The 6th Essential: The Fruit of the Holy Spirit
19 Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 meekness, and self-control; against which there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another. Galatians 5:19-26
The 6th Essential is “the fruit of the Spirit” in the life of all believers. The term “fruit of the Spirit” is used only once in the Revised Standard Version of Scripture.
A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo
On March 8, 1965, as a 2nd Lieutenant of Marines, Philip Caputo landed at Danang with a battalion of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, the first U.S. combat unit sent to Vietnam. He was evacuated as a journalist from Hanoi in April of 1975 on one of the last helicopters to carry U.S. personnel to safety.
“Bella” a Movie by Lionsgate Films
My wife and I rented a wonderful film from Red Box at our grocery store. It is a Christian film, but the only hint of that is they way the main character offers prayer before eating, and a couple of hymns that play in the background. It is not heavy handed. It has a message, but it also tells a good, believable story. It is about a soccer star, a newly minted millionaire, who sees his career go down the tubes before it gets off the ground when he accidentally hits and kills a small child while driving his antique Cadillac. His personal tragedy enables him to identify with heartbreak in the life of another, and, then, through an amazing choice, enables him to prevent further tragedy in a life that is yet to be. The movie claims to be “more than a love story.” It definitely is. It is about friendship, grace and redemption—of the best kind. Click here to visit the official website. Highly recommended.
The Highest Treason
The action in the play “Murder in the Cathedral” by T.S. Elliot takes place just before the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1160 to 1170 AD. Four tempters offer scenarios that parallel the Temptations of Christ. The first three tempters are priests, the fourth may be the devil himself.
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The Heavens Proclaim God’s Righteousness
In Psalm 97:6 we read:
The heavens proclaim (God’s) righteousness;
and all the peoples behold (God’s) glory.
In both testaments righteousness is the fulfillment of the demands of a relationship. “The heavens proclaim (God’s) righteousness” to all peoples because the rising of the sun on another day makes good on the promise of the procession of days. The sun goes down in the evening, and rises-up in the morning. The Psalmist admires God for the consistency of the natural world. Even the constellations that mark the seasons of the night sky testify of it, albeit wordlessly. (Cf. Psalm 19) “All the peoples behold (God’s) glory,” because all see the same starry sky, and admire its precision. If only the psalmist knew what we know, he would be still more amazed! If only we would stop to consider the blessings of the common life as the Psalmist did, we would be still more amazed. By the by, those who deny that God is present in a natural revelation as well as in the special revelation to which the Scripture bears witness will stumble over verses like this. God bless! Finis.
Hint: Do a search on “righteousness” to get the full story.
Righteousness
The story of Judah and Tamar is a racy story, about sex and incest. According to Genesis 38:1-30, Judah bargained for Tamar and gave her in marriage to Er, his eldest son. Er was wicked, and God punished him. He died. Judah ordered his next son Onan to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her, i.e. to marry her and raise up children. He slept with her, but practiced cotius interruptus. He, too, was wicked, and God punished him. He died. Judah had another son, Shelah, but Judah persuaded Tamar to remain a window until Shelah grew-up a little. The drift of the story is that Judah regarded Tamar as bad luck. She had cost him two sons, and he did not want to loose a third.
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Now Concerning…
In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul uses the phrase now concerning five times. He addresses marriage (1 Cor 7-24), the possibility of marriage for those who are single (1 Cor 7:25-40), food offered to idols (1 Cor 8), spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12), and the contribution for the church in Jerusalem (1 Cor 16:1-2). According to 1 Cor 7:1, the phrase refers to a written communication that Paul had received from the church in Corinth. Much of the letter is in response to questions the members of the church had about issues of some great importance to them. Some of the questions concern us more, some less. Yet we know that if they had not asked those questions, we would be the poorer for it. There are those who say that the Christian life should be free of questions. They will find no support in scripture. The pursuit of truth often takes us through a stage of asking questions. That is o.k. Faith seeks understanding, and ask more questions of life than unbelief. Faith asks more questions because faith seeks to please God, not just self. John Calvin says that the mature Christian lives in a stage of perpetual adolescence. The adolescents I know are always ready for something new, always ready for surprises, always asking questions. Say, that is not a bad way to live. God bless you! Finis.
Lagniappe
Lagniappe refers to “a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase.” In some small bakeries, customers have come to expect a 13th donut or beignet when buying a dozen. A “Baker’s Dozen” is lagniappe. More broadly speaking, the word means “something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure.” The word is used in Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, and various parts of the American South, especially in Louisiana, Charleston,SC, southern and western Mississippi, the gulf coast of Alabama, and parts of eastern Texas. When I use the term, it means that I have gotten something unexpected and really welcome for no additional effort on my part. Your reading this is lagniappe. I hope someone does something equally nice for you.
A Short History of the Moravian Church
A Short History of the Moravian Church was written in 1957 by the Right Rev. Herbert Spaugh. It was initially updated in 1996 by the Rev. Dr. Worth Green, and revised several times since. Posted to the web immediately after its revision, it has been viewed by as many as 1,200 people in a single month. It is a work in progress. Please contact Dr. Green with any corrections or suggestions for improvement.
The Gifts of the Jews by Thomas Cahill
Subtitle: “How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels.” This is my least favorite Thomas Cahill book. I thought it inferior to The Desire of the Everlasting Hills and to How the Irish Saved Civilization. For my taste, Cahill spent a little bit too much space just quoting passages and retelling stories from the Jewish Bible, our Christian Old Testament. Of course, he does manage to quote some key passages, and though he sometimes seems bent upon reducing the content of the faith tradition just for the sake of reduction, he also comes up with some observations that unbelief must wrestle with before it can callously reject the narratives of the Jews as just one more attempt alongside all others by an ancient people to understand their world.
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