Living in the Spirit
August 16, 2017
Scripture Reading: Psalm 133
How very good and pleasant it is
when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
life for evermore.
This Psalm seems to indicate that kindred living together in unity is rare. It is at least as rare as it is to anoint a new chief priest. It is not supposed to be rare; it is what we are called to do. Indeed, as children develop their unique identities, parents often find themselves trying to make teachable moments out of the chaos of everyday life: whose turn was it to take out the trash, who forgot to feed the dog, who is eating more than their fair share of the cake? It is a great hope that those teachable moments will lead to healthy adults who can negotiate their way through the challenges of life. Some parents are better than others at this; some children are more trainable than others. What results when we reach adulthood is a mixture of all kinds of folks at all stages of development that must learn to live together in unity.
When the nuclear family experience gets escalated to a church or the whole body of Christ and other entities at all levels, including governments, we participants as individuals carry with us the lessons, good or bad, that we learned in those training years. At that point, we also include a mixture of cultural norms that dictate what is considered to be harmony or unity. In many cases, we do not carry forward the sibling relationship in our dealings beyond the family.
How thus do we live as the Children of God in harmony without searching for and adapting to the teachable moments of God? While the prophets addressed then well, Jesus probably set forth the most succinct lessons on living with others in what is now called the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Matthew 5:9 is a good place to start, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Prayer:
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name*. Amen
*Psalm 86:11