Have you ever wondered what Paul would do with the Book of Order?  This passage in some ways seems so timely.  Yesterday our General Assembly began its last annual meeting.  (In the future it will meet bi-annually.)  Once again several overtures (Presbyterian for bills or proposals) will be considered regarding changing the rules or laws codified in the Book of Order.  Yes, most of them are dealing with interpretations and expectations of sexual orientation regarding ordination and marriage pertaining to gays and lesbians.  It certainly is a time for us to be in prayer regarding God’s presence in all the commissioners and those participating in this G. A.

There are those who desire to legislate ideas that others of us find unbiblical and certainly not reflecting the wondrous love of Jesus.  How that will play out again at General Assembly and later, hopefully, in the Presbyteries is of great concern to all of us.  At the root of this debate is the tension of how we understand or interpret the life of Jesus.  Paul found a similar debate in his day.  He said, listen, if you continue in looking at things the way you used to, Christ will be of no benefit to you.  Let go of the past way of considering wholeness, and discover your full self in connection to Christ.  Others in his day were urging them to continue in the practice of circumcision that was essential for the Jewish tradition

            Today we are hearing calls for us to spell out the “essentials” of our religious heritage.  This is not really new.  Attempts have  been  made  at  this  in the  past.  Statements of faith and various Confessions have been formulated and adopted over the years.  Our Book of Confessions contains those statements of faith that we have agreed as being formative for us.  But while we, in our ordination questions, seek affirmation to the essential tenets of the Reformed Faith, we nowhere spell out exactly what they are.  We are left some freedom to ascertain those.  But this is uncomfortable for some that want to spell out what essentials we are talking about.  Most recently a group of churches have declared it is essential to assent to three fundamentals.  Those proclaiming to be ‘confessing churches’ have stated that infallibility of Scripture, no ordination of homosexuals, and salvation through Christ alone are essential tenets for anyone serving and/or joining those churches.

            Those voices are still being raised in the church and will be lifted up again at the General Assembly.  Thankfully, they do not represent the majority.  But we need to be reminded that Paul, too, had to deal with conflict and with “essentials” in his day.  He reminded the Christians then and us today that we are called to freedom in Christ.  But freedom for Paul does not carry the same connotation that is found in North America today.  Autonomy, independence, sovereignty, or “do as I please” are all concepts we associate with freedom.  But hardly so for Paul.  Being called to freedom requires both aspects of that statement.  We need to remember “being called” as well as being free.  Being called means we need to take into consideration the one calling.  Christian freedom is freedom in Christ.  The human condition for Paul and for Christians is the awareness that humans are always enslaved.  Paul states we are free from the law, but then we become attached to Christ.  The idea of absolute freedom is  no more possible for you and I than it is to set a train free by removing it from the tracks.  Or we have just heard about the blessing the organ is for us.  What if we were to set the organ free?  To loose it from the keyboard and free the pipes from their stands.  Or, what if we told Paula or Mary that they were free from the notes on the page. “Just play or sing anything you want, don’t worry about those notes.”  Would the choir be free to make the music we heard today?  Or would God be glorified if everyone in the choir sang their own song with their own music?

            Freedom is not autonomy.  It is not independence.  Paul says that we are free from the law.  For the law will not bring wholeness.  It will not enable us to recapture who we were created to be.  But being free is being slaves to one another.  On the surface that sounds like a contradiction.  But look again at the train, or consider the conductor of the choir, or the organist.  Freedom from means freedom to.  Boundaries or connectedness enables the trains to accomplish their travels, the conductor to bring out the beauty of a multitude of voices, or the organist to deliver great pieces of music. 

            So, one then says.  If we are to be slaves to one another, why not make that clear by some essential tenets of faith that we must both adhere to?  Then I can know we are one.  If we are called to freedom by being slaves to one another, how else can we be free unless we are agreed in our practice.  The law or the clearly stated propositions can guarantee that we will be connected.

            But will it?  If we say the same words, will we necessarily mean  the  same?  How  many  hours  have been consumed as our courts attempt to define words that seem to be so clear.  A person’s life may depend upon the meaning given.  I can say Jesus Christ, or if I hit my thumb with a hammer and say Jesus Christ, it is two different things.  There are words that we have surrender to others because of the connotations we have placed on them, for example, evangelical.  That is a perfectly good word, which describes me to a tee, but because of its use by some, it is something I am careful using.  I have good news to share, and am yet I might be perceived by some as being something I’m not.  The debate goes on about being a liberal or conservative in religion or politics, and what does that mean. So how will a set of words assure us of connectedness or oneness?  It won’t.  The law or a set of propositions even about Jesus Christ will not bring that to reality.

            We are enslaved to each other and find our freedom in Christ only in coming to terms with how Jesus loved those he came into contact with.  Love is the key.  Isn’t that what you have found here at Mt. Auburn?  Your wholeness, your freedom to be you has come about when you knew you were loved into it.  I am experiencing that here.  The more I spend time here.  The more I get to know you, the more I have felt love flowing my direction, the freer I have been to be me.  Being bound together is freeing!  Belonging is liberating!  Freedom is not designed for self-absorption.  Freedom isn’t created to be rid of the other, but to be bonded in such a marvelous way that I’m free from self-consciousness and free to enjoy and affirm the other. 

            I can choose to be self-indulgent and preoccupied with self, but then I am again enslaved  to self.  Or I can choose a path of freedom from self-concern and self-conceit.    This Paul says is possible when you choose the Spirit of Jesus.  What does it mean to live in the Spirit?  Somehow that seems so mysterious, or ethereal that it may be difficult for some to appreciate what that means.  Let me give a stab at unpacking that.

            Bring to mind a person you really admire.  Some one you look up to and appreciate being around.  I would find it a great honor to meet former President Jimmy Carter.  I don’t know what I’d do if I ever met him, but it would impact me, I’m sure, to be in his presence.  If he came to this church, the atmosphere would immediately change.  There would be electricity in the air for me.  Word would get out, and we would pack this sanctuary.  Expectations would abound, and I for one would be paying attention to his every move as well as eager to hear what he might say.  Being in his presence would impact me significantly.

            Perhaps you have some that would capture your attention.  Someone you would be honored to be in her or his presence.  It would effect how you thought, how you acted, etc. - at least for the time you were in their presence.

            To live in the Spirit is to live in God-Presence.  The more we are aware of living in God-Presence, the more it will impact our behavior, our attitude, our actions.  Paul says it dramatically contrasts to living in self-presence, where we are the center or the predominant influence.  In fact, he says, these two centers are at odds with each other.  They can’t be compromised or blended together.  They lead in different directions.

 (Read the passage from The Message  Galatians 5:19-26).

            The law is destructive, the God-Presence is life giving.  The law separates, the Spirit unites.  As the Presbyterian Church meets again to determine how we are to live with one another may we not fall back into law, but move ahead in God-Presence to live in the welcoming and affirming mind of Jesus. May we join Paul in living in the tension of holding fast to the essential by living in God-Presence asking Jesus to fill us with his love.