Fruit of the Spirit a daily devotional for Lent 2017

Transcription

1 Fruit of the Spirit a daily devotional for Lent 2017 Part 1: Love St. Paul's United Church of Christ 101 Worthington Road Exton PA 19341

2 When people look at a Christian, what should they see? What virtues should proceed from the movement of the Spirit within the heart of a disciple? Or, to put it more simply, how can we describe a person whose life is shaped by the word of God? Paul offers this answer in his letter to the church in Galatia: "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (5:22-23) Nine fruits birthed from one vine. Nine virtues growing in one ground. This Lent, I invite you to join the congregation of St. Paul's UCC in meditating on these nine fruits as we journey toward the cross together. May this be a time for us to reorient ourselves to the things that matter most, and to the God from whom all blessings flow. A blessed Lenten season to one and all Jonathan +

3 MARCH 1 ASH WEDNESDAY Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5 Here's a random fact about biblical food vocabulary. The word 'vegetable' appears only six times in the entire Bible. (Children and picky grown-ups should take note that 'broccoli' is entirely absent from the good book.) 'Fruit,' on the other hand, is amply represented, with more than 300 mentions. The apple gets a bad rap from the get-go, but let's not forget that God's first commandment to human beings, long before the Big Ten, was to "Be fruitful and multiply" Be fruitful This is about procreation, and more than procreation. Fruitfulness, the prophets teach us, is related to righteousness and peace. At one point, when Isaiah sang of his hope that the people of God would be renewed and redeemed, he imagined a day when "a spirit from on high is poured out on us, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest... [t]hen justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever." (Isaiah 32:15-17) When Jesus teaches the disciples that their relationship with him will enable them to lead fruitful lives, he draws on the vision of Isaiah and other Hebrew prophets. This is not about having a ministry that is 'successful' or prosperous in material terms. This is about a life that gives birth to compassion, a life that illuminates the loving purposes of God so that others may see God's light and be glad in it. To what end? So that the world, blessed by the good news of the kingdom of heaven, may be graced with righteousness, peace, quietness, and trust for ever. Here Jesus reminds the disciples of the very first commandment. What are humans for? To bear fruit But there's more. Jesus wants us to know that we do not do this work alone. God does not loom over us with a clipboard; God is neither our supervisor nor our taskmaster. Quite the contrary, God pours his own Spirit into our lives, making a divine dwelling place within us, so that he might do his work in us and through us. Through Christ, we share an organic spiritual unity with the Creator. We might take a moment to marvel at this, not only that God is closer to us than we imagined, but also that whenever we do bear fruit, it is because God himself is accomplishing his work in us. Holy God, help me to abide in Christ each day, that with my heart and mind set on his peace, with my soul renewed by his presence, I might live fruitfully and faithfully. Help me to become nothing in myself so that I might do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Jonathan Hauze

4 THURSDAY MARCH 2 Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Corinthians 16:14 The Bible has a lot of great stories and lessons, but if I had to pick one verse that sums up Jesus teaching it would be this one. What else do we need to know? But it is not always easy to approach everything is life s journey with love, especially the difficult, annoying parts (insert pet peeve here). That is when it is helpful to think about the why of this lesson. Why should we do everything in love? Is it so that we can say we are making the world a better place, or because it s the right thing to do? Is it a rule we should follow because God told us so? Those ideas probably won t help us when times get tough, and they may even cause us to fail and feel bad about ourselves. What we really need to know is that the reason we can Let all we do be done in love is because we are loved by God and filled by God s love. In Sunday school a few weeks ago we read a passage from Matthew that teaches us how God loves all of us, just like the sun shines and the rains fall over all the earth. We are all abundantly blessed by God s unconditional love. It rises every day. It washes over all the earth. If we can begin to appreciate the abundance of God s love, it becomes easier for us to just pass it around Dear God, as sure as the sun will rise another day let me be confident of your abundant love so that I may be able to share it with others in everything that I do. Amen. Mayme Baumann

