Rev. George
Miller
May 30, 2021
Galatians
5:16-26
Here we are.
Today is our last reading
from Paul’s painful letter to the Galatian Church.
For 5 weeks we have been in
the world of James, the brother of Jesus, Peter, religious traditionalists, circumcisers,
and all-you-can-eat crab buffets.
Within 5 weeks we’ve gone
from mask on to mask off. We’ve heard
from Barnabas; we’ve heard from Paul.
We celebrated Haitian Flag
Day, and now here we are, Memorial Day Weekend.
Today, we visit Galatians 5,
one of the hardest texts to speak on, and one I have never preached.
Why? Because this is one of those scriptures that
has been used to hurt and condemn whole swaths of individuals and segments of
society.
This is a scripture that
just feels like it’s some overzealous aunt wagging her finger and talking about
“those people.”
This is one of those
scriptures that is used by so-called Christians to pass unjust bills, and for
so-called “prayer warriors” to show up at city council when someone dares to dream
about serving alcohol in downtown.
To be honest, this is a
scripture that makes us progressive pastors not feel so pleasant, so it’s a lot
easier to ignore.
But no one grows by ignoring
what makes them squirm.
So today, we address the
portion of Paul’s letter in which you can feel the moral police band together.
Paul has spent his entire
letter trying to advocate for the freedom that comes from grace.
Paul is so sure that Jesus’
death on the cross and God’s actions on Easter morn are such a turning point in
history that they have bestowed upon all individuals the gift of grace.
ALL individuals- Slave and free.
Male and female. Buckeyes and Florida
State. Masked and unmasked.
So he’s so upset that other
people are coming in and ruining this radical new freedom.
Not only that, people are
suggesting that what Paul is really saying is “Have a field day. Go wild.
Get drunk. Steel all the oranges
you want and kick all the dogs you see!”
To which Paul says “NO! That’s not what I mean.”
“Grace is the freedom to do
what is just, what is kind, what is humble not because you must, but because you
want to.”
Paul is defending his message
that thanks to Christ, we are all adopted into God’s family.
As heirs to God’s
inheritance, we are free to act as the Citizens of Heaven that we rightfully are.
According to Paul, thanks to
Jesus, we can all now call Sarah and Abraham Mema and Pop-pop without having to
cut off a piece of our skin or refrain from eating pork tacos.
So today’s portion of the letter
is Paul’s attempt to show what a Citizen of Heaven looks like.
As a preacher, Paul is so
slick. He does something that is so sly.
He starts his list not with
pleasant sounding words that stroke people’s egos, or with abstract terms that
can make folk squirm.
Paul starts his list with
very concrete actions that one can point to and judge.
“Fornication!” he says. In which you can image everyone nodding their
head and saying “Hmm-mm.”
“Impurity. Sorcery.”
But if you notice, what he’s
doing is referring to the people who are out “there.” The folks partying Friday night who are too
tired to make it to church in the morning.
By referring to folk “out
there” he’s making it easy to judge, to think “that’s not me”; thus easy to
listen.
But did you notice how Paul
smoothly moves into the more abstract ethical actions?
Enmity.
What the heck does that even
mean?
Dissention.
What’s that?
Jealousy. Anger.
Envy.
Hold up now, is he talking
about me?
Paul was fine when he was judging
people getting the Tarot Cards read by Miss Cleo, but now…
…but now, he dares to
suggest that my being upset with someone on Council or my gossiping about what so-and-so
posted on Facebook is the same thing?
Paul is so slick.
He gets the people invested
by beginning with an easy-to-judge list of behaviors and then eases into the
real unjust, unkind, unhumble issues.
The things we all do; the
things we’ve all done-
-the roots of many of the
tragic mistakes we have all made again and again and again and again that God somehow,
some ways forgives.
Who alive has not confused
material things for God?
Who has not disagreed with
someone to the point that they have raised their voice?
Who has not been part of a
small group of folk that was real upset with what the larger group was doing?
Who has not been jealous
over someone’s car, someone’s man, someone’s shoes?
Who has not hurt someone they
loved?
Paul says “All these things
distract us from the gifts God has placed before us; all these things can dim
our shine.”
…but then, just when you
think all hope is lost, Paul pastorally comes to the true purpose of his
message.
What grace is about, what
grace is really about, is all the things we CAN do, and WANT to
do as God’s beautiful children.
Patience- with one another, patience
with ourselves.
Gentleness. Often times the strongest people use the
softest touch and calmest of voice.
Kindness. Willing to take someone in. Offering sandwich and soup. Wearing the colors of someone’s country as a
way to say “We support you.”
Joy.
Isn’t that cool? To think of joy as an action, not just an
emotion or a feeling, but joy as something you do.
Love. Agape.
The willingness to show you care about someone by freely choosing to
reach out, to help, to share.
I think what Paul does here
is faithfully trick us into thinking he’s going one way so that we can go
another.
He makes us think he’s
talking about folk “out there” but he’s really talking to us “here” and to what’s
“in here.”
This is a scripture best
used not to judge and wag fingers, but a scripture meant to say to say “come here” and “join us.”
Paul is so grateful for what
Jesus has done on the cross. He’s so ecstatic
about what God did on Easter day.
He just wants everyone to
know who they are and to embrace the gifts God has given.
Paul is not perfect. His theology is not always clear.
Paul’s words have often been
twisted and turned into what he did not mean.
But this is clear- Paul
believes that in Christ we are free.
He believes that in Christ
we are recipients of grace.
Paul truly believes that in
Christ we are sisters and brothers; we should live in such a way that others see
us in action and say “I want to experience too.”
Emmanuel United Church of Christ,
in Christ we are One.
We are more than our
past. We are more than our future.
We are indeed beautiful
pearls on this shimmering island called earth.
Christ has set us free.
Let us live as if we believe
that to be so.
Amen and amen.
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