caring for the vine and its branches, and this assures us of the widest, most tender and most faithful care of it.”2 Jesus description requires us to distinguish between two kinds of branches: “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2). There are branches in Christ, the true vine, that flow with life and bear fruit. But there are other branches connected to Jesus that do not bear fruit. What