Free to Become Slaves

Friday's sunset completes the longest day of the year.
I have found both last and next Sunday's selections from St. Paul Letter to the Galatians good for prayerful reflection.  In 3:26-29 St. Paul says that through faith we are "all children of God in Christ Jesus."  There are no distinctions among God's children, "there is neither slave nor free....we are "all one in Christ Jesus."  Jesus living in every one of us binds us to one another in divine love.
In 5:1-18 St. Paul says that there is no distinction between the circumcised and uncircumcised.  In Christ the only thing that counts is "faith working through love."
The passage plays on the words free and slave.  Paul says that when Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free.  He encourages us not to submit to the slavery of the law.  He says "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law."
He also warns us, however, not to use our freedom as an excuse for self-indulgence.  The purpose of our freedom is love.  In a nice twist he says, "Through love become slaves of one another" (NRSV translation.)  Christ freed us so that we can become slaves, not to the law, but to one another in love.