January 22nd, 2019

Everybody Always

During Sunday School this week, we are kicking off our study of the book Everybody Always by Bob Goff. This book is a collection of real-life stories that help us explore how to become love and to love everybody always - even the people that are the most difficult. This week, we will learning about what it means to love our neighbors - the neighbors who actually reside, work, and live their lives just next door to us!

You can order a copy of the book at an online bookstore or Amazon. You do not have to have read the book in order to participate in the study, but reading along will add to the experience. This week's lesson will cover the Prologue and Chapters 1-3 (note the change from what I announced in worship). I hope you will join us this week!

Blessings on the journey,
Jim

Sunday's Sermon Snippet

Bearing Fruit (Galatians 5:22-26)
Fruit of some kind is something we almost all enjoy. What makes fruit what it is? It likely has seeds that can grow into another plant, some sweet flesh that is good to eat, and a skin or peel to protect it all. In addition to its physical attributes, it also has a purpose - to nourish others and to create new life as its seeds are carried out into the world. Fruit is not only what a plant produces but also its purpose in the world. It is no wonder then that fruit is often used as metaphor for what we make in and of our lives. 

In writing to the churches in Galatia, the Apostle Paul encouraged them to follow the Spirit so that good fruit would come from their lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is a lot packed into just a few short verses here. First of all, Paul refers to these nine things collectively as the fruit of the Spirit. This means that they are all a part of one fruit. They are not many different fruits such that we can choose which ones we want - the fruit of the Spirit is not a buffet. So, if we are living fruitfully, our lives will show evidence of them all rather than just one or a few. Secondly, these are fruit of the Spirit. They come from the Spirit and are produced by the Spirit dwelling in us. This means that we cannot force ourselves to be more kind or joyful in a fake kind of way. This is not to say that we have no control over how kind or joyful we are in the Spirit. We have choices to make, and the choice that helps us to be more fruitful is to follow the Spirit's guidance. We decide whether the fruit of our lives belong to the Spirit or to our selfish desires by which we choose to follow.

Paul makes one more point here worth some attention. After listing the fruit, he declares that there is no law against things like this. This tells us at least two things. For one, this list of nine parts of the fruit is not an exhaustive list but a list of examples. Secondly, he felt the need to remind us that there is nothing wrong with choosing things like joy, kindness, and gentleness - things that are self-evidently good! Why would anyone ever think there were laws against such things? Why would Paul take the time to tell us this? Perhaps it is because we often act as if these fruit - as self-evidently good as they are - can be the wrong thing to choose. We say things like, "Well, it's good to be kind, but that doesn't always work in the real world." Kindness is good, we think, unless we are talking about people we disagree with - prove them wrong! Gentleness is good unless we are talking about people we don't like - destroy them! Patience is good unless we are having to wait for something that should be happening now - demand action! Love is good, unless we are talking about enemies (despite that whole pesky thing Jesus said about loving enemies) - hate them! We act like choosing the Spirit's way is the wrong thing to do and that should be rules against it, all because we are choosing the path of our selfish desires without knowing it. There is no law against the things like the fruit of the Spirit. Which will you choose to follow today - the Spirit or your selfish desires?

The Way Forward

During Sunday School this past week, we dove into the history behind and proposals being considered by our denomination's General Conference on February 23-26. At the conference, delegates will consider a way forward on the issue of human sexuality given the diversity of opinion that exists in our denomination today. If you missed our session or are interested in learning more, you can check out the resources at the Virginia conference website.

Living in Community

Thank you, Susie, for offering our prayer in worship on Sunday!

As a part of learning about the fruit of the Spirit,
our Wednesday children's class will be starting a canned fruit drive this week.
Everyone is invited to bring in canned fruit to be donated to the Food Pantry.
Collection boxes will be located in the vestibule
and the fellowship hall until February 27.

This Week at Port Church

Wednesday, January 23
9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours
6:00 pm - Wednesday at the Port
Thursday, January 24
9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours
Sunday, January 27
9:30 am - Worship: Bearing Fruit - Seeds
11:00 am - Sunday School
Everybody Always Study - Prologue & Chapters 1-3
4:00 pm - Being United Methodist
Wednesday, January 30
9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours
6:00 pm - Wednesday at the Port
Thursday, January 31
9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours
7:00 pm - Finance Committee Meeting

Looking Ahead

Small Group Interest Meeting - February 24