Today is a special day for our congregation.  Today we honor Sarah Wallingford who not only graduated from Mason County, but who  was graduated Valedictorian of her class. What does it take to raise a strong and talented young woman?  I have known two men with three daughters and talented and powerful wives: our David Wallingford and my brother-in-law Tom. And what I appreciated about these two men is their wisdom and understanding of their wives and daughters.  The key to how these husbands and wives raised their daughters is encouragement. They encouraged their daughters.   I use this word encourage carefully, because I feel it is a very under rated word in our language.  It means to inspire with courage which is absolutely important for a young woman in our world; and it means to know and relate to her heart.  The heart refers to the core of our being, the center, our center of gravity and that center which makes us human beings. I feel only women who are en-couraged can realize their full humanity and their full womanhood. I want to add that Dave’s understanding of women extends beyond his family. When Emily and I were making all of our arrangements to move and come to Maysville, David was planning to have the rectory painted for us, but in a moment of inspiration and sensitivity he realized that Emily would feel much more at home here if she herself picked out the colors for our new home.  Emily was en-couraged.

Thanks David. Thanks Liz. Thanks for the blessing of Sarah for whom we pause to thank God this morning.

The second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians has become the most important text for women in our times.

 

Over the past twenty to thirty years a great debate has raged regarding the roles of men and women.  Should women, for example be allowed to fight in combat situations? In World War I and World War II and in Vietnam the answer was no.  But in Iraq the answer is yes.  In addition there is the question: Can women handle the same jobs as men.  Can women be CEO’s and should they be paid at the same rate as men?    In the Church can women exercise the same roles as men?  Can they have teaching authority over men?  Some evangelical churches have for a long time recognized the charismatic gifts of women for ministry.  Other churches like the Southern Baptists who had a history of women pastors, have stopped calling women.  Episcopalians are moving in the direction of empowering women.  The first woman priest in the diocese of Lexington pastored our own Nativity Church.  And now we have the first woman as presiding bishop.  But her election has sparked even greater debate about the role of women in the church.

 

Paul writes in today’s lesson:  In Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male or female, for all are one in Christ Jesus.  The radical left reads this text to be the most fundamental and absolute proof of gender equality.  The far right reads this text as the proof of the absolute complimentarity of gender roles.  Yes women can be all that they can be…as homemakers…with the dads still calling the shots.  And we Episcopalians, we chose the middle ground, the via media.

 

That’s a good place to be, because I am convinced that this text is not actually about gender equality or gender complimentarity at all. The foundational metaphor or Galatians 3.28 is that of baptism.  Paul is making an argument that humanity is saved not by the law but by faith.  Let’s look at this more carefully. If you like, take the Bible out of your pews and turn to page 1695.  On the left hand side of the page let’s read verse 16.  This verse is Paul’s thesis, the idea that he will try to prove:  “Yet we know that a person is put right with God only through faith in Jesus Christ, never by doing what the Law requires.”  In Chapter 3, Paul will make three arguments to prove this thesis.  The first argument in 3. 1-5 is about the Galatians experience in receiving the Spirit.  Paul reminds the Galatians that he preached the good news to them, they were converted, experienced the Spirit and miracles but in no way did they practice the law.  Instead they simply heard the good news.

 

Now Paul presents his second argument from the experience of Abraham and the promises to him.  Paul says in verse 6: consider the experience of Abraham.  Paul quotes Genesis: He believed God and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous.  The promise to Abraham was that his descendants would be as numerous as the sea.  Paul explains that the real children of Abraham are those who have faith like his and that this includes the Christians, and of course, Gentile Christians.

 

Finally, we come to Paul’s third and important argument. (p. 1697).  Verse 26.  You were baptized into union with Christ.  For Paul baptism is the concrete expression, the practical method of expressing faith.  Faith sacramentalized you might say.  Now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself.  Just as we still practice giving the newly baptized a clean white garment, we practice the symbolism of putting on Christ.  We take a new identity in our relationship to Jesus, we are one with him.  Jews and Greeks are one with Jesus, bringing salvation to both.  Slave or free are one with Jesus. And so are men and women.  But for Paul, this did not mean that slaves were automatically freed at their Baptism.  It didn’t mean that through baptism, there was instant political equality in the church or in society.  Although Paul does not preach the Gospel of Abolition or the Gospel of gender equality, He gives us something more.

 

Paul proclaims and promises that regardless of race, class, and gender we each receive the same gift from God—faith and the gift of union with Jesus Christ. Paul’s goal was just to demonstrate that we can all have faith without the law, but his insight has become the basis and foundation for Christians to move on and to preach equality.  In the 19th century it was the basis for preaching the abolition of slavery.  In our own time it basis for treating all fairly and generously:  God has treated every human graciously and generously.  This becomes the foundation for saying that  regardless of race, political status, or gender we should treat all our sisters and brothers generously and graciously.  God treats each sister and brother graciously.  And so we encourage each sister and brother. 

 

Now I return to David and Liz and their parenting technique. Dave and Liz have practiced this gracious generosity in their family life.  Dave and Liz put no limitations on their daughters.  They encouraged Sarah to explore art, science and math.  They gave Sarah the gift of courage, the gift of courage that she need not fear any obstacle or limitation.  And they en-couraged Sarah by speaking to her heart and instilling their love and the love of God in the core of her being, in her true center.  If you asked Dave and Liz, I bet thenever had the goal of making a valedictorian.   But that sort of thing is possible when you give love and courage. 

 

It is my prayer that we all realize that Christ has made a difference in our lives.  It is my prayer that we treat each other with encouragement—true encouragement that frees every woman and man to face the world with courage and love.