Tag Archives: Diversity

The Blessing of Diversity

diversityLiving in the Spirit
October 14, 2015

Scripture Reading: Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
   In wisdom you have made them all;
   the earth is full of your creatures. –Psalm 104:24

I think we sometimes forget that God created the earth to be manifold—diverse. It is interesting that some take offense at scientific explanations of creation. I, on the other hand, think it is one of the greatest compliments we pay God to invest our energies in trying to figure out exactly how God made all this happen. A surgeon once told me that he was rather agnostic about God until he started studying the human body and realized what a marvelous invention it was.

It also makes sense to me that if God created a diversity of people, God had reasons for doing so and we need to respect those reasons as we respect the differences in people. I worshipped yesterday evening with one of the most diverse group that could be gathered. Most were homeless, although one in sharing her blessing for the week with the group told of finally finding someone who would rent to her using her housing voucher. She took her seat and in a few moments returned to speak again in this part of the service set aside for sharing blessings. She wanted to thank her case manager for sticking with her through it all and believing in her. She choked up while expressing her thanksgiving it meant so much to her.

Today let us praise the Lord for the wonderful work of God’s hands and reflect that praise in how we love one another.

Prayer: O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed: 

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!* Amen.

*First verse and refrain of How Great Thou Art by Stuart K. Hine. See at http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/h/o/w/how_great_Thou_art.htm

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.

Family of God

Harmony_Day_(5475651018)Living in the Spirit
October 11, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:17-31

Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’

 Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’ –Mark 10:27-31

Do we worship a god whom we truly believe is capable of all things when we have wars abounding throughout the world, children starving, sex trafficking, the rich getting richer and the incomes of the middle class shrinking? I fear what we may give lip service to is not demonstrated in our ways of being. As we open our hearts and minds to the leadership of God, we will live into God’s omnipotence. When we see all people as our family—brothers and sisters—when we know they are all safe and nourished, we will begin to have a glimmer of God’s perspective.

It is hard to ferret out what is culture and what is theology. We have lots of examples of that in the gospels where ritually washed hands was a sign of piety and plucking and eating wheat while walking through a field on the Sabbath was a sin. Paul struggled mightily with the issues of cultural differences when he introduced the gentiles to Christ crucified. How do we reflect Christ in our lives?

I first supervised social workers in the early 1970’s when the miniskirt was popular. The state eventually issued a dress code which did not set well with some of my staff. I, frankly, did not care if they wore miniskirts or not but what I did care about was how what they wore impacted their relationship with the person they were serving. Wearing a miniskirt to an elderly person’s home was probably a major distraction as was wearing a miniskirt to work with a teenaged boy. I doubt that most of our young mothers on public assistance paid any attention to it.

There are thousands of refugees pouring out of the Middle East and Africa bringing with them rich traditions passed to them from earlier generations that are different from ours. They are our brothers and sisters whom we are called to love.

Prayer: God of all, as we meld together the ways differing among our culture and other cultures, let sources of diversity become opportunities for understanding and growth for all of us on the road to the Kingdom of God. 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.

Diverse Love

ChristLiving in the Spirit
October 1, 2015

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. –Hebrews 1:1-4

High Christology is how the theologians would describe Hebrews. I must admit I stumble about when I am writing trying the find the right name when referring to God. I like to use Jesus when remembering the stories of the time he walked the earth and shared his teachings and his love. I use the name God primarily when talking about creation or the idea of Parent. Christ, which is actually a title, or Jesus Christ is who I perceive to be leading us toward the Kingdom of God. Holy Spirit appears most often in my work when I am touching on issues of guidance and constant communion. Lord, however, is my fall back when I cannot decide and that is the same High Christology the writer of Hebrews develops.

This Son by which God has spoken to us is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being. We were all created in God’s image but the word we would probably use today to describe what Hebrews is trying to describe is clone. The idea of a clone makes most of us a little uncomfortable, I think, but I am moved by the thought of God being willing to experience humanness in order to grasp God’s world from the human perspective.

Each of us experience the world differently, including identical twins, and thus how we respond to the world differs. Learning to love in the midst of such diversity is a challenge. If loving another means wanting the very best for the other, we are required to accept that we may not know what that best is. The Lord does know and that three sided relationship of the Lord, ourselves, and the other must work together for love to succeed. We must trust in the Lord’s wisdom.

Prayer: Lord, it is hard to let go of applying our own ideas of what joins us to you and what separates us from you to others but it can get in the way of our loving them and thus helping them experience you in their own way in keeping with your relationship with them. Give us the strength to entrust them to you and the faith that you will guide us in our role with them. 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.

Developing our Working-Together Skills

Working_Together_Teamwork_Puzzle_ConceptLiving in the Spirit
July 30, 2015

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. –Ephesians 4:1-16

It has taken me a lifetime, two careers, and retirement to even begin to come to the understanding, much less accept it; God made us different on purpose. God created us to be interdependent, to need one another. God apparently equipped us with the skills to work together. Few of us tap into the vast array of skills that each of us have. We skim the surface of several and hone in on one or two perhaps. I fear not many of us in recent years have tried very hard to enhance our working-together skills.

