Tag Archives: Government

Government of the People

Living in the Spirit

July 23, 2020

Scripture Reading:
1 Kings 3:5-12

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask what I should give you.’ And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?’ –1 Kings 3:5-10

What part does “the people” a leader serves play in how the leader rules? Politicians often win because they say what they discern the people want to hear whether they act on it in office or not. Sometimes our elected leaders legislate what the people want when it is not the best thing for either the people or society in general. It takes a brave office holder to explain the reality of what is desired against what the outcome might be. During the current pandemic, I have heard the unemployment office being criticized for having an antiquated computer system that cannot handle the volume of work required with all the layoffs. Health departments are being criticized for having out-of-date systems so we can have the latest data regarding COVID-19. I can assure you that neither state nor federal agencies wanted to work with old systems. In Oklahoma, the failure to maintain adequate infrastructure is the result of years of tax cuts backed by the people who now do not understand why they are standing in line for hours to get unemployment.  

Solomon asked God for an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people? Perhaps Solomon’s wisdom was seeing the difficulty of the task. Transparency and truth are the keys to a successful community. In the final analysis, government is a formalization of communities at every level. God calls us to a society where we not only consider what is best for ourselves but what is best for all God’s children. Ultimately what is right for others is also good for ourselves when we can see the bigger picture of a righteous and just world.

Prayer: Lord, we too ask for understanding minds to discern between good and evil, which will help us support our government officials who work for righteousness and justice. 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.

Models of God’s Love

Living in the Spirit
July 8, 2018

Scripture Reading: Mark 6:1-13

He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. –Mark 6:7-13

Jesus obviously taught that his disciples have a responsibility to share his way with those not acquainted with his love. People’s lives would be better if they changed from the harmful things they were doing to themselves and perhaps others and turn around and follow Jesus’ example of loving. The term, repent, used in the above scripture is a translation from Greek of a word that means to change: change our minds, change our inner being particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God*. We are conduits of the Good News, the Gospel, not the Savior. Jesus Christ is the source of salvation.

Our culture has rather gotten this message muddled. Some seem to think that we not only must define the change needed, decide what the message is, tell the people whom we judge to need the message and condemn them if they do not follow the change we desire. We become so frustrated with our failure to make people change, we try to force the change by writing it into our civil laws. We forget to let Jesus be the Savior. God knows everyone’s hearts and minds and exactly what each of us needs and is working God’s will through relationships with all God’s children. God only asks us to model his love by loving one another.

Jesus is very specific about not trying to force people to follow him. That is bondage, and bondage often results in very negative reactions to the source of the bondage. In the case of spreading the good news of Jesus such enforcement literally turns people off to knowing the God of love.

We are blessed to live in a country that protects our freedom to exercise our faith or no faith at all. Many of our ancestors fled their home countries because their governments were trying to force them to follow religion as defined by the government. We cannot emulate that behavior and be true to the foundation of the USA.

Prayer:  Lord, we recognize that repentance is not a one-time experience but a part of our daily walk with you. Forgive us when we lose sight of our proper roles as your disciples and let your love flow through us when we find it difficult to love another, all others. Amen.

*http://biblehub.com/greek/3340.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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Seeking Oneness

Living in the Spirit
June 27, 2018

Scripture Reading: Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
   Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
   to the voice of my supplications! 

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
   Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you,
   so that you may be revered. 

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
   and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
   more than those who watch for the morning,
   more than those who watch for the morning. 

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
   For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
   and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel
   from all its iniquities.

These words of the US Revolutionary War writer Thomas Paine popped into my head as I read the above scripture following listening to the morning news.

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated”—Thomas Paine, The Crisis

Citizens of the United States find themselves in the middle of a Constitutional crisis where the need for due process is being challenged as well as the need for the judicial branch of our three-prong checks and balances system of governance. To a degree, we brought it on ourselves because we can be and are mesmerized by the temptation of the world particularly greed. Amos wrote about such things as did Paul. In hindsight we easily see the missteps of the Israelites Amos addressed. We recognize the challenges faced by gentiles being invited into a new way of being to whom Paul ministered. It is much harder for us to see ourselves in that same mirror.

