Food for the Way: An Introduction
This summer we spent time as a church family studying the Psalms. We called this series “Songs for the Way” and looked at how the Psalms were sung by the Israelites as they waited for God’s kingdom to come, as they looked forward to the Messiah. We also looked at how the Psalms are songs for us because, like the Israelites, we find ourselves waiting...except we know who we’re waiting for.
The “who” brings us here, to this devotional—a companion to what we’ve learned together over these last few months.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh [...] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:16, 22-25)
If the Psalms are our Songs for the Way, let’s use these words from Paul as the jumping off point for looking at our Food for the Way—the virtues and qualities that allow us to be more and more like Jesus. This fruit nourishes us for the life-long work of being his hands and feet during our time here in the in-between, in the already-not-yet. This process occurs not only internally within our hearts and minds, but also externally with our words and deeds.
Each Sunday morning for the next nine weeks, we’ll share brief devotionals on the virtues gathered up in this idea of the fruit of the Spirit. Paired with each virtue is The Message’s interpretation of it to offer an actionable way of thinking about it. Tess Miller has also created custom illustrations of literal fruit that correlate with these virtues—we believe these will serve as anchors for us, creating concrete reminders of what can feel abstract. We’ll look at Scripture from the New Testament connecting each virtue to Jesus and reflect together on what his embodiment of the fruit of the Spirit means for us as his followers. For it is from him that we learn both who we are and how we live. Finally, each piece will include suggestions for additional reading from the Old Testament, helping us all see that these virtues—this fruit—have been part of God’s story all along.
We look forward to sharing this with you.
Val Catrow
Julie Davis
Meg Haden
Artwork by Tess Miller. Additional design by Rachel Lee.
We will be doing a limited print run of Food for the Way in November. If you'd like a print edition of this devotional mailed to you, please fill out this order form.