“Blessed are the meek” it says in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Yet, who in our world would want to own the designation of being one of the meek? The world doesn’t bless the meek. They are disdained as weak, powerless, of little account. Encouraging meekness has been a way of keeping people out of power, of squelching complaints.
During this season of remembering the great love God showed through the gift of God’s Son, through the wonder of the Word becoming flesh, we might begin to see that meekness is not the same as powerlessness. Jesus saw himself as God’s child, first and foremost. He did not focus on himself. He made all his decisions based on God’s ways. Even in the garden he prayed, “Not my will be done, but yours.” Was he powerless? No. But his power flowed from his willingness to follow God in all things. He was, by the world’s standards meek. He refused to defend himself.
His meekness allowed him to see, fully and truly, those the world around him discounted, ignored, despised and injured. He knew God’s great love for them as he knew God’s live for him.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This, Jesus said, is the second commandment. Humility flows from this extravagant love that does not set the self above others. Or, if we look at Jesus’ life, we see humility that flowed from the first commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind.” Jesus, in his life, saw himself as God’s messenger, as God’s chosen one. He set aside self-interest to invest fully in God’s ways and in God’s plan. He set aside privilege to be connected to and serve all who would receive him, particularly those on the margins of his society and world.

Happy New Year!
In Galatians it says that one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. That seemed like an appropriate topic for New Year’s Day when people are thinking about resolutions for the coming year! Self-control is, at first hearing, a very individualistic fruit. We think about self-control as necessary for healthy living. We need to control what we eat, what we drink. We need to assess the risks in our activities.
Self-control has a communal impact. We might ask ourselves what we really need in order to live in ways that positively affect others and the world as a whole. In a consumer society, the fruit of self-control can help us remember that this is a world we share. “Live simply so that others may simply live.”

Faithfulness is a gift of the Spirit. It is a gift that needs to be cultivated. Our society is often slave to the feeling of the moment. Faithfulness calls us to transcend those feelings and remain committed to someone or something. For Christians the challenge is to be faithful to God even when we are challenged by all the competing good things of our world. Years ago, someone reflected on the Sacrament of Baptism and suggested that the parents ought to be challenged to recognize that the vow to bring the child up in the church would be particularly difficult. “Do you promise,” the author asked, “to bring your surly teenager to church? Do you promise to set aside all those other activities and make participating in the Body of Christ a priority above all others?”
Faithfulness is a gift – a gift to be used so that we can bear good fruit in God’s world. The more we strive to know God, to be faithful in our seeking, the more that God’s values and God’s ways will be manifest in how it is we live.

It has often been noted that people in the US are generous. If there is a disaster, wallets and purses open. There is an immediate response. There is also an expectation that the monies given will be used wisely and that there will be immediate signs of the good that the giving has done. Christian generosity calls us to be generous over the long haul. We understand, some two thousand years after the birth of Jesus, that God’s healing and transforming work is never accomplished instantaneously. We give to participate in that work. Sometimes we benefit by seeing great results. Sometimes our gifts are abused. (Is that not the story of Jesus?) And, sometimes our gifts are merely the seeds for what will eventually grow and bloom.

Patience is a fruit of the Spirit. In a world that increases the speed at which things happen, this may be an important gift to claim and let God nurture within us. How frustrating it is when we’re caught up in traffic or when our computers don’t respond as quickly as we think they should! Think about the daily frustrations that “try your patience.”
There is a classic spiritual work that explores the idea of practicing God’s presence. It tells of a brother in a monastery who saw even the most menial tasks as opportunities for acknowledging God’s presence and serving God. A few years ago, someone suggested red lights offered a time, in the midst of traffic, to focus on God’s presence (eyes open).
Time is a gift of God. Each moment is sacred because God is present with us.

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. A morning TV show invited three religious leaders from the faith traditions that look back to Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These wise women reflected on the need for peace. The Rabbi said it begins within each of us. One of God’s gifts is peace. Yet, being at peace even with ourselves is not easy. Who do you know who is at peace with herself or himself?
As we learn to receive God’s peace within, we can more fully find ways of sharing peace with the world. “Blesses are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God!”