CHRISTIAN VIEWPOINT: Get a taste of the 'fruit of the Spirit'

I think there’s a hunger in our society at the moment for this fruit,’ Matt Todd said. ‘Young people in particular are starving for something meaningful and exciting.’

Working for Inverness charity Out of the Box (Scotland) Ltd, Glasgow-based Matt, composer, community musician and film-maker, was speaking recently at Inshes East Church in Inverness at the launch of his new album Nine a Day. It’s been released by Out of the Box, which aims to ‘inspire children through performing arts’.

What does Matt feel the world is hungry for? The ‘fruit of the Spirit’, as Christians call them. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Christians believe that bearing this fruit consistently is achieved not by willpower alone, but through reliance on God at work within us.

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People with these qualities are hugely attractive. Someone ‘overflowing with joy who is also gentle has the ability to transform even the darkest community,’ Matt says.

Nine a Day is a family album. While there is fun and joy and laughter in these songs – one for each ‘fruit’ – they are not superficial. Some explore the depths of painful experience.

‘Patience’ for example speaks of dark times when a friend has betrayed us or when our familiar world falls into confusion. It encourages us to hold on to our faith, and hear God say ‘Just hang on a little bit longer’. Matt says: “Sometimes the best we can do is to choose to live in hope for one more day.”

‘Self-control’ reflects an internet addiction (‘I know where this is heading and I know I need to stop’) and the God who helps us resist when we pray ‘out of the depths.’

I know the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ is most evident in my life not just on those days when I glimpse the joyful wonder of being loved by a God full of joy, peace, patience, gentleness, but also on those days when, in my despair at God’s apparent absence, I call ‘out of the depths’ and I’m sustained.

The album – according to Matt, ‘a love letter to these wonderful attributes’ – was created by a team: singer-songwriter, youth choir, musician, recording experts, album art designer.

I felt at home among these creative people – all attended the launch – who like Matt, had ‘poured heart and soul into the creation of these songs’.

If it’s powerful when an individual’s life is a ‘love letter’ to the ‘fruit’ and to the God whose gift it is, how much more powerful it is when the fruit is seen in a group of people. An orchard of grace in a dreich landscape. No need to climb over the wall because the gate lies open.

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