The sad thing is our form of governance when fully supported by its citizenry works. It includes some of the same ideals Jesus taught. All people benefit from the care and concern of each other. The divide and conquer form of politics driving our country today is a disgrace to the premise of both the teachings of Jesus and the premise of our government. In both instances, we are called to work toward oneness. Reaching oneness can be a messy process. We benefit from diligently engaging in that process as our diversity is one of our major strengths. When all sides of an issue of concern are considered more feasible rules/laws result. How dear are our Constitutional rights to us?

Prayer: Lord, it feels like we are treading water without making progress and perhaps losing ground. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us* moving us toward oneness. Amen.

*Derived from the title of the hymn, Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me by Daniel Iverson see at https://hymnary.org/text/spirit_of_the_living_god_fall_iverson

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.

Citizenship Amongst Noisy Gongs

Do not have loveLiving in the Spirit
September 4, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 14:25-33

Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. –Luke 14:31-33

I worked as a planner in state government for some 20+ years. This experience taught that unforeseen realities often require changing courses, small distractions can be major deterrents to success, and perseverance toward attaining any vision and mission is critical. The first three verses of I Corinthians 13 were written for such a time as this:

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1-3)

The purpose of the Body of Christ is to love God and love like Jesus loves. The purpose of governments at all levels is to provide for the Common Good. These two purposes naturally complement each other unless other political realities intercede to throw either off course. In the United States, we the people, are ultimately responsible for our governance. If we do not like our country’s current status of gridlock supporting economic and social injustice, then we need to do something about it. It begins with electing officials who can work together to find the things on which they can agree, work on those, and use them as a springboard toward furthering the Common Good.

[National] Voter turnout in 2014 was the lowest since WWII – The Washington Post

[In Oklahoma in 2014] 40.7 percent of registered voters showed up, the lowest recorded rate since 1962. – Oklahoma Watch

We cannot get caught up in the noisy gongs and clanging cymbal. I we hear the same thing over and over again whether it is true or not it often sticks in our minds. While important, the Presidential race’s outcome will not matter, if Congress is dysfunctional. Commercial media’s vision and mission seem to relate to high ratings resulting in higher incomes or other self-interest. It may not be the best source of information nor is the wildly exaggerated or truncated stories shared on social media. God gifted each of us with some common sense if something is too good or too bad to be true, check it out.

Prayer: Lord, create in me a clean heart and a right spirit as I prepare for voting this fall. Focus my anger and frustrations with the system to playing my part in improving it. 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.

Greed

Living in the Spirit
July 5, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 

‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
   we wailed, and you did not mourn.”
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’ — Matthew 11:16-19

 I sense the same level of discontent in our society today as that which Jesus describes in his own time and place. We are a people who can neither be happy or sad. We are critical of those who act and of those who do not. We want to have our cake and eat it too. I particularly see this in the reaction of the public to government. I have literally heard campaign ads that in one sentence criticize an opponent who is trying to cut military spending, but in the same ad is demanding that the opponent cut taxes. Apparently we cannot see the contradiction in those two actions.

I actually find it rather frightening to read the prophets of old as they describe similar attitudes among the Israelites before the fall of first, Israel and later, Judah. The people were so caught up in greed and self-indulgence that they could not see that their own behavior was causing the disintegration of their society.

Greed is epidemic in America today. It rules our lives as we stand in long lines waiting for stores to open so that we can get the newer, better version of a gadget that was updated only a few months earlier. We want the government to stay out of our business unless we need its services and then we complain because it is not efficient and effective enough even though its resources have been cut and cut and cut some more. We want anyone else besides us to pay taxes, but we want the services they provide right now.

Our scripture today quotes Jesus as trying to get this same message across 2000+ years ago. The prophets spoke about it 4000 years ago. Will we ever learn?

Prayer: O God, convict us of our greed and other sins that are tearing at the heart of our society. Cleanse us, forgive us, and make us true disciples. 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.