Tag Archives: Belief

Universal Love

believeLiving in the Spirit
October 17, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:25-35

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’ –Mark 10:25-35

I sometimes have trouble getting a thin thread through the eye of a needle much less a camel. Jesus uses this absurd illustration to describe the challenges faced by all of us who worship wealth to enter the kingdom of God. Now few, if any, of us actually proclaim we worship wealth but our actions speak louder than our words at times. There is hope, however, because God can do the impossible.

How do we order our lives to get our way of being in synch with what we state we believe? I am coming more and more to think that I over use that word believe. I was required to write my creed in a class once. It is a tough assignment wrestling with putting into words the bases of my faith, my trust in God. It could have been very long but as I wrote it got shorter and shorter because I kept folding little bits of belief into all-encompassing ideas. I just kept returning to loving God and loving the way Jesus loved. A laundry list of things I believed about God or Jesus or people or what is sin began to seem somewhat irrelevant. Sometimes our beliefs get in the way of our loving like Jesus. This happens most often with me, because when I form a belief I set the parameter for whom and how I love rather than accepting God’s universal love that has no boundaries.

Prayer: Open my heart to accepting the boundless wonder of your love is meant for everyone.  Forgive me when I insert my own judgment on what is worthy of my love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Weave Us Together

Weave us togetherLiving in the Spirit
Light a Candle for Children
October 5, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 21:33-46

 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.— Matthew 21:43

 Tough talk, sounds like Isaiah warning the people of Judah that if they did not produce fruit, they would lose everything, and they did, for a time. Faith is not a verb in the English language. Perhaps by the time the English language was created, Christians had already moved from an active and engaged worshiping community to clusters of believers with similar but small nuances to what they believed that set them apart one from another. Perhaps it is time that we who call ourselves Christians today show the world that faith is really a verb and the product of our faithing is fruit.

There is nothing inherently wrong with formulating beliefs and discussing them with others. I think such discourse is useful. It becomes a stumbling block when our wrangling over beliefs results in our failing to be the One Body of Christ working toward the kingdom of God in our world today. We even fight wars over it.

The Hebrew Bible is filled with calls for justice and righteousness in our way of living with one another. Christ clearly made justice and righteousness centerpieces for his coming kingdom. Bearing the fruit of justice and righteousness would go a long way toward addressing all the problems that impact our children today. Let us faith together toward this reality.

Oklahoma Fact: third grade reading proficiency percentages by race: White 82.3%, Black 59.1%, American Indian 75.6%, Asian 91.1%, and 77.1%*

Prayer: We are many textures, we are many colors,
              Each one different from the other.
              But we are entwined in one another in one great tapestry –

            Weave, weave, weave us together,
             Weave us together in unity and love.
             Weave, weave, weave us together,
             Weave us together, together in love.** Amen.

* http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/8225-third-grade-reading-proficiency-by-race?loc=38&loct=2#detailed/2/any/false/36,868,867,133,38/107,133,10,172,4,3/16742

 **From Weave by Rosemary Crow, http://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=10306

 All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.