Monthly Archives: October 2021

Ruled by Love

Living in the Spirit

October 11, 2021

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 53:4-12

Surely he has borne our infirmities
   and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
   struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
   crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
   and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
   we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all. –Isaiah 53:4-6

The above scripture, written most likely in the 6th century B.C.E., is often interpreted by Christians as describing the death of Jesus. That said, sin seems to rear its ugly head cyclically as humans start going astray often when greed and power overcome their worldly desires to base their lives on their relationship with God.

Our greatest challenge in maturing our faith is accepting that the love of God, our loving God, and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves are more precious than worldly riches and more satisfying than being a powerbroker.  

What would such a world look like? First, each person would be loved and encouraged to realize their full potential.  All people would be appropriately educated, well-nourished and healthy, and capable of self-sufficiency. Servant leaders would measure their worth by the accomplishments of their team members. All would strive for the oneness Jesus called us to in John 17.  Such a world might actually have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in self-awareness before we fall into the traps of greed and lust for power. Show us the better 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.

Money Rules

Living in the Spirit

October 10, 2021

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:17-31

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’

Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’ –Mark 10:23-31

I was born in tornado alley and lived in it most of my life. Over and over, I hear people who have lost their homes and vehicles say when interviewed by media, everyone in the family survived that is all that is important. We can rebuild. Roll that scene back and consider what was important in our lives before the storm. In the above scripture, Jesus is telling us to get our priorities right in real-time. He states it this way in Matthew 16:26, For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

Individuals being snared by greed grow into a society driven by greed. Every day, I get between 20 or 30 emails asking me for money to support various candidates when we do not have another election until next year. The sad fact is that the person with the most financial backing usually wins. Worse still, raising money is necessary even to get a bill passed in Congress. We the people, no longer have a say in our governance, which now could be described as government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich. The only way to address this problem is the vote. Every effort is now being made to take that away from us.

Money deciding our elections would not happen if we, the people, did not also worship wealth. Do we envy the rich? What are our priorities? Where does loving God and loving as Jesus fit into our priorities?

Prayer: Lord, cleanse us of lusting after the ways of the world and help us set priorities that lead to a world ruled by your 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.

Grace Not Greed

Living in the Spirit

Living in the Spirit

October 9, 2021

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:17-31

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.”‘ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. –Mark 10:17-22

The story of greed is what’s in it for me. Jesus recognized greed when he saw it and dealt with it. Life is not driven by love if we follow the rules only to inherit eternal life. I am glad the writer of Mark noted that Jesus loved the man that knelt before him. Jesus was pleased that he obeyed the laws and norms of his culture. Yet, Jesus does not include the first commandments in the list of desired behavior. We halt at stop signs at best to protect our safety, at least to avoid getting a ticket. The Commandments outlined in the above scripture fall mainly in the category of maintaining order.

The primary Commandments Jesus did not list were the first ones, how we respect and relate to God. In summary*, they are

I am the LORD your God you shall

  • Have no other gods before me
  • Have no graven images or likenesses
  • Not take the LORD’s name in vain
  • Remember the sabbath day

Possessions were this young man’s God perhaps exemplified by graven images. Greed spreads in pandemic proportions faster and more profound than COVID. Greed quickly mutates as people begin to rein it in. Christ’s gift of grace elimenates the temptation of greed targeted at winning eternal life. Eternal life with God is ours for the accepting. That gift opens our lives to the fullness of loving God and loving like Jesus as we work to build the world Jesus died to actualize.

Prayer: Lord, we love you and worship you and thank you for the gift of grace, help us use it wisely. Amen.

*See Exodus 20 for the complete listing.

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.

Empathy

Living in the Spirit

October 8, 2021

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 4:12-16

Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. –Hebrews 4:14-16

God with Us coming to earth in the person of Jesus is something we should never take for granted. Empathy is necessary for loving one another. The song, Walk a mile in My Shoes* by Joe South most likely was influenced by the poem Judge Softly** written in 1895 by Mary T. Lathrap. Here is the first verse:

Pray, don’t find fault with the man that limps,
Or stumbles along the road.
Unless you have worn the moccasins he wears,
Or stumbled beneath the same load.

The refrain for Joe South song reads:

Walk a mile in my shoes, walk a mile in my shoes
Hey, before you abuse, criticize and accuse
Walk a mile in my shoes

Jesus experienced being human from his first trip to the temple as a child, his sojourn in the desert being tempted by Satan to dying on a cross. He loved and was loved but also knew rejection and betrayal while never losing his connectedness to God. Our faith in God stems from trusting in Jesus’ witness to God’s amazing grace and total commitment to each of God’s children to remain in a relationship with God. Do we choose to live in a relationship with God?

