Pentecost
May 28, 2023
Scripture Reading: John 7:37-39
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Talking to a fellow advocate recently, he expressed concern that we must make sure that everyone’s civil rights were protected regarding some egregious hate crimes that had been committed recently by elected officials and other government employees. We agreed, however, that legal protection of civil rights is only a first step in addressing the spread of hate crimes and other discriminatory practices across our land. Our collective souls need to be healed. Hate crimes and discrimination reflect peoples’ self-denial of their self-worth. When Jesus said we were to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Mark 12:30-31), he did so with the understanding that we did love ourselves because God loves everyone, and everyone is made in the image of God. We, however, live in a world with varying degrees of accepting that truth, and thus, we get caught up in worldviews that do not consider whose we are and from whom we come.
Paul describes this in 2 Corinthians 6:10:
For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.
It is within this assurance that we can let go of those worldviews that support hate and mistreatment of others and allow ourselves to be flooded with the streams of living water provided by the Spirit of God that cleanses and heals our souls, enabling us to love like Jesus.
Prayer:
Change My Heart Oh God
Make It Ever True
Change My Heart Oh God
May I Be Like You
You Are The Potter
I Am The Clay
Mold Me And Make Me
This Is What I Pray* Amen.
From the song Change my Heart O Lord, by Eddie Espinosa. See at https://divinehymns.com/lyrics/change-my-heart-oh-god-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.