Galatians 4:1-7 December 27, 2009
The First Sunday of Christmas
“What Difference Does It Make?
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
If a person is called to be ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), there are three major requirements: 1) a bachelor’s degree, 2) graduation from an accredited seminary with a master of divinity degree, and 3) successful completion of 5 written exams in Bible content, worship and sacraments, theological competence, polity, and Biblical exegesis. A person cannot move forward to answer the call to serve a church until all of these exams have been passed. One of the sensitivities we will have to have for Dennis Dillman when he is with us as our pastoral intern (coming in less than a month now), is remembering that in addition to devotion to his family responsibilities, and in addition to learning how to be a pastor, he will also be studying and preparing to take his ordination exams in September 2010.
The exams are only offered twice a year, and so if you fail one or more of the exams, you have to wait another 6 months to try again. Six months is a long time to wait! Crystal Lyde, who preached here several times when I was away, graduated from seminary last May. She took her ordination exams in February before graduating and failed one of them. Though she had a call to serve the Port Royal and Mexico churches, she could not be ordained until she passed that last exam which she did this past September. This afternoon at 2 p.m., Crystal will finally be ordained and installed as a minister of word and sacrament. What a wonderful Christmas present for her, her family, and the churches to which she has been called.
About 6 weeks before a person takes the exams, a notification is sent that lists which books of the Bible to study for the biblical exegesis part (which means to interpret a text for understanding). When I was getting ready to take the exams in February of 1999, I was notified to study either Jeremiah or Galatians. I chose Galatians. It was an unbelievably intense time of preparation and writing, but it was worth it! For, I dug into this book in a way I probably never would have without the pressure of needing to pass my exams.
And so, 10 years later, here’s my summary on the book of Galatians: Being a healthy, mature child of God is a commitment to living a life of freedom from religious rule-keeping – because being a healthy, mature child of God is not about how well one keeps the rules, it is about how freely we allow ourselves to respond to the activity of the Holy Spirit within and around us.
The apostle Paul had gone to the people of Galatia, and preached the gospel. A number of Gentiles (non-Jews) accepted him and his message with open hearts. We read in 3:1-6, that they believed the gospel of Christ crucified, and received the Holy Spirit, yet they had become confused about how to live out their faith. Paul comes on pretty strong: 1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! 2The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? 4Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. 5Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
See, what had happened is that some of the Jews, who believed the good news about Jesus, were struggling with the new practice of their faith. The Jewish faith is filled with important rules and regulations having to do purity before God, including the rituals of circumcision, strict Sabbath observances, and the eating of kosher food. The Jews were finding it hard to let go of all the rituals and rule-keeping, and simply allow the Holy Spirit to do the purifying work in their lives. This is what Jesus came up against day after day during his earthly ministry – the notion that if you do this, or do that just so, then you will be accepted by God. Jesus said, “No!” Love is the fulfillment of the law – love for God, and love for neighbor.
So, in their own struggle and confusion, the Jews in Galatia ended up trying to convince some of the Gentiles to come over to their side – to adopt their blessed burden of rule-keeping in addition to trying to figure out how to live freely in response to the work of the Holy Spirit. And they were really confused. Listen now to Paul’s words from chapter 4:1-11. This is the New Living Translation:
1Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves great wealth for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. 2They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. 3And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to the spiritual powers of this world. 4But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6And because you Gentiles have become his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. 7Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you. 8Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. 9And now that you have found God (or should I say, now that God has found you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual powers of this world? 10You are trying to find favor with God by what you do or don’t do on certain days or months or seasons or years. 11I fear for you. I am afraid that all my hard work for you was worth nothing.
We started the season of Advent on November 29th by singing these words: Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free. By thine own eternal Spirit, rule in all our hearts alone; by thine all-sufficient merit raise us to thy glorious throne.
We brought to completion our waiting on Christmas Eve night, singing: Truly he taught us to love one another; his law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, and in his name all oppression shall cease.