Maintaining our relationship with God requires us to let Christ help us have empathy for ourselves. When we see the person God created us to be through the empathetic eyes of Christ, we are enabled to revise our ways to love ourselves, and loving ourselves is the first step to loving our neighbors.

Prayer: Lord, allow us each to see that you created us to be one with you and one with all your children. Grant us the courage to step out and live as you are calling us to live. Amen.

*See at https://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/joe+south/walk+a+mile+in+my+shoes_20343302.html

**https://jamesmilson.com/about-the-blog/judge-softly-or-walk-a-mile-in-his-moccasins-by-mary-t-lathrap/

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 Word of God

Living in the Spirit

October 7, 2021

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 4:12-16

Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from Spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account. –Hebrews 4:12-13

The Greek word, Logos, is used here and in John 1 to denote something more than scripture saved for posterity. The recording of the history of the acts of God lays a necessary foundation for our faith. However, it does not encompass the wholeness of God’s continuing acts of creation, including ongoing interactions through the Spirit with each of God’s children who seek to recognize God’s role in their lives. Strong’s Concordance describes the “word” used in the above scripture as:

reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating, etc.: once so in the phrase ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, of the divine mind, pervading and noting all things by its proper force, Hebrews 4:12*.

I find myself praying, “God, help me see what I am missing,” while trying to understand what is happening around me and our world today. Elemental forces of change are ever-present. Thus, we must seek and foster God’s path as we struggle to make sense of it all. We face the challenge of loving all of God’s people or not as we play a game of who is acceptable and who is not. Every day, we gamble our future regarding how minimally we can respond to make the changes necessary to correct and adapt to climate change. But what are we leaving the next generations by our failure to act more aggressively? Have we reached the time when war no longer works, if it ever did? How do we attain harmony amid a world that feeds on division? And finally, how do we end the pandemic of greed that is usually woven through every disaster we face?

Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from Spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. We must seek this word of God in everything we do.

Prayer: God, help us see what we are missing and to find your way, your truth, and your life. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/3056.htm

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.

Wise Hearts

Living in the Spirit

October 6, 2021

Scripture Reading: Psalm 90:12-17

So teach us to count our days
   that we may gain a wise heart.

Turn, O Lord! How long?
   Have compassion on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
   so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
   and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be manifest to your servants,
   and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
   and prosper for us the work of our hands—
   O prosper the work of our hands!

I have never thought about a heart having the quality of wisdom. We view the heart as an essential pump that pushes blood throughout our system. The Hebrew word used here, lebab, translated as heart, means inner man, mind, will, heart*, which was the perception of that day and remains with us today. So, what is a wise heart?

The rest of the poem outlines what would be gained by having a wiser heart. God giving us compassion surely means we are to share kindness with others. God’s love for us brings us joy, our love for others should be a source of pleasure. I do not perceive that God afflicts us unless we count the gift of free will as the source of our troubles. A wiser heart would guide us toward better decisions. We must also deal with the wrong decision made by others that our poet describes as evil. Addressing the injustices we see in our world calls us to let God’s work manifest in us as we strive to carry out God’s vision of a world ruled by love.

Prayer: Lord, give us wise hearts to serve you more nearly. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3824.htm

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.

Out of Balance

Living in the Spirit

October 5, 2021

Scripture Reading: Amos 5:10-15

They hate the one who reproves in the gate,
   and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.
Therefore, because you trample on the poor
   and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
   but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
   but you shall not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your transgressions,
   and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,
   and push aside the needy in the gate.
Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time;
   for it is an evil time.

Seek good and not evil,
   that you may live;
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
   just as you have said.
Hate evil and love good,
   and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
   will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

The economy in the USA is out of balance. It has been for some time, and the tax cut of 2017 made it much worse. The poverty rate is meaningless in today’s economy. It was designed in the late fifties based on multiplying the cost of food by three. The federal minimum wage is just as outdated, and correcting it would cause significant challenges to the economy. I would throw them out and use the living wage as a marker of families having enough to live on and thrive. MIT and others have addressed the idea of the actual cost of having enough income. You can see its living wage calculator at https://livingwage.mit.edu.

Even amid a pandemic, the unemployment rate in August 2021 was 5.2% in the USA, 3.2% in Oklahoma. People are working. These are conservative figures based on people seeking jobs. More difficult to count are those who are not working and not looking for work.  Non-disabled non-elderly adults who receive SNAP (food stamps) must prove they seek employment to qualify for the help. Childcare subsidies are directly tied to work.  The Poor Peoples Campaign estimate that 140 million people in the USA live in poverty or are one high health care cost away from bankruptcy, which is the case among many having been treated for COVID or having lost a loved one to COVID.

Bringing our economy into balance will take time and a solid commitment to making it happen. It can be done, but we must work past special interests and greed while not trampling on the poor to succeed.

