Tag Archives: Living like Christ

The Impossible Dream

Living in the Spirit
August 9, 2018

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:25-5:2

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. –Ephesians 4:25-32

We seem to be living in a world practicing the philosophy of “all’s fair in love and war”*. Illustrated the best today in politics. One of the facets of first-century Christianity that was so very important was staying true to the ways of Christ. Ephesians emphasizes that in the above scripture. Our behavior is the world’s most prominent example of Christ. When we lie, we intimate that Christ also cannot be believed. When we spew hatred, we do it in the name of Christ who is love incarnate.

When I read today’s scripture that phrase all’s fair in love and war flashed in my mind. As I researched its source I found its first use in the novel* cited below. The article noted that the idea was much older. Miguel de Cervantes made the comparison in 1604 in Don Quixote when he wrote, “Love and war are all one . . . It is lawful to use sleights and stratagems to . . . attain the wished end.”** I am a devoted fan of the musical Man of La Mancha and The Impossible Dream is one of my all-time favorite songs. I was an idealistic college student when I first heard it in the 60’s and while I have become more pragmatic in my aging, it still remains true to me today. I prefer the privilege of being on Christ’s quest than anything else in this world.

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go 

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star 

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far***

Prayer: Love Incarnate, draw all forever into the rightness of your quest. Amen.

*From the novel Frank Fairlegh: Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil by Frank Smedley.
**https://www.cliffsnotes.com/cliffsnotes/subjects/literature/who-said-alls-fair-in-love-and-war-and-where
From “The Impossible Dream” from MAN OF LA MANCHA (1972)music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion see at http://www.reelclassics.com/Actors/O’Toole/impossibledream-lyrics.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.

Heeding the Prophet

 

Ordinary Time
January 22, 2018

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 18:15-20

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: ‘If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.’ Then the Lord replied to me: ‘They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. –Deuteronomy 18:15-18

A follower of Christ cannot read the above scripture without picturing Jesus as this prophet, one the Jewish community still awaits. While we claim the calling and the title of Christ, do we heed this prophet’s teachings? I fear we invest a lot of time at the least putting our words in his mouth, at worst redrawing him in our image. Jesus’ teachings are hard, particularly in the “me first” world in which we find ourselves.

Matthew 5:41: and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.

Matthew 7:1-3: ‘Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?

Matthew 7:12: ‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.’

Matthew 18:21-22: Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Matthew 22:39b: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

We, of course, are called to follow all of these actions all the time. Sometimes when we are having trouble with one or the other, it might be a good idea to set aside a period of concentration on one of the more difficult teachings. Letting Christ do his job as judge, while my assignment is loving the other is perhaps the toughest. For some reason, we must think we will rise in Christ’s opinion of us if we are better than someone else. The very opposite of that is true throughout Jesus’ teachings. Indeed, he said, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40b)

The above review just skims the surface surveying only Matthew for Jesus’ teachings on how to heed the prophet that we know as the Christ. Perhaps we might want to review his teachings one more time.

Prayer:  God, forgive me when I put my words in your mouth. Open my eyes that I may see your truth as I glean the scriptures. 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.