A colleague sent out the following poem to my email yesterday:
The King is born, the light is dawned
And so wake up and see
The Saviour comes to set the people free
His might in little babe revealed
His strength in gentleness concealed
The star leads Kings and shepherds to the stall
All roads to Bethlehem, to cradle draw
Give ear to God's good news
He comes for all.
Over the weeks of Advent, we brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
• We brought toys or money to purchase toys for local children as our gold, ($303), and several of us helped in the on-site ministry of Sierra’s Toy Box, held in memory of little Sierra Beecher,
• as a pleasing offering of worship (as incense was to God in worship), as our frankincense, we brought words of praise and thanksgiving to God that we wrote on tags and hung on the tree. (Read a few.)
• Just last Sunday, we brought food to be given to local families through the food pantry as our offering of myrrh (which was a spice used in ministry to the body).
• How many of us put some coins or bills in a salvation army bucket?
• How many made cookies for some of our shut-in members, or
• went caroling to express our love for many we don’t get to see here in worship on Sundays?
• How many wrote an extra check on Christmas eve, or put money in the offering plate to be given to the ministerium for community care? ($1020.00)
• Who helped with the Path Valley Outreach to provide meals to those alone on Christmas Day?
• Who put on a costume to tell the story of Christ’s birth in the pageant?
• Who helped to make a special lunch for local senior adults?
It was a busy month; a flurry of activity; a time of intentional seeking of opportunities to tell others about Jesus, or share his love in new ways. It is true that people are more open to hearing Christ’s story during Christmas than at any other time of the year. The Church must make the most of the time we’ve been given.
But, you know it’s hard not to bow down to the spiritual powers of the world – the powers of materialism, the powers of busy-ness, the powers of “keeping up with the Jones’ “, the powers of comparison (well, last year..), the powers of addictions to shopping, decorating, trying to control the family in order to create the “perfect” Christmas, the spiritual powers of over-eating, over-drinking, over-everything-ing. Or, the spiritual powers of pride-driven despair that allows a person to decide for themselves, “God isn’t really with me,” even though God has said he will never leave us nor forsake us.
At the end of his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote, “22By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.”
What difference does knowing the One that Christmas is all about make in your everyday life?
• Do you allow the Holy Spirit to put his hand over your mouth so that you do not say unkind words, biting words, words meant to hurt and punish another? Or do you over-rule what you hear in your heart, and just let it all hang out because you have convinced yourself that you just can’t help it, so why try?
• Do you allow the Holy Spirit to guide where you go, with whom you go, and what you do while you’re there?
• Do you allow the Holy Spirit to help you choose what books to read, what movies or TV shows to watch, what groceries to purchase, what food or drink to swallow?
• Does the Holy Spirit get the final call on what you do with your money and your time?
Now, you may say, Meagan, that sounds like religious rule-keeping. Haven’t you just been teaching that following Christ is not about keeping rules?
That is what I have been teaching because that is what Paul is saying to the Galatians. Following Christ is not about a “to do” list, or a “don’t do” list. Following Christ as a healthy, mature child of God is about listening and obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit who desires that the body in which the Spirit dwells would be free from the debilitating, dangerous, destructive effects of unhealthy, immature living. Contrary to popular belief, unhealthy, immature, “do whatever I want” living is not freedom – it is slavery in one of its most deceptive forms. Living out the law of love, love for God and love for neighbor, is where true freedom lies.
We sang, “I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about you, it’s all about you Jesus. I’m sorry Lord, for the thing I’ve made it, when it’s all about you, it’s all about you, Jesus.”
May the Spirit of Christmas, (who is the Spirit of Christ, God himself living not in a baby anymore, but living in you, in me, living in all of us together as his body) flow freely through you and me as we move into 2010.
Spirit of the living God,
You bring new life to me.
Spirit of the living God,
Flow like a river through me.
Flow like a river with streams of life.
Flow like a river, flow free.
Flow like a river with streams of life.
