Living in the Spirit

November 19, 2021

Scripture Reading: Revelation 1:4b-8
John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Look! He is coming with the clouds;
   every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
   and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.

‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

As I write this, I do not know whether Julius Darius Jones is alive or dead. He is scheduled to be executed at 4:00 pm this afternoon. There is much doubt regarding his guilt for the crime for which he was convicted. I wondered why a carjacking gone wrong resulted in a charge of first-degree murder anyway. However, District Attorney Robert Macy was well known for death penalty prosecutions. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended clemency, but the Oklahoma Governor has the final say. He has been silent to this point. Julius Jones is black; the victim is white. I wondered what the results had been if the race of those involved had been unknown or if a white man had been accused of the same crime.

I understand that all involved will face final judgment by the one who freed us from our sins by his blood, one who was not guilty but was executed anyway.

Prayer: Lord, no matter what the results of this horrible reality are, let it be the stimulus to end the use of the death penalty in Oklahoma in recognition that final judgment does not lay in human hands. 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.