What a stirring scripture! We are called to freedom when we take seriously today’s scripture. Freedom from fear, freedom from jealousy, freedom from greed and scarcity and power struggles. It sounds so idyllic and maybe a tad idealistic in a world where bombs drop on children and fires fill the skies with toxic smoke. It could be dismissed as pie in the sky except that these stories are so deeply honest and real.
Paul and Jesus were not imagining out of thin air a
philosophy of faith that would never work.
They were real people dealing with real issues in real ways. They knew what it was like to be in community
with humans that could be messy and complicated and hurting and scared. They also knew how to describe what they saw
in realistic ways and offer alternatives.
They acknowledged the challenges of being a God-centered community.
God-centered communities are not easy. As Paul said, it’s easy to get caught up in
biting and devouring each other, struggling against each other instead of
working together as a team. It’s easy to get caught up in negative emotions,
and to nurse our senses of outrage and injustice. We all want to be filled with
love, joy, peace, and self-control. We
all want good times for ourselves. We
want Heaven on Earth, and we want it right now. We hear the call to freedom;
but often slip into the dangers Paul diagnosed as self-indulgence.
There are many examples of healthy, God-centered,
intentional communities. Last week was the final gathering of the (Re)Generate
program of United Church clergy from across Canada. 33 people lived in community under blistering
34 C heat with such a high humidity index that there were weather warnings put
out. There was no air conditioning in
the dormitories, so fans were being used in every little bedroom. It was too hot to even sit outside during mealtimes. The main gathering room was air conditioned and
became a haven. It was hard to sleep,
staying hydrated became important, and people were tired and missing their
families. Some had come from as far away
as Whitehorse or British Columbia which had a time difference of three
hours. That meant that they were waking
up at 3 a.m., eating breakfast at 4 a.m. and in class at 5 a.m. Not easy to do.
And yet they managed to work together, to share joys and
sorrows, and to learn new ways of being in Christian community. They heard about the epidemic of burn-out
with clergy, the warning signs and what clergy and congregations can do
together to prevent it. Some individual
factors are holding unrealistically high expectations, worrying about what
other people think, struggling to say no, and being competitive or
controlling. And some of the community
factors could have come straight from Paul’s scripture today, unresolved conflict,
lack of support, poor communication, cynicism and hostility sound very much
like “biting and devouring each other.”
Could the Galatians have been struggling with burn out? Were they
forgetting the good news that they were no longer slaves to fear and hurt? Were they struggling with what it meant to
live out the teachings of Jesus? Paul’s letter
was to remind everyone that even though we call ourselves Christian, that
doesn’t give us permission to let loose our feelings in ways that hurt
others. We are to remember that we are
called to abundance: abundant love, abundant compassion, abundant life.
Abundant life can be lived in many ways. Jesus showed his disciples that abundant life
isn’t dependent on having a roof over one’s head, or food in the fridge. When an enthusiastic listener declared that
he would follow Jesus anywhere, Jesus pushed back and said that his life was a
nomadic one, and if the follower was more interested in three square meals a
day and a dry bed every night, all pleasure and no self-discipline, it was not
going to work out. Jesus invited others
to join him, and they told stories of why they couldn’t come. “I have to follow the customs of my people
and take care of family responsibilities”, said one. Another wanted to go back home first. They had more important things to do than to
follow Jesus and learn his ways of love, peace and joy.
Both Jesus and Paul wanted us to be more intentional about
how we do community. They wanted us to
focus on loving our neighbors and ourselves.
Jesus challenged our stories of fear and scarcity. “Come and follow,” he said. Skeptics will grumble
that it’s impossible, that humans can’t
live in community and love.
The (Re)Generate program showed that it is possible. We can remember to let go of the slavery
attitudes that so fill our world. A
frequent remark is how the participants felt like everyone left their egos back
home. They were at 5 Oaks to learn and
to share and to be inspired. They were
there to fill up on joy, love, faith, hope, kindness, generosity and
self-control, even in the midst of a heat wave.
They had a leader they could trust, and that listened to them and
inspired them to go deeper. Together,
they were more than the sum of their parts, and many felt healed and held in
love.
They put Paul’s command into practice: “Serve one another
in works of love, since the whole of the Law is summarized in a single command:
"Love your neighbor as yourself."”
Paul and Jesus both agreed on the vital importance of this one
commandment, and Moderator Carmen Lansdowne did too. The number one antidote to burn out, whether
you ask Carmen, Paul, Jesus, or a good therapist, is to prioritize
self-care. We cannot love one another
until we love ourselves. Until we love ourselves,
and chose to follow Jesus away from a lifetime of thinking and acting like a
slave to expectation, a slave to fear, a slave to scarcity, we will be in risk
of burn out. God doesn’t want that, the
church doesn’t want that, and our families and friends don’t want that
either. The world needs healthy
Christians full of the fruit of the spirit.
The world needs more love. Love
of self starts by hearing Jesus challenging the stories we tell ourselves. Do we really need to check with others, do we
really need to keep doing what we’ve always done, do we really need to see
others as enemies, or can we learn to tell loving stories to ourselves and
others as we seek the deeper spirituality that leads to God’s fruit of love,
peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self
control? May we have the courage and the
support of our community to one day be truly free as God intends. Amen.
