Living in the Spirit
October 29, 2021
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 9:11-14
But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!
The works we do are worship of the living God. God indeed loves our communing through prayer and meditation, praising with music, reading scriptures that remind us of the history of God from creation to eternity. However, God’s greatest joy may be witnessing our loving one another and all others.
What are those dead works that we need to cleanse from our conscience? What is sapping our energy away from the works that are worship? When and how are we guilty of directing our time, energy, and resources toward dead outcomes? Our lists will all differ, but I think it is essential that we examine our actions periodically to identify misplaced efforts and redirect our work from them. Jesus instructed the disciples when he sent them out into the world to spread the good news according to Matthew 10:14 saying: If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Discerning when the time has come to walk away is hard but perhaps not permanent. Martin Luther King Jr. instigated the Poor People’s Campaign shortly before he was assassinated in 1968. The idea went dormant for years but had a rebirth in 2017 and is active today.
Our worship works may take much longer than we would hope, but perseverance is another way to worship God. For example, advocates for health care in Oklahoma had to work for more than ten years to get Medicaid expansion approved, and it took a vote of the people to make it happen.
How much time do we spend in meetings that go nowhere and accomplish nothing? How many hours do we invest in doing things just because we have always done them? When I first joined my church, it had a robust Wednesday night dinner followed by great classes. Thirty years later, it no longer met the needs of families where both parents worked outside the home and valued their evening with their children. We eventually disbanded it.
Finally, in our fragmented world, how often do we want just to give up? We see hate and anger being encouraged in our land, divide and conquer tactics trying to separate us as a means of others obtaining power. Dead works can also describe giving up on God’s way of loving being the best way of living. We are all called to never give up on God’s love.
Prayer: Lord, guide us in examining our lives to clear out the dead works that are getting in the way of works that are worship. 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.