Galatians 3:27-28
The Work that is Theirs to Do
-Joanna Fontaine Crawford
And the day came when finally they put down their burdens
And said, “That’s enough of that.”
The moment was full of sorrow but also relief
Arms exhausted from carrying the burdens
Of trying to entice, persuade, people to be more
Compassionate, wise
They continued their own work of building a world more just
But were freer, lighter
The responsibility for others’ thoughts was gone
They taught through their actions
For anyone willing to read their lives
You can see them now at work in the daytime
Singing and laughing in the evenings
Ask for their views and they’ll give a mysterious smile
You can join them, you know, but you cannot fight them
For they just continue on their way
Doing the work that is theirs to do
They do not seek your agreement, your approbation
When they encounter an obstacle, they find a way over it
I have never seen people who worked so hard
Look so at peace.
Our reading from Galatians is often quoted by those who want the world to be more equitable and the playing field more level. It’s an ideal that we know wasn’t achieved by the early Jesus followers, at least so far as the Roman empire goes. Some scholars suggest that Paul quoted this passage from a baptismal formula. When people were baptized into a group of Jesus followers, they repeated these words as the ideal for their life together. And then in their small group, they lived by them. It didn’t matter what country you came from, if you were enslaved or wealthy, if you were male or female…you interacted as equals and everyone had the same status at your meetings. It was a beginning of reshaping the world.
That’s a process we’re still engaged in today. Roxanne is going to help us think and talk about one part of the process – becoming equals as male and female, or better yet, as human beings of all sorts. She will help us frame our discussion questions.
In closing I want to lift up our second reading for today. Trying to reshape the world into a more just and equitable place is hard work. It’s scary and exhausting. We’re in the midst of an election cycle where the stakes are incredibly high and the way forward is murky. We’re learning about Project 2025 which is determined to remake the world by a very different standard, and we’re not sure how to win and what to do if we don’t. Our reading and our scripture give us the same suggestion – no matter what the world does, live by your vision and your standards. Just go about being the people we choose to be – just, fair, accepting, valuing everyone. Maybe we’ll get to make laws and set policies that include and respect everyone. Maybe we won’t. At any rate, we get to choose who we are and what we value. We can be a community that lives by those values.
One important reminder as we do that – keep love at the center. Love for God, love for self, love for each other. These are fearful times, but scripture reminds us that love casts out fear. There’s strength in the quiet determination to hold fast to our values no matter what. We’re not fighting for what’s right; we’re living by what’s right. We’re letting our actions be our witness and the example for others. We hold fast to the idea that love is stronger than fear or hate. Together we change the world around us simply by being who we are. In that we can find peace.