Author Archives: WOJ@deborahsdescendants.com

Tenting with God

Advent

December 12, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 7:10-16
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

The Hebrew Bible is filled with references to the coming of Immanuel in human form, which means God with Us. God is always with us, but sometimes, we must be reminded of God’s presence. I am not much of a social media person. I enjoy seeing reports and pictures of the adventures of my family and friends and reading pithy statements that go to the heart of living our love. I also like quirky cartoons and the adventures of pets. I could make a much longer list of the things I ignore. One thing I have noticed recently is the quest for stability in a fractured world.

While Christmas is said to be full of hope, peace, love, and joy, for some reason, it is also the source of great anxiety, depression, and a sense of loss. Some of these feelings are easy to identify, for example, losing a loved one. In other instances, our reactions are harder to understand and may take some self-examination. While the world invests much energy in celebration during this time, the story of Advent is more solemn. We recognize the need for hope, peace, love, and joy in our lives, which seem to be missing in large measure. We recall the gift of Immanuel, God with us, in the birth of a tiny baby, and we look forward to the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God when, as the book of Revelation 21:3 tells us, God will tabernacle with us, in other words, pitch God’s tent among us. Our job is to address the world’s needs so that when Christ returns to earth, he can celebrate Sabbath with us when he arrives because we, with the Spirit’s help, have finished our work toward being that beloved community.

Prayer: Lord, grant us your peace and joy as we live in hope while perfecting our ability to love as you 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.

Loving Like God

Advent

December 11, 2022

Scripture Reading: Matthew 1:18-25
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

What is it like to be human? The great creator God apparently wanted to experience being a human to understand this being that God created. Even though the Creator modeled humans after God’s own image, humans were also endowed with other characteristics which God wanted to understand better. Thus, God came to be with humans in human form from the womb forward; God—incarnate Jesus Christ.

Matthew tells us that Jesus’s first challenge was going into the wilderness to face the world’s temptations* before he began his ministry. Surely, that was a powerful experience for the Creator as a human. God is not only with us. God understands what we are going through because of God’s sojourn on earth. Building a firm, lasting relationship with God is the primary key to our growth in wisdom and in truth as we strive to partner with God in actualizing the Kingdom of God by our choice in the world today. Love is not love if it is not by our choice.

Prayer: Lord, enable us to choose to love ourselves as you love us so that we can love one another as you love all your creation. Amen.

*See Matthew 4:1-11

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.

Defining Sin

Advent

December 10, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Matthew 1:18-25
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus*.

The one named Jesus will save his people from their sins. Jesus is the Greek translation of Joshua—Yahweh saves. Christ is a title that means The Anointed One.

Iēsoús – Jesus, the transliteration of the Hebrew term, 3091 /Lṓt (“Yehoshua”/Jehoshua, contracted to “Joshua”) which means “Yahweh saves” (or “Yahweh is salvation”).

“Jesus Christ” is properly “Jesus the Christ.” “Jesus” (2424 /Iēsoús) is His human name, as the incarnate, eternal Son of God (Mt 1:21,25, see also Lk 1:31) – the Christ, the divine Messiah (the second Person of the holy Trinity).

[Christ (His title) means “the Anointed One” (the eternal pre-incarnate, Logos, Jn 1:1-18).]

A particularly onerous House Bill 1775 was passed and signed into law in Oklahoma during the 2022 session. Its purpose was to address public school dealing with one of the hot-button issues of our day, what to do about transgender students and other issues related to LGBTQ students. It is onerous regarding its message, but it is also onerous in its construction. Most new legislation begins with careful definitions of words that would be used in the body of the bill. There were no such definitions in this bill. The word gender and sex are peppered through it, allowing the reader to decide what it means. I can assure you that different understandings resulted. The State Department of Education, the agency responsible for developing rules to implement it, copied it as it appeared in the bill, most likely because they could not make heads or tails of what it was trying to say. At some point, a court will most likely have to make that discernment or send it back for revision.

I thought of that bill when I read the words quoted above. Jesus will save his people from their sins. The Greek word used here is  266 /hamartía (“sin, forfeiture because missing the mark”) is the brand of sin that emphasizes its self-originated (self-empowered) nature – i.e. it is not originated or empowered by God (i.e. not of faith, His Inworked persuasion, cf. Ro 14:23) **.

