Fruit of the Spirit - Love

As part of our Lenten journey this year, we will be talking about the fruits of the Spirit, as mentioned in Galatians 5:22 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). There are, however, only six Sundays in Lent, plus Easter is seven, but there are 9 fruits, so I will start this Sunday using a fruit of the Spirit as the theme for each week.  I will not be going in order, but I will be starting with love, which is appropriate both for the Gospel reading this week as well as for the occasion of baptism.
We continue with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 in Matthew’s Gospel where he is expanding the understanding of God’s law, going a bit further than what is expected.  Yes, we should love our neighbors, but we should also love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. 
What?  That seems to be asking a bit much! Yes, in fact it is, because this is not human love but God’s love.  This is not an expected reciprocal arrangement – one loves another and the other loves one back.  God’s love gives regardless of return because that is the nature of God’s loves.  It is not about what it does for the giver, but what it does for the receiver, about recognizing their intrinsic value and worthiness without judgment of behavior. 
This is a very worthy lesson to teach those who are coming into the faith.  In fact, it is lesson all of the faithful need to learn over and over again because it is so difficult to actually do!  In our tradition of baptizing babies, the parents and godparents make the commitment to raise the child “in the knowledge and love of God.”  This lesson is where the “rubber hits the road.”  To love and pray for our enemies is one of the most difficult things Jesus asks us to do, because rather than objectifying that person as “the other,” such a prayer makes them just like us, children of God.  It is a serious commitment to agree, with God’s help, to raise a child to love like God.  And remember, my friends, the entire congregation agrees to support them in this pursuit as well!

The secular society just celebrated “love” on Valentine’s Day less than a week ago. I say secular because even though the idea behind Valentine’s Day is tangentially about St. Valentine, a 3rd century Roman martyr, he is not observed in the Episcopal calendar of saints (as a matter of fact, Cyril and Methodius, 9th Century missionaries to the Slavs are recognized on February 14th). I can be very cynical about Valentine’s Day, as it seems to embody the reciprocal aspect of human love (No card or chocolates?  No kisses for you!). We shouldn’t need a special day to remind us to tell our nearest and dearest we love them, but we probably do need to be reminded to offer God’s love by praying for our enemies.  Where is that date on the calendar? 

Since it is not there, we need to make a point of doing it ourselves, not only because Christ instructed us to do so, but because it will transform us (Yes, in God’s strange economy, something we do for another actually benefits us!). We don’t do it in order to change, but are changed because of it. Through that change, we are able to share God’s love, that fruit of the Spirit, in more genuine and selfless ways, perhaps even without thinking about it.  And that is a true gift.

In Christ,


Rev. Valerie+

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