Monthly Archives: March 2017

Leadership

Lent
March 21, 2017

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’ Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’ Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from t1hat day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah. –1 Samuel 16:6-13

David was handsome as was Saul, perhaps not as tall. Also, both men’s stories are told with the knowledge of hindsight. David succeeded far beyond expectations so his childhood stories become the source of legend while Saul remains forever on the rubble pile of lost causes. Identifying the right person at the right time matters as does training and experience which David gained as Saul’s general. I learned how to supervise from some very good supervisors and how not to supervise from some poor ones. Although I have a degree in social work administration including classes well taught, I learned the good side of supervision first hand from working for and observing the manager of the restaurant in which I worked in high school and college.

Little is written about Saul’s relationship with God. David’s is well documented and very true to human experience. It runs the gamut from total ecstasy to total shame, turning a blind eye to some behavior, experiencing the freeing nature of forgiveness, and knowing the comfort of resting in the arms of God at life’s transitions.

There is nothing that is more important than our building and growing and nurturing our relationship with God. Nothing. Everything else we touch in the world when we are in sync with God is influenced by the love of God. We may not see these positive outcomes. Keeping account of our successes takes time away from more important duties. Now learning from our mistakes is a different matter altogether.

Prayer: God who is love, abide with us as we worked toward creating a world ruled by your love. Help us learn from both our successes and failures and help us enable one another to be our best. 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.

Houses Divided

Lent
March 20, 2017

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’ Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you, and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.’ Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, ‘Do you come peaceably?’ He said, ‘Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’ And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. –1 Samuel 16:1-5

How does a group recover from leadership mistakes? 1 Samuel 9:1 seems to indicate that Saul’s credentials for being king were that he was tall and handsome. Granted that was written with hindsight, but it speaks to the panic running through the Hebrews regarding all their neighbors having kings when they did not. Find a king, any king, and all will be well. Of course, it was not. The paradigm shift being experienced in the Middle East at that time required far more skills than Saul possessed.

Good leaders rise to the top when people have a common vision worth pursuing. Jesus noted in Mark 3:25, if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. Abraham Lincoln took that scripture to heart when he strived to keep the United States together during the Civil War. Defining commonly held values is important. Turning those values into a vision and goals creates the framework for progress. Working together to make the vision a reality should follow.  Treating all sides with respect matters too.

A lot of innocent people were hurt as Saul blundered through being king. Eventually his own son was killed. A lot more were negatively impacted as David led the way to peace through bloody war.

Many reading this follow a risen Savior, Jesus Christ. His vision of creating a Kingdom of Love stretching to the ends of the earth is still very real. We need to get about the business of identifying the things we can and do agree on, and work with all are hearts to implement them, while letting the things that divide us lie fallow. When we fully love God, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we may be surprised by how easily those thorny issues that separate us now, melt away.

Prayer: Lord forgive us for getting so caught up in the world that we forget your purpose for us. Guide us to find the work you have already laid out for us and strengthen us to do it with all our love. 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.

Choosing God

Lent
March 19, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 4:5-42

The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. –John 4:19-23

Funny on how we can so easily reach agreement on that which we disagree and rarely take the time to build on that which we do agree. The Samaritans landed in Israel in the split of Israel and Judah after the death of Solomon. The temple was in Judah. Thus, over time, I guess, the Samaritans designated their own sight for worshiping God that was not recognized by the Judean side of the family. Thus, the subject matter for Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman reached back to this old breach. Jesus’ answer is very practical. The place and building does not matter. We worship God in spirit and in truth wherever we might be.

This mirrors the fight over prayer in school. Should it be allowed, should it be mandatory? The answer in a joke is “As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in school.” I do not know who originated it and apparently, no one else does. I heard it first from Frosty Troy a former local newspaper writer. The point is well taken. Our relationship with God drives how we relate to others. We can never make others relate to us as we might wish. I believe the Lord wants us to choose to relate to God who is omnipotent, all powerful, capable of creating us and surely capable of changing our will but chooses to be loved by choice.

