A Caveat:  Because of the pandemic, worship was done before the Supreme Court Decision came out.  It will be the focus next week.

——

I’ve been repeating “Foxes
have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of God has
no where to lay his head” rather a lot recently.  Just to myself
though, I haven’t muttered it to others, yet.

Last weekend, my family moved
from the house I’d lived in for 8 years to a new one, which is more
or less up the street.  The new house is a better size for our family
than the one I’d bought for myself.  

And yet, there are parts of me
that are a little bit out of joint with owning a house, with buying a
bigger house, with having STUFF, and such a sufficient amount of it
at that.  I wonder if I’m being an authentic Jesus follower, if he
was the one who had no where to lay his head and I’m the one buying a
bigger house.

So as I’ve heaved boxes up and
down stairs, and found places to put my favorite bowls, and organized
book boxes by topic, I’ve been thinking about foxes, holes, birds,
nests, and where I place my head.

I’ve also been thinking about
how lucky I am.  There are so many people who are homeless, or
inadequately housed.  To live in a safe home is not a reality just
anyone can afford, which is a problem.  I want to live in a country
(and a world) were safe and adequate housing is universal.  Where the
safety net is strong enough to provide housing for all, and
reasonable housing at that.

But, what about that Jesus guy,
wandering around with his band of followers, telling would be
disciples that he has no where to lay his head?  I don’t know.  I
think perhaps being uncomfortable with possessions is a good thing,
particularly in capitalism that tells us we are what we can buy.  But
I also notice that Jesus didn’t have a home nor a consistent place to
lay his head, but he was welcomed into many people’s homes.  He opted
out of the system, but the system of housing and hospitality was big
enough to provide for him and for his followers.  Others had houses
and they used them to house Jesus.  And perhaps that is a
responsibility of having spaces – making sure they’re being used as
they’re needed.

While I really like the list of
the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians, I’m a little bit uneasy with
what appears to be some pretty strong body-soul dualism in the
passage.  I worry when we assume that bodies are bad and spirits are
good, for a whole lot of reasons.  One of them is that both women and
people of color get associated with “bodies” in that break down,
while white men get to be “spirits.”  But another is that I
simply don’t believe we’re divided that way.  I don’t think our
bodies can be separated from our spirits.  We are whole beings, and
to claim that the body is somehow distinct from the mind, or from the
spirit, or from the emotions misses a whole lot about what it means
to be alive.  

So, the good news is that the
body v. spirit thing that initially seems rather strong in the
passage isn’t so much upon further inspection.  The Galatians had
been having some rather big, awful fights, mostly about if new
Christians needed to be circumcised.  So Paul conflates the flesh of
– well – circumcision with the flesh of self-centered living and
condemns them both.  Which means the fight was actually about who was
getting included and who was being excluded, and Paul was responding
both to the disagreement and to how it was being fought.  He urges
God-centered living.  That is, “For Paul, hard debate and
infighting among young Christians in Galatia were an outward and
visible sign of enslavement.”¹
Paul reminds them that they are free from that sort of behavior, and
called instead to love and relationship.  

And while at first it seems that
Paul dismisses desire, it is more that he suggests that instead of
denying desires nor submitting to them, the people focus their
desires on what is good.  That is, on things of God.  Of course,
communities disagree, right?  But that’s a part of this too.
“Conflict is part and parcel of intimacy and risking oneself in
community.  When we enter that place of co-discerned vulnerability,
however, generosity, patience, kindness, and faithfulness can provide
‘palliative care’ amid the inevitable disagreements that ensure.
Such qualities are excellent companions on the journey, when we risk
intimacy with others in community.”²

Which gets us back to the
beginning of the passage: the freedom to love and be in relationship.
That’s the whole point of freedom, is the freedom FOR love.  Perhaps
it is of use to ask ourselves what we need to use and maintain that
freedom – to remind ourselves that nothing gets in the way of love,
and to free ourselves for love?

Now, Luke’s gospel lesson is
permeated with urgency.  I’m not even sure why.  Is this urgency that
Jesus really lived in his life?  And if so, was it urgency to get to
Jerusalem, or just urgency to connect with as many people as he could
to help them see God’s love and life’s possibilities?  Was it urgency
to show compassion?  

The gospel seems to say whatever
it was he was urgent about it was SERIOUS.  It was, “let the dead
bury their own dead” serious, and not like with Elijah let Elisha
say goodby to his family (that’s the reference to “hand to plow”
that you might otherwise have missed.)

The early Christian community
experienced a lot of urgency, in no small part because they thought
the end of the world was coming any minute now.  So it is possible
their urgency projects back onto Jesus, OR that it is authentic.  I
don’t know.  But I do know that urgency has some costs.

It is draining.

It burns us out.
It can’t be
sustained.

And while there are injustices
(everywhere!) and lack of compassion (too often!) and needs for
compassion and connection (all the time!) – no single one of us is
asked to do it all, all the time with urgency.  But sometimes we
think we are, and that just means we hurt ourselves trying to love.
Which isn’t really what we’re trying to do.  

I have been appreciative of the
questions, “what is important and what is urgent” and separating
out the two, so that the IMPORTANT gets done even if the urgent says
it is more pressing.  I have to remind myself of this a lot, because
I don’t like to disappoint anyone, and I’d sort of rather be able to
do both.

But that, I think may be where I
find the intersection of the spiritual and the physical to be really
important.  Neither my spirit, which needs rest, nor my body, which
needs rest, can press on indefinitely.  

Nor can anyone else’s.

The freedom to love in Galatians
is set up so that we TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER.  That’s what we’re
supposed to use it for.  Because we all need each other, and things
work best when we’re doing what we love and are good at and trusting
others to do the same.  That’s how both communities and societies do
best.  That’s part of what the kindom looks like.

This week I reflected on what I
learned from the clergy person who took me on as a seminary intern.
The Rev. Ed Hansen was nearing the end of his ministry when he took
the time to teach me at the beginning of mine.  And he was made of
patience.  He let me follow him around for a year, without offering
much to him or the community, and he let me then ask him questions
about everything I saw.  I am aware I will spend the rest of my
ministry the way I’ve spent the last 18 – trying to be as loving as
Ed.

Because, as a person who got to
follow him around for hours every week, I got to see Ed interact with
a lot of people:  the church members, the church leaders, the church
staff, homeless people asking for assistance, his children, his
partner, people who walked up to him in restaurants because he wore a
collar.  I saw him be unfailingly patient and loving to each and
every one of those people.  It was one of the most moving things I’ve
ever seen.

So, I asked him about it.
Because that was what I did.  I followed him around and I asked him
questions.  So I asked how he was so patient, and so loving, with
everyone.  And he said, “Well, isn’t that the whole point?  Isn’t
that what it means to follow Jesus, to treat people with the love God
has for them?”

Yes, I think it is.  And, dear
ones, that’s where I allow there to be urgency (and importance): to
try to use my interactions with people as expressions of God’s love
for them.  For their bodies, their souls, their whole beings.  I
suggest to you as well, that this is a good use of a life.  May God
help us.  Amen

1
J. Williams Harkins, Feasting on the Word, on Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Pastoral Commentary, page 186.

2Same,
188.

Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she/her/hers
http://fumcschenectady.org/
https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

June 26, 2022