Silly But Fruitful: A Homily for the Fifth Sunday After Pentecost

Preached at All Saints, Collingwood, and Good Shepherd, Stayner, Anglican Diocese of Toronto, on Sunday, July 13, 2025, the Fifth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 15C).  Readings for this Sunday: Amos 7:7-17, Psalm 82, Colossians 1:1-14, Luke 10:25-35

 9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s[ will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God (Colossions 5:9-10)

I had a wonderful time this past week with our friends at Prince of Peace, Wasaga Beach, who put on a vacation bible camp which retold the CS Lewis book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe over five days.   

The children got to reenact scenes from the book, and got to meet characters such as Mr and Mrs Beaver, the evil White Witch, and of course the lion Aslan.   Besides crafts and games, the children got to learn some of the key themes from the book:  truthfulness, loyalty, hope and forgiveness, and the promise that love righteousness always triumphs over evil and cruelty.  It was a very effective piece of children’s ministry, involving the talents and energies of many volunteers, particularly Val Beasley from Prince of Peace who wrote the script, designed the crafts, and made wonderful masks such as the one I wore as Aslan.

I thought the week was also a wonderful example of how our regional ministry can come together to produce results that one church alone can’t manage.   While the summer vacation bible camp is a Prince of Peace tradition, it involved children from Good Shepherd in Stayner and every day began and ended with a singsong led by the wonderful Gren Bray, who also made a cameo appearance as Father Christmas.  

One of the songs that Gren taught us over the week is relevant to our second reading, from Colossians.  The song is about the Pauline idea of fruits of the spirit, which Paul mentions in passing in our first reading, and elsewhere lists (Gal 5.22-23), a list which inspires this silly song, and because it left me with a terrible case of earworm, I think it’s only fair that you suffer with me.  So here is the song, complete with a prop.

The fruit of the Spirit's not a BANANA

The fruit of the Spirit's not a BANANA

If you wanna be a BANANA

You might as well hear it

You can't be a fruit of the Spirit

[Chorus]

'Cause the fruit is

Love, joy, peace, patience

Kindness, goodness, faithfulness

Gentleness and self-control

Love, joy, peace, patience

Kindness, goodness, faithfulness

Gentleness and self-control, oh

If you can’t get that tune out of the head for the rest of the day, then my work here is done.

Well, my work’s not really done, because this was a fun if long lead-in to some very brief comments (brief because it’s hot) on some of our readings today, starting with Colossians.

Our first reading is from the opening of Paul’s letter to the Christian church in Colossae, a Roman colony in the west of what is now Turkey.    There is some entertaining and helpful background on the themes of Colossians here:  https://bibleproject.com/guides/book-of-colossians/, though I only have time to focus on our reading, which is one big long introduction to a letter.

In this greeting, Paul praises the members of this church for their faithfulness and for accepting the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ, who has “rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption,[h] the forgiveness of sins( Col 1:13-14).   

Now we might think that a Christian community that lives in a pagan city where their neighbours worship the Roman gods might be self-satisfied, insular, and judgmental.    After all, they now live in the kingdom of Jesus, while their neighbours still languish in sin and darkness.     Indeed, there is a widespread perception in the world today that Christians are like this, and one of the temptations of Christian belief is that we fall into an us vs them mindset of self-righteousness that cuts us off from those we judge to be sinners and outsiders.  This is of course Pride Weekend in Collingwood, and I’m sure you can all think of ways that debates about sexual orientation have led many to this sort of mindset.

But, as our silly song taught us, the fruits of the spirit are about the way of life that Jesus calls us to.   A Christian community that congratulated itself on being saved and tight with God, while condemning those outside it as godless sinners, would I think be singularly lacking in the fruits of the spirit.   Are there limits to love?  Can we gentle to just those we like?  How much goodness is required of us?

Today’s gospel reading from Luke 10 tells us without any doubt that the fruits of the spirit, if they are real and truly from God, are for all to receive.    The Parable of the Good Samaritan is so well known and so often preached on that it may be hard to hear with fresh ears.   I think all I need to say about it today is that it is prompted by a question, “who is my neighbour”, and instead answers another question, “how should I treat my neighbour”?

The incredible generosity of the Samaritan, a member of a group despised by most Jews, is a beautiful illustration of the fruits of the spirit in action.  The kindness, gentleness and love given by the Samaritan man to this stranger are in stark contrast to the indifference of the first two men, the priest and the levite, who would doubtless congratulate themselves for being tight with God but whose actions show no godliness, only rotten fruit.

Today we are reminded that the fruits of the spirit are gifts from God but also signs of a life given over to following Jesus.   The spiritually fruitful life does not limit itself to certain neighbours, it bears fruit for all in need.    These are good lessons for a children’s song, and good lessons for adults as well.  It is also a good lesson to hear during our town’s Pride Weekend.  The parade floats Joy and I saw yesterday celebrated things like love and inclusion, and if those messages lead people to be spiritually fruitful, then who are we to argue with them?

Back to Narnia: Our Parish Book Study on Prince Caspian

 

 

 

Our project to read the entire Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis is now half way through.   Last Tuesday, about a dozen of us “Narnians” met to discuss the third book in the series,  Prince Caspian (PC).   We continue to be amazed and delighted at how these apparently simple children’s fantasies contain depths of meaning and offer insights into how we live our faith.

 

Written in 1950, PC is set one English year after the events described in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, but when the four Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund) are summoned back to Narnia, they find themselves in the ancient ruins of the castle, Cair Paravel, where they were once kings and queens.  Slowly, the children realize that during one English year, centuries have gone by in Narnian time (time travel and alternate worlds always fascinated Lewis).

 

During those centuries, catastrophe has again befallen Narnia.    The realm has been conquered by an evil king, Miraz,  and Aslan, the Talking Animals, and Old Narnia are now just legends spoken of in hushed tones.    Miraz’s nephew, Caspian, is told these legends by his nurse and then by his tutor, but learns that his uncle has forbidden any mention of them, for the tyrant Miraz and his people secretly fear the return of Aslan.

 

When Caspian flees his uncle’s castle, he discovers that the Old Narnians - dwarves, fauns, Talking Animals - are real and live in remote places where they yearn for freedom.    Caspian is proclaimed rightful king of Narnia, and with the help of the Pevenisie children (who realize they have been summoned back to Narnia to help Caspian), and with Aslan’s return, they defeat Miraz and bring freedom back to Narnia.

 

In our reading, we noted the fragility of Narnia (it was previously conquered by the White Witch in the first book) and the longing of the Old Narnians for the return of their rightful king, which is a very Christian theme.   Soon in the season of Advent we will once again wait expectantly for the king who will save us from captivity to sin and death.  

 

Likewise PC is about the importance of memory and the need to tell and retell the stories of who we really are and the hope we have in God’s son (whom Aslan often represents).   As Caspian’s tutor says, “my old heart has carried these secret memories for so long that it aches with them”.  At a time in our history where the Christian stories are falling into neglect, PC has much to teach us about the need to re-learn and keep telling these stories.

 

Our identity as Christians is likewise shared by the stories we hear and retell during our worship, stories of hope, of the goodness of our king, and of his coming again.     Our stories also tell us that we have great potential, that God wants us to be more than we are, in the way that the children of Narnia can become heroes, kings and queens.   Thus these simple stories can lead us to the truths at the centre of our faith.

 

Our next Narnia book study is on Wednesday, Nov 29, at 1:30 pm, when we discuss The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.   We’d love to welcome you to our company of “Narnians”.