Monthly Archives: October 2017

The Action of Repenting

Living in the Spirit
October 11, 2017

Scripture Reading: Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

Both we and our ancestors have sinned;
   we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly.
They made a calf at Horeb
   and worshiped a cast image.
They exchanged the glory of God
   for the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot God, their Savior,
   who had done great things in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham,
   and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
Therefore he said he would destroy them—
   had not Moses, his chosen one,stood in the breach before him,
   to turn away his wrath from destroying them.                                             –Psalm 106:6, 19-23

Saying we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 2:23) and not doing anything about it is rather like saying “I eat too much” or  “I do not exercise enough.” Confession without action to change is fruitless whether trying to become healthier or trying to create a better world in which to live.

We invest a lot of energy being concerned about the chaos in our world today from tragic shootings to devastating storms to public policy. We worry a lot, and we may even pray a lot, but what are we doing to make a positive change? Do we keep our various elected representatives apprised of our stance on issues? Do we educate ourselves on the problems exploring a variety of resources? I watched a short video this morning outlining the problems homeless people without proper ID encounter. I had no idea. Walking a mile in someone else shoes might be illuminating.

We serve a risen Savior who calls us to do justice and promises to go with us and guide us every step of the way. We do not have to do everything; we do have to do something. There is a niche or two for each of us, and if we all fulfill our calling, we can create a world ruled by love.

Prayer: God of Justice, turn our lip service into justice realized. 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.

Reflecting Justice and Mercy

Living in the Spirit
October 10, 2017

Scripture Reading: Exodus 32:1-14

But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, ‘O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.” ’ And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people. –Exodus 32:11-14

God was none too thrilled with the Israelites creating a god made of precious metals. Moses implored the Lord to give the Israelites a second chance, and God did. The God of second chances is the same God in whose image God made us. We are called to be a people of second chances also. Our world, particularly recently, follows baseball’s procedures, three strikes and your out, closer than God’s.  We send people to prison for non-violent crimes without the benefit of much if any restorative services, like mental health or substance abuse treatment, remedial education or work training.  When we release them from prison, we stamp them with “felon” on job applications whether their crime has any relationship to the work they pursue.

Moses reminds God of God’s promise to Abraham of a land of milk and honey, and we inherited that promise through Jesus Christ. Christ calls us to a partnership in building a world where all have enough as a part of an abundant life, which requires all to participate as fully as possible in its actualization. Empowering others to that full participation is a part of that calling too.

Prayer: God of Justice and Mercy, help us reflect your justice and mercy too. 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.

Images of our Making

Living in the Spirit
October 9, 2017

Scripture Reading: Exodus 32:1-14

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ Aaron said to them, ‘Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mould, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.’ They rose early the next day, and offered burnt-offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel. –Exodus 32:1-6

We probably do not think we are as fickle as these folks who escaped from slavery. We need to think about that again. Ours is a society that demands instant gratification. I get upset if my computer buffers at all and even more out of sorts if it continues for any length of time. We are so caught up in instant gratification that car accidents have increased markedly over the past few years because distracted drivers are trying to do too many things at once. If this god doesn’t work the way we want it to, we go in search of one that will. They are called idols.

Idols are not real; they are images of our making. They are like the chocolate bunnies we got as children, hollow on the inside. A paradox exists concerning God having substance we cannot see and idols we can see that have no substance. We experience God in the depths of our being as the very image of God was implanted in us at our beginning. As I stand before a mirror and view my image, I can lift my hand and view the reality of the source of my image. I can see the reality of God in myself and the souls of all God’s other children. We must be open to God’s presence in ourselves and others to relate to God through the depth of our being.

The Israelites were in the infancy of their journey with God, although this certainly was not their first instance of doubt nor the last. We are not different from them today. We try to create God in the image we want God to be. Communing with God requires a life commitment with intentionality of purpose. Such practice is well worth the effort as we draw from the well that never grows dry. (See John 4:14)

Prayer: God, anchor us so deeply in your love that we are not drawn to substitute images of our making for you. 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.

Self-Examination

Living in the Spirit
October 8, 2017

Scripture Reading: Matthew 21:33-46

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.—Matthew 21:43-46

Is “them” us? In times Like these people of faith must look inward and assess whether they are building a better world or standing as a barrier to a world ruled by love. This accounting goes beyond the standard examination of “ but we have always done it this way” which by the way is never true. Few things have not changed even in our lifetime much less the centuries before our existence.  No, this review requires us to hold our actions and beliefs next to the standards of God and determine what is in sync with God and what is not. Truth is like the Pharisees we may follow practices and tenets that at one time made sense but do not any longer, like how folks lived when they thought the earth was flat and how that changed when the discovery came that it was not. Some things will always stand the test of time; other things never did.

