Living in the Spirit

August 12, 2020

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.

Truer words have never been written, and I do not recall a time in my life when discord has been higher. Of course, my life span is short compared to the history of God’s people. Reading scripture and history since the Bible was canonized, we see discord over and over again. Everybody is scared, but of what? Many feel threatened, but why? What is this dis-ease that overshadows our lives? How do we escape its grasp?

Jesus, I think, portrays a lot of empathy. Strange though it may sound, to be empathic, we must become more objective. We must try to see our fellow sojourners from their perspective, not our own. That requires us to shed the bias filters that we all have taken on from our families, life experiences, and education. We need to discern which of those filters are wrong and work to eliminate them from our being. We also must understand that those practices we favor that are not bad are not universal. Both actions of self-evaluation are hard to do because they are so much a part of who we are.

I will always be a person who grew up on a farm, knew the source of food from my earliest years, and that work had to be done often daily to maintain that food supply. My work ethic differs markedly from that of someone whose life experience taught them that food came from grocery stores bought by money earned from employment that had specified hours of working with some days off.  

I was taught to say please and thank you, respect authority, and expect other people to respect me. I do not ever recall my parents having “the talk” of how to go the extra steps of self-preservation when stopped by the police.  I have only been stopped by the police twice and was guilty both times. I got a warning ticket both times. The first time, I was breaking the speed limit. The other time, I had an expired tag. When the policemen stopped me for the tag, it was laying on the passenger seat of my car. He saw it and said somewhat sarcastically, “You know you are supposed to put that on your vehicle.” I assured him I would. I cannot imagine being stopped for being white in the wrong part of town. Empathy does not come easy and requires intentionality until it becomes a natural part of our being. I think that may only happen when we allow the Holy Spirit to open our hearts to love one another completely.

Prayer: Lord, Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin*. Amen

*Psalm 51:2

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.