Fruit of the Spirit (RTLC 2015)

You are not some special little snowflake. You are not a rose in a field of dandelions. You are not the only one like you in the world. I have heard these things from parents and none of them are true. They aren’t true about you, they aren’t true about me, and they aren’t true about anyone. Except Chris Pratt…. He, He is just great! Now if I were to say anything about individuality and “specialness” it would be this. You are an Aspen Tree. Some are tall, some are short, some are ugly, and some have things carved into them. You are an Aspen Tree, you are different from other aspen trees but only if you look REALLY close. Other wise you are just another tree in the forest.  The reason is because YOU are broken, YOU are imperfect, YOU are damaged goods. You are a MEAT SACK with a stone heart that is crumbling and so is EVERYONE ELSE.

There is good news though we have a specific set of tools to help polish our stone heart.  These Tools are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control. Unfortunately, more bad news, your tools are just terrible. They are weak, rusty, and breaking.  Your love will fail the one whom deserves it because of personal resentment. Your Joy will fail you when faced with true devastation. Your peace will fail when the waves of life’s trepidations hit you. Your patience will crumble under the weight of expectations. Your Kindness will last only as long as your love for the person whom is testing you. Your Goodness will disappear when selfish desire arrives.  Your Faithfulness will only last as long as you need it to, and then it will be as fleeting as a summer breeze. Your Gentleness will only last as long as your self control allows. Long story short, your tools are weak and frail.

Here is the Best news. We have a carpenter who has better tools than we do. 2000 years ago our carpenter waded into the river Jordan.  Had hands placed upon him and was plunged into the waters of the river. When he reappeared above the waters the spirit entered him. (Matthew 3:13-17) That same spirit enters us at our baptism gives us the Fruit of the Spirit. That singular fruit has multiple attributes that give us the ultimate tools we need. We gain the ability to tap directly into the bottomless well that is God’s Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control, and in these gifts we will never be left wanting. Christ describes it best in John 14:27

“Peace I leave with you; MY peace if give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

It is God’s gift to us in the Holy Spirit that we can tap into. A love that will never fail or falter  and forgives no matter how many times forgiveness is asked. A joy that surpasses all understanding. A peace that will calm the waves in the middle of a storm. A patience that has waited Three days before reveling to the world the Greatest News of all time. The kindness to those who did not ask for it nor did they deserve it, but instead a kindness that is freely given.  A goodness that will be poured out from the heart of the one who was sent for the world’s sake. A faithfulness in the one who formed your heart from clay and with a snap of his fingers sent that heart into a flutter. Finally, a Gentleness that will be lead by the self control of the man who gave his life for yours.

Now I might be on the wrong side of the cross here, but I started this with the idea that you are not special. We are not pretty flowers in a field of dandelions. Instead I insist that we are all Aspen trees. Aspen trees are diverse and bend to their environment, so none of them look alike. Yet they all have roots that are interconnected. They all have scars caused by someone else. They all have leaves that give comfort to those below. Your story may be hard and painful, but you aren’t the only one who has gone through it. Your story may be weird and privileged, but you’re not the only person who feels conflicted. Your story is not a magic little snowflake, and that is NOT A BAD THING. To think that you are the only one who can understand what you are going through is a LIE. A Lie to yourself and a lie to the world. Until you realize that we are all in this together you won’t be able to get past your brokenness. To dive into the Fruit of the Spirit we are gifted with. The best part about aspen trees is that their roots grow together. Until one tree is actually two. Two trees wrap themselves together to make four. Until the whole forest are many trees with one set of roots. We are rooted in Christ, and that means we are all not that special, but we all receive the gifts. Sorry if you thought you were a butterfly in a pod of caterpillars.

Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patients, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law.” 

The Angry Christian Dilemma

    So I have attempted to write a post when something in the world moved me to post an important opinion. Lately, and by lately I mean the last several months, I have been far too angry at politicians, religious leadership, and in some of the things I hear coming from my own congregation to write a post without it coming off as me “yelling at heathens”. That is my problem i find myself too angry to write something that doesn't come across as finger wagging. I find myself and an ANGRY CHRISTIAN - 

    For Palm Sunday I challenged myself to write a dramatic piece for service instead of a regular sermon. I found myself writing from the view point of two disciples watching Jesus as he goes through the day of Palm Sunday. As I characterized these two disciples I found myself pealing back the layers of the two very distinct sides of my own heart.

