Author Archives: WOJ@deborahsdescendants.com

What is Truth

Eastertide

May 31, 2022

Scripture Reading: Genesis 11:1-9

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

I recall being taught as a child that the people involved in the above story did something wrong in the eyes of God by trying to build a tower all the way to heaven and God did not like that, so he split them up and gave them different languages. That meant to me, in my vernacular of the day, that they had gotten too big for their britches and God was putting them in their place. Later, I learned that chapter 10 indicates that the people from Babal were already encountering people from other places speaking different languages. I later learned that the Hebrew Bible includes stories about similar events told from differing perspectives. Specifically priestly authors, whose work scholars designate as “P” and “D”—for Deuteronomist. Thus, the difference between the interpretation of history between Genesis 10 and 11.

We face the same challenges today. We view all of life through the filters we inherited at our birth through our culture and the ones we add through life experiences and what we are taught. I have long valued the quote cited as Pilate’s question to Jesus in John 18:38, Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’ I interpret that comment to be made sarcastically meaning truth is what people make it. I hear viewpoints quoted by professed Christians that are foreign to me and I am sure those people think I am way off base in my understanding of following Christ. I am just as sure that Jesus meant it when he called us to be one. How do we do that? I think we start by finding the practices, beliefs, and ways of being on which we can agree and build the Kingdom Jesus called us to champion from that point forward.

Prayer: Lord, help us put the things that divide your followers away for a time and guide us in working together on the things we can find agreement in your example of 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.

In A Fog

Eastertide

May 30, 2022

Scripture Reading: Acts 2:1-21

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
   and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
     and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
   and signs on the earth below,
     blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood,
     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” –Acts 2:1-14

And so it begins. The disciples had to shake the fog out of their heads before they could read the scriptures of old and see themselves in them. They had to replace Judas and move on. We, too, go through times of fog when nothing is clear, and all seems out of sync. We are living in such a time as that right now. Our world is still fighting a stubborn virus while trying to recover from its aftermath. Mass shootings are happening repeatedly. We keep asking why. Our leadership seems impotent to address the issues that confound us some stand staunchly in the way of progress while others are being corrupted by greed and lust for power.

We, too, might benefit from an old hymn for evil has always lurked in the background and we are the servants of God called to overcome it.

1 Let justice flow like streams
of sparkling water, pure,
enabling growth, refreshing life,
abundant, cleansing, sure.

2 Let righteousness roll on
as others’ cares we heed,
an ever-flowing stream of faith
translated into deed.

3 So may God’s plumb line, straight,
define our measure true,
and justice, right, and peace pervade
this world our whole life through*.

Prayer: Amen.

* Let justice flow like streams by Jane Parker Huber, See at https://hymnary.org/text/let_justice_flow_like_streams

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.

Learning to Trust God

Eastertide

May 29, 2022

Scripture Reading:

John 17:20-26

‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’

How important is it to have someone we trust say they trust someone else, and we can trust them too? When we apply for a job, we are often required to provide references. My dad cosigned the first loan I made to buy a car. Having paid that loan off as prescribed by the agreement, I never had to have anyone cosign for me again. One of Jesus’s missions, when he came in human form, was to tell us by word and example that we could trust God.

I can envision God scratching his head following the exile, following the calamity after the exile, and following the rule of Greece and Rome wondering, “What do I need to do to convince my children that I love them and that my love is the guiding principle in living successfully in the world I created?” God decided to come to us in the incarnation of Jesus Christ to model the way that living in God’s world works.

What we have learned is that when we get out of sync with God’s plan for the world, we suffer the consequences. There is no room for hate, bigotry, greed, dishonesty, violence, or adultery in God’s world.  Just as there is no room for the results of such behavior such as allowing poverty or violence to exist.

Prayer: Help us clearly see the way Jesus modeled life in your love and change our lives to follow his way. 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.

Oneness through Christ

Eastertide

May 28, 2022

Scripture Reading:

John 17:20-26

‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’

Jesus prayed it forward for all of us as he called on us to be one together spreading his love throughout the world. Are we failing him completely? Hate is strong throughout our land, often governed by greed. Faith leaders are more interested in sex, policing everyone but themselves, than they are in feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, or educating children in a safe environment. Is evil so strong we cannot break its bonds? We are the ones being broken by divide and conquer techniques that not only separate us from one another but also from God. I have never thought of Benjamin Franklin being a strongly religious man, but he may have picked up some wisdom from the above-quoted scripture. At least some form of it may have arisen from deep in his mind when he said, We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

Prayer: Lord, help us all find some common sense for our Common Good as we wrestle with the evils that confront our 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.