Setting your people free.
Amen.
The First Sunday of Christmas
“What Difference Does It Make?
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
If a person is called to be ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), there are three major requirements: 1) a bachelor’s degree, 2) graduation from an accredited seminary with a master of divinity degree, and 3) successful completion of 5 written exams in Bible content, worship and sacraments, theological competence, polity, and Biblical exegesis. A person cannot move forward to answer the call to serve a church until all of these exams have been passed. One of the sensitivities we will have to have for Dennis Dillman when he is with us as our pastoral intern (coming in less than a month now), is remembering that in addition to devotion to his family responsibilities, and in addition to learning how to be a pastor, he will also be studying and preparing to take his ordination exams in September 2010.
The exams are only offered twice a year, and so if you fail one or more of the exams, you have to wait another 6 months to try again. Six months is a long time to wait! Crystal Lyde, who preached here several times when I was away, graduated from seminary last May. She took her ordination exams in February before graduating and failed one of them. Though she had a call to serve the Port Royal and Mexico churches, she could not be ordained until she passed that last exam which she did this past September. This afternoon at 2 p.m., Crystal will finally be ordained and installed as a minister of word and sacrament. What a wonderful Christmas present for her, her family, and the churches to which she has been called.
About 6 weeks before a person takes the exams, a notification is sent that lists which books of the Bible to study for the biblical exegesis part (which means to interpret a text for understanding). When I was getting ready to take the exams in February of 1999, I was notified to study either Jeremiah or Galatians. I chose Galatians. It was an unbelievably intense time of preparation and writing, but it was worth it! For, I dug into this book in a way I probably never would have without the pressure of needing to pass my exams.
And so, 10 years later, here’s my summary on the book of Galatians: Being a healthy, mature child of God is a commitment to living a life of freedom from religious rule-keeping – because being a healthy, mature child of God is not about how well one keeps the rules, it is about how freely we allow ourselves to respond to the activity of the Holy Spirit within and around us.
The apostle Paul had gone to the people of Galatia, and preached the gospel. A number of Gentiles (non-Jews) accepted him and his message with open hearts. We read in 3:1-6, that they believed the gospel of Christ crucified, and received the Holy Spirit, yet they had become confused about how to live out their faith. Paul comes on pretty strong: 1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! 2The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? 4Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. 5Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
See, what had happened is that some of the Jews, who believed the good news about Jesus, were struggling with the new practice of their faith. The Jewish faith is filled with important rules and regulations having to do purity before God, including the rituals of circumcision, strict Sabbath observances, and the eating of kosher food. The Jews were finding it hard to let go of all the rituals and rule-keeping, and simply allow the Holy Spirit to do the purifying work in their lives. This is what Jesus came up against day after day during his earthly ministry – the notion that if you do this, or do that just so, then you will be accepted by God. Jesus said, “No!” Love is the fulfillment of the law – love for God, and love for neighbor.
So, in their own struggle and confusion, the Jews in Galatia ended up trying to convince some of the Gentiles to come over to their side – to adopt their blessed burden of rule-keeping in addition to trying to figure out how to live freely in response to the work of the Holy Spirit. And they were really confused. Listen now to Paul’s words from chapter 4:1-11. This is the New Living Translation:
1Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves great wealth for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. 2They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. 3And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to the spiritual powers of this world. 4But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6And because you Gentiles have become his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. 7Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you. 8Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. 9And now that you have found God (or should I say, now that God has found you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual powers of this world? 10You are trying to find favor with God by what you do or don’t do on certain days or months or seasons or years. 11I fear for you. I am afraid that all my hard work for you was worth nothing.
We started the season of Advent on November 29th by singing these words: Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free. By thine own eternal Spirit, rule in all our hearts alone; by thine all-sufficient merit raise us to thy glorious throne.
We brought to completion our waiting on Christmas Eve night, singing: Truly he taught us to love one another; his law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, and in his name all oppression shall cease.
