Spend some time with the following passage. Read it slowly and really try to take it in. Spend as much time as you'd like making observations, trying to figure out the meaning, and discerning how this relates your life today. Once you're finished, answer the following questions at the bottom and post your answers in the forum as a comment.

“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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

- John 15: 1-8

What do you find intriguing or curious about this passage?

What questions do you have concerning these verses?

What do you learn about God and man?

What do you think these verses mean?