Living in the Spirit
September 15, 2023
Scripture Reading: Romans 13:8-14
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
This scripture from the lectionary this week is speaking directly to we citizens of the USA. We do need to move on from the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. We seem to be blind to the real problems that we face, like climate change and the high poverty rate assuring that the rich get richer, causing the number of those who live in poverty to grow while creating chaos and dissension over issues that impact few people and that are really none of our business.
Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. So, what would we do, how would we respond if we were caught in the same dilemmas with which our neighbors are dealing? We may self-righteously pontificate on what we think we might do, but, we have no idea how we would have responded to some issues. Our homeless population is filled with youth kicked out of their homes because they identified as being gay or transgender. Others commit suicide. In Oklahoma, [a woman] recounted how she was told to wait in the parking lot until she got closer to death and doctors could provide an abortion. She had a molar pregnancy that would never become a viable fetus but was a very serious threat to her health*. Is that loving your neighbor?
Prayer:
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways!
Re-clothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise**. Amen.
*https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/13/1199057631/lawsuits-abortion-bans-idaho-tennessee-oklahoma#:~:text=Told%20to%20wait%20in%20the,serious%20threat%20to%20her%20health.
**The first verse of Dear Lord and Father of Mankind by John Greenleaf Whittier see at https://hymnary.org/text/dear_lord_and_father_of_mankind#Author.
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.