Tag Archives: Faith Journey

Mutual Understanding

Living in the Spirit
September 30, 2018

Scripture Reading: Mark 9:38-50

‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

  ‘For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.’ –Mark 9:42-50

I like salt, always have. I fix what I call an omelet in the microwave using egg whites with a little salt and pepper added. It is good, but I have learned to stir the mixture well after adding both the salt and pepper because the consistency of the egg whites tends to hold those ingredients in one place unless I stir the concoction well. On occasion, I have failed to do that resulting in my getting a mouth full of pure salt (or pepper) which is not good. The one bite makes me sick while the rest of the omelet is rendered bland.

Discerning how to deal with children and adults on their life journeys, but particularly their faith journeys, is a challenge. I fear we drive people away from faith when we come on too strong and we make faith meaningless if water it down too much. What we do with one person probably will not work with another. Agape love, God love, requires our investing enough in another to know when they need us to be with them and in what way our presence will help the most.

One of the issues that is most perplexing is dealing with people who approach the faith community to obtain something needed or wanted that may not relate to a relationship with God and may not be the best means of addressing long-range solutions to improve their ongoing issues. How do we address immediate needs: food, housing, clothing, while trying to stabilize their situation? How do we seek to want the best for another without assuming that our vision for them is the correct path for them to take? How do we get beyond their saying what they think we want to hear and communicate on a level of mutual understanding?

As we travel deeper and further into our own faith development, we must learn to lean heavily on the guidance of the spirit and trust that whatever we do can be a conduit to loving relationships eventually in the full actualization of the Kingdom of Gods. When we make mistakes, we must learn from them. When we find something that works, we must give God the praise for it.

Prayer: God who is Love, strengthen our ability to attain mutual understanding with others. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Rock of Refuge

All powerful GodLiving in the Spirit
August 17, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 71:1-6

In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
   let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
   incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge,
   a strong fortress, to save me,
   for you are my rock and my fortress. –Psalm 71:1-3

As we struggle to make sense of our world caught in fear of terrorism, racism, bigotry of all kinds, and intractable poverty; I am reminded of Stanley Hauerwas’ wise words, Never think you need to protect God. Because anytime you think you need to protect God, you can be sure that you are worshiping an idol.  We read our Bibles as history and as a result discount the parts that do not fit our modern understandings of the world. The Bible is the story of an indescribable, all-powerful God. The early story tellers awe of God prohibited them from even speaking the Lord’s name. The story of Abram’s Covenant with God* describes God’s using a fire pot to consume the offering laid out by Abram. In a similar way Elijah** called on God in Elijah’ joust with the priests of Baal and God once again fired the altar. These ancestors in faith leaned on God as they journeyed in faith.

We serve the same all-powerful God. I fear, particularly, we stubbornly independent disciples, forget at times whose we are and who we serve. Abram and Elijah were just as human as we are. It was their faith in their Rock of Refuge that enabled their ministry. God is still there to do that for us, if we let God.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when our faith falters. Be our Rock of Refuge as we journey in your service. Amen.

*Genesis 15
**1 Kings 18

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.

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Jesus Christ, a New Beginning

AttitudesEastertide
April 21, 2015

Scripture Reading: Acts 4:5-12

This Jesus is
“the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
   it has become the cornerstone.”
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’ –Acts 4:11-12

Peter and John have been brought before the high priests because these Apostles were proclaiming the resurrection of the dead. They had healed a crippled man and as a result the crowd began to pay more attention to them. The high priests questioned them about in what power they were healing and teaching.  The answer was clear and direct they acted by and through the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. They then quote Psalm 118:22. I somehow suspect that it did not please the high priests to have their own scripture quoted to them by a couple of uneducated fishermen.

Of course they were not uneducated, they had spent perhaps three years being taught by an excellent educator. I have always thought that the quality of a truly learned persons is his or her ability to explain the most complex ideas to anyone willing to listen. Jesus was a storyteller and he possessed the ability to increase the understanding of anyone who would listen.

A cornerstone is the event, fact, or thing that forms the principal foundation or support upon which an achievement is based or from which a development makes its beginning.* Peter and John are proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the new beginning as the means of salvation.  Most of us don’t like to start over even when we are mired in mud. It means we will probably have to change our ways of being. We just keep trudging forward even as we sink deeper into it, even when there is one who is standing at hand with outstretched arms ready and willing to pull us out and set us on a better path. These high priests were not ready to change. I guess the question we must each ask ourselves is: Has our faith journey lapsed into a routine of being and doing something less than Jesus is calling us to be and do?

Prayer: Lord, we know that faith work is not all mountaintop experiences. We know that food needs to be cooked and served, bulletins need to be folded, and the trash needs to be taken out. Help us understand that every step we take and every task we perform needs to relate back to you our cornerstone and that if it does not relate to you, direct us in changing what we are doing until it does. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/cornerstone

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.