Grafting into New Life
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God for ever and ever. Amen. —Collect for Proper 17
What a strange request we make to God in this collect! Why not “fill our hearts with the love of your Name” or “create in our hearts the love of your Name?” What is “grafting” anyway?
Most of the magnificent rose bushes we grow in our gardens today are grafted—the flowering portions are more delicate varieties joined to a more robust host by the miracle of grafting. Using a hearty trunk with strong roots, the developer makes a deep cut in this host and inserts a branch of the chosen but usually weaker plant, the graft, into the incision and then seals the new joint with paraffin or gardening tape. Soon the host and graft are joined permanently and we enjoy vigorously growing plants with spectacular blossoms.
Botanists are able to graft many types of plants, but there are limits to what can be accomplished. First, you can only join a host and graft which are closely related. Roses in maple trees are not a possibility, but the lovely Peace rose, a showy melange of yellow, pink and orange blossoms, grows supported by a wild rose root which normally produces simple white flowers.
Second, the host and the graft both must be wounded and survive. Some plants are too delicate to sustain a cut in their stems and die without accepting a graft, while others are too weak or short-lived to survive before being received by a host. Imagine trying to graft a tulip and you get the picture.
Finally, much depends upon the support and protection given to the graft by the wax or tape seal. The site can’ t dry out or become vulnerable to insects or disease. The pieces must stay in contact for the graft to take place.
We affirm that we are sufficiently related to God for a graft to take root in our hearts because we are both “created in God’ s image” and “children by adoption.” And if we are children then we are heirs—not waiting to survive the Father but inheriting through His growth in our own hearts.
We acknowledge that the Lord, who overcame the wounds of death on the Cross while grafting our sinful hearts to His, will protect us and deliver us from whatever wounds prevent or hinder us from grafting His heart in ours — not only the ordinary wounds of life like sickness, grief, loneliness or envy, but also the extraordinary, and self-inflicted, wound of death itself.
Finally, we testify to the protective power of the “wax” of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church which seeks to embrace us in a nourishing fellowship free of the virus of false teachers or the disease of their teachings. Our life together as Christians binds our hearts in a graft which increases in us true religion, nourishes us with all goodness; and brings forth in us the fruit of good works. The Name of that Rose is Love, and it is ever-blooming and ever-lasting! +