Last Sunday, as we remembered the founding of Jamestown and the first regular use of the Book of Common Prayer, I spoke on the theme of freedom. At the end of that sermon, I quoted half of a sentence from today’s epistle, as an obscure signal that there would be more to come on this theme. The first half sentence was: “brothers and sisters, you were called to freedom”. The second half of that sentence is: “only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence”. Paul knew perfectly well that the call to freedom, was emphatically NOT an invitation to do whatever you like.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul was speaking to Gentile Christians who were probably from the Celtic tribes of north central Turkey. He is arguing against some Teachers from the Jerusalem church, who have told the Galatians that in order to be saved, they must enter the covenant of ABraham, and be circumcised. From Paul’s point of view, this was a disaster. The good news he has given them, is that our salvation is given to us by Christ’s self-offering. It is not the result of any action or obedience which we ourselves have chosen. Since Paul himself had been a zealous Jew, a Pharisee, it is fascinating that he was so clear and emphatic that the Galatians would be submitting to a yoke of slavery, if they were circumcised.

So I want you to imagine Paul standing in the middle, arguing against one group which feels free to do whatever they want, and also arguing against another group, which wants to observe the Jewish law. The first group would be remembering the freedom they had as devotees, previously, of Cybele or Zeus, just bringing offerings and participating in festivals, without any requirements for daily life. The other group are persuaded that they should learn and observe the Jewish commandments, which each had layers of interpretation. For example, the commandment not to work on the Sabbath, meant that you could not light a fire, cook a meal, inspect your fields or hire laborers. But the rabbis agreed that you were allowed to make plans for good deeds, give alms to the poor and arrange for your child’s betrothal.

I want to agree with Paul, that following Christ was something new in the ancient world: a third way which required a different understanding. The third way, in between “anything goes” and “observe the law” is the transformation of the human heart. When we are connected to Christ’s death and resurrection by baptism, the Holy Spirit is planted within us as our guide. We are given a basic principle, the commandment to love God and love our neighbors, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. This is the reason Paul says, “live by the Spirit”: he is saying, look into your heart, ask the Spirit to guide you in each situation, and ollow that guidance. There are two important things to understand about this third way, this living by the Spirit.

The first thing, is to understand what Paul means when he says, “do not gratify the desires of the flesh”. You might jump to the conclusion that Paul is referring to desires for the physical pleasures of life, from food and wine to sex . . . but you would be wrong. Paul is, almost certainly, referring to the cause of sin known among the Jews as the Evil Impulse. The evil impulse does not come from the body’s ordinary desires for food and shelter and intimacy. Rather, the evil impurlse comes from the selfish desires of the heart, to have more than others, to get one’s own way, to be better than others, to steal what belongs to others, and to get revenge. So the evil impulse causes a person to disregard what they know to be just, and fair, and good. The evil impulse says, forget what is right: just take what you want. The evil impulse says, it doesn’t matter to me that you are also God’s beloved child: I’m going to run right over you in pursuit of what I want. When Paul says “the flesh” he means that evil impulse.

The second important thing to understand about living by the Spirit, is that it involves self-control. To live by the Spirit means to take that commandment to love God and love one’s neighbor, so deeply into my heart, that I am actively thinking about how to express that love. Now, most of the time, I talk to you about specific things we should DO to be loving; but today I want to talk about the things we might REFRAIN from doing, out of love. The first and most obvious form of self-control is in keeping silent about things we have been told in confidence. Along with that, goes choosing not to say anything in someone’s absence that you would not say in their presence. Another occasion for self-control would be this 4th of July: because of the high fire danger from the drought, this is a year NOT to use fireworks.

In today’s reading from Galatians, Paul lists some of the fruits of the Spirit, by which he means, the observable qualities of a person who is following the way of Jesus and living in the Spirit. One of those fruits is peace, which means seeking reconciliation with anyone who is angry or has taken offense. Sometimes this is very difficult, and it is only with the guidance of the Spirit, that we can find the self-control to swallow our pride and reach out to make peace. There is another dimension of peace which is more interior: and that is the choice to accept disappointments, rejections and failures with a quiet calmness. When we are less attached to our own plans and agenda, this is easier to do.

Another fruit of the Spirit’s presence is patience. In the last two years with my mother, I have been able, only with the Spirit’s help, to learn to walk very, very slowly beside her. Then I have gone on to graduate work in patience, by learning to slow down my inner impatience, so that I could really be with her. A third fruit of the Spirit is kindness. The self-control we need in order to be kind, is the ability to ignore our feelings of judgment or dislike or offense, so that we can treat each person as the child of God they are, even when they are behaving badly.

Everything I’ve said so far, applied to the neighbor whom I meet in my daily life. Surely that is what Jesus and Paul intended. But they lived in a smaller world than we do, a world in which a person’s actions and influence rarely affected anything beyond their village. The big question for us. is whether we recognize as neighbors, people we will never meet. In the last 40 years we have become tragically aware that choices made by individuals, companies and the government, have had dramatic consequences in distant places, and many decades later. Many of the people who used DDT, put lead in paint, and built inadequate levees, didn’t know what the consequences of their actions would be. But what about us, today? What choices are you and I making, that will aversely affect our neighbors who live in another state (or another continent), or the people who will live here 50 years from now? The answers about each choice are complicated in two ways: first, we never seem to have enough evidence of the long-range consequences of our choices. At what point do I as an individual, decide that I will cut down on my energy use, or conserve water, or buy organic produce? The second complication is our recognition that one person’s conservation of energy, or water, has a very small effect on a very large problem.

The answer I think that Jesus and Paul would give, is that each person is only responsible for the choices he or she makes. Do what is best for your neighbor, they would say; do what you are able to do. And that answer brings us back to the interior process of asking the Holy Spirit, how shall I love my neighbor as myself? Our Gospel reading addresses this question. When the advance team for Jesus tried to make arrangements in a Samaritan village for meals and lodging, the Samaritans refused, because Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. James and John were angry, and wanted to punish the Samaritans with fire from heaven. But Jesus was not angry, and apparently did not judge the Samaritans for their choice. When another disciple announced his intention to follow Jesus “wherever he went” Jesus warned the disciple that he would have to give up the comfort and stability of a home, and embrace the uncertainty of the itinerant life. It is your choice, Jesus was saying, just be sure you can live that way before you make a grand promise.

The challenge, and the glory, of living by the Spirit, is that following Jesus will be somewhat different for each of us, because our life circumstances, our personalities, and our gifts are different. And the guidance of the Spirit may lead us in different directions. So we are free from the burden of an outward conformity to the law, or to a set of Christian rules or traditions; but at the same time, we have committed ourselves to walk in the way of Jesus, and to seek the guidance of the Spirit for how we should walk.

There is a very particular result which arises within us, when we faithfully live in this way. We will experience joy quite often. I am not speaking about happiness, which is a human emotion we have when things are going well in our lives. Joy is a spiritual satisfaction we feel when we have followed the Spirit’s guidance, even if our actions are misunderstood or criticized. On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus felt joy, I think, even though the Samaritans rejected him. About 30 years later, when Paul obeyed the Spirit’s guidance to go to Jerusalem, he experienced joy, even though he was told he would suffer there. The freedom to which we are called, is a partnership in the Spirit, through which the reign of God is coming into the world. It is God’s plan for the human community; we have the privilege, and the joy, of contributing to it. Amen