Sermon, 3 July, Wk 5: Galatians series: 'Ordinary words, made extraoardinary'

The last in our Galatians series...

1st READING: Psalm 66:1-9; 16-20
2nd READING: Galatians chapter 6

SERMON/
Let’s pray: May the words of my mouth and the 
meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, 
O Lord, our strength and our redeemer, Amen.

On Friday night, I had the immense privilege and pleasure
of going to an event in Biggar Municipal Hall – it was a concert of sorts.
A poetry concert called ‘Shore to Shore.’
The poets were:
Imtiaz Dhaker;
the poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy;
the national poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke;
and our own Scottish Makar, Jackie Kay –
seen in action yesterday at the Scottish Parliament.
It was a great evening, watching and listening to these amazing talents,
whose skill with words saw us, at different times, laugh out loud,
cause us to nod our heads in recognition of particular life experiences;
put fire in our political bellies;
and also...leave us sitting in stunned silence, our collective breath    
taken away by sheer artistry and skill.
All this, done by finding and gathering and placing words together:
rhythm and rhyme,
language and lyrics,
stories in sonnet form...
glittering, fragile jewels of words
taken and shaped and crafted into new creations.
Old words become new.
Ordinary words made extraordinary.

Over these last five weeks, we’ve worked our way through Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
Beginning with a salutation – a ‘hello, it’s me, Paul’,
moving into a short blessing,
and then, wasting no time with small talk:
torrents of words scatter over the pages of Paul’s letter,
as he looses the cannons of his theological arguments upon the Galatians.
It’s a fierce fight for the truth of the gospel...
a fight against other words which had been portrayed as a gospel,
but which, rather than being new words of gospel liberation,
were old words,
dusted down and made to look new –
old words that reinforced old systems,
old hierarchies,
old burdens.
Old words that Paul is astonished and horrified that the Galatians have paid heed to.
And because they have listened, here, in his letter,
Paul gathers together all the old words...
and, through the lens of the Cross, takes them, shapes them,
transforms them into new words –
ordinary words, made extraordinary.
It is here, in these last stages of his letter to the Galatians,
that Paul particularly works on this theme of ordinary made extraordinary;
of a new creation.

But first, let’s have a brief recap of the letter:
Throughout the letter to these beloved people with whom he has shared the gospel,
Paul has woven his words together – has crafted them in order:
to encourage, to cajole,
to remind the young communities of faith of the power of the gospel
to change and to transform;
to create community even within, especially within, diversity;
to be liberated from the shackles of the law, so to demonstrate
new ways of being in the world.

Paul is gathering his words together,
forming them and shaping them
to tell his Galatian brothers and sisters in Christ
that to be in Christ is to be a new creation.
To be clothed in Christ is to put on love
and to  wear that love out into a world so much in need of God’s love.
To be in Christ is to demonstrate God’s love through spiritual fruit:
countering hate with love,
hopelessness with joy,
aggression with peace,
impatience with patience,
unkindness with acts of kindness,
evil with good,
loss of faith, with faithfulness,
hubris with humility,
and so on.
To be in Christ, is to be counter-cultural:
it’s a new way of being,
it’s a new way of doing.
It’s breaking the old patterns that have brought back-breaking burdens
causing misery and death...
and instead,
it brings new life,
it brings freedom,
it brings joy.

This is why, earlier in his letter, he’s so frustrated with the Galatians –
and more to the point, angry with the group
who have come along after him into the area,
and who’ve made additions to the gospel ...
who’ve stirred up divisions,
who’ve put conditions upon God’s love,
who’ve made burdens for the Galatians to toil under with all
the arguments about adopting Jewish ways –
and of requirements for males to be circumcised.
Paul reminds the Galatians that the gospel comes without any bolt-on extras,
he reminds them that they are one in Christ,
that the law is a thing of the past:
that the law is no longer -
that they are free from the burden of wondering if they’ll ever measure up.
He reminds the Galatians that old has gone;
all the countless ways of having to tick boxes have been swept away –
‘what counts is a new creation.’

