The World We Leave Behind

Quote:
“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer


Texts:

Psalm 80

Isaiah 5:1-7

Galatians 5:16-26

For today, I would encourage reading all of Galatians 5.  Verses 16-26, without their context, seem to communicate a very different sort of thing than what Paul is actually saying.  Having watched the community at Galatia begin to self-destruct under the weight of its own works-righteousness, claiming their freedom at the expense of others, he says this:

"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. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another," (Galatians 5:13-15).

Having spoken of freedom during the first half of the chapter, it is in the second half that Paul describes what that freedom looks like.  Hearkening back to the 10 Commandments in Deuteronomy, these are an indication of how people of God live in community.  So often, we become distracted by our own cares and concerns, by our own desire to be right, by our desires for power and respect, that we grasp at these at the expense of our neighbors.  In other words, our freedom comes at the cost of anothers' freedom.  It is here Paul outlines that we have been made free for the sake of our neighbor.  We have been unbound that we might unbind others.  We have been set free that we might set others free.  We have been forgiven that we might forgive.  We have been loved that we might love.

"the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."  

Many of us likely memorized this text as children, and many of us tell children these are the things they should do, along with keeping the 10 Commandments.  Funny, we ask children to do the impossible and make excuses for ourselves why we do not.  Forgetting that our freedom is bound in our neighbors' freedom, we forget that we have not been freed from the other, but freed for the sake of the other.  "For freedom you have been set free, never again submit to a yoke of slavery."  You have been made free for the sake of freedom; you have been made free for the sake of setting others free.  

Let us not simply teach our children to love; let us love.  Let us not simply teach our children to be joyful; let us be joyful.  Let us not simply teach our children about peace; let us work toward peace in the world.  Let us not simply teach our children to be kind; let us be kind.  Let us not simply teach our children to be generous; let us be generous.  Let us not simply teach our children to be faithful; let us be faithful.  Let us not simply teach our children to be gentle; let us be gentle.  Let us not simply teach our children self-control; let us exhibit self-control.

In so doing, perhaps we will set our children free from a world in which the rich become richer and the poor poorer, but in which we take what we need with one hand and pass of what another needs with the other; free from a world in which only the beautiful and successful are loved so that each person is valued; free from a world in which bombs are substitutes for diplomacy so that peace is an enduring quality; free from a world in which faith and God were simply a good idea someone had once so that faith is something that actually names something about who we are.