"Stay connected," says Jesus. That's really what the word "abide" means. It doesn't just mean, "stay in touch" or "keep an eye out for me". It really does mean "stay constantly connected" in the same way that a branch of a plant needs to stay constantly connected to the trunk and roots.

The problem for me - and maybe for many of you - is that I have a love/hate relationship with staying constantly connected! All of us - even people who aren't on all the social media feeds - are more connected now than we ever dreamed possible just 10 years ago. And in some ways, that's great! Being constantly connected means that:

• There's always someone there to help if I need help ... (that was how I originally decided I needed a cell phone back in the 90s!)

• I can keep up with the lives of friends and family who are far away, and who I otherwise might never see ... (in some ways, I know more about my college friends' lives now than I did when we were in college!)

• I can share the highs and lows of my life in real time with people who care about me in ways that I couldn't when I had to print copies of photos and put them in the mail ...

On the other hand, being constantly connected is a pain. Being constantly connected often means that:

• We never really leave work; we're always on email and often monitoring what's happening at work even we're on vacation ...

• We're constantly bombarded with the latest scary crisis in the world, which even while raising our awareness of needs and injustice, often just makes us numb, and scared and wondering if the news is more interested in marketing what sells than in telling us about the things we really ought to be paying attention to ...

• We're often so inundated with trivial information that the really important stuff gets lost in the shuffle ...

So when Jesus tells me the importance of staying constantly connected, I have mixed feelings. And yet, there's something different here. Something that I think we often miss.

Jesus doesn't simply say, "stay constantly connected." Instead, he follows up by telling us WHY: so that you "can bear much fruit." There's a purpose and a reason for the constant connection that Jesus calls us to.

So I wonder, do we often stop and consider why we're so constantly connected in our lives? And do we use and edit those connections in ways that serves those good purposes?

Often, I'm not sure that we stop to think about what our connections are for and how we can edit or use them. We usually accept that we're totally connected, except perhaps after a certain hour at night or maybe on vacation, when we turn everything off. But that strategy usually doesn't work so well. And moreover, it makes us not want to accept any more connection in our already overly connected lives, even if those connections would be beneficial and life enhancing.

And so when Jesus tells me that I should be more connected, I sometimes cringe. And yet, Jesus also talks to me about considering why I'm connected to him or to anyone else. And he also speaks about pruning, in a way which calls me to think about how I edit and use those connections.

So what does it really mean when Jesus calls us to stay connected to God? Or even to stay connected to one another? What are those connections for, and how do we edit and use them?

There aren't easy answers, but I think Jesus calls us to consider important questions about our connections. Among the most important are:

• Are we focusing on connections that really are life enhancing? Being connected just to be connected is, in the end, just exhausting! When Jesus talks about branches that don't bear fruit begin pruned, those branches were still connected, but weren't doing anything. Are the connections we have enhancing our lives, or just staying connected for the sake of staying connected...?

• Are the ways we're connected bearing fruit? The fruit that Jesus usually talks about is fruit like faith, hope and love. Are the connections we have helping us to grow in faith or hope or love for God or others? Sometimes, even in church, we think we should be connected to specific "spiritual activities." But some connections work for certain people, and some work for others. Are we willing to disconnect from something that isn't working and make room to connect to something that might...?

• Are we, in our over-connectedness, really connected at all? Sometimes, our connections make us feel busy, and important and plugged in. But deep down, are we really more connected to God and to those we love? And are we in danger of making the situation worse by simply trying to disconnect in order to quiet all the craziness that fills our days...?

In spite of often being over-connected, Jesus reminds us today that being connected really is important. But Jesus also calls us to focus on the right kinds of connections - the ones that bear the fruit of faith and hope and love in our lives. Jesus calls us to consider which connections need to be enhanced, and which ones need to be pruned, so that we can continue to grow as children of God. But most importantly, Jesus promises us that the life giving connection he gives us to God will always be there for us.

Amen.