Living with the Spirit Now

Eastertide

May 27, 2022

Scripture Reading: Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

‘It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.’

The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen. Revelation 22:16-17, 20-21

The Spirit of God is present with us every moment of every day even when we have turned away from the Spirit, either not recognizing the presence or by choice. We are the bride of Christ called to extend his ministry throughout the world. We may cringe at the language Paul uses in Ephesians 5:22-33 using the roles of the first-century husband and wife to illustrate our relationship with the Spirit of God, but we are, indeed, called to be partners in Christ’s service in whatever way the roles of men and women have evolved or time and changes in culture.

I must confess, having been raised on a farm, where everyone worked and did their part based more on their age and capabilities, I am perplexed at times by the gender role interpretation that grew out of Paul’s writings. My guess is that first-century Christian women had their hands full working as hard as my mom, sister, and I did every day. I am reading the book After Jesus Before Christianity and learned the hierarchy in the roles of women and men has always existed with women usually being deemed less than. All I have to say about that is no man would have ever existed had it not been for a woman. Everyone has the right to become fully the person God created them to be. The world is more productive when the best person for a job fills the job.

I write this because our world invests more time in distractions than in fulfilling our call to usher in the Kingdom of God. We fight over which toilet one can use, who can decide what health care an individual needs, and whether mass shootings could be curbed by placing limitations on what guns can be sold and to whom. We rarely hear about already existing positive ways of addressing all these issues—like making all toilets private for everyone or providing quality accessible, affordable health care for everyone coupled with life education, or recognizing the proof from previous experience that outlawing assault rifles reduced deaths from mass shootings.

Prayer: Lord, help us turn toward the Spirit rather than away from you so that we might serve you more nearly. 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.

Economic Justice

Eastertide

May 26, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

‘See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. –Revelation 22:12-14

I just finished writing a report on the minimum wage including how out of date it is to the cost of living. Thus, reading the first verse above about paying people according to their work struck a chord with me and it was not harmonious. In the USA women still make 20% less than men doing the same work. Work generally identified as women’s work is routinely cast with lower wages than men are paid for like work. And what does the color of one’s skin have to do with anything related to the work one does?

What that scripture says to me is that God is a God of justice and God expects us to be people of justice. The work of the person who cleans the surgical theater is as important in keeping the patient alive as the surgeon’s skill. My paternal grandfather died from what was called blood poisoning at the time, we now call it sepsis. He developed it because the scalpel used by the doctor to lance a boil had not been properly sterilized. What determines the worth of each person’s work? How do we measure economic justice? When Jesus said the poor will always be with us (Matthew 26:11), I think he just recognized the reality that incomes always have varied, which continued to his time on earth. I somehow do not think, Jesus had in mind the current state of the USA economy where CEO compensation has grown 940% since 1978. Typical worker compensation has risen only 12% during that time (2018). (https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-compensation-2018/)

Prayer: Lord, show us how we can do justice in a world that values wealth more than 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.

Subtle Idols

Eastertide

May 25, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 97

The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
   and all the peoples behold his glory.
All worshippers of images are put to shame,
   those who make their boast in worthless idols;
   all gods bow down before him.
Zion hears and is glad,
   and the towns of Judah rejoice,
   because of your judgments, O God.
For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
   you are exalted far above all gods.

The Lord loves those who hate evil;
   he guards the lives of his faithful;
   he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
Light dawns for the righteous,
   and joy for the upright in heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
   and give thanks to his holy name! –Psalm 97:6-12

The sad thing in our society today is we do not seem to have a clue when we are worshipping worthless idols. Bowing done to a statue of Baal is at least something one does with visible proof. Our idols are more subtle and much more dangerous because we do not recognize that we give them power over us. Greed for example. My microwave quit working a few years ago. When I noticed that I could not warm up my tea, I grabbed my purse, jumped in my car, and had a new microwave and heated tea within 30 minutes. I do own a perfectly good range on which I could have reheated my tea. Afterward, as I sipped my warm tea, I realized how attached I was to my microwave. There is nothing wrong with progress, microwaves included, but reviewing my behavior made me stop and think about what I value which is demonstrated in how I spend my money. Where do I invest my time, talent, and resources? I think God wants us to be intentional about why and what we do. Particularly if we put ourselves forth as Christ-follower. My Dad told my siblings and me when we were children that we represented the Knott family, and we need to remember that when we are tempted to do anything that did not represent our family well. We are, indeed, all a part of the family of God, and thus our words and deeds impact others’ view of God in our behavior or words.