We are often taught that sin means missing the mark, but what we may not fully take in is that our missing the mark comes from our self-originated nature. I had a few lessons in archery as a part of the required exercise class in college. I was not good at it, but I did learn the fundamentals. The first being I did not get to define the target, the mark. God sets forth the standards of our service to God when we elect to follow Jesus Christ. Jesus defined our prime directives as loving God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. We are not only guilty of selecting our own targets. We also often fail to measure whether the way we want others to be treated is, in the same way we would want to be treated in the same circumstances.

Prayer: Help us learn to love ourselves as you would have us love ourselves so that we know and understand the meaning of how to love our neighbors. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/2424.htm

**https://biblehub.com/greek/266.htm

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.

God’s Grace

Advent

December 9, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Romans 1:1-7

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We celebrate the gift of the grace of God, particularly as it was demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Jesus. We, indeed, should appropriately and humbly accept God’s great gift of grace and redemption. Are we not also called to emulate the example of grace that Jesus set for us in his sojourn on earth? Does that include acts of grace?

I was surprised to learn that the translation of the Greek word “grace” basically means to lean towards.

xáris (another feminine noun from xar-, “favor, disposed to, inclined, favorable towards, leaning towards to share benefit”) – properly, grace. 5485 (xáris) is preeminently used of the Lord’s favor – freely extended to give Himself away to people (because He is “always leaning toward them”) *.

In our world today, we seem to be leaning away from others, even among those who call themselves Christian. From where do such delusions that lean us away from each other stem? Are we leaning away from God? Are we questioning our gift of grace, thus looking for love elsewhere?

Advent is a great time to refresh our faith. Lean into the scriptures of the coming of Christ; lean into the God who comes to us incarnate to help us understand God’s love as God continuously leans into us.

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
leaning on the everlasting arms;
what a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
leaning on the everlasting arms**.

Prayer: O, Lord, as you lean into us this advent season, let your love inspire us to lean our love on others. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/5485.htm

**The first verse of the hymn, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms by E. A. Hoffman see at https://hymnary.org/text/what_a_fellowship_what_a_joy_divine#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.

Peace, Peace

Advent

December 8, 2022

Scripture Reading: Romans 1:1-7

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The second Sunday in Advent is celebrated as Peace Sunday. I am writing this on December 7, a day that does live in infamy. The day Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The day the US officially became a part of World War II. Jesus came to bring us peace, but we must be willing to give up those things over which we war to have peace. Greed and the lust for power are two of the most hideous causes of war. Jeremiah addressed it in his day as described in the following scripture:

For from the least to the greatest of them,
   everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
   everyone deals falsely.
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
   saying, ‘Peace, peace’,
   when there is no peace.
They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;
   yet they were not ashamed,
   they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
   at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord. –Jeremiah 6:13-15

Our world seems to be itching for discord. An actual war exists in Ukraine as Russia wants to take that country over. An insurrection at our own Capitol on January 6 reared its ugly head here in the US. And now some group has destroyed the electrical systems in North Carolina, leaving thousands of people without heat and lights.

What triggers people’s need to address life’s challenges through violence? Where has their peace gone? How do we mend the brokenness in our society, our world?

During this season, we celebrate the Prince of Peace. We need to do more than celebrate but adapt to the Lord’s rule of love and welcome others to do the same.

Prayer: Lord, let your light shine through those who love you so that others can know your peace that passes understanding. 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.

God’s Anger

Advent

December 7, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

O Lord God of hosts,
   how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
You have fed them with the bread of tears,
   and given them tears to drink in full measure.
You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
   our enemies laugh among themselves.

Restore us, O God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
   the one whom you made strong for yourself.
Then we will never turn back from you;
   give us life, and we will call on your name.

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved. –Psalm 80:4-7, 17-19

I have read about the anger of God. My memory is that it was often focused on his people. This scripture made me wonder what we might pray that would make God angry. I googled the questions to see what other scriptures might apply to this and had to laugh; there were many items dealing with our being angry at God but not God being angry at us. I can visualize God sighing in frustration over our repeated attempts to alter just a bit some of God’s guidance, like loving all our neighbors or doing justice in all instances.

If Jesus’s example gives us glimpses of want might make God angry at our prayers, we should consider Matthew 6:5-6, ‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that others may see them. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we pray in ways that are not in keeping with your desire for our wholeness. Make us whole, make us one, make us just. 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.

We are Called to Love not Judge

Advent

December 6, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 7:10-16

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

The challenge is how we discern what is evil and what is good. Evil works very hard at looking harmless, looking preferable. We as a people seem to spend a lot more time judging others for the evil we see in them than removing the log from our own eyes. (See Matthew 7:5) In most instances, what we perceive as evil in others is a sign they may need or love, not our condemnation. ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ ( See John 8:7) We might want to read (or read again) C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters when we find ourselves judging others’ sins rather than examining ourselves for getting caught up in the evil of self-righteousness.

A mighty Fortress is our God,
A Bulwark never failing;
Our Helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth His Name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle*.

Prayer:  Lord, guide us as we struggle through life’s temptations and grant us the will to walk well with others who struggle too. Amen.

*First and second verses of the hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God by Martin Luther see at https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/886

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.

God With Us

Advent

December 5, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 7:10-16

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

Moses tells us–Jesus tells us–that we must not put God to the test. To test God means much more than trying to get Him to do a miracle; to test God is to insist that He prove that He is trustworthy. To test God is to look at today’s difficulties and say, “A loving God would never let me suffer in this way*.

Isaiah above is saying the Lord told Ahaz to ask a sign of the Lord your God. I am a fan of Gideon, who could not believe God was sending him to lead a battle in which he had no experience.  So, he asked for a sign and got one, then repeated the request just to be sure, and he got that one too. There is a difference between questioning whether God is trustworthy and questioning one’s own ability to carry out what God is calling us to accomplish. Any time we sense a call to do something beyond what we think is our ability, we will no doubt struggle with doubt about ourselves. My hope, faith, and love are that we can go to God with anything when we are sincere. God will hear our fear and grant us the assurance that he gave in Matthew 19:26:

But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’

Prayer: Lord, as we struggle to build your Beloved Community and we sometimes wonder if what seems impossible is possible, send the Spirit to shore up our strength and courage to answer your call, to remind us that we are never alone. Amen.

*See at https://gutenberg.edu/2001/02/testing-god/#:~:text=Moses%20tells%20us%E2%80%93Jesus%20tells,me%20suffer%20in%20this%20way.

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.

Bearing Fruit

Advent

Advent

December 4, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight.” ’

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’ –Matthew 3:1-6, 11-12

Bear fruit worthy of repentance. One of my favorite stories of faith is John Newton’s. He is the author of the hymn Amazing Grace. Growing up, he had little or no faith-based background. After being conscripted into the English navy as a young man, he continued a career in sailing. Upon discharge, he became involved in the lucrative business of transporting slaves. On one treacherous trip, his ship was caught in a massive storm. John Newton found himself praying to a God he barely knew, committing his life to the Lord if he were saved. He survived the storm and keep his promise. Another ten or so years passed before he was convicted of how wrong the slave trade was. He was ordained in the Anglican church and became an ardent abolitionist. He bore fruit worthy of repentance.

While we may never have been caught up in such evil itself, we have a responsibility to address evil as it impacts others. We are called to do justice and not just ignore the evil that surrounds us.

Prayer: Lord, as you opened John Newton’s heart to the evil that surrounded him, open ours to the injustice that is in our world today and show us the way to overcome it for all people. 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.

Growing in Love

Advent

December 3, 2022

Scripture Reading: Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight.” ’
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’ –Matthew 3:1-6, 11-12

John the Baptist is saying that all need repentance. We, indeed, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) The one who is coming demands more. He demands that we learn to live together and care for each other as we grow in wisdom and truth.

Humans stumble through progress. Sometimes we take two steps back and one step forward. Repentance can lead to self-righteousness rather than a quest for justice.  We are drawn to measuring our worth by needing to be better than others. The only person we are challenged to improve is ourselves. By interacting, however, we may learn from others as they learn from us.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for coming to us in human form as a role model in sharing God’s 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.