Prayer: Lord, help us find our way out of discord and balance so that every family can attain a living wage.  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.

What is Just?

Living in the Spirit

October 4, 2021

Scripture Reading: Amos 5:6-7
Seek the Lord and live,
   or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire,
   and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.

Wormwood– something bitter, galling, or grievous*

Wormwood as used in the Hebrew Scriptures–From an unused root supposed to mean to curse; wormwood (regarded as poisonous, and therefore accursed) — hemlock, wormwood**

There is an actual Wormwood plant that is very bitter and poisonous. Thus, the word has been culturally adapted to define being cursed. The very graphic picture of justice being turned into something bitter and cursed is startling. One person’s justice is another person’s loss. We are caught in that same struggle in our world today. A male relative of mine indicated that he felt persecuted by what I will call here for general purposes, the women’s movement. He did not accept my explanation that losing privilege is not the same thing as being persecuted.

What is just and right are difficult questions to answer because we each see the issue from our personal or group’s peculiar vantage point. So how do we discern God’s vantage point, and, harder still, how do we build our lives around God’s justice and righteousness in a world where culture is the primary source of determining what is right and wrong?

We turn to the Bible for help and find book after book dealing with this same issue in different times among varied cultures. For example, the first time I read an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (see Exodus 21:24), I was appalled at such punishment for a crime until I learned that before this rule was established, one might get a death sentence if one poked out another person’s eye or knocked out a tooth. Our ancestors in faith were struggling with defining fairness in a progressively adapting world where change was the primary constant.

During WWII, men were pulled away from all kinds of jobs to fight the war. Women also served in some capacities in the war, but they primarily filled the positions the drafted men had left. Fast forward to 1973, and we find that it was the first year a single-income family could not earn a living wage in the USA. In both instances, the role of women changed out of necessity.

Jesus instructed us that the primary commandments were to love God and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. So we need to start from that point and move forward as we develop a just world.

Prayer: Lord, broaden our vision to see what is happening about us that may require us to reconsider what is just and what is right. Amen.

*https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/wormwood

**https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3939.htm

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.

Being an Example

Living in the Spirit

October 3, 2021

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:2-16

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. –Mark 10-13-16

Children take in whatever their senses pick up. Psychologist Jean Piaget believed that children do not begin to develop the ability of abstract thinking until they are at least eleven years old. We joke about how children interpret life. A cartoon illustrates a child hearing his mother say on the phone that she was all tied up and could not talk. The image that forms in the child’s mind is the telephone cord wrapped around his mother from head to foot. If a child hears adults say something, like a curse word, they assume it is alright to say it until they utter the word at dinner with their grandparents.

We all have the responsibility to live our lives as examples for everyone around us but especially children.  The hate-filled anger displayed on TV by adults refusing to wear masks indeed causes great consternation for the child who must wear masks in school. I have wondered what kind of example those adults had as children made them think their adult behavior was appropriate. It does not need to be that way. Children have fun wearing masks playing make-believe characters. Wearing a mask during this COVID pandemic is a great way to teach children how to love their neighbor as themselves. We do have the right to free speech; we do not have the right to do it in an unresponsible manner.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer*.  Amen.

*Psalm 19:14

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.

What’s is a Family

Living in the Spirit

October 2, 2021

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:2-16

Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’

Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’ –Mark 10:2-12

What’s in a family? As a people, we seem to have lost our way regarding the most critical influencer in our lives, the family. God created the family as the means of procreating and maintaining the human species, but that is hardly the family’s sole purpose.  I am reading The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom, the story of an Irish girl whose parents both died on the ship bringing the family to the USA in the 1700 hundreds. This child was sold as an indentured slave to a family that lived on a plantation staffed by enslaved Africans. She was integrated into the house servants’ group. They became her family until her indenture was nearly over. She was separated from that family as a teenager to be reintroduced into society as a white person. What’s in a family, indeed?

The story of the first couple God created began the long history of God’s family, which includes all the diverse people of the world called to love God and love one another. With that example, humans formed other families with the same calling. The behavior of human families and how they interact and influence current and future generations is crucial to fulfilling the calling to love all of God’s children. It is a sacred trust. Doing anything to damage such a trust is harmful to all involved. I think that is the point that Jesus makes in the above scripture. He did not quote the Hebrew practice of stoning the guilty parties*. He even intervened to save a woman caught in adultery from being stoned, forgave her, and cautioned her to sin no more**.

I think Jesus is saying for people to take control of all aspects of our lives, appreciating the gifts God has given us to receive and share love and not make a mockery of love. When we make mistakes learn from them, and when we do love, love with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength as part of the family of God.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when the habits of the world overcome the ways of your love. Please help us serve you more nearly in all aspects of our lives. Amen.

*Leviticus 20:10

**John 7:53–8:11 Jesus and the woman caught in adultery

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.