5 FRIDAY MARCH 3 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 Among the many aspects of Christianity that Friedrich Nietzsche targeted in his writings, the subject of love was singled out for scorn in a particularly stinging way: "The most subtle artifice that distinguishes Christianity from other religions is a word: it speaks of love.. There is something so ambiguous and suggestive about the word love, something that speaks to memory and to hope, that even the lowest intelligence and the coldest heart still feel something of the glimmer of this word... for those countless ones who miss love, whether from their parents or their children or their beloved, and especially for people with sublimated sexuality, Christianity has always been a find." (from Mixed Opinions and Maxims, 1879, trans. Walter Kaufmann) Ouch Knowing that Nietzsche was the son of a Lutheran pastor, in a time and place when Protestant pastors were not known to be warm and fuzzy gents, I can't help thinking that this critique has a lot to do with the coldness of his upbringing. Whatever the reason, I appreciate the critique this is a big reason why I like to read Nietzsche because it helps me to be very clear about the real meaning of Christian love. Yes, we are the religion that places love above all things. We dare to declare that "God is love." But what does this mean? When Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors and our enemies, is this an expression of vague sentimentalism? Does it even have anything to do with our feelings? Paul gives us clarity. The love he describes, the love that follows the contours of Christ's life and teaching, is anything but vague or sentimental. This love is about action. This love does not feel things; it does things. This love leads us into service. It humbles us, and places us before our neighbor in a spirit of generosity and grace. It calls us to become ministers of all people, not just those what we feel inclined to like, but every person with whom we share this world. This takes us into a realm of the Christian faith that was even more offensive to Nietzsche and is still offensive to a world that worships power than the emphasis of love. Christ invites us to take the path of servanthood, not the path of mastery. He invites us to lose our lives (our selves, our egos, our pride) so that we might come to know the true, new life that belongs to all who are born of the Spirit. Christian love is so much more than a word... it is a way of life. God of love, help me to understand the ways of your love, and to hear your voice when you call me to yield, to kneel, to give. Guide me by your own Spirit, that Paul's love song may describe not only my aspirations but also my actions. Jonathan Hauze

6 SATURDAY MARCH 4 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:14 It's hard to imagine "perfect harmony". Gripes, grudges, fear, frustration seem to have a strong hold on our hearts and minds. Even with those I dearly love, I find we can be out of step and not in "perfect harmony". It is easy to look at my partner as he suggests our children play one more round of a game before bed, and feel zero harmony. We love each other deeply, but in our human interactions I struggle to feel harmony. However, when I step back and reflect on our connection to each other and to the natural world; to rhythm of sunsets, the change of the seasons, to our commitment to being good stewards of the earth and raising children to share these values I realize that our love is bigger than any gripe, grudge, fear or frustration. I believe, with Jesus as a guide, I can find this love and compassion for everyone. Not just for my partner; but for my neighbor, my coworker, and my friend with different beliefs and values. A love that asks nothing in return, but brings about harmony through its steadfastness. The poet Hafiz wrote: Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, "You owe me." Look what happens with love like that. It lights up the whole sky. The beauty of the earth is an inspiration for love and the harmony that loves brings. Dear God, let us love others as the sun loves the earth. Let us love as Jesus loves. Amen. Lauren Alexandro

7 SUNDAY MARCH 5 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 1 John 4:18 We cannot have perfect love and fear at the same time because perfect love has no fear. This verse made me stop and think. Nate s Topical Bible: "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because He first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also." (1 John 4:12, 16-21) Thank you, God, for your perfect love and guidance with it. In your name, we pray. Amen. Marg Perina

8 MONDAY MARCH 6 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. Galatians 5:13 In November of 1520, the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther published an essay entitled "On the Freedom of the Christian." He opened with a bold statement: "A Christian is an utterly free man, lord of all, subject to none." Now that's an idea an American can really get behind. But wait, that's not all. Luther followed that statement with an equally bold and seemingly contradictory statement: "A Christian is an utterly dutiful man, servant of all, subject to all." Luther wasn't trying to be funny or nonsensical. Quite the contrary, he was dealing with a very serious question about the Christian's engagement with the world and her responsibility to her neighbors. Christians are, as Paul writes, "called to freedom." Having been loved by the God of resurrection, there is now no earthly power or heavenly power, for that matter that can bind our souls and separate us from his divine love. There is no longer any earthly authority that has the power to determine our eternal life with God. But our freedom in Christ is not simply a "freedom from..." It is a "freedom for..." Despite the contemporary understanding of "personal freedom," God does not free us so that we can simply serve our own ends. The love of Christ joins us to others. It places us in relationship with others and calls upon us to build up the body in love. Paul suggests that this relationship is so vital that it makes us interdependent: "if one part of the body suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." With freedom therefore comes responsibility, as we are challenged to ask not only what we have a right to do but more importantly what we should do for the sake of the body of Christ. If you have trouble thinking about the church in this way, let me offer a different example. I think that this is an apt description of the kind of selfless spirit on which every good marriage depends. I am perfectly free at any time to tell Liza what I think about this or that. There's no law prohibiting me from complaining to her every time I feel annoyed about something. I am free do act as I will. (And suffer the consequences) But I am also bound to her by my love. I have promised to serve her. When I do this well, it is a joy and not only my joy. As Wendell Berry wrote in a poem to his wife: "What wonder have you done to me? / In binding love you set me free." Teach me the meaning of freedom, and the meaning of love, O God, so that I may come into the joy of your presence here and now, in the relationships I share and the responsibilities I bear. Jonathan Hauze