Text: Galatians 6:1
My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.
This one verse has an interesting and important twist to it all. Actually it is not a twist in relation to what Paul has been saying in the letter, rather it is a twist in relation to how most people would deal with someone who has strayed/transgressed/tresspassed. Most often, we would ask, "What are we going to do with them - the one who has trespassed." But Paul does not make his focus that person. Instead, the others of the community are the ones to whom Paul brings a word - a good news word. The work of the community is to bring the "one who has strayed" home...bring him/her back...restore. In a world still in love with the law as a way of keeping people in line ( as in either do it like this...or this will happen to you) Paul attempts to speak to a community in which the grace of God and the community of love is the standard of care and well being. In gentleness...bring them home! Rather than tearing them down...rather than making a list of ways they must act to "get back" into the community...rather than turning to a manual of consequences...in gentleness - bring them home. In that way, the brokenness of the community will not be involved in a further broken mess in which more an more people will be tempted to act out of a sense of "self-indulgence." I think we all know what it is like to be caught up in the meanness, finger-pointing, & warring madness that can take place when we are trying to make sure that this "so and so" pays for what s/he has done. In a community of love, zero-tolerance is not always the way to make the community whole again. Our gentleness and concern that is a gift of the Spirit, can fashion a life in which the community lives with a sense of respect and honor of one another.
Connection: I know it is very easy to turn to the law of "either - or." I especially know that as a parent. I know that there is a need for orange barrels and other marks of an orderly community. I also know that within the community of Jesus' followers, there is another way to live when we or the people around us step "out of bounds"...and it is not an easy way to go. Putting love in action may just be the biggest task of this day. And yet, the promise is that we bring love into the actions of the day by the power of the Spirit - whew!
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness, blow into our lives this wind of hopefulness and love that fills us with the life you have given to us as the beloved of God. Take us by the hand and lead us to the forgiving and peaceable Reign of God that is a gift to us for life. Amen.
My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.
This one verse has an interesting and important twist to it all. Actually it is not a twist in relation to what Paul has been saying in the letter, rather it is a twist in relation to how most people would deal with someone who has strayed/transgressed/tresspassed. Most often, we would ask, "What are we going to do with them - the one who has trespassed." But Paul does not make his focus that person. Instead, the others of the community are the ones to whom Paul brings a word - a good news word. The work of the community is to bring the "one who has strayed" home...bring him/her back...restore. In a world still in love with the law as a way of keeping people in line ( as in either do it like this...or this will happen to you) Paul attempts to speak to a community in which the grace of God and the community of love is the standard of care and well being. In gentleness...bring them home! Rather than tearing them down...rather than making a list of ways they must act to "get back" into the community...rather than turning to a manual of consequences...in gentleness - bring them home. In that way, the brokenness of the community will not be involved in a further broken mess in which more an more people will be tempted to act out of a sense of "self-indulgence." I think we all know what it is like to be caught up in the meanness, finger-pointing, & warring madness that can take place when we are trying to make sure that this "so and so" pays for what s/he has done. In a community of love, zero-tolerance is not always the way to make the community whole again. Our gentleness and concern that is a gift of the Spirit, can fashion a life in which the community lives with a sense of respect and honor of one another.
Connection: I know it is very easy to turn to the law of "either - or." I especially know that as a parent. I know that there is a need for orange barrels and other marks of an orderly community. I also know that within the community of Jesus' followers, there is another way to live when we or the people around us step "out of bounds"...and it is not an easy way to go. Putting love in action may just be the biggest task of this day. And yet, the promise is that we bring love into the actions of the day by the power of the Spirit - whew!
Spirit, Spirit of gentleness, blow into our lives this wind of hopefulness and love that fills us with the life you have given to us as the beloved of God. Take us by the hand and lead us to the forgiving and peaceable Reign of God that is a gift to us for life. Amen.
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