A vine runs through the vineyard,

Living through each branch;

The keeper reads the fruitfulness

No leaf can counterfeit.

The barren branch is taken;

The fruitful one is pruned,

Not wounded without purpose,

But cleared for fuller bloom.

Abide in him,

As the branch abides in vine.

No severed stem can bear the fruit

It promises in time.

Abide in him;

Let every word remain.

The life that moves through Christ alone

Can fill the branch again.

The spoken word had cleansed them,

Yet cleansing was not flight;

They had to keep their dwelling

Where the root supplied the life.

A branch can boast of blossom,

Can imitate the green,

But cut away from living wood,

It withers though unseen.

He is the vine;

His people are the branches.

Abiding bears much fruit;

Apart from him is nothing.

The Father is glorified

When lasting fruit appears;

Abide in him,

And let his life grow clear.

Without him,

Nothing.

No effort becomes life

When severed from the source.

If words remain within them,

Then prayer will learn its aim.

Desire will grow around the vine

Instead of using Jesus' name.

The fruit becomes discipleship,

The harvest honors God;

Not ornament upon the branch,

But evidence of love.

As the Father loved the Son,

So Jesus loved his own.

Continue in that love,

Do not exchange the living home.

Commandments are not ladders

To purchase what is given;

Obedience stays where love has placed

The branch beneath the heaven.

He is the vine;

His people are the branches.

Abiding bears much fruit;

Apart from him is nothing.

His joy remains within them,

Their joy is made complete;

Abide in him,

And let his love run deep.

No greater love can stand

Than life laid down for friends.

Not servants kept in darkness,

But friends who know the Master's heart.

They did not choose the calling;

He chose and sent them out

To bear the kind of fruit that stays

When seasons turn about.

Abide in him,

As the branch abides in vine.

Let love become the visible fruit

No winter can deny.

Abide in him;

Let every word remain.

And love one another

As he loved them to the end.

One vine.

Many branches.

One life moving through them all.