Not Mine [Alone] To Do

I.        Vow of Affirmation 
“We devote our daily life to God, and to serving our neighbors as images of God”

3. I will live, speak and act with truth, compassion, kindness, gentleness, mercy, patience, generosity, and expectant hope that others will respond in kind.

("the shift" by Cornellia Kopp via Flickr)

When faced with lists of to-dos or to-bes, I can slog down in the hard work of doing and becoming something better.  But in my stubborn independence, with my thanks-for-offering-but-I’ve-got-things-covered response, I miss something important about the discipleship life.  Yes, God’s calling demands sacrifice and perseverant hard work on our part, but only as a response and an outgrowth of what God has already begun in us. In the end it begins with God’s faithful work and not simply ours.

After the tragic shooting at the West Nickel Mines school house, the Amish community persevered in the painfully compassionate work of forgiving Charlie Roberts. In Forgiveness, John Ruth notes that this Christian act was “not a strategy or skill, but the fruit of a radical reorientation.” Yes, it certainly took a stalwart moral commitment on the part of the Amish in Lancaster County to live, speak and act with kindness and mercy, but it was only made possible by the work that Christ had already begun long before in them as a tight-knit church community. Paul calls this preliminary initiating work New Creation. He likens it to fruit grown in us by the Holy Spirit, or new clothes washed and put on us by Christ. 

Pure in Heart

II.      Vows of Rejection

“We renounce violence of the heart, tongue and fist, neither willing nor working harm to any”

(by h.koppdelaney via Flickr)

7. I will reject violence of the heart: I will not harbor anger, resentment, envy, prejudice, or hatred. 

When we recognize the violence in our world, it’s often noticed in the form of physical and verbal violence. Yet some of the greatest violence exists within those of us who have never struck another creature or hardly raised our voices. Jesus, as he is fond of doing, flips the conventional picture on its head. You’ve heard it said, “Do not murder,” but I tell you don’t be angry or insult one another! In the gospels, Jesus digs beneath the actions and words of anger to the condition of the person inside. “Out of the abundance of the heart…”

The Fruitful

I.        Vow of Affirmation

“We devote our daily life to God, and to serving our neighbors as images of God”

3. I will live, speak and act with truth, compassion, kindness, gentleness, mercy, patience, generosity, and expectant hope that others will respond in kind.

purpletwinkie via Flickr

The call to Christian peacemaking involves our whole being and takes place in the whole of life. It involves our thinking and speaking as well as our acting. It is manifested in more than just retaliation from harmful force and power—in fact it is characterized as much by positive action as by negative avoidances. Among these positive responses, the diverse fruit of the Spirit are clear signs and elements of Christ’s peaceful way.