by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Practicing the Spirit’s Fruit in a Time of Social Distancing

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” 
Galatians 5:22-23 New Living Translation

There were not many people strolling Bijou Street in Colorado Springs on March 16, 2020. There were moments when I waited and waited for someone to walk into my frame of vision. No one walked by. No one exited a store.

No one.

Then there was Ray, at least I think that’s his name. I had already snapped a couple of pictures on Bijou and had one more to take. I was nearing the end of the street and Ray came out of a store, a store at which he works. I would have passed him, but I was desperate for one more picture. In fact, I did walk a few steps past him before I turned around and initiated a conversation.

I don’t remember what I said or how he responded, what I do remember is that we smiled, we talked, we laughed.

At the end of our short conversation I asked him if he would mind if I took his picture. He graciously agreed. I asked him to keep doing what he was doing and not pose. He looked at his phone, took a drag from his cigarette then looked off into the distance. Click went my shutter.

In times of chaos, God calls us to remember the fruit of the Spirit, that delicious, sweet fruit that we are honored to possess. Because we have been baptized into Christ, this fruit of the Spirit is already at work in us. Today is the day to love, express joy, practice patience, be kind, and so on because this is how God has acted toward us in Jesus.

I hope to run into Ray again. I know where he works, at least where he told me he works. I might even make a copy of this picture and give it him. In a time of social distancing we’re still blessed to live with the Spirit’s fruit.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado