Eastertide

May 10, 2023

Scripture Reading: Psalm 66:8-20

Bless our God, O peoples,
   let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept us among the living,
   and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
   you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
   you laid burdens on our backs;
you let people ride over our heads;
   we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place. –Psalm 66:8-12

Being bounced between anxiety and depression, we citizens are certainly not the priority of our state and federal leadership. Divide and conquer politics is all they seem to care about.  Devastating storms and fires are symptoms of climate change that should be on our leader’s agenda, not making persons whose only income is Social Security wonder if those checks will arrive on time, if at all. We, indeed, are being tested and tired. Do our leaders live in the same world as we do?

God with us is our constant comfort as we face difficult times. God does go with us through fire and water. We can depend on it.

Prayer: God, open our leaders’ hearts and minds to the damage they do to the people they are supposed to serve.  Enable your advocates to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. 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.

Eastertide

May 9, 2023

Scripture Reading: Acts 17:22-31

Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’ –Acts 17:29-31

God overlooked the time of human ignorance. Being ignorant means being unaware of what is right and just. The Ten Commandments introduced us to what is right. Christ’s coming further set in motion the ability to discern what is right and just. It is very simple. We need to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Divine love includes intentionally choosing benevolence and having good will and esteem for all.  It begins with the understanding that God loves each and all of us and is willing to enable our loving others if we choose to love like God and accept his guidance. The constancy of the calling becomes a great challenge for humans. The world has many more complicated ways of being that attract. We, too, readily sacrifice simple acts of love for the world’s chaos. God’s heart breaks when we dive into to chaos of bigotry and hate. We are awash in the contagion of not loving but rather casting shame on others, perhaps so we can feel better about ourselves.  It does not work that way. We are each a child of God and loved by God exactly for who we are. Accepting God’s love enables us to love ourselves and to love all our neighbors.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we look to the world to find self-esteem when it was present all along in our very creation. 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.

Eastertide

May 8, 2023

Scripture Reading: Acts 17:22-31

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,
“For we too are his offspring.”  –Acts 17:22-28

I read Your God Is Too Small: A Guide for Believers and Skeptics Alike by J.B. Phillips shortly after it was published 40 years ago. I think it is time to dust it off and deal with the question is our God too small? I fear we try to frame God in a way that is comfortable for us, limiting God.  We also need to deal with the aspects of God that may be uncomfortable. For example, God commanded us to love God and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. I fear too often we ask, like the lawyer’s question in the story of the Good Samaritan, who is my neighbor? Which might be appropriate in a court of law but not in Jesus’s world. His answer was the parable.  (See Luke 10:29–37) where we learn that everyone is our neighbor.

The other aspect of this lesson is that our ability to love others is based on our comfort level with loving ourselves. We are experiencing a mental health crisis in this country, not only at its worst being seen in mass shootings and ever-increasing suicides but also in life-draining depression and anxiety. While I strongly support people getting professional help when indicated, we all need to examine ourselves to see if we really believe we are a child of God, loved by a God who forgives us when we miss the mark and guides us to become fully the person, we are capable of being in giving and receiving love.

Prayer: Lord, heal our souls as we live and have our being in a world in crisis. Help us become the conduit of your love needed to reframe that world. 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.

Eastertide

May 7, 2023

Scripture Reading:

John 14:1-14

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. –John 14:8-14

Christ came to earth to help us better understand God, the Parent. I wonder if he did not also come to gain a better understanding of what it felt like to be a human, to see the world through our eyes, experience our fears and joys, laughter and pain. Much of Jesus’s teaching may have been born from those experiences.  The assurances in the scripture above are an excellent example.

Do others see Christ in us? We are called to be Christ’s ambassadors on earth. 2 Corinthians 5.20: So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. We have a great role model.

Prayer: Lord, help us lives our lives as good role models of your love. 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.

Eastertide

May 6, 2023

Scripture Reading:
John 14:1-14

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’ –John 14:1-7

I have never thought much about life after death. Honestly, I am more concerned about creating the Beloved Community now. If we take care of life before death, Life after death will take care of itself. As I age, I have considered the possibility of living in a senior independent living situation. I have felt more comfortable in some places than others in my research. And that led me to consider how important our dedication is to create diverse inclusiveness in our world today. When we recognize that all people are our neighbors and we need to love them as we love ourselves, we will learn to welcome strangers and experience the wonder of our growth in loving ourselves as we learn more about God, who is love.

Prayer: God, thank you for sending Jesus to model for us diverse inclusiveness. Help us grow in spirit and truth in our love. 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.

Eastertide

May 5, 2023

Scripture Reading:

1 Peter 2:2-10

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people,
   but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
   but now you have received mercy. –1 Peter 2:9-10

When I read this scripture this morning, the song They Will Know We Are Christian by Our Love came to mind. How do we proclaim the mighty acts of God if we are not practicing God’s love? When we were called out of darkness, we were indeed called into the marvelous light of the Lord.  Perhaps we need to revisit what love is. Paul described love in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a, Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

We are not living our love or modeling God’s love when we practice severe judgments on others based on who they are. I must admit that when the phrase God does not make junk was in vogue, I thought it was trite. I no longer think that way. I do believe that all people were created in the image of God and, thus, all people are of equal worth. We need to like that they really were created by God in God’s image.

Prayer: Lord, make us aware of our bigotry and show us how to love others as you love them. 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.

Eastertide

May 4, 2023

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 2:2-10

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people,
   but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
   but now you have received mercy. –1 Peter 2:9-10

I fear that too many read the first part of this scripture and not the rest. Some take that phrase But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, meaning that Christ’s followers are better than everyone else. They do not take in the full meaning that Christ’s followers are called to a special service to bring light into a dark world. My experience is that the best way to turn people away from God is to flaunt one’s self-perceived superiority. Good created all people and called them good. I have a sense that for the Kingdom of God, God’s Beloved Community, to become a reality, the special contributions that each person has been blessed with must be actualized. We are called to enable that.

Prayer:
Out in the highways and byways of life,
Many are weary and sad;
Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife,
Making the sorrowing glad.

Tell the sweet story of Christ and his love,
Tell of his pow’r to forgive;
Others will trust him if only you prove
True, ev’ry moment you live.

Give as ’twas given to you in your need,
Love as the Master loved you;
Be to the helpless a helper indeed,
Unto your mission be true*.

Prayer:
Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing.
Out of my life may Jesus shine;
Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray.
Make me a blessing to someone today**. Amen.

Verses of the hymn Make Me a Blessing by Ira B. Wilson see at https://hymnary.org/text/out_in_the_highways_and_byways_of_life

**Refrain from the hymn Make Me a Blessing see the above citation for more information.

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.

Eastertide

May 3, 2023

Scripture Reading: Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
   do not let me ever be put to shame;
   in your righteousness deliver me.
Incline your ear to me;
   rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
   a strong fortress to save me.

You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
   for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
   for you are my refuge.
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
   you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

My times are in your hand;
   deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
   save me in your steadfast love.

Jesus liked to quote scripture. He especially did it while hanging on the cross. He apparently leaned heavily on the Psalms. In pain and distress, he quoted Psalm 22, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? From the scripture above, he said Into your hand I commit my spirit. I do not know the Psalms as well as I should, but I do have a few on which I depend. Create in me a clean heart (Psalm 51:10) is one. Psalm 63:1-7 is another that is very meaningful. My life spans memorizing scripture from the King James translation through several other versions. I am locked into some. The lectern Bible at my church is NRSV, and I must be very careful reading the 23 Psalm because it is engraved in my mind in the KJV. I study using the NRSV, and my understanding of the Bible has been strengthened by the availability of more up-to-date sources and language usage.

What is ultimately important is our personal relationship with God.  The Bible is a tool to help us, particularly from the good and bad examples of God’s interaction with God’s people throughout history. It is an opportunity to learn from their experiences, just as our examples today are what our descendants in faith will consider as they interact with God.

Prayer: Lord, help us be good role models for your followers who come after us. 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.

Eastertide

May 2, 2023

Scripture Reading: Acts 7:55-60
But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.

Stephen followed the example of Jesus when he prayed for the forgiveness of his killers’ sins. I wondered if he was present at the crucifixion. Jesus did not hold grudges. He always searched for the next thing he could do to bring about the Kingdom of God. He realized that hatred and bigotry are a waste of talent and time. That is easy enough to write; it is much harder to practice. I worked with a man thirty years after he came to the USA from Germany following World War II. I noticed that he usually paused momentarily before responding to a conversation. He told me he still translated what people said to him in English into German in his head and then prepared his response in German and translated it into English in his mind before he spoke it. He did it quickly. I am not bilingual, and that is hard for me to imagine. It, however, made me realize that I do the same thing when I try to find the right words for the circumstances rather than blurting out something that might make matters worse. Imagining how I would react to the words I first want to say helps me recalibrate. That is a good habit we all might want to practice.

Prayer: Lord, give me the language I need to use to make my communication more meaningful. 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.