The only reason the Pharisees in our scripture today curbed their behavior is because they feared the crowd. Please take note, our beliefs and actions matter, which make it even more important that we take the time to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling* and not latch on knee-jerk responses perhaps provided by others who hold their interest above all others.

Prayer: God of Justice and Mercy, teach us your way and your will and give us the courage to follow both. Amen.

*See Philippians 2:12

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.

In Times Like These

Living in the Spirit
October 7, 2017

Scripture Reading: Matthew 21:33-46

Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
“The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
   and it is amazing in our eyes”? Matthew 21:42

The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
   it is marvelous in our eyes. –Psalm 118:22-23

Cornerstone: the event, fact, or thing that forms the principal foundation or support upon which an achievement is based or from which a development makes its beginning*

Christ is the chief cornerstone of the Kingdom of God. The end we work for is not a shallow promise without substance. God wrote a vision of a just and good world on the heart of Jesus who came to earth to share it with us and invite us to join in becoming part of his very Body to make God’s vision real for all God’s children.

I turned on the news this morning to hear of another senseless shooting, the worst in the country’s history. We seem to compete for beating our worst. We are still recovering from some of the worst hurricanes in modern times and hear of the people of Puerto Rico caught in catastrophe with little food and water and no electricity. While our governmental leaders seem to be under the impression that if we cut our income, we will have more money to spend while recent and past experience tells us that is not true.

In times like these, you need a Savior,
In times like these, you need an anchor;
Be very sure, be very sure,
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!

CHORUS: The Rock is Jesus, Yes, He’s the One,
The Rock is Jesus, The only One
Be very sure, be very sure, Your anchor holds,
And grips the Solid Rock.**

Prayer: Lord, give us the strength and courage to continue our work toward your Kingdom in times like these. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/cornerstone

**First verse and chorus of In Times Like These by Ruth Caye Jones see at http://www.namethathymn.com/christian-hymns/in-times-like-these-lyrics.html

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.

Kingdom Building

Living in the Spirit
October 6, 2017

Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:4b-14

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. –Philippians 3:12-14

Paul cuts us some slack recognizing how hard it is to change habits of the heart. We must face the fact that what is good for us and others will in many cases be hard for us to effect. In 1991, I staffed a legislative study regarding child care which entailed holding public hearing all around the state. I drove the State Senator who was the sponsor of the project to a public hearing in Tulsa. It lasted longer than expected, was contentious, and sapped both of us of energy. We had neither one eaten before the meeting which ran well past the dinner hour. We stopped at a fast food place to grab a sandwich on our way out of town. The Senator walked in front of me to the counter. The teen behind the counter met my eyes as second in line asking what I wanted. I said she was before me. She said go ahead. He said to me what can I get for you. Clueless, and thinking do you know who she is, I said I need to look at the menu a little longer, and he finally took her order. At that point, I realized what was happening. She is black, and I am white. Why was I so slow to understand? It takes intentionality to live and love like Jesus.

Ushering in the Kingdom of God is a fulltime, full-life project. It involves every aspect of how we function in the world from reducing our carbon footprint to feeding the hungry to working toward God’s justice for all. We must press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Prayer: Our Father in heaven,
   hallowed be your name.
   Your kingdom come.
   Your will be done,
     on earth as it is in heaven.
   Give us this day our daily bread.
   And forgive us our debts,
     as we also have forgiven our debtors.
   And do not bring us to the time of trial,
     but rescue us from the evil one. * Amen.

*Matthew 6:9–13

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.

God Sustains

Living in the Spirit
October 4, 2017

Scripture Reading: Psalm 19

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you,
   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. –Psalm 19:14

That which we dwell on we become. Running our words and thoughts through God’s filter before we say them or before we become vindictive as we stew in our own juices is a great idea. If we meditate on loving the other, we become a lover of people even ones who we think or know did us harm. Constantly fretting over an issue erodes us from the inside out.

