Leaning Forward: The gracious art of re-potting

The poor plant is drooping. It receives the correct amount of sunlight, is watered on schedule, and is even talked to on occasion. But, it still looks anemic and tired. So, you finally Google the plant type and the people who do the re-potting for Dummies site (go here to check it out). They advise to remove the plant from it's current pot, check out the root system, and follow the instructions to re-pot the plant. It's an act of agricultural grace, giving the plant an opportunity to thrive and grow. You are a grace ambulance.

Holy moly, I've got a black thumb. What is more, Harriet and I resigned from the yard of the month club ten years ago when we purchased a condominium. In the process of spiritual maturity and humane treatment of the plant world we've also discovered the joys of silk. Still, we received beautiful potted plants from thoughtful friends when our son Brian died two years ago. They are such precious reminders of the dear people who sent them and the blessings of life. But, with black thumbs, keeping them alive is a test for both of us. So, eventually they sagged. That's when we learned the grace of re-potting.

Out of the pot they were a tangled mess. The root systems were chaos, a knotted jumble of tiny impotent roots. No wonder the miserable peace lilies were jaundiced and stunted. They needed to be trimmed and placed into more suitable pots. The pots they came in were sufficient when they were tiny, thriving shoots. But, now they had grown out of them. Older, more mature, they needed to be re-potted.

Yes, every comparison breaks down at some point, and so does the re-potting deal. In church life these days a related term is the rage in church revitalization. You know, many old churches are being re-planted. It's a vital, fresh idea for giving life to dying churches in rapidly changing communities. Sometimes, however, perhaps a simple re-potting would work. In fact, the re-potting idea may be more to the point when thinking about other disconnected spiritual universes---denominations, state conventions, local associations, and then churches. Sometimes the problem is like what was ailing our sickly peace lilies. They can't grow or flourish because the life has been squeezed out of them by intertwined and plaited roots.

So the Dummies site says the first move is to trim the mess, cut away some of the twisted undergrowth. In institutional life, it may be to simplify the governing system, to unravel the meshed roots that have strangled the life out of it. It's not such an odd occurrence, operating systems being too cumbersome and awkward for the super-structure it is feeding. The lily can't breathe or digest or sprout new growth because the root system is too extensive, braided to the point of choking. They're like the layers of by-laws, committees, procedures, rules and regulations, formal and informal structures, hoops, hurdles, barriers, territories, traditions, gate-keepers, owners, not to mention matriarchs and patriarchs, and more, that have suffocated what were vibrant, vital, and growing organizations.

So, there it is, the sluggish, inert, organization asphyxiated by its own roots. And, all that is needed, at least as a first move, to restore circulation is to prune back the jumbled mess so the life can flow again.

Roots, branches, vines, fruit, harvests, and things agricultural are significnat biblical themes. Institutions and organizations, including churches and other spiritual groups must intentionally resist the strangling tendencies of governing systems. Sometimes the system becomes the vine, and in the church that is serious spiritual error. Every church and para-church unit, as well as denominational entities, must constantly review, simplify, and update their documents and systems to insure that the real vine remains the vine, and to use another metaphor, the Head remains the Head.

How can this happen? Guts? Conviction? Biblical imperative? Boldness? Or, maybe just plain obedience? Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me" (John 15:5). Certainly the idea applies to the church as well as to individual believers. When all the systems and mechanics become the main connection, the branches will be like our poor lilies.

For Jesus is the Life.