Living in the Spirit
August 18, 2015
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 8: (1, 6, 10-11), 22-30, 41-43
41“Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name 42 for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, 43 then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built.
–1 Kings 8:41-43.
People have flocked to America since its inceptions with great dreams formed from what they heard of its promise, primarily, freedom and prosperity. We who are second or third or in some cases ten generations removed from those first people who arrived know the reality of living in this country. We know that it is as free and prosperous as we are committed to keeping it so. New arrivals must make that commitment also.
Although the type of governance was different when the kings ruled in Israel, the people at that time and in that place, too, were accountable for the continuing success of their nations. When people get caught up in their own selfish pursuits and lose sight of the responsibility of sharing in the common good, nations fail. It does not matter what kind of governance they have.
In either case, now or then, when the people of a nation drift away from God, their nations drifts into discord and destruction. It is not a matter of the government making people follow some prescribed precepts of God’s way. It is a matter of God’s way being lived by the people and that being reflected in the government.
The common good becomes a reality when we love God and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. When those actions are lived in our communities governance will take care of itself.
Prayer:
1 Help us accept each other As Christ accepted us;
Teach us as sister, brother, Each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us And bring us to believe
We are ourselves accepted And meant to love and live.
2 Teach us, O Lord, Your lessons, As in our daily life
We struggle to be human And search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people, For all, not just for some,
To love them as we find them Or as they may become.
3 Let Your acceptance change us, So that we may be moved
In living situations To do the truth in love;
To practice Your acceptance Until we know by heart
The table of forgiveness And laughter’s healing art.
4 Lord, for today’s encounters With all who are in need,
Who hunger for acceptance, For righteousness and bread,
We need new eyes for seeing, New hands for holding on:
Renew us with Your Spirit; Lord, free us, make us one!* Amen.