Living in the Spirit

On this the 5^th of July, the Epistle reading for the day is taken from Paul’s Letter to the Romans:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Rm. 8:1-11).

What is life in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit?  The Holy Spirit is the very life giving breath of God.  The Holy Spirit is hope; it is love.  Therefore, Paul tells us that we Christians are to walk, we are to live, in hope and in love being infused with the very life of God.  The Holy Spirit has transformed us bringing us to the Father through Christ—just as Christ has been raised from the dead, so we too, with the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, will be raised to new life.

Let us pray:  O God, who taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

SUMMER ART SERIES AT ST. AUGUSTINE’S: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Saturdays

         July 7: Signs and symbols found in all cultures, make your own sign

         July 14: Guardian Angels – guest artist Mary Ann Hasty, Native American

         July 21: Mandela's, African Shields

         July 28: Collage and the art of Mexico

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550