The solutions to our problems lie in our ability to identify the issues on which we do agree and build on them. While there is much descent on whether we should provide necessities to people who lack them, we never seem to discuss the fact that if all workers earned a living wage the need to subsidize those wages with food stamps, child care subsidies, and to a degree Medicaid would markedly be reduced. If we put as much effort into identifying ways businesses could succeed and pay a living wage, we could stop wasting our time with legislation requiring people to work, many of whom are already working.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we let our pride or our greed or our need to always be right get in the way of fulfilling your call to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Prevent us from making excuses, guide us to finding answers that provide justice for everyone. Amen.

For a better understanding of a living wage see http://livingwage.mit.edu/articles/15-minimum-wage-can-an-individual-or-a-family-live-on-it

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.

Family of God

Lent
March 18, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 4:5-42

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’ –John 4:7-15

My mother was interested in genealogy and I inherited some of that interest. In graduate school, I reported to my field placement and was introduced around the office on my first day. I soon met a woman whose last name was the same as my maternal grandmother’s maiden name. As I greeted her I mentioned that fact to which she replied, “Oh, I must tell my husband he is really into genealogy.” I told her my mother did genealogy also and we soon had them corresponding with each other. They were cousins several times removed.

The Samaritan’s residing on what is now called the West Bank were similarly distant cousins of the Jews who returned from Babylon. The Samaritans were not among the ones taken into slavery. While they shared the ancestral faith-link passed down through the children of Jacob, their styles of worship and understandings of God differed from those of their distant cousins who returned from Babylon to the homeland. I am sure they both thought theirs was the right truth. Their relationship was strained to say the least.  Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.

Jesus’ talking to an unknown woman was taboo as was conversing with a Samaritan. It is hard to break away from such long-held attitudes and perceptions. In the United States differences are subtler, but they run deep under the surface of our exterior communications. Nevertheless, all humans are cousins to some degree. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? The relatively new technique of analyzing DNA to identify heredity patterns causes us to realize how interrelated we all are. Since we were young children we have heard the story of Adam and Eve, and have taken seriously the events that led to the beginning of sin. We may not pay enough attention to the implications of the story that we are all kin.

Prayer: Creator of all, help us to see your image in each of our fellow humans. Let your presence heal the breaches that may have formed over time so that we can learn to live together as your family. 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.

Reconciliation

Lent
March 17, 2017

Scripture Reading:  Romans 5:1-11

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. –Romans 5:6-11

I do not like to do anything that deals with money and avoid it if possible. When I hear the word reconcile, I think of making my checkbook match my bank statement. In 1996 the general church in which I participate, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), initiated an expanded ministry to address the issues around racism. Its stated purpose is:

The Initiative called the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to practice faithfulness with regard to the elimination of racism, which exists in all manifestations of the church, to discern the presence and nature of racism as sin, to develop strategies to eradicate it, and to work toward racial reconciliation.

 There is that word again, reconciliation. Paul uses it in our scripture today, I believe, to indicate Jesus Christ’s making us whole. It is the right word to use. Racism divides us in many ways and frustrates us not unlike trying to find the missing amount that keeps our checkbooks out of balance. Racism is a serious hindrance to our being in balance with all of God’s children. Our relationships with others can be way out of balance, totally severed even. More often today the streams of racism are subtle hard to recognize in ourselves.

True reconciliation with all of God’s children starts with being reconciled with God. We took the first step when we joined our lives with Christ. The gift of the Holy Spirit guides our quest for wholeness. Part of our wholeness comes in our expanded love of all of God’s children just as they are and rejoicing in who they are as they are.

Prayer: Lord, make us whole, make us one. Let your justice, formed from peace and love, spread throughout this land. 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.

