Getting in there early

Well, I was scheduled to launch the blog on Sunday, July 1st, but here I am - it's Saturday night, and it's either write or mow the grass. So...

Here's a portion of the epistle for tomorrow--the part that inspired the sermon title (Vote for me and I'll set you free - can you guess the title of the pop medium that line comes from?):

"For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit to a yoke of
slavery." (Galatians 5:1)

St. Paul talks about the great gift we have been given by Jesus--freedom! We have been liberated from sin and death and the need to always justify ourselves before God. We can be more than what we were before because of Christ, and because we have been given the Holy Spirit. We can now leave behind the passion of the flesh, and bear the fruits of the Spirit--

Joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness and self-control.

Question for ya - Which of these fruits are maturing on your branches these days?

For me, it's gentleness. I try to meet the world and the people in it in a gentle way--as did Jesus. I find that preferable to bravado, self-importance, or self-righteousness. Now sometimes that can trait be mistaken for whimpy-ness, I know. And the danger in practicing it is to not hold people accountable to God. It's a narrow road with ditches waiting on both sides. And so I ask as did Paul, "Let us also be guided by the Spirit!" Couldn't do it on my own.

Hope to see you in church. Visit the blog each day for conversation, information, and hopefully, inspiration!

Peace!