Sermon

So…

What does kindness look like?

When I think of kindness I think of the two police officers that responded to a mother in medical crisis. As the ambulance took the mom to the hospital, the two officers finished cooking lunch and fed her kids and washed all the dishes in the sink before another family member could come for the kids.

I think of the man who was watching over two homeless men who lived out behind where he worked, bringing them things and just making sure they were safe. 

They in turn noticed he walked to work, so they found a broken-down bicycle and fixed it up, so he could ride to work.

I think of the nurse who sat beside the bed of a man dying of Covid-19 just to hold his hand.

I think of the teacher who took off his shoes and gave them to his student to wear across the stage as he graduated, because the young man had worn sneakers and they were not allowed.

I think of my brother-in-law Steve and his adopted homeless man in Manhattan. “Are you good?” Steve would ask, just to see if indeed he was!

And I think of our own Food Pantry, where food is shared as evidence of God’s love with all those who might be hungry.

Kindness is the opposite of judgment. 

It is the choice to care for someone else not necessarily because we have decided they deserve it, but just because they are in need, just because we can.

Kindness is, Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-23, a fruit, that is an outgrowth of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. It is the evidence that God lives in us!

Paul says, that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

God’s growing presence in us is reveled in powerful ways. 

While we are saved not by works but by grace, grace exudes from us as we begin to treat others as God has treated us, with kindness.

Make no mistake, God loves us. 

When we finally understand that and begin to incorporate that love in our lives, what happens is we begin to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Now in our angry, frantic, self-centered culture it is often hard to see God’s spirit at work, but not if you look closely, with the Spirit’s eyes.

You won’t find it much on TV or in all the political shouting, but one strange place you can find it if you look, is on social media. 
Where a woman tells the story of sending an invitation to her college graduation party to family only with the wrong address! 

She got back a congratulations card and a $20 check from a woman she didn’t know who was delighted to celebrate with this unknown graduate.

Where a mother was shopping with her daughter in a toy store for her daughter’s upcoming birthday, telling the child that they could only afford one toy. 

Then a 20 year old young man took the doll she was enamored with and walked away with it.

As the mom explained to the girl that there were more dolls, the young man came back and gave it back to her paid for, and said, “now you can have two presents”!

Kindness is a lifestyle. 

It is a daily practice. 

It is a choice to care for others. 

It requires an attentiveness to the needs of others, setting aside our own for a time, so that God can do his work in us.

It is the girl across the street making gluten-free baked goods for a friend, and then saving a couple and bring them over to Sue.

It is the product of the love and joy and peace and patience that are also fruit of the Spirit coming together to make another person’s life better, more comfortable, safer, even amazing.

Think for a minute about King David’s choice. He could have forgotten his promises to his best friend Jonathan, his promises to God. 
He was now the most powerful man in all of Israel.

Instead, he chooses to be kind, to return to Mephibosheth all of Saul’s land and servants, and then additionally to honor him, by inviting him to sit at his table.

Instead of laying on Mephibosheth the sins of his grandfather, David elevates him, honors him, cares for him, and shows him kindness. 

And we, the followers of Christ are invited, even compelled by the Spirit, to do the same. 

To look, actively seek others, especially others who are not like us or familiar to us, in order to share God’s kindness with them, knowing that God has shared his amazing kindness with us.

So, look around you. 

To whom do you have an opportunity to be kind to this week?

May God bless you as you exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, today, tomorrow, and always. Amen.