"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
Precious Children of God,
I come to you in the name of Jesus, our Lord, the real key to eternal life, and the Savior of the world. I come to you as the honored Pastor of Shiloh Community, a United Methodist Church family. As I looked to God  in these trying times, for a Lenten Inspiration to share with you, I was led to a blessed word in the 17th chapter of John. In this particular passage we find Jesus pleading our case before God, praying for those of us who are truly His people.
In John 17:6-19, Jesus prays: I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now, O God, they know that everything you have given me comes from you. Therefore I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those who have been chosen, those you have shared with me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; the truth of your word. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”
God's response to the love that Jesus displays for us, is addressed in John 3:16; “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who so ever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” This alone is reason for us to celebrate on Resurrection Sunday.
Beloved, I pray for you, just as Jesus prayed for those that The Father entrusted to Him. I thank God for you and the opportunity to share in ministry with you. My love for each of you is a natural reaction to The Father and The Son's love for me. My prayer for you models the prayer Jesus offered for us all, I fervently pray that you may have abundant faith, immeasurable hope, and unconditional love, capped with a crown of sanctification. Stay connected to the vine, remain in relationship with the true gardener, be fruitful and grow in Christ. From the depths of my heart, I pray that you have a God-filled resurrected Easter Season, rooted in the unlimited love of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.