Proper 8 / Pentecost 6 / Ordinary Time 13
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
-- Galatians 5:1
The early church, like our contemporary church, struggled with the sometimes discouraging reality of the inability of humans to live together in harmony. Fights among church members are not a new phenomenon. There are a great number of people in our society who claim Christ as their Lord and Savior but do not want to be part of the institutional church. Yet the scriptures are clear that our faith is a corporate faith rather than an individual philosophy of life. Paul was convinced that in Christ we have been set free but was equally concerned that such freedom did not become a license for a selfish lifestyle. To exercise one's freedom without concern for one's neighbor was to become a slave to passions and fears. "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."
The choice for any church is between seeking to "love your neighbor as yourself" or to "bite and devour one another" and in the process to be consumed by one another. The latter is what often discourages people in their relationship with a church. Yet in choosing to disassociate themselves from the church, they are taking the exact opposite path from that which was taken by Christ. Jesus did not choose to disassociate himself from humanity because their behavior was displeasing but rather "emptied himself, taking the form of a slave... he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:7-8).
When the church fails us by displaying less than Christian behavior, it is an opportunity for us to display Christian behavior toward members of the church. In doing so, we are living by the Spirit rather than by the flesh. Paul provided a suggestive list by which we can know if we are living by the flesh or by the Spirit in 5:19-23. To live by the Spirit is to not allow ourselves to "become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another" (5:26).
-- Galatians 5:1
The early church, like our contemporary church, struggled with the sometimes discouraging reality of the inability of humans to live together in harmony. Fights among church members are not a new phenomenon. There are a great number of people in our society who claim Christ as their Lord and Savior but do not want to be part of the institutional church. Yet the scriptures are clear that our faith is a corporate faith rather than an individual philosophy of life. Paul was convinced that in Christ we have been set free but was equally concerned that such freedom did not become a license for a selfish lifestyle. To exercise one's freedom without concern for one's neighbor was to become a slave to passions and fears. "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."
The choice for any church is between seeking to "love your neighbor as yourself" or to "bite and devour one another" and in the process to be consumed by one another. The latter is what often discourages people in their relationship with a church. Yet in choosing to disassociate themselves from the church, they are taking the exact opposite path from that which was taken by Christ. Jesus did not choose to disassociate himself from humanity because their behavior was displeasing but rather "emptied himself, taking the form of a slave... he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:7-8).
When the church fails us by displaying less than Christian behavior, it is an opportunity for us to display Christian behavior toward members of the church. In doing so, we are living by the Spirit rather than by the flesh. Paul provided a suggestive list by which we can know if we are living by the flesh or by the Spirit in 5:19-23. To live by the Spirit is to not allow ourselves to "become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another" (5:26).
