Let us pray. God of light and love, may your spirit guide us and help us foster that curiosity in our time together today with one another as we seek to be your love for this world. Amen. So we are at our fourth baptismal vow. 

The first three are for the people being baptized, or if they're too young to know what all the words in the first three vowels mean, then sponsors will take those vows for them. And then we get to the fourth vowel, which is technically just for the sponsors. But similar language is also used later in the congregational response. And so while in the first three in the vowels and 

the Ephesian passages, the communal aspect has been implied, or at least there in the background. This week we're really focusing on what does it mean to do things within this community, to keep things nice and simple, going back to a good old fashioned three point sermon. So first, what stands out to me is the invitation to notice the light in yourself and others. The author of Ephesians is inviting the community to be a different type of community, one that avoids the works of darkness and 

instead walks in the light of Christ, whose light produces fruit that consists of every sort of goodness, justice and truth. So everyone was created and in the image of God, so everyone should have a glimmer of this light in them. I appreciate the common English Bible translation because it names a spade a spade and refers to these as stupid ideas. So these stupid ideas that the author of Ephesians is pushing back against are the different ways that we live in, to ways of being that 

ostracize others, that convince the church that there should be different categories of people because we're existing within the time where they later are talking about, like avoiding getting drunk on wine, which produces depravity, and living into the more evil ways of the Roman Empire? It is very obvious for the author of Ephesians that the way of Christ shouldn't look like the empire that was oppressing them. It should look like a completely countercultural community. 

So the question that we have is, are we looking for this light in others, or are we allowing the stupid ideas that others say about the person in front of us dictate what we should find? In the same sense that not everyone who uses a wheelchair has to use it 100% of the time. When we see someone in a wheelchair stand up, do we like, proclaim the goodness of God because they're healed for half a second? Or are we judging them, saying, you shouldn't be using a wheelchair. 

Right. Or are we just acknowledging the person in front of us if we see how these stupid ideas from the world get embedded in us in the way that we think about other people. And sometimes, and probably even more frequently, we allow these stupid ideas from the world that others have to say about us become the truth that we believe about ourselves. 

That I'm not capable of something, because that's what I've been told over and over again. So later, the author invites us to test everything using wisdom to notice the fruit light produces fruit that consists of every sort of goodness, justice and truth. This is even simpler if you can't remember all of the Fruit of the Spirit. 

Here's three indicators to be able to test everything Because I didn't go to summer camp and learn the Fruit of the Spirit song, so I didn't. I definitely don't remember all of them, and I'm too immersed in different translations to know which are the right words for which version. But goodness, justice, and truth or some translations instead of justice they say righteousness because when the Bible is talking about either, it's talking about both. This is connected to the wisdom that we were talking about in our earlier summer worship series. These are tools for discernment because wisdom is what we use when there aren't clear answers. 

Now when I was thinking about what's an easy place to start practicing more wisdom, and I think the fact that we live in a world where media literacy is at an all time low is a great invitation to a single spot to start practicing more wisdom. We frequently share posts that are made by bot accounts or just AI stories or partisan narratives just because of how they make us feel, instead of pausing to ask if it is good, just or true. 

And so many of those things are designed to lean into the stupid ideas of the world that are ready to help continue to divide us when Christ is here to unite us. So every time that we pause we can examine the source of the post and if we need to, we can open another tab and do a little bit of research, see if it's true. Then if it is true, reflect on it. Is it good? 

Is it just? Is it true? These reflections shouldn't be done in isolation. These should be conversations that we're having with one another. Because this information about testing everything isn't told to a person, it's told to a community. 

So the community should be wrestling with are these things good, just, and true? So some quick reflection questions that I wrote for discernment of a post to be able to have with other people. When you see a thing that's popularly going around, but it doesn't seem to be coming from the same source. We're really good at just copying and pasting things and sending it. Is this post trying to fit a narrative that denies the goodness of someone? 

And I would add on to is goodness of someone just because was trying to deny their goodness just because of their gender, race, sexual or political identity? Because those are the hot button things that we're really good at trying to otherize. Does this post seek the justice that God seeks, one where all of God's children can thrive? Is the post true? Is it made with AI, or is it just trying to manipulate you down a particular ideological path? 

Notice how none of these questions have really clear yes or no answers at times. The little AI content notifier on platforms doesn't always light up when something is clearly AI. Like if you're watching a video and someone disappears for half a second and then reappears in a different outfit, you know it's not necessarily real. And if it doesn't look like they edited it, then clearly janky AI was used, right? But these are tools for discernment. 

And the tail end of this passage takes us to our fourth vow. We're invited to submit to each other out of respect for Christ. And so the fourth vow, either asked to the sponsors or slightly changed a bit to ask the congregation is will you nurture these people or these children in Christ's holy church that by your teaching and example they may be guided to accept God's grace for themselves, to profess their faith openly, and to lead a Christian life. 

We learn from each other what we know about the divine is lived out in relationship as we observe the teaching and example of one another. We learn how to love people by being the recipient of love. And sometimes we learn how not to love people by being the recipient of love that isn't very loving when you receive it. So God's grace works through our relationships as we commit to living with the Holy Spirit so that we can each help one another learn of God's grace each day. 

And the more that we can accept God's grace, God's unconditional love, as we continue together the transformations of individuals is sacred, holy, and a shared communal responsibility where the path is lit by our individual lights along the way so that each generation can step into their own profession of faith. 

Because each generation needs a different version of faith for a world that has changed. The things that resonated the most with people when this church was founded in 1910 are very different from the things that resonate with the people in the pews today and the people that you're investing in to take over the church in the future. And so all of this is about nurturing one another as leaders, as individual Christians, as people that are committed to. 

To embodying God's grace in a world that so desperately needs it. And so let us pray. God, your spirit is one that unites us and draws us together. So help us learn to discern the work of your spirit in this world, always testing everything to see that it is good and just and true, so 

that we can be your people, empowered by your spirit to love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously. Amen.