Galatians 6:1-10
August 10
Len Scales
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We are back in the sanctuary at 61 Nassau Street as we come to the conclusion of a series in Galatians!
We are surrounded by a lot more light, fresh paint, and beautiful artwork in the chancel. The change of text reflects a focus in the life of Nassau Church to be mindful that as we worship gathered in this space, we are prepared and sent into the world to continue to live in God’s love.
Since Andrew and I started with Princeton Presbyterians, the campus ministry took up Micah 6:8 as our motto—Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly. When the orange banner goes up in the coming weeks to welcome new and returning students to Princeton, it will be the 10th year of reflecting this call into our community. Buttons and stickers have been shared between campus ministry and congregation and Micah 6:8 keeps working its way deeper into our life together so much so that it has become the banner text in the chancel. This is a reflection of who we are and who we aspire to be.
Much like Micah, the letter to the Galatians is a call to ongoing life as a follower of God. Filled with the Spirit, Gentiles in Galatia hear the message of Christ and begin to live it out. People had different opinions of requirements for Gentiles following Jesus, and so arguments and manipulation impacted the church there, making people feel like they weren’t enough. These conversations reached Paul and he wrote to encourage the church in Galatia, reminding them that salvation is through God’s grace, and that our calling is to bear good fruit for all through the work of the Spirit. Living as followers of Christ does not include tearing one another down. It does not leave people hungry. It does not oppress the neighbor.
When Andrew and I preach through epistles on Sunday evenings at Breaking Bread Worship with students, we talk about how a letter is just one segment of an ongoing conversation. We are hearing a particular voice in what we are reading, and we can use our sacred imagination to consider what the rest of the conversation might have included. What did the Galatians say when they wrote Paul back? Where did they have questions? How did they push back? What did they deeply appreciate?
We continue these conversations when we read Scripture and listen for God’s word for us as a part of the church today. We know that sometimes Scripture has been used to clobber our neighbors or maintain hierarchy. That is, in part, why the chancel text change is careful to not use masculine language for God, because we know there are pieces of Christian history (and present) that use gendered language as a support for belittling women and teaching binary thinking that cuts out so many siblings.
We have to ask what values guide our reading of Scripture and engagement in a faith community so that we can collectively live into the life of the Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit in the chapter prior to today’s text illumines a theme that has come alive in my work in ministry. I arrived at my first call in North Carolina in 2011 shortly after the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to support, rather than bar, LGBTQ+ folks seeking ordination. I had the opportunity to be a part of tough conversations and studies with the congregation. Some congregants knew the deep rejection their queer children experienced from that community and wanted to make sure no young person ever felt condemned again. It was through those conversations and reading Matthew Vines’ God and the Gay Christian that the role of good fruit crystalized for me. I heard a story just this spring about the good fruit harvested from those seeds planted over a decade ago. When a graduating high school student came out to the pastor, he shared with gratitude the acceptance he felt from the congregation. Fear, rejection, and broken relationships replaced with trust, support, and love. The congregation had to undergo some painful pruning to bear good fruit where there had once been bad.
As we look at the role of the church, the interpretation of Scripture, the practices we take up, we can ask “Is this bearing good fruit?”
Is it providing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?
We can and need to ask if what we are doing is life-giving.
Christians have a long history of being on the wrong side of history, and the power of religion has been wielded to coerce people, bearing fear and even death into the world. That is not good fruit.
There is also history of good fruit with establishing education for all, building hospitals, calling for non-violence, and the ongoing work for justice.
As we look again to our chancel text today, we see that love appears all around us—God is love, love God, love kindness, and that the center panel gives us an example of what that love looks like. It makes what we do not just an idea but a material impact—caring for neighbors with housing, food, clothing, and freedom. This calling is not a small one; it is not a simple nor quick task.
Our text in Galatians today reminds us the life we are called to live out as followers of Christ is a collective undertaking. It is empowered by the Spirit and done in community.
Author, organizer, science fiction lover, adrienne maree brown, points toward examples throughout nature of the effectiveness of interdependence and resilience for a better future. In considering the power of a group, she describes flocking, how birds migrate. Brown’s book Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, says, “There is an art to flocking: staying separate enough not to crowd each other, aligned enough to maintain a shared direction, and cohesive enough to always move towards each other” (13). A flock of birds is able to quickly change directions, adapt, to avoid predators. This is possible because leadership can come from any corner of the flock helping turn and guide toward safety.
This example from nature highlights the power of working together and how recognizing leadership from throughout the group can help us face challenging conditions and go the distance.
This sense of teamwork is what drives my Doctorate of Ministry research on the collaborative power between congregations and campus ministries. We get to learn from one another, and are better able to follow God’s call in the world when we welcome the energy and imagination, wisdom and love that comes together with a dynamism of varied ages and life stages.
A small example of that is Ms. Ingrid inviting the children in Club 3-4-5 to make care packages during finals season for Undergraduate and Graduate students. The cards are sweet and often funny and the college students love knowing that this younger generation is cheering them on. It is also a meaningful example for the kids to know church community can extend into your life as a young adult.
I’ve kept one of those cards from Club 3-4-5, because of the wisdom it shares. On the front are stickers of Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, and Tiger, separated from one another, trying to push and pull a huge lady bug each on their own. They can’t do it, until you open the card and see that they’ve come together to move what had seemed impossible. Now they are all flying! The inscription reads “If it isn’t working, try teamwork!”
When we look at the world it can seem like the obstacles are too large, too heavy, too longstanding, too complex to resolve. And the truth is that we can not do it alone. We really do need one another. We must work together, bearing one another’s burdens, resting when we need to and leading when we can to make sure when Christ appears in our midst that we as a community are ready.
This kind of teamwork is why the Neighbor Fund is possible. Generosity, willingness to respond to the request of trusted community partners, and commitment to cultivating good fruit — well-being, compassion, and courage — are the ways you are gathering around God’s love and responding with love through the power of the Spirit. Let us “bear one another’s burdens … not grow weary in doing what is right, … [and] work for the good of all.”[1] Amen.
[1] Galatians 6:2, 9-10