No Strings?

The goal is not to be untethered, but well-tethered.

This weekend, I had the joy of celebrating my niece’s First Communion. Which is to say: I shared the Body of Christ with these children for the first time while I could not wipe the smile from my face.

The Gospel we used was from John 15, where Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.”

It is not exactly the slogan of modern freedom. We prefer “be yourself” or “keep your options open.” Jesus offers something stranger and sturdier: remain.

Remain in me. Stay connected. Draw life from somewhere deeper than your own willpower or achievements.

Freya India writes, “What we need most in a rapidly changing world is rootedness.” This Gen Z author notes, “When I listen to the misery and confusion of my generation beneath it I hear a heartbreaking need—a need to be bound to others, to a community, to a moral code, to something more.”

That word bound may make us nervous. We tend to hear it as a limitation. But some bonds don’t make us smaller. They make life possible.

That is what I saw at First Communion: a little girl being drawn more deeply into the life that will nourish her, steady her, and send her.

The branch remains. The child receives. And somehow, from that holy dependence, fruit begins to grow.