Paul’s letter is written to show the Galatians God’s acceptance of them –
they are no longer strangers, but friends;
this, through the reconciling life, work, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
The letter continues by showing the Galatians God’s ongoing love
and continued acceptance of them;
of the promised gift of the Holy Spirit given to them, and in that act,
showing that they are brought into God’s family as sons and daughters;
Paul uses his words to tell them of faith that works within
the context of lives lived in love...
of faith that blossoms and grows fruit –
not just in their own lives,
but through them, fruit which changes the lives of those around them;
Paul reminds them of the freedom they’ve been given...
a freedom to serve others in and through the love of God.
Paul writes to remind the Galatians of the new thing God is doing in their lives:
‘With the new Spirit-given life of the Messiah, the old world has fallen away – 
has died on the Cross – and the new creation has been born.’  [Harkins, FOTW, 212]

The earlier part of the letter is Paul at the height of his theological powers of persuasion.
This latter part of his letter moves into the more practical day to day business
of living the Christian life, showing what life in the Spirit –
what life in, and as, a new creation looks like;
showing how Christians live together;
showing how, in Christ, divisions are healed and how followers of Christ
can be one without being clones.
And, Paul’s words are not just pertinent to the Galatians, they ring
just as true for Christians down the ages:
It was while reading Galatians that Martin Luther had his great spiritual awakening...
And it was while listening to a sermon, that John Wesley’s heart
was suddenly ‘strangely warmed’ –
he became acutely aware of the transformative power of God’s love in his own life;
understood in both head and heart that he was indeed a new creation
as the love of God flowed through him.

The whole framework of living in the new creation,
of living as a new creation, is one of love.
Prompted by God’s love, the practical aspect of living in love
is that we carry one another’s burdens.
We understand that love is to be shared –
understand that, in God’s new creation, we live within community...
for that is what it is to be the new creation that is the body of Christ.
Another practical aspect is avoiding comparisons –
‘I’m a better Christian than he or she is because I do x, y, or z.’
Or the alternative –
‘They do so much, that it makes me look pretty rubbish...’
Instead, we focus on God, living our lives for him –
producing fruit in the way God calls each one of us to, in our own particular way,
using our own particular gifts...
again, different, yet one in Christ.
In all things - with love as our measure, and our compass,
we ask ourselves the hard question as to our motivation for doing things –
why am I really doing this...?
is it the loving thing to do?
Is it of God?
Does it reflect the new creation?

And, living as a new creation in Christ,
living in the new creation,
so different to the old ways of doing things, is hard, according to Paul –
he talks of the potential for weariness, even while encouraging the Galatians to
‘not become weary in doing good,’ doing good ‘to all people’ –
both within and without the faith;
recognising that this is both our calling and our joy.

A wee note about the last section, as Paul begins to sign off. He says:
‘See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!’
Basically, Paul would dictate his letters to a willing scribe.
Here, however, he’s taken over:
he wants to add his own personal touch – while he’s frustrated with the Galatians,
he loves them enough not to be embarrassed by his poor hand...
and also, even in this, he is giving of himself to them –
they will hold the very words he himself has written.
 As to the ‘large letters’ he’s apparently making –
there are some scholars who speculate as to his eyesight: was he short-sighted?
Alternatively, back in the day, not everyone who read was necessarily able to write.
Perhaps Paul’s ‘large letters’ are a sign of an unpractised writing hand.

Paul’s own life is a witness to what he’s been writing to the Galatians about:
he himself has been changed completely – transformed:
the old Paul has gone...the persecutor and punisher of Christians;
the new Paul has come...the preacher and teacher, sharing the good news:
the good news of the power of God’s love
to take the old words of religion
and through Jesus the Word,
to shape them and transform them into new words:
ordinary words, made extraordinary...
life-giving words that have the power
to shape and transform us and those we encounter;
Love-giving words,
showing God’s new and living way,
words which herald in God’s kindom, both now, and for all eternity,
the God, in whom all our hope is founded.  Amen.