The Fruit that Nobody Wants

6-30-19

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Almost 2 years ago was the 500th anniversary of the Reformation – remember that? -  and Lutherans around the world pulled out all the stops to celebrate. Including the Lutheran World Federation, a worldwide communion of Lutheran denominations like the ELCA. Fortunately for the LWF, they were scheduled to hold their assembly the exact same year as this famous anniversary. Part of the festivities included a preaching contest where a young adult pastor – in this case, yours truly - would be invited to preach during the closing worship of the LWF assembly. That’s how I got an all- expense paid trip to hang out with Lutherans from all over the world in the capitol city of Namibia.

The theme for the whole week of the assembly was “Liberated by God’s Grace.” And text chosen for the closing worship was Galatians 5, which we heard just a few minutes ago. The Fruit of the Spirit passage one of the “Bible greatest hits” if you will, ranking nearly as familiar as “The Lord is my Shepherd,” “Love is patient,” “For God so love ed the world,” “Be strong and courageous.” In fact, in our triple classroom we have artwork that has the Fruit of the Spirit written on it! This text gets around. And for a reason.

As I shared in my sermon at the closing worship of that amazing week, “Fruit of the Spirit” was the theme for VBS at my home congregation when I was in 5^th grade. For THAT closing worship service at the end of that week, my class decided to put on a skit wearing T-shirts with each fruit listed. I remember I got to wear the shirt with “Gentleness” on it. What I ALSO remember clearly is that NO ONE in my class wanted to wear the shirt that said “SELF-CONTROL.” I still remember the look on Karin Weidemeyer’s face when she reluctantly agreed, though I don’t blame her for being annoyed about it.

Because we get it. Self-control was not as “cool” as love, joy, and peace. To describe someone as being “self-controlled” is not complement we give our friends And honestly, I never pray for God to make me more self-controlled. Self-control seems to be the opposite of freedom.  And frankly, just not any fun at all.

Why do I need to control my SELF? I like to think that my SELF tends to be pretty decent and generally steers me right, at least about 90% of the time. But as Paul very well knew, when we think that way, we could not be more wrong.

The truth is, when I let my SELF guide my day to day life, I am NOT very loving, joy-filled, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, or particularly faithful. When my SELF is at the lead, I march in the wrong kind of parade, to the tunes of buying more stuff, acting unkindly, being afraid of my neighbor, and generally being too concerned about myself to see there are some very real needs out there in the world.

These devious tunes lead us into captivity while disguised as “freedom.” We cry to God, “You’re not the boss of me,” but we find that our selves have led us down a road that leaves us vulnerable: to broken relationships, bad choices, selfishness, suffering and shame. We are in bondage and cannot free ourselves. We are captive, like the legend of the Pied Piper - captive in a parade that marches us toward death in body, mind, and spirit.

There IS another tune calling us, another parade that we are invited to, another parade where we belong and find our home. Jesus frees us from the parade of death, to be part of his parade of life. Not so that my SELF can my ruler – instead, Jesus frees me FROM my SELF. I no longer belong to my Self, limited by my flaws, imperfections, blind spots, and fears. In addition, I no longer belong to the WORLD, who would have me believe that I am not enough, and that certain types of people are not enough. Instead, I belong to Christ, and YOU belong to Christ, and together, we are called to march in the parade led by the Holy Spirit.

And THIS is a parade that is going some amazing place – the destination or result (or fruit if you will) will lead us to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, AND self-control. But not for our own benefit alone. This is not a purely inward journey, in order to become extra-holy super-people. THIS parade leads us OUT into the world, out to our neighbors, where the fruits of our freedom in Christ are given away to others. This kind of fruit is not to be hoarded or stored up for our own benefit. Just like we can’t grow this fruit by ourselves without being connected to the “Jesus Parade,” we don’t get to keep the fruit that we grow in the Spirit.

A great devotional or prayer life, will-power of steel, and excellent self-control aren’t going to get this parade where it needs to go. It will still be hard to hear the marching tune of the “Jesus parade,” once we say, “thanks be to God” and shuffle out of this sanctuary to the organ postlude to coffee and treats. The tunes of the world are very loud, and sometimes they don’t even wait to the end of the postlude turn up their deceptive soundtrack.

During one of the weekly Bible studies I used to attend with other Lutheran pastors, one of us joked that the response “I will and I asked God to help me,” we say when we install pastors and lay leaders should be instead “I won’t, and I ask God to help me.” As Paul says elsewhere in the New Testament, the spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak. But thank God WE are not steering the parade on our own. Guided by the Spirit, we are marching exactly where we are needed, straight into a world that is suffering and in pain.

Probably this parade is not headed where we would have expected, but it is going exactly where we are most needed. We are marching toward into a future we can’t clearly see yet but includes the healing of the nations, the reconciling of differences, the inclusion of the excluded, and the freedom of those who have so long been in bondage, including ourselves.

At the beginning of that week with the Lutheran World Federation in Namibia, we were each given a Makalani nut, hand-carved by a Namibian artist. It seemed fitting, especially since a nut is not all that different from fruit. A nut is a kind of seed, that is ready with potential of new life, and fruit is mostly just the sweet edible stuff that covers a seed, that helps get a seed from point A to point B, - where it is needed, where it can find fertile soil in order to grow into something new.

At the end of our time together in Namibia, we were asked to ponder how we were going to share the fruits of our time with our churches and contexts back home. Though the LWF assembly is long over, as is the 500^th anniversary of Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis to that Wittenberg church door,  the Reformation is not. We are looking toward the next 500 years of being Lutheran.

The Reformation lives on, here at Family of God.  It lives on in the Southeast Pennsylvania synod. It lives on in the ELCA. It lives on in Namibia, and in the Lutheran World Federation around the world. And it lives on in you too.

One of the ways that we as a congregation, synod, and ELCA look to the future is through dreams, hopes, vision, and imagination. For those of us who did not get an opportunity to participate in our family chats, I invite you to find me after worship and take the card, and write down the seed of your own hopes and dreams for the present and future of Family of God. Even if you already participated, if you have more to add, I welcome you to write something else too, which we pray will hopefully bear good fruit, with the help of one another, and the Holy Spirit. We won’t and we asked God to help and guide us. Thanks be to God. Amen.