June 7, 2026 - Second Sunday after Pentecost: Let Us Bear Fruit

Second Sunday after Pentecost
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Galatians 5:1, 13-14, 22b-23
“Let Us Bear Fruit”
Douglas T. King

There is a wonderful, perhaps apocryphal, story among preachers that crystallizes the way in which we sometimes misuse scripture in our preaching.  It is about a preacher who reads a text about Paul traveling on a ship and then the preacher proceeds to preach on the great “ships” of the church, stewardship, fellowship, worship, etc.  It is a cautionary tale that perhaps what one preaches should have some actual tangential connection to the scripture which is read.  

Well, this morning I must admit I started in the worst way in selecting this text from Paul’s letter to the Galatians.  Not being closely tied to the lectionary, if I am not in the midst of preaching a series, I sometimes wander in search of an appropriate text.  As I considered
what the context for the church was on this day the first thing that popped into my mind was the Strawberry Festival. This led to our text from Galatians.  Strawberries, fruit, fruit of the Spirit, get it?  Yes, I am ashamed to admit that is how we got to the text this morning.
 
But let me say even the cheesiest of connections can sometimes prove illustrative, and even possibly be the work of the Spirit, so do not give up on me just yet.  As some of you know, the book of Galatians is often referred to as the Magna Carta of Christian liberty. It has received this grand nickname because throughout the letter Paul explains that our reconciliation with God is not found by fulfilling a laundry list of proscribed cultic rituals and good works.  

Paul tells the church in Galatia that it is solely our faith in Christ which reconciles us to God.  In the midst of a culture of so many behavioral expectations used in an effort to earn God’s acceptance, it is an offer of sweeping freedom.  In Paul’s church there are no outsiders who must conform to the ways of the past.  Through grace we all step into a remarkable freedom.  However, the other side of the equation of freedom is how we find our way forward now that we have been freed.  In the section of chapter five we heard this morning, Paul is addressing this question.  How do we live together in community if our primary focus is not found in fulfilling the law?

Paul runs through a catalogue of vices of which I have to say I am not entirely unfamiliar, and then he offers the fruit of the Spirit, the outward characteristics which demonstrate the Spirit of God at work in our midst; “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

We are reminded that this Christian faith of ours only gains its traction in community.  It is only in the midst of shared life that we can begin to discern how in tune we truly are with the Spirit of God.  This has always been my issue with the great Christian hermits.  I cannot dream of living out their commitment to God through intense asceticism, but I have always wondered how well they could measure their love of God without the context of actually loving the children of God.  It is all well and good to sit alone in a room somewhere and ruminate on how much one theoretically loves God and thus loves all of God’s children.  It is entirely another matter when you are cut off in traffic, or your neighbor is running their leaf blower at seven in the morning, or God forbid, someone disagrees with you about what kind of cookies should be served at coffee hour.
   
Between advancements in technology and how we learned to live during the pandemic, it has become far too easy to isolate ourselves or be very selective in how and when we choose to live in community.  And the pride we take in self-reliance can exacerbate the issue.  We can fall under the illusion that our need for community is merely another lifestyle choice and not an imperative to our mental and spiritual health. In 2023 the Surgeon General produced a report on isolation and loneliness, “it is more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health.  It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementias, stroke, and premature death.  The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day…”
This is a sobering analysis to say the least.  

Which brings us back to the Strawberry festival.  It is not an event which exactly transforms the created order.  It does not bring peace to our warring world.  It does not repair all of the homes still suffering from the effects of last year’s tornado.  It does not do a lot of things.  But what it does do, is intentionally bring us together. It is another opportunity to see if the fruit of the Spirit abides here at Ladue Chapel.  It is one more time to see if “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” are present when we gather together.  

It is important to remember that Paul is not ordering us to live out these ideals, he is not proscribing them for us.  What Paul is doing is describing what a community where the Spirit reigns looks like.  He is painting a picture for us of how life in community, where the Spirit resides, reveals itself.  Paul is not creating a new law of rules.  In Galatians we are being offered total freedom.  He is telling us not to live our lives out of fear or guilt or beholden-ness to some set of rules handed down by God.  Paul is offering us the opportunity to live lives that are motivated by gratitude for the Grace we have already received in Jesus Christ.  

When we open our hearts to this reality we are given the freedom to live in the Spirit; to live in community in a self-giving manner; to find ourselves being generous with each other not because we must or because the people around us are perfect and easy to love, but because we just cannot help ourselves knowing how generous God has already been with us.

In the pastoral prayer I pray at weddings there is a line speaking of the couple.  It is a reminder that the blessing they have received is a blessing to be multiplied.  “Give them such fulfillment of their mutual love that they may reach out in concern for others.”  The blessings we may find in this community of faith, the fruit of the Spirit, allow us to bear fruit out into the wider world; to care for those beyond our own immediate community, to bring “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” perhaps at Isaiah 58, or one of the many worthy agencies our stewardship dollars support, or wherever our hearts may lead us.
 
So, take your temperature at the Strawberry Festival this afternoon or the next time you are surrounded by the people of God and see if your heart is touched with love, and joy, and peace, and patience and all the rest of the signs of the fruit of the Spirit.  If we are not there just yet it is not because we are not following the appropriate rule book or because the people around us are not worthy.  It is because we have yet to recognize the gift of freedom God has given us and thus welcomed the Spirit into our midst.
 
Paul is calling us to find our freedom and in responsive gratitude we cannot help but reach out into community to be of loving and faithful service to one another.  It may sound a bit far-fetched to us because we know all too well the weaknesses and limitations we and others possess.  But trusting in this freedom is not about trusting our abilities.  It is about trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform who we are individually and who we are in community.  So, as you are enjoying your strawberries this afternoon keep your eyes and heart open for a far more important fruit and the Spirit which promises its arrival.
  
Thanks be to God.  Amen.