The Fruit of the Spirit

1.19.20, Rooke Chapel Congregation
Galatians 5: 1, 13-25

Welcome back, friends,
to our humble Ecumenical Christian Worship service.
The angels’ songs have quieted.  And the wise travelers from the east have returned home by another road.
And we are here again in the midst of holy, ordinary time,
to sing, pray, worship God, and love one another.
We will ponder, this semester,
“the fruit of the spirit.”
Laid out in Galatians Chapter 5,
and we will encourage our seniors,
to come share the pulpit,
and share with us how
“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control”
shape their lives.
Or how they might like them to,
 
This is Paul’s reminder,
that life is Christ can look different,
that things do not have to be the way they have always been.
not because we’re bound to a different set of rules,
but because we are free,
to grow in real and deep love.
 
The only thing that matters,
he says in verse 6,
is faith working through love.
 
Our seniors – those who have signed up to speak, and those who haven’t! –
we’ll encourage to take one of these fruits,
or one of the many more we could conjure,
justice, humility, perseverance, etc.
Paul’s list is not meant to be exclusive,
simply instructive.
to take those fruits and run
with whatever they might inspire or evoke in their lives.
 
But today, I thought,
we’d examine the fruit,
in its context,
We’ve all likely encountered this snippet of scripture, disembodied,
as church banners,
or wall hangings,
“fruit of the month” calendars
or personal prayer guides.
Warm, inviting, positive.
But it’s wedged,
actually amidst some passionate and fascinating discourse.
Those who would suggest that scripture,
or theology is boring,
would do well to read Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
In which he calls his readers fools,
his detractors, dogs,
and suggests that those who advocate the necessity of circumcision,
might consider castration instead. (actually, though.)
 
But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
 

Paul, it would seem,
landed in Galatia by accident.
On account of his chronic illness.
And they took care of him,
and he told them about life in Christ,
and he left with optimism,
off to his next missionary journey.
 
But has since received word,
that other teachers have moved in,
and undone the work he’d been doing.
In particular,
in trying to convince his new-found lovers of the Jesus’ message,
that they must adopt the old ways of the law,
in order to follow the risen Christ.
This was a serious early theological dispute…
Did the followers of Christ need to be good,
law-abiding Jews,
if they were to follow Jesus
(who was, of course, a good law-abiding Jew.)?
Paul says a vehement no,
this is his life’s mission:
to make God and Christ accessible for all who have ears to hear.
In particular, in this case,
taking up the question of circumcision,
as emblematic of the larger question.
 
For understandable reasons,
he doesn’t wish circumcision to stand between the Gentile and God
And he is feelin’ a little salty about it.
And pulls no punches.
 
You experienced the spirit. He says.
You glimpsed the unity of life in Christ. He pleads.
You received the gift of faith,
through no work of your own, he cajoles.
Why would you go backward?

Paul’s mission, remember, is to the gentiles.
And his message is simple (though it doesn’t always seem so.)
God does the work.
The spirit is already moving.
All we have to do, is breathe it in,
and begin our new life.
We don’t need to rewind,
to food restrictions,
and circumcision,
and fear and slavery.
We are free,
to accept God into our lives,
we are free to,
let faith begin the work of love,
we are free,
already,
to love and serve one another.
 
Now, Galatians is a favorite of those,
who seek to cut the Christian tradition off from its Jewish roots.
a favorite of those who wish to drive a wedge between “faith and works”
If your mind goes immediately to “grace vs. law.”
let’s just take a deep breath together.
 
Paul knows that many experience Torah,
as a gift of love and mercy.
He knows the Prophets Amos and Micah,
said much the same as he,
in decrying a piety without love,
an action without faith.
 
Paul is reminding the Galatians,
and us,
and everywhere in between,
that humans are really apt to turn grace
into rules.
To set a new bar,
a new set of minimum acceptable standards,
a new code.
(and, of course,
Christians do it all the time,
using Paul as the source –
you have to love this person,
avoid that behavior,
wear this clothing,
etc. etc.)
 