 

We all Need a Shim

Lent
March 16, 2017

Scripture Reading: Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. –Romans 5:1-5

My house was built in 1923 with a crawl space foundation. Slabs were apparently not in vogue or perhaps even possible then, and basements are rare in Oklahoma. Several years ago, I bought two tall bookcases and when there were set up along a west wall in my living area they immediately formed a V. My floor had apparently shifted. I learned a new word in this process. I was told I needed shims. A shim is a thin piece of wood, metal, or stone that is often tapered, used to fill in the space necessary to make something that is leaning level. Having been a waitress in high school and college, I was well acquainted with the process. Table legs are notorious for magically attaining differing lengths resulting in the table rocking a bit. The “shim” most often used in restaurants to correct this problem in an emergency and in my experience, is a well-sized and folded paper napkin.

Faith is the shim in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Being justified by faith through the grace of God, we are enabled to share the love of God with perseverance and hope. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.  I do not disagree with him. Enthusiasm is important and there are other factors too. I think Paul illustrates his life experience well in our scripture today. Nothing great ever gets done without a lot of hard work, taking two steps forward and one step back, and a total commitment to the mission while not sweating the small stuff.

Prayer: God of Justice and Mercy, enable us to do the work of your love with enthusiasm but also with a commitment to seeing it through to completion. 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.

The Presence of God

Lent
March 15, 2017

Scripture Reading: Psalm 95

O come, let us sing to the Lord;
   let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
   let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
   the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
   and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
O come, let us worship and bow down,
   let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
   and we are the people of his pasture,
   and the sheep of his hand. 

O that today you would listen to his voice!
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
   as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your ancestors tested me,
   and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. –Psalm 95:1-8

What have you done for me now? God’s people have proved themselves to be a fickle people since their beginning. Those folks wondering around in the wilderness who suddenly found themselves without water quickly forgot that God had sent Moses to lead them out of captivity, plagues to rescue them from the Pharaoh, clouds by day and fire by night to guide their path, and the splitting of the Red Sea to facilitate their escape from the fast approaching Egyptians. At that point one might think they would be taking God for granted. Perhaps they were, just not in the right way.

Love essentially requires more than a 50% investment of each participant. A 100% investment from each party is perfect love. God’s love is the definition of perfect love. God’s followers vary in their investment. None reach that 100% threshold. Since that is true of all of us, God sent Jesus Christ to fill the gap with his amazing gift of grace. Why are we also fickle living in fear, searching for answers in all the wrong places, ignoring the presence of the God of love who was and is and is to come?

I am well acquainted with irrational fear; mine is claustrophobia. My logical self recognizes that it is irrational and even harmful but my logical self must work hard at continually reminding me of that when I get into tight situations. Several years ago, while undergoing a medical tests, I was strapped to a table in preparation. The attendant realized she had forgotten something and excused herself from the room. My claustrophobic persona kicked into full panic mode. I tried taking deep breathes and automatically prayed “Oh, God help me.” To be honest, I am not sure my plea would qualify as a prayer. Yet, a total sense of calm washed over me. I am still claustrophobic, still must come back to God at every MRI or tightly filled elevator, but I now know for certain that God is always present.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for always being present and for gracing us with Jesus Christ to fill our gaps when we fail at love, remaking and remolding us each step of our way. 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.

Leaning on God

Lent
March 14, 2017

Scripture Reading: Exodus 17:1-7

So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’ –Exodus 17:4-7

My child welfare work began in a town of about 25,000 people and thus I knew most of the police force within a few months. Later I became the supervisor and my home telephone number appeared on their contact sheet as the first to call in an emergency. I was sound asleep one night when the phone next to my head jarred me awake about 1:00 am. The police had stopped a woman for a DUI who was going to jail and she had her four very young children with her. The caller said, “We have a serious situation here.” The first thing I said in my drowsy half-awake state was my hair looks awful. To this day, I have no idea why I said that. (I never lived it down) While I hope, I am presentable most of the time my looks have never been a primary concern ever and particularly not in an emergency. With a few choice words edited out, the police officer, with whom I had worked many times, said, “I do not care what your hair looks like you get yourself out of that bed and get down here.” I did.

