Carrying Blessing
“Carrying Blessing” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
Good morning! Maybe it’s just me, the writing of Paul, or the movement of the Spirit — hopefully all three — but it seems like there are a lot of things in this passage from Galatians which Jan just read for us which are relevant to this season of the year and to this time. I’ll do my best to weave together some of these threads in a way which makes sense to mr, but I’ll tell you in advance where I’m going, and let you decide whether I get there or not.
This is a season, as you heard earlier, when students and teachers are preparing to go back to school. If you are not a student or someone who works in the schools, this may no longer be a part of the rhythm of your year, but you are probably still aware of changes as your grandchildren — or great-grandchildren — return to public school or college, as fall sports begin to gear up, or as you get stuck behind school buses in the morning or afternoon. (Remember: stop means stop) Another sign of the season is harvesting Creekside’s Seed to Feed garden. Of course, we’ve been picking vegetables and donating them to Church Community Services since July, but that effort is ramping up now with tomatoes beginning to come on hot and heavy. We’ll be starting to process these next week. Even if you’ve never set foot in the garden or sliced a single tomato, it’s pretty hard to miss fields of corn in tassel, and soybeans, fresh produce and farmer’s markets. These too are part of the season.
This is also a season of the Christian year known as “ordinary time,” and it carries both the sense of being measured, or counted, and being something which happens every day. This doesn’t have to mean ho-hum and boring, but it is a different focus that the shorter season of Advent or Lent. In the long days of summer, the church is called to focus on God’s mission, and the things the church should be doing day in and day out. And for me, what I need for this season and for this day is blessing. The days can be long, and the tasks are not always easy, so I pray that part of that blessing is perseverance and strength. Of course, I pray for this not only for myself, but that each of us would be filled with the blessing we need.
I want to take this Galatians passage apart a bit. I had Jan read the New Living Translation, so if you’re following along in Chapter 6 in your own Bible, yours might read a bit differently. Verses 4 and 5 say:
Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
This sounds like good advice for anyone, anytime, but these are pretty good words to send kids off to school with: do your best, don’t worry about what other kids are doing, be responsible for yourself. Try to do work that you will be proud of. I don’t know what you told your children, or what you tell your students, but this is pretty sound counsel.
And then Paul talks about teachers — likely not school teachers, but anyone whom we have trusted with instruction. Those of us who have been taught the word of God should provide for our teachers and share good things with them. This could include material things, but it certainly includes support, encouragement, and blessing. And then Paul talks about a harvest. He means a spiritual harvest, but the metaphor is apt; you don’t need to be master gardener to know that you can only harvest what you plant: weeds will come up on their own, but the things you want you have to be intentional about planting and tending. In our spiritual gardens, sin will take over unless it is rooted out. If we want to live for the Spirit, we need to be planting and tending the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those don’t just spring up on their own or take over our lives while we’re busy going about our business.
None of this teaching is intended to apply only sometimes, or in special circumstances — it is how followers of Christ, those who have been taught and have accepted the Word of God, are supposed to behave every day, day in and day out. Paul writes in verse 9, So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. I love that phrase, “a harvest of blessing.” Blessing is, of course, something we receive. Blessing is a gift from God, and sometimes we have worked for it, and sometimes . . . not so much. We’ve had several people who have spent a lot of time planting and tending our garden, but we still have to rely on the rain and the sunshine, and that is not our work, that is God’s goodness.
Blessing is also something we carry with us so that we can share it with other people. Imagine, if you will, a backpack full of a harvest of blessing — zucchini and tomatoes, or whatever their spiritual equivalent is — blessing which will never run out, unless we try to keep it all for ourselves and not give any away. Maybe you don’t own a literal backpack, but we all carry things with us. Maybe you carry hurt or anxiety, resentment or despair. Blessing can make that load lighter. Blessing can give you something to share besides your disappointment. Paul reminds us in verse 9 to not get tired of doing good — that at the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Blessing helps us have the strength to continue when we’re not sure where the path is going or if we can keep going.
So where does blessing come from? From God, of course, who has given us life and sustains us and walks beside us. In the words of the doxology: Praise God from whom all blessing flow. God is our first and foremost source of blessing. God’s Son Jesus and the forgiveness and grace and example we have received through his teaching and life and death and resurrection is surely a source of blessing and strength. The ongoing work of the Spirit to inspire and guide and comfort and lead us is part of the blessing we recognize during this season of ordinary time. But you know and I know that although blessing may come from God, the three-in-one of Creator, Redeemer, and Guide, we often receive that blessing through other people. A word of encouragement, a helping hand, a prayer for strength or wisdom. These are the gifts we can give one another; these are the gifts we must give to one another to build up the body of Christ. In verse 10 Paul writes, Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone — especially to those in the family of faith.
The most important thing we can carry with us, in this season or any season, is the light of Christ. As part of this morning’s blessing for our children, we gave them each a reflector to put on their backpacks. We hope these reflectors will help keep kids safe by shining in the darkness, so others can see them. Reflectors don’t generate light — they can only reflect light which is already there. Reflectors don’t work if they are put inside your pocket, or zipped inside a backpack, or hidden under a bushel basket. Sisters and brothers, if we are going to carry the light of Christ, we have to let that shine that where others can see it.
Other people — in this family of faith and beyond — won’t experience the strength and encouragement which comes with God’s blessing unless we share it with them. Sharing blessing not only lightens the load of those we share it with, it lightens our own burdens as well. And the more we give away, the more we will have to share. Blessing is an amazing resource. We give praise to an amazing God.