But, no, Paul says.
 this is not a new order, but a new horizon of possibility.
For this real, hard, complicated human life on earth.
 
Paul is, essentially saying,
(when he’s not suggesting castration) that
life isn’t a question of rules,
of which we must meet the minimum standards.
Rather, life is a horizon of endless possibility,
into which we are drawn.
It’s not a question,
of ‘fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing,’
or any other list of bad things,
which we could summon.
It is instead a series of possibilities,
‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.’
 
The works of the flesh are manifold:
But the fruit of the spirit,
you may have noticed,
is singular.
not fruits, but fruit:
and it is faith working through love.
it is loving neighbor as yourself.
it is understanding that if we are together in Christ,
it makes a difference in our lives,
Every new year, every semester, every morning, every breath.
 
Paul is rightly critiqued for slipping into a sort of
Body bad, spirit good dualism.
But I might suggest that we view the word spirit,
like the old Hebrew Ruach,
as “Breath.” which animates our bodies.

Right in the midst and muck of real, earthly life,
we have clothed ourselves with Christ, says Paul,
and there is no longer Jew or Greek,
no longer slave or free
no longer male or female,
but we are one, in Christ Jesus.
 
which means that life is not about
hierarchy,
or power,
or conquest,
or rules
It is about life in Christ,
in which we are radically equal – Jew and Gentile,
Man and woman,
rich and poor, black and white,
and everywhere in between.
it is about life in the spirit,
and it is wonderful,
and it bears much fruit.
 
Allow me, if you would, a brief illustration.
from this moment in our shared life.
 
The state of Texas has recently decided that,
making use of a new executive order,
it will choose not to accept new refugees.
This will be debated in towns,
and states, across our country.
and in our courts.
We will argue the economics and politics and procedures,
of accepting and welcoming refugees into our communities.
But let us note,
we who profess to worship the God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Paul.
 
that the biblical case for refugees.
The theological case,
is unequivocal.
From Exodus to Deuteronomy (Chapter 10),
Leviticus to the Psalms,
Paul (Ephesians 2) and Peter,
and Jesus’ own teachings and writings.
You can’t go a more than a few pages,
without being reminded that we are expressly
(dare I say literally)
called to love, welcome and care for the alien in our midst.
Our scriptures remind us,
that welcoming the stranger is not essentially a political,
or historical, or security question.
We rather, are reminded,
that we once were strangers.
And that we are thus called, specifically,
to love the stranger, the alien, the refugee in our midst.
This is among the most consistent,
most important,
and broadest-reaching scriptural teachings we have.


From the Israelites escaping Egypt,
to the Exile in Babylon,
to Emmanuel born in a manger,
on the fringes of the Roman Empire,
escaping a tyrant to a foreign land.
to the early church in hostile climate,
Their story is our story.
No matter how safe we feel.
 
And there are days,
in which I want to get up on my soapbox and shout it.
The question of welcoming refugees  has been an ugly part of our politics in the last few years,
moved forward in many cases,
by professing Christians.
And there are days my instinct is to wield our scripture as a sword,
a sledgehammer,
against those who would deny safe and legal entry into our communities.
To say, “You can’t do that,
and be Christian.”
This is the minimum acceptable standard.

I’ve tried it.  And it doesn’t work very well.
 
But I was reminded this week,
that perhaps the most compelling version of our scripture’s call to welcome the stranger,
comes from the book of Hebrews,

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
 
this is not law.
not shame.
Not soap-box argument.
 
But a reminder,
that our hospitality too bears fruit.
 
As we approach a hard and divisive season ahead,
in our shared life.
We should, sometimes,
argue.  And advocate passionately about what we believe is right.
But our most effective weapon,
will ever be love,
and joy peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control.
 
In this season,
Days in which we want to draw the boundary of people who are in and out,
acceptable and not.
there will be days, that like Paul,
we will wish to suggest our enemies simply castrate themselves.
 
But the world changing arguments,
will seek truth and justice in love.
Amen.