"LBTS"

The younger generations are always inventing new abbreviations and acronyms for messaging, that unless one is updated on the current trends, sometimes is even impossible to understand the message.  Well – perhaps is what they want!

So, here is a (healthy and wholesome) challenge for them: “LBTS”. Now, if you don’t know the answer, just keep reading!

 -o0o-

A couple of days ago, I was reading a report presented to the Bishops of the Church of England about ecumenical conversations between the larger Christian denominations.  The report was about the institution of a new official celebration of God as Creator.

The report offered a very insightful observation from the Orthodox Christian churches.  It appears that at the meeting, one of the representatives insisted that, “The celebration should be about the Creator not the creation.”

Such observation allows me to segway into our seasonal theme, “God in Man made Manifest.”

For as St Paul argues in our second lesson, being human – even human in the image of God – has important side effects.  Or had we been born with a sticker, it might have read, “Use with Caution”.

One of the attributes of being God is that God is free.  Freedom in the sense that God is totally free to act whichever way God wants.  And it was out of God’s love that in freedom God choose to create humankind.  God doesn’t owe us anything.  We were created because God choose to do so. 

However, it is important to note that in creation, God granted us the gift of freedom.  This gift, which we often do not use in the right way, nevertheless remains a significant aspect of our being.

That is to say that, unlike God, our freedom is not unlimited or wide-ranging as God’s. We cannot choose the color of our hair nor into which family we are born.  We cannot choose our DNA nor how our DNA will affect who we will become. 

But because God gave us the gift of memory and reason, and the ability to learn from our experiences, we have great discretion about how we behave.  We can choose to follow the example of the life of St David or Jesus, or we can turn our backs to their teaching. 

In our daily life we can choose to go over the speed limit or to make an illegal U-turn, or to make good decisions.  Even if can’t choose our family of origin, we can choose how to relate to them and, when appropriate, we can choose whom to befriend.

As St Luke would tell us in his narrative, even our Lord’s disciples, so close to their Master were not too far away from making bad decisions.  As they were going through Samaria, they said, “Jesus – Let the rascals have it!” 

Why?  Because the “rascals” were not “one of them” and worse, because the ingrates failed to recognize in the disciples their superiority.  And because the disciples considered them “not the same kind of people like as us”, they deserved the worst. 

Now, what it was most galling about the story was that “rascals” were the local folk, the people of the land, those who have been living in their homeland for centuries.  So, the true interlopers were the disciples and not the local folk!  And that’s the reason why Jesus rebuked his followers in no uncertain terms, making clear that it was them who were in the wrong.

For, as St Paul would tell us, Jesus not only came to redeem us from the slavery of sin, but to show us the right way to use the precious gift of freedom.  So, he wrote, “My friends, you were chosen to be free.  So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want.  Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love.”

And here is how you can do it, counsels St Paul.  First, stand firm.  Standing firm is more than standing by one’s guns, right or wrong.  It is standing by the principles of God’s laws which are thus resumed (5:14) in, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Second, do not yield.  In other words, “Don’t follow the ways of the world in which you live but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect,” (Romans 12:1).  In shorthand, “LBTS”, “Live by the Spirit.”

To live by the Spirit is living following the simple Law of Christ, “Love God with all your heart, mind, and spirit, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

The challenge, as St Paul would have us recognize, is not simply to say, “I’m free”, but in learning to allow that freedom to be shaped by love.  For freedom without love becomes self-indulgent, a pursuit of one’s own desires at the expense of others, what St Paul calls the works of the flesh.

But freedom anchored in love is what transforms ordinary existence into something sacred, a life which honors the presence of God in us and in our fellow human beings. 

So, the invitation, then, is to live each day intentionally, examining how our choices reflect the love of God in us, and how, through even the smallest acts of kindness, we might echo God’s generosity and love.  

To stand firm and not yield is to trust that the Spirit within us is ever prompting us toward goodness, even when the world tempts us to close ourselves off, to act only for ourselves, or in denying others the rights and blessings which we love to enjoy for ourselves.

The practice of forgiveness, the patience we extend others in difficult moments, and the mercy we show our neighbor when it is least deserved, will make the light of God’s freedom to shine brighter on our lives.

In many ways, to live by the Spirit and to keep up with the Spirit is another way to celebrate the goodness of God in creation – in our lives.

Once again, as we embrace this calling in our daily lives, we participate in the ongoing manifestation of God in our world: a freedom that liberates us not for our own sake, but for service, for compassion, and for love that knows no boundaries.

And here is the good news – As St David taught us, we can always start with the small things…

So my friends, my brothers and sisters, “LBTS”!

Fr. Gustavo.