit.

And so my reflections on fruitfulness continue……

Perhaps yours might too.

Prayer

Loving Lord,

Lord of many chances, though we repeatedly grieve you by failing to grow our own faith, by failing to bear fruit for you, we thank you that you never give up believing in us, you are always willing to give us more and more opportunities in which to bear fruit and grow the kingdom of God here on earth. For your nurturing of us, for your encouragement of us, for continual support of us we give you thankful praise and in your name we pray. Amen