Gentleness Mother Alexis Saunders, September 28, 2014
There are problems enough in the world and they can overwhelm us. In the global context of Today we are beginning a preaching series to coincide with the Formation Series on Galatians 5.22 which says; The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Today I wish to begin with why Paul was writing to the Galatians. The Church in Galatia was a small group of people trying to live out its calling in a pagan culture within their theological and ethical vocation that was totally against the mainstream. The moral standards of the pagan people was opposite to the calling of the nature and purpose of the Christian community. And within this community were differences of opinion of how to live out their vocation to love one another. Paul’s letter to them is a reminder of the basis of their vocation to love. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus people are freed to love one another. Freedom is the basis for love and love is the proper exercise of freedom. Through baptism the Holy Spirit dwells within each Christian and when allowed produces the very love which has been commanded by Christ. Through the Holy Spirit God makes possible the very life commanded if we allow. Let’s state this another way;
1. The spirit comes in and with the preaching of the crucified Christ 2. The spirit is set in radical contrast to not being in the control of our passions, desires, self-indulgences, and sin. 3. The spirit is the power of the new age and thus the source of vitality and mighty works. 4. The spirit comes to the whole community and not simply to a few select leaders.
The fruit of the Spirit is the symbol, the mode and the power for the life of freedom, which is expressed through true love which grows into joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As the person beginning this preaching series I was given the choice of choosing which fruit of the Spirit I wished to speak about. And I choose gentleness. The best definition of gentleness I found says: “Gentleness is moving wisely, touching softly, holding carefully, speaking quietly, thinking kindly.” I was struck with the thought that gentleness begins with controlling our outward actions. I thought of how I had to teach my children when they were small to gently and softly pet a kitten or puppy. “Gently, Gently,” I
1
would said. Showing them how to hold and cuddle so as not to hurt or harm little animals. Through this action my children began to learn to not hurt other creatures, people, or things. They began to notice what they did with their hands and then their arms, and legs, and body so they did not crash through life breaking and hurting everything they swept by. Gentleness seems to begin with controlling our bodies. It seems to begin with noticing what we are doing and practicing to move more carefully. The external control moves into internal control as we realize that loud angry, demanding voices hurt people who truly are very sensitive beings and easily crushed by hurtful words and actions. Then it seems to me we move into truly becoming aware of what we are thinking and make a decision that we do not want to hurt anyone or anything so we begin to think gentle thoughts full of love and kindness. Then gentleness becomes an antidote to when we are hurt or mad, jealous or envious so instead of blowing up and hurting someone we think before we act in vengeful ways and express our feelings peacefully. Gentleness can be learned and it can be practiced but it is also a fruit of the spirit when we allow God to work within us and this can happen especially through centering prayer slowly and gradually over time we realize we are becoming gentler. Gentleness is acting and speaking in a way which is considerate and kind to others. It is using self-control in order not to hurt or offend others. I had one surprise when reading this week about gentleness and it came from the dictionary. The original Old English and Old French definition of gentle is “of noble birth� as in gentleman and gentlewoman. The implications struck me as something I hadn’t considered before; we are sons and daughters of the King of Kings. We are asked to have qualities appropriate to those born of the King of Heaven. We are called to be gentlemen and gentlewomen with the qualities of being; noble, polite, generous, kind, serene, patient, courteous, gracious, considerate with a high morality. This is the freedom of love given to us through Christ. This is who we are truly meant to be as human beings. This is the work of the Spirit when we allow. May our hearts and minds and bodies be open always to the teaching of the Holy Spirit that we may become truly gentle: moving wisely, touching softly, holding carefully, speaking quietly, and thinking kindly.
2