A colleague sent out the following poem to my email yesterday:
The King is born, the light is dawned
And so wake up and see
The Saviour comes to set the people free
His might in little babe revealed
His strength in gentleness concealed
The star leads Kings and shepherds to the stall
All roads to Bethlehem, to cradle draw
Give ear to God's good news
He comes for all.
Over the weeks of Advent, we brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
• We brought toys or money to purchase toys for local children as our gold, ($303), and several of us helped in the on-site ministry of Sierra’s Toy Box, held in memory of little Sierra Beecher,
• as a pleasing offering of worship (as incense was to God in worship), as our frankincense, we brought words of praise and thanksgiving to God that we wrote on tags and hung on the tree. (Read a few.)
• Just last Sunday, we brought food to be given to local families through the food pantry as our offering of myrrh (which was a spice used in ministry to the body).
• How many of us put some coins or bills in a salvation army bucket?
• How many made cookies for some of our shut-in members, or
• went caroling to express our love for many we don’t get to see here in worship on Sundays?
• How many wrote an extra check on Christmas eve, or put money in the offering plate to be given to the ministerium for community care? ($1020.00)
• Who helped with the Path Valley Outreach to provide meals to those alone on Christmas Day?
• Who put on a costume to tell the story of Christ’s birth in the pageant?
• Who helped to make a special lunch for local senior adults?
It was a busy month; a flurry of activity; a time of intentional seeking of opportunities to tell others about Jesus, or share his love in new ways. It is true that people are more open to hearing Christ’s story during Christmas than at any other time of the year. The Church must make the most of the time we’ve been given.
But, you know it’s hard not to bow down to the spiritual powers of the world – the powers of materialism, the powers of busy-ness, the powers of “keeping up with the Jones’ “, the powers of comparison (well, last year..), the powers of addictions to shopping, decorating, trying to control the family in order to create the “perfect” Christmas, the spiritual powers of over-eating, over-drinking, over-everything-ing. Or, the spiritual powers of pride-driven despair that allows a person to decide for themselves, “God isn’t really with me,” even though God has said he will never leave us nor forsake us.
At the end of his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote, “22By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.”
What difference does knowing the One that Christmas is all about make in your everyday life?
• Do you allow the Holy Spirit to put his hand over your mouth so that you do not say unkind words, biting words, words meant to hurt and punish another? Or do you over-rule what you hear in your heart, and just let it all hang out because you have convinced yourself that you just can’t help it, so why try?
• Do you allow the Holy Spirit to guide where you go, with whom you go, and what you do while you’re there?
• Do you allow the Holy Spirit to help you choose what books to read, what movies or TV shows to watch, what groceries to purchase, what food or drink to swallow?
• Does the Holy Spirit get the final call on what you do with your money and your time?
Now, you may say, Meagan, that sounds like religious rule-keeping. Haven’t you just been teaching that following Christ is not about keeping rules?
That is what I have been teaching because that is what Paul is saying to the Galatians. Following Christ is not about a “to do” list, or a “don’t do” list. Following Christ as a healthy, mature child of God is about listening and obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit who desires that the body in which the Spirit dwells would be free from the debilitating, dangerous, destructive effects of unhealthy, immature living. Contrary to popular belief, unhealthy, immature, “do whatever I want” living is not freedom – it is slavery in one of its most deceptive forms. Living out the law of love, love for God and love for neighbor, is where true freedom lies.
We sang, “I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about you, it’s all about you Jesus. I’m sorry Lord, for the thing I’ve made it, when it’s all about you, it’s all about you, Jesus.”
May the Spirit of Christmas, (who is the Spirit of Christ, God himself living not in a baby anymore, but living in you, in me, living in all of us together as his body) flow freely through you and me as we move into 2010.
Spirit of the living God,
You bring new life to me.
Spirit of the living God,
Flow like a river through me.
Flow like a river with streams of life.
Flow like a river, flow free.
Flow like a river with streams of life.
Setting your people free.
Amen.