For me, one of the most potent scenes described in the scriptures is the image of Jesus sitting on a hill overlooking Jerusalem saying ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Matthew 23:37) I remember as a child not ever wanting to break Jesus’s heart like that. Many things are being said and done in the name of Jesus today that are alien to my concept of the God of Love. We all must live intentionally in full communion with God as we interact with our neighbors whom we are called to love.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the simple hearts of children who know love when they see it and return it. 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 The People

Eastertide

May 24, 2022

Scripture Reading: Acts 16:16-34

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God. –Acts 16:25-34

Our country, the whole world actually, has been caught in the throes of a pandemic, while dealing or failing to deal with the forces of unusually destructive fires, drought, hurricanes, floods, ice storms, and tornados. During all these challenges, our leadership seems primarily concerned with assuring that the rich get richer. Leaders invest their time in stirring up our prejudices and practicing divide and conquer politics. They care more about controlling people’s personal lives than addressing the systemic problems that plague the world, like poverty, climate change, and terrorism. The leadership in a true democracy should be a mirror image of we the people. We need to ask ourselves if indeed our leaders are a mirror image of us, and whether we are the ones who need to change.

Paul and Silas were imprisoned for trying to show people a better way. They did that in response to a deadly earthquake by demonstrating that better way. In doing so they changed the lives of their jailers. We are called to that same ministry of sharing the ways of Jesus not just in words but also in deeds and selecting leaders that share our vision of Jesus’s better way of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, welcoming strangers, and restoring prisoners to wholeness. Jesus says the nations will be judged on their response to these things not by how many billionaires it creates.

Prayer: Lord, search us for anything that prevents us from serving you more nearly and create in us clean hearts to guide right decisions and actions.  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.

Ruled by Greed

Eastertide

May 23, 2022

Scripture Reading: Acts 16:16-34

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.

But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. –Acts 16:16-24

Money—it is all about money. We are suffering from a pandemic of greed in our country that will be our downfall if we follow the patterns of history. When we reach some level of success as a people, we lose sight of God’s role in our progress and begin to see ourselves as the hope of our destiny. We are, indeed, responsible for how our society survives or even thrives but God is the designer of the universe. Our success is shaped by God’s creation and there is no place for greed in the Kingdom of God. I see it in the news analysis that this or that candidate will win because he or she has amassed the most campaign contributions. It pops up daily on my email, text messages, and phone calls. I receive ten to twenty calls each day from telephone numbers I do not know and do not answer because they are either spam or scams.

1 Timothy 6:10 says it best, For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. We, the people, can demand better laws to require transparency and limit contributions, but to do so we must wrestle with giving up what we perceive as the perks of greed.

Prayer: Lord, help us remove the greed from our lives to better deal with the greed that surrounds 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.

Tired of Being Sick and Tired

Eastertide

May 22, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 5:1-9

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
Now that day was a sabbath.

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired* When I read ‘Do you want to be made well?’ from the scripture above, the quote from Fannie Lou Hamer’s speech describing events in 1962 when she deigned to register to vote flashed through my mind. There are physical and mental illnesses from which individuals want and need to be healed, but there are societal illnesses that do much harm that must be healed if we are to transition our world from its current situation to Christ’s ideal of the kingdom of God. There are two sides to the situation described in the scripture above. First, we are all often blind to the needs of others around us as we scurry to grab hold of what we feel is ours to win. Some take the time to reach back guiding others to healing while they experience healing themselves. The other side of the story is the need for all of us to seek wholeness understanding our individual shortcomings and our societal shortcomings which will only improve if we invest ourselves in making the changes necessary to bring the world into sync with God’s will. We are indeed partners in God’s service.

Called as partners in Christ’s service
Called to ministries of grace
We respond with deep commitment
Fresh new lines of faith to trace
May we learn the art of sharing
Side by side and friend with friend
Equal partners in our caring
To fulfil God’s chosen end**

Prayer: Lord, guide us in being partners in your service. Amen.

*Taken from a speech made by Fannie Lou Hamer describing her treatment resulting from registering to vote in Indianola, Mississippi August 31, 1962.  See full transcript at https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2019/08/09/im-sick-and-tired-of-being-sick-and-tired-dec-20-1964/

**First verse of hymn Called as partners in Christ’s service by Jane Parker Huber and John Zundel see at https://digitalsongsandhymns.com/songs/6113

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.