In my experience, the police are amazing with little kids. Children pick up their calm reassuring manner. They sense the safety in their presence.   A few minutes later when I arrived, I found four little cuties all dirty and inappropriately dressed, playing on the floor with some makeshift toys snacking on treats from a vending machine. I arranged for emergency foster care and enlisted the aid of another social worker as we took the children to their temporary home.

I like the phrase cooler heads will prevail. Moses had to fall back on his gift of patience dealing with the fear and panic the Israelites were experiencing. Walking into unknown territory even out of slavery is daunting. It takes great courage to lead in times like these. Moses succeeded by leaning on the everlasting arms of God*. As we face the challenges of our world we can take comfort from those same everlasting arms.

Prayer: God we long for the shelter of your wings as we deal with life situations that seem beyond our abilities to address. Give us the courage to face whatever confronts us with the support of your loving grace and power. Amen.

*From the hymn, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms by Elisha A. Hoffman.  See at http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Leaning_on_the_Everlasting_Arms/

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.

World Ruled by Love

Lent
March 12, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 3:1-17

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. –John 3:16-17

John 3:16 was probably the first verse I memorized. We did a lot of memorization when I was a child. Of course, my memory work was from the King James version of the Bible. To this day, I have trouble reading the 23rd Psalm from another version stumbling over what seem to be misplaced words. I grew up in the heyday of individual salvation, the need to publicly profess my belief in Jesus as the Christ the son of God and win other souls to Christ. I readily accepted him as my personal savior following the example of my parents, siblings, and neighbors. I meant it then and still believe in the constancy of God’s love as manifested in Jesus Christ. I was schooled in a tradition that recognized that accepting God’s love and returning it should be professed not only in words but by deeds. What Paul refers to as works. It was not until adulthood that I began to understand that Christ had a much broader vision for his work. Funny, it is right there in the next verse. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Or as Russell Westbrook says, it really does not matter to me how many triple doubles I get, what matters is winning the game. It takes a whole team to win a game and it takes a whole team to foster love throughout the world.

While there is nothing more valuable to me than my personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, it is as important that you and I are part of the team Jesus started building with the first disciples and continues to develop toward the creation of the Kingdom of God in our world today. I believe that Kingdom has two primary objectives, to Love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves including those who were once strangers that we accept as our neighbors. Eternity began with Jesus Christ.

Prayer: thank you Lord for your saving love that made us whole and continues to return us to wholeness when we forget to love ourselves as you love us. We accept your challenge to build a world based on love and ask your guidance in making it a reality. 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.

Finding Common Cause

Lent
March 13, 2017

Scripture Reading: Exodus 17:1-7

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’
–Exodus 17:1-3

What is it about people that we want what we want when we want it but often take no responsibility for making it happen? Not having water to drink is serious. Death occurs within days with continuous lack of water or water equivalent. Fear can cause people to become quarrelsome in times of peril. A long history of oppression, like the Israelites experienced in slavery under Egypt, discourages self-determination. I wonder how many of the Israelites left Egypt simply because everyone else was doing it? Not having a clear purpose stifles initiative.

The challenge with working with a group of people of differing ages, personalities, or goals in life is helping them find the common cause from which they can build a better reality. This is exactly what every church faces as it strives to do its part in being the Body of Christ in the world today. The problems differ if the group is well known to each other or very new to each other and the church is generally coordinated both circumstances.

It goes against human nature but it is always easier to deal with issues when they arise rather than letting them fester and grow. Moses addressed discord quickly in our scripture today. Introducing new ideas calls on creative skills. Most important of all is assuring that people buy-in to the mission and vision of the group. Practicing good listening skills helps too.

Practical stuff, people in business deal with every day, can more easily be determined when profit margin is the primary target of a for-profit entity. What is the primary target or focus of the church or a congregation?

Prayer: Lord, what are you calling us to do or be? Help us to become one in our mission in service to you. Help us find our niche. 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.