January 20, 2022
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. –Romans 12:1-8
I am going off lectionary today because I messed up and used the scripture for today, last week. I am sure this scripture from Romans is somewhere in the lectionary but it is one of my favorites and I am substituting it here so I will not repeat the same scripture too closely.
I wrote emails this morning making changes in meetings because COVID is peaking in Oklahoma. I used the phrase “COVID times” to describe how we must adapt to the world in which we live. I then moved on to consider this scripture that tells me Do not be conformed to this world and realized that our world has no conformity. My faith group strongly supports safety precautions during COVID, passing out masks at entrances to people who desire them and offering worship in-person, live-streamed, and on Facebook. Other groups refuse to adapt to such safety recommendations. They indicate requiring them to follow such steps limits their rights as individuals. We are a house divided in so many ways, all believing theirs is the way to which we should conform.
Amid our divisiveness how do we as Christ-followers, be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds, so that [we] may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect? My usual response is to say we need to love like Jesus and to love our neighbor as ourselves, but the louder cry seems to be to question who is my neighbor? These have only become words, not actions. My prayer is for God to reach into our collective hearts and transform us.
Prayer:
Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
With Cords That Cannot Be Broken
Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
Bind Us Together In Love
There Is Only One God,
There Is Only One King
There Is Only One Body,
That Is Why We Sing*. Amen.
First verse and chorus of Bind Us Together by Bob Gillman see at https://divinehymns.com/lyrics/bind-us-together-song-lyrics/
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.