I dabble in genealogy. Some of my ancestors experienced heartaches beyond belief. My paternal grandmother’s father was killed in an accident a few days before or after her birth in 1883. Her mother raised her alone until she remarried when my grandmother was five. Her only son by her first husband died of illness in 1914 when he was nine years old. Her first husband was struck by lightning and killed two years later leaving her to raise five daughters. She married my grandfather a couple of years later. He brought nine children to the marriage and together they had three children. He died of blood poisoning just before the Dust Bowl and The Great Depression. She had a hard life filled with sorrow and grief.

My memories of my grandmother are those of a five-year-old little girl who felt very loved by her. I remember sitting at her dressing table where she had a box of talcum powder with a big soft puff. She would pat it on my arms and back and make me feel very special. I know she had bad times, but she was very resilient. My dad described her as one who prayed constantly.  I cannot help but think that her time spent in prayer is what guided her through the darkness. The time we spend in prayer will do the same for us when we open ourselves to the healing presence of God.

Prayer: Lord, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. so that my actions in dealing with others reflect your love and not my hurt or pain. 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.

Privilege Debunked

Living in the Spirit
October 5, 2017

Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:4b-14

Even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. 

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. —Philippians 3:4b-11

White privilege is a term tossed about today as we try to deal with racial unrest and injustice in our land. It makes most of us uncomfortable eliciting a “Not me” response internally, if not externally expressed, from those of us who meet the criteria. In our scripture today, Paul is describing something similar. We might call it Pharisee privilege. Privilege is defined as a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor:  special enjoyment of a good or exemption from an evil or burden. * It is not something one earns; it is more a bequeathed status. It is so much of one’s way of existing; it is taken for granted or not recognized at all.

How do we deal with that, if we truly believe that all people are children of God and thus are siblings and need to be treated with equality of respect and equity of opportunity? Paul perhaps suggests a solution in dealing with his status of Pharisee privilege. He regarded everything as a loss as he found something of surpassing value–Christ Jesus. Those of us of privilege fear we lose something if we must relinquish that which is not real in the first place. Paul insists that there is something of greater value on the other side of privilege that awaits in the love of Christ. Perhaps Jesus’ parable of the pearl of great price** has more meaning for our times than we may have thought.

Prayer:  Lord, help me realize the greater value of your love for all compared to any short-sighted privilege I may experience. Forgive me when I am ignorant of wrongs in our society. Help me be a conduit of your healing love and justice. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/privilege
**See Matthew 13:45-46

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.

Fear of God

Living in the Spirit
October 3, 2017

Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.’ –Exodus 20:18-20

I don’t think about being afraid of God much and do not think many Christians do. I cannot tell you when I have heard it mentioned in a sermon or study group. Perhaps we have lost something important. I can imagine the God of Justice being very fearful as God sees some of God’s children oppressing others.  The absence of love in any circumstance causes fear.

Fear is a God-given emotion provided to keep us safe from harm. Hearing the rattle of a snake alerts one to potential danger, and causes one to take preventive action.  The evening news alerted my community yesterday to the rise in mosquitoes carrying West Nile Disease and urged all citizens to avoid the risk.

We who live in privilege have lost some of our sense of fear. We trust locks and cameras, guns and alarms, to protect us. Sometimes they do not work. According to the Hebrew prophets, the people of Israel too lost their sense of fear. They put their trust in shallow worship and ill-gotten gain gradually over time losing their connectedness with God. That did not work either as they were overthrown and taken into captivity.

The fear of God protects us from the evil that would harm us. When we are in right relationship with God, we can sense spiritual danger when it accost us and turn around and return to God’s way of being.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we are so caught up in the world around us we fail to respond to your caution of danger ahead. 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.

Diversions for Gain

Living in the Spirit
October 2, 2017

Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Then God spoke all these words: 

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. 

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. –Exodus 20:1-4

I would be remiss in writing anything about the Ten Commandments if I did not recognize the importance of Joan Chittister’s book and study The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart, which gave me a new appreciation for the Commandments as a way of being rather than rules to follow.

The concept of the Commandments as a way of being has heightened my concern for our ages’ constricting idol worship to pagans happening centuries ago. While we may have outgrown carved objects as gods or not, we have created a multitude of ready replacements. Money and power perhaps top the list.

I have an even greater concern that we are being divided intentionally by principalities and powers who play our interests against each other dividing us to conquer us. Diversions for gain is nothing new it is at least as old as the oldest prophetic book in the Bible, Amos. The similarities between the people of Israel before their fall to Assyria and the United States today are chilling. The Israelites were investing their time and energies in short-term rewards without concern for long-term consequences.

Prayer: Lord, open our minds and hearts to your will for our lives. 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.