For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.” This is arguably one of the best known of Paul’s verses, this list of the fruit of the Spirit found here in the middle of our passage in Galatians this morning. It’s a list … [Read more...]
Body of Christ
Standing Firm in Christ’s Love
Living with the Ephesians Well for those of you who are visiting or haven’t been here in a little while, here at St Mary and St Martha we been reading through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians all summer. In some ways we’ve been living with the Ephesians… tramping the streets of Ephesus, listening to the market-talk, passing the Temple of Artemis, and sitting at the feet of the Apostle Paul as he writes from prison in Rome to the churches around Ephesus. We’ve drunk deep from the … [Read more...]
Part of Something Beautiful
The Lectionary This week is one of the weeks that I take issue with the lectionary - specifically, what it has left out. If you’ve been following along reading all of Ephesians at home, you know that there is juicy stuff both between last Sunday’s reading and this one, and between this Sunday’s reading and next one. But it is also difficult, and controversial, and so we are given just this short section from the middle of Chapter 5. Here are some things you might have read in Chapter 5 that … [Read more...]