    First we have Andrew, who heard Christ’s call to humility and service. Seeing Christ as humbling; riding on an ass, healing the sickest in the community, and calling for the children to come and listen. Clearly as a youth director I like the last bit the most but it all comes down to service. A King who made himself a slave for the sake of the world. My heart yearns to be that kind of servant. One who gives all that he has for the sake of the world, and for no greater goal than to make the world better with nothing more than my actions and heart. Yet what Andrew missed was a great fire inside him. He didn’t dare take any radical action, to say or do anything that might alienate anyone in anyway. For lack of better words, this side of my heart is kind of a wimp.

    Second we have Peter, you might now him as the man who cut off a roman centurion’s ear in the garden of Gethsemane.  He was on the “road to revolution” bandwagon. You might even say he was the one who was driving it. He wanted a KINGDOM for Jesus and not just a church to rise around him. He wanted to fight and over turn what he saw as a corrupt church and government. He wanted radical action for a radical leader like Jesus. He was ready to take drastic measures no matter the cost; who it hurt, who would die, what would be the consequence. This is why when I wrote about Peter he was most excited when Jesus TOSSED TABLES and WHIPPED BANKERS. He saw people manipulating the faith for personal gain and want to burn those responsible to the ground. This side of my heart is HUNGER for action, and to invoke change in a very real way in the world! This side of my heart wants Preachers who ask their congregations for Multimillion dollar jets to be dragged into the street and flogged. This side of my heart wants politicians who say when a woman has her baby cut from her womb that is was “God’s wrath for allowing abortions in America” to be publicly stoned for their ridiculous blasphemy.  I want most of the Indiana house of representatives to realize they are not CHRISTIANS. They are, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, fearful hate filled bigots that remind me of what a human would look like if God made us from SNAKE SHIT instead of mud. 

     So I look at these two disciples that I found inside my own heart and have only one questions. Can I be an ANGRY CHRISTIAN? Can I be a follower of Christ, a follower who is called to preach the gospel at all times, forgive abundantly, love joyfully, live hopefully, and serve endlessly? Can I be Angry with those who take the word of God and distort it to be used as a tool of discrimination, those who use the joy God gives as a wealth acquiring industry, or worst of all saying that when horrendous things happen it is God’s perfect justice?

So here I kneel, on the wrong side of the cross, and I look to my lord and a pray. Dear savior let my heart be ever focused on your service. Let my words be as light, shining into the dark places of the world bringing encouragement, hope, and safety. Let my actions reflect those of the lamb whom sacrificed everything for this world. Let me learn patients when I see your love being twisted. Patients to help those who are more confused than encouraged. Patients to walk the gospel journey and not just preach it. Patients to wait upon the lord.  When all of my words fall on the rocks and break, let me take heart in the words from Galatians 6. 1Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5for each one should carry their own load.6Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.

7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

As I speak to my God, who is a paradox, I find understanding in the paradox of my heart. That I should be set on fire and passionately live an outspoken gospel, while making sure my actions match my beliefs. I can be an angry Christian. Christ was outraged in Matt. 21:12-13 I can be outraged when people use God to make money in illegitimate ways, but it is more important to remember the next moment in Matt21:14-16 that while he was Tossing tables of the greedy and wicked, he turned to those who need healing and cured them. The children who cried out hosanna were a blessing and not a nuisance but the most joyous of praise. For my wrath will never turn a human heart but will only allow myself to be tempted. For if someone is preaching an impostors gospel they only deceive themselves. God cannot be mocked and men reap what they sow. I have to SOW love, joy, peace, patients, and let God’s spirit correct those who have strayed from his path. I can be angry, but I should never let that anger control me. So to answer the question that started these ramblings, NO, I cannot be an angry Christian. An angry Christian is someone who allows their emotions to control them and not the holy spirit. Yet I can, and actively find myself, a Christian who gets angry, but as Galatians reminds me, that is my load to carry and not a burden to put on others. We have to remember above all the Hate we see, above all the greed, above all the bigotry, we must correct this world GENTLY. We reap what we sow, what have you been sowing?

Let your words be LIGHT – shining in the darkness.