Tag Archives: Taking Responsibility

Taking Responsibility

Advent

December 23, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Titus shares his guidance on how we, who have experienced the Grace of God through Jesus Christ, should represent Christ in our daily lives, renouncing impiety and worldly passions and living lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly. This calling is individual and communal. We seem to have wandered away from both our individual and collective responsibilities.

The prophet Hosea uses the metaphor of an unfaithful wife, a whore to represent Israel’s nation as he calls it back to following God’s ways. Congress and our federal executive branch, for the last eight months, have tried to pass legislation to offset the damages inflicted on our nation and world by COVID-19. It has been many years since I saw the musical, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.  While watching our government’s inaction, words from The Sidestep song from that musical have flashed through my mind.

Fellow Texans,
I am proudly
Standing Here to Humbly see,
I assure you and I mean it,
Now says I don’t speak out as plain as day
Now fellow Texans I’m for progress
And the flag long may it fly,
I’m a poor boy
Come to greatness
So it follows that I cannot tell a lie.

Ohhhh I love to dance a little side step,
And ohhhhh I love to sweep around the wide Step.
Cut a little swath and lead the people on*.

I find it very disturbing that our nation’s stock market is reaping unprecedented highs during this pandemic while poverty increases markedly.  We can and should be critical of our leaders, and we must remember that ours is a nation of the people by the people for the people. In the final analysis, we are as much at fault as our leaders if we do not turn around from our worldly passions and hold those leader’s feet to the fire to act decisively for the Common Good. They need to be reminded that we, the people, have the final say, but we also need to remember that.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for burying our heads in the sand to the growing poverty among our fellow citizens. Direct us on your path to care for all your children. Amen.

See full text at https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHZN_enUS922US922&sxsrf=ALeKk03-ge_4ow3DFyLzj4bbIpb-hIyENQ%3A1608564681860&ei=yb_gX9HkM4z2swWW_IeIDw&q=Lyrics+to+the+side+step+shuffle+from+the+best+little+whorehouse+in+texas&oq=Lyrics+to+the+side+step+shuffle+from+the+best+little+whorehouse+in+texas&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQDDoHCCMQsAIQJzoECC4QDToECAAQDToICAAQBxAFEB5QwtQDWLi_BWDfwAZoCXABeACAAYMBiAHIIZIBBDQzLjaYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6wAEB&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwiR7dazst_tAhUM-6wKHRb-AfEQ4dUDCA0

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.

Owning Responsibility

Living in the Spirit
September 18, 2017

Scripture Reading: Exodus 16:2-15

The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’

 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.’ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, ‘In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord. For what are we, that you complain against us?’ And Moses said, ‘When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the Lord.’ –Exodus 16:2-8

I firmly believe that the government of the United States of America is a very accurate reflection of its population. Only 54.2% of eligible voters voted in the 2016 elections. Anyone who was eligible to vote and did not vote abdicated responsibility for his or her future and the futures of their families and friends. Think about it, just under half the national population who could vote, did not.

I also firmly believe that the USA, perhaps the world, is suffering from an epidemic of greed that will be our downfall as it was for other nations throughout history if we do not get it under control. Government-wise we see that being played out through special interest who control much of our media. We are being groomed to distrust information as we fall in lockstep with half-truths and other misinformation some of which plays on our deepest fears and prejudices.

Most of our ancestors came to this country many for the freedom to worship and to participate in a government of the people, by the people, for the people, not special interest and not selfish gain. It means that truth matters and that we work a little harder at finding the truth. It means we must deal with the fears and prejudices that drive us to put our faith in lesser gods that prevent us from fulfilling our call as followers of Christ. It means that we must individually and collectively share with the diversity of our nation and develop empathy for those in different situations than ours as we work for the Common Good.

Prayer: Lord, help us learn from the stories of our ancestors in faith how you were always willing to guide them through troubled waters as well as arid deserts. 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.