I like – well, don’t like - but tend to agree with the reading of this gospel that the warning about God’s pruning activity is not an idea we can apply to others (and it is always so much easier to apply sermons to other people than to ourselves!) but a message to all.

No matter how pious we may feel we are, no matter how theological we think we are, no matter how ‘good’ we act, none of that is a substitute for love.