We do work together on occasion. Particularly here in Oklahoma, we have responding to disasters down to a fine science. Had to. Our response to the Oklahoma City bombing was praised as being exemplary. It was forged on the backs of responses to tornados and other natural disasters. Our disaster readiness also could probably be traced back to the Dust Bowl of the great depression and even to the Indian removal to Oklahoma in the nineteenth century. I am glad we do respond but we really have little choice where disasters are concerned. It is in and of itself the source of motivation for response.

Where working together seems to falter is in the everyday challenges of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves and overflows into seeking the common good. The result of failure to do either of these activities is not as readily apparent as a foundation where a house once stood and a family that is now homeless, but the ramifications of our not loving our neighbor as we love ourselves and not taking the time to address the common good in the long run has even more serious consequences. We need to dust off our working-together skills and use them until we are one.

Prayer: Lord we need your instruction and guidance in developing our working-together skills. Make us whole, make us one. 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.

 

One in the Spirit

splash-teamLiving in the Spirit
July 23, 2015

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. –Ephesians 3:14-19

We are all children of God. I heard a young, freshman member of the state House of Representative say in a public gathering recently he had been surprised at all the, what I call, hate mail he routinely receives. We had asked him to tell us how we could best communicate our wishes to him as constituents. He was being lighthearted about the graphic correspondence he received, understanding people need to vent at times, I guess. I frankly do not know why anyone would run for any office. We the people seemed to have forgotten the first purpose of the government of the United States of America is to form a more perfect union and we the people are the government and the ones who are to form this union. These people we cast dispersions on represent us. Yes, we need to let them know our positions and yes, we need to be fully engaged in our citizenship, but we need to do it in love and in the spirit of oneness.

Thus, I needed to read this prayer for all of God’s people in our scripture today: I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. Jesus called us to be one and, I believe, the only way we can be one is through the power of the Spirit and the love of Christ.

Prayer: Lord, you created us a diverse people and called us to be one. Help us celebrate our differences while understanding that together and with you in our presence we can be greater than the sum of our parts. 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.

The Radical Thinking of Love

We've a story to tellLent
Holy Week
March 31, 2015

Scripture Reading: Acts 10:34-36 Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. — Acts 10:34-36

It was the kind of radical thinking in these few verses that contributed to getting Jesus killed. A few decades ago these words would have not seemed so radical to we citizens of the United States of America. Recently, I had the privilege to attend the presentation of Ellis Island: The Dream of America by Peter Boyer at the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. It tells the story of seven randomly chosen immigrants who came to the USA through Ellis Island during the first half of the 20th century. It told the story that I was taught as a child that the greatness of America came from its diversity. It did not whitewash the story. It told of people being rejected from entry. It told of people being shuffled together into the ship’s third class compartments.

As I watched and listened, I wondered how long ago the orchestra had planned to present this work at this time, probably a year or more. It came at an ideal time for we in the USA seem to be cowering in fear at welcoming the stranger. The command to be a blessing to the nations was given to Abraham and all his descendants in faith. It is the responsibility of each of those faith communities to work within their nations and within their various forms of government to effect policies that reflect being a blessing to one another.

I also must confess I was a little surprised to find this scripture in the lectionary for Holy Week and then I realized this scripture describes the whole purpose of Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, and resurrection. He came to save the whole world, to share the love of God with all God’s children, and to enlist all who choose to follow him in this quest. I thought they meant it when they taught me this song as a child:

We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations 

We’ve a story to tell to the nations, That shall turn their hearts to the right, A story of truth and mercy, A story of peace and light, A story of peace and light. 

For the darkness shall turn to dawning, And the dawning to noonday bright; And Christ’s great kingdom shall come on earth, The kingdom of love and light.*

Prayer: O Lord, let it be so. Amen.

First verse and refrain of We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations by H. Ernest Nichol, See all verses at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/w/a/wasttttn.htm
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.

Why Do We Fear?

EphesusLent March 12, 2015

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10 You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— Ephesians 2:1-5

What has made us so afraid? Rather than loving our neighbors, we fear them. Rather than rejoicing in the diversity God created, we cling to exclusivism. I sometimes wonder if we have invested so much time in reading the rest of the Bible we have forsaken the four gospels. We have turned our backs on the one who got us here in the first place. Following Jesus Christ is not just a matter of wearing a wristband or t-shirt imprinted with WWJD. Christianity is not like a sports team that we cheer and declare, “We’re Number 1.”

In our scripture today Paul is writing to new Christians in Ephesus who were surrounded by statues of various gods and temples. These Christians’ status in society was actually reduced because of their choice to follow this one called Jesus Christ. What we do not see now is that we occupy the chair of the elite and rather than being faithful to our calling in Christ, we have adapted the same ways of those ancient elites. We are emulating not only the Greek elites but also our ancestors in faith, the people of Israel who got caught up in their own worth and lost sight of their covenant with God and were taken into exile. We have not been called to license we have been called to responsibility. We have not been called to hate and exclusivism but to love and inclusivism.

When and if we choose to follow the path of love and inclusivism we are made alive in Christ for it is by his grace that we have been saved and while life is frightening to us at times, we never need to be afraid again.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for our lack of trust, reinforce our faith so that we can run and not become weary in our marathon to live your 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.