"Peace and Joy... in the Holy Spirit."

I ask for the grace to pray and meditate faithfully.  I ask for patience, tolerance, empathy, and compassion.  I ask to abstain from anger, compulsive behaviour, discouragement, and self-importance.  I ask for the grace to make room for the birth of the incarnation this season.  May my words, thoughts, and actions proclaim justice, kindness, and humility.


Romans 14:14-19
¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. ¹⁹Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification.


1) "...nothing is unclean in itself;" "...no longer walking in love;" "...Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ has died;" "...the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy;" "...Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification;" "...mutual edification;" "...the kingdom of God is not food and drink;" "...righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit;"


2) I feel "untethered" as I read this passage.  How must verse 14 have hit the Jewish members of his community.  It must have sounded like sacrilege, a betrayal of the Hebrew tradition.  It wouldn't matter that he goes on to assert that one should observe the dietary practices if one among you believes you should.  And the Gentiles, why would they observe a practice that has not basis in nature or their tradition?  that would actually be offensive and exclusionary for them if they couldn't participate in feasts.  Whether or not Christians who ate meat sacrificed to other gods were genuinely Christians or if they should be "re-baptized" was a hot issue in the early church.  "Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification."   It doesn't seem to me that we did this, or do this, very well. 


3) What is the invitation in all this?  to pursue what makes for peace and mutual edification.  "Mutual edification" requires a level of communication, I think, often escapes us.


"Holy One, edify us."


Breathprayer: "Peace and joy... in the Holy Spirit."