Tag Archives: Love of Neighbor

The Common Good Revisited

scrooge_pic07Living in the Spirit
June 23, 2016

Scripture Reading: Galatians 5:1, 13-25

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. –Galatians 5:1, 13-15

Free to be…you and me* was released as a song 44 years ago to help children internalize self-worth regardless of race or gender. It was Christ’s message over 2000 years ago and it still is today. Our world works really hard at trying to fasten us separately in chains of hate and fear, and of needing to feel better than another to establish our own worth. We try very hard to convert freedom into privilege. I think that is part of what Paul is trying to get at in our scripture today.

While we can be offended by the outrageous things being said and done in our current political climate, I have been trying to listen through the rhetoric and hear from where such venom is coming. I sense a great deal of fear of what is not known. What does the future hold? What does a terrorist really look like? Are we really as innocent of the forces that are working to create terrorism? If we are not, what can we do about it now?

Economically many find their security slowly but surely slipping away. The middle class shrinks as salaries are stagnant and long-term retirement benefits become a dream not a promise. Yet many seem to be thriving financially; seem to have money for anything they want whether they need it or not. And no one seems to want to pay for the infrastructure to keep our country going: education, roads, bridges. A friend gripping about having to pay taxes responded to me when I replied, “but we need education, roads etc.” saying, “The government is supposed to pay for that.” It appears that we the people have given up our responsibility of providing for the Common Good handing it over to the lobbyist and other power brokers.

Our first primary will be held next week here in Oklahoma. If you are from another state, make sure you know when your elections are scheduled. One step toward loving your neighbor as you love yourself is to carefully consider the candidates and make your vote count for the Common Good.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in all aspects of our lives even as we fulfill our civic responsibilities. Amen.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_to_Be…_You_and_Me

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.

Ears to Hear

migrants-walk_3429316kLiving in the Spirit
September 6, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 7:24-37

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’ –Mark 7:31-37

Ears to hear and lips to speak, or some variation of it, is a phrase appearing often in the writings of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus was well acquainted with it. The compilers of the gospels, I am sure had reasons for picking and choosing the stories included. The healing of a deaf and speech-challenged man following the healing of a foreign child surely has significance beyond the healing of a physical impediment.

There are many issues in our society needing thoughtful discourse and common good solutions, but we seem to spin in time around issues designed to divide, distract, and disillusion us. Could that have been what Jesus saw among the people of his day and time? Is he speaking to us today in this scripture of age old realities of human nature?

As I write this hundreds of thousands of refugees are streaming out of Syria. Some dying in the process including children. They have no hope in their homeland and are only in search of safety and sustenance. We who have ears to hear need to respond to their cry.

Loving our neighbor as we love ourselves requires us to know our neighbors, understand their dreams and their needs, and be the means to the joy of salvation from a war torn world.

Prayer: Over the distractions of our day, help us to comprehend the ministry of hope you call us to do every day. 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.