Living in the Spirit
August 13, 2022
Scripture Reading: Luke 12:49-56
‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’ –Luke 12:49-53
I think I have shared this story before but at times it bares repeating. I heard Dr. Fred Craddock preach several years ago about the French word Ennui as a descriptor and disrupter of faith at times. We are living in such a time as this. Ennui* has been adopted into the English language and means a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction: languor or emptiness of spirit.
We see it in many places. Voting participation is at a very low point. Having been swamped with dark advertisements among the various campaigns, I do not believe any of them. Church participation is down. People describe themselves as spiritual, not religious. Jesus is quoted as saying he came to light a fire in our world and indeed, he did. The history of God in our world seems cyclical and we humans seem to need such attention-getting action to set us back on our foundation. Climate change is literally lighting fires all around us calling us to be responsible for the earth God created for us. COVID opened the windows to the failures of our health care system. The death of Breanna Taylor and others opened our eyes to the scourge of discrimination in our land. We must work to heal these wounds of our society as we strive for wholeness, oneness, and justice in our country and world.
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole,
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.
Sometimes I feel discouraged
and think my work’s in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again**.
Prayer: Amen.
*https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/ennui
**Refrain and the first verse of There Is a Balm in Gilead. See at https://hymnary.org/text/sometimes_i_feel_discouraged_spiritual
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.