Author Archives: WOJ@deborahsdescendants.com

Self-Righteous

Lent

March 31, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Philippians 3:4b-14

even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. –Philippians 3:4b-11

This is a letter to those of us who suffer from some degree of religious supremacy, and most of us do. In fact, we would not be participating in a religion we did not think was better, at least for us, than any other religion. I could easily write something like what Paul wrote in the opening section of the scripture quoted— born in the USA, a Christian born of Christians, baptized at the age of six. None of those matters, when I consider the great gift of grace, I receive from the love of God through Jesus the Christ. God’s righteousness must prevail not my self-righteousness for being born the right color in the right country to law-abiding parents who taught me to be law-abiding, even when some laws were/are unfair.

I purposely used the word supremacy because we are called to deal with it in our society today. Christian nationalism is also a phrase that evokes a marriage of church and state which makes me very uncomfortable. Indeed, my faith in God should drive every aspect of my faith, but I am not God and must not assume God’s role in the life of others even through manipulation of governance. God did grant us permission to love others—all others, no matter what and we can do as much of that as possible.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we take our privilege for granted. Help us to see how that may hurt others and help us make changes in our lives to correct such injustice. 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.

What Fortune?

Lent

March 30, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 126

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
   we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
   and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
  ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’
The Lord has done great things for us,
   and we rejoiced.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
   like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
   reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
   bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
   carrying their sheaves.

One of the gifts of Bible study is learning what one assumes but does not know. In my understanding, the word fortune implies a lot of money. Not even close to being the whole truth, I discovered. The first definition of fortune in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is a hypothetical force or power that unpredictably or capriciously determines events and issues favorably or unfavorably for persons or causes*. I had to read down to the fifth definition to find this, condition in life as determined by material possessions. Furthermore, when I checked Strong’s Concordance for the meaning of the Hebrew word translated as fortune in the scripture above, I discovered there was no word for what appears as fortunes above only an untranslatable mark of the accusative case**. I do recall understanding that there is both good fortune and bad fortune.

What I can glean from this scripture is that the people were wanting to return to what they considered to be a better state of being probably in a time of peace and prosperity. We can never turn back the clock to a better time. Even if we could return to the good old days, we would realize that we had moved on from them. What did we do before cell phones?

What the author of the above Psalm tells us is that when the bad fortunes that have set us back are conquered we are freed to plant new seeds, produce a new harvest and find new sources of peace and a new definition of prosperity from our times of bad fortunes. I see that forward-looking desire in the eyes of the Ukrainians longing for peace, I see it in the actions of people whose homes have been destroyed by the weather and understand that God is always with us in the good times and the bad comforting us and encouraging us to step out in faith to plant new seeds and grow a better world.

Prayer: Lord, we pray for all those whose lives are upside-down from all kinds of calamity. Show us how to love them as they struggle to survive. Amen.

*https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/fortune

**https://biblehub.com/hebrew/853.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.

Old to New

Lent

March 29, 2022

Scripture Reading:
Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord,
   who makes a way in the sea,
   a path in the mighty waters,
who brings out chariot and horse,
   army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
   they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
Do not remember the former things,
  or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
   now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
   and rivers in the desert.
The wild animals will honor me,
   the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
   rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
   the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.

Change is constant. I copy and paste the scriptures I used in these posts, italicize them, and quote the source below. My computer notes grammatical and spelling errors, but I do not make corrections indicated for my quotes. I do not know the rule regarding changing the grammar in quotes, so I just do not change them. Mostly, they put commas where we no longer use them and recommend taking commas out when our rules indicate they are needed. These are usually trivial corrections but a comma in the wrong place can make a world of difference.

My sister and I were talking about etiquette changes that have occurred over time. When we were children, family members never held bridal or baby showers for a relative. It is common now. The men always passed through a buffet line first. Now children who need help filling their plates go first. I must admit I always still feel a little strange letting go of the old ways even when they make more sense.

In the Psalm above God instructs us in doing a new thing through God, letting God’s way guide ours. And that requires faith that God will provide for us in our times of need.

Prayer: Thank you Lord, for guiding us through the newness of life.  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.

A New Thing

Lent

March 28, 2022

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord,
   who makes a way in the sea,
   a path in the mighty waters,
who brings out chariot and horse,
   army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
   they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
Do not remember the former things,
  or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
   now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
   and rivers in the desert.
The wild animals will honor me,
   the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
   rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
   the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.

Over the past few years, I have had a sense that we are living in a time that is as consequential as the Reformation, the Renaissance, or the Industrial Revolution all woven together. Religion is in chaos, digital communication surpasses the printing press, and travel has made the world more accessible. How we deal with such change will pave our path for the future. Where is our faith amid such change? How do we discern God’s way in the anger and divisiveness that flows through our systems of faith, government, and culture?

Isaiah tells us in 700 BCE that God is about to do a new thing in us, and God still is today. God will not rest until God’s Kingdom is fulfilled and neither should we.

Prayer: Here we are open to doing whatever you call us to do as we work toward the actualization of your Kingdom on earth, show us the way, and help us follow your path. 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.

Recognizing Whose We Are

Lent

March 27, 2022

Scripture Reading: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Then Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.’

Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”’ –Luke 15:11b-24

We come into the world being loved by God. We are God’s creation made in God’s image with gifts and talents designed to make a positive impact on the world around us. We come into the world with the gift of choice regarding how we reflect God and how we invest our gifts and talents. The prodigal son chose to squander not only his inheritance of being made in the image of God but also his gifts and talents. At the point of desperation when he realized the results of his actions, he returned to his Creator and asked for a second chance and it was granted with the fulness of God’s love and forgiveness.

Our world is full of prodigal adults and children who do not know whose they are and thus do not fully understand who they are. In fact, most of us have experienced isolation from God at one time or another, even those of us who work at doing everything right like the prodigal’s brother. Be assured in either case God welcomes all who search for God’s loving care.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we turn away and forge our lives outside of your loving care. Help us turn around and return to you. 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.

Holier-than-Thou

Lent

March 26, 2022

Scripture Reading:
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ –Luke 15:1-3

who say, ‘Keep to yourself,
   do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.’
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
   a fire that burns all day long. –Isaiah 65:5

Holier-than-thou describes someone who behaves as if he is morally superior, though in fact, he is not. A holier-than-thou person is considered sanctimonious, self-righteous and not of any higher moral qualities than anyone else*.

The phrase holier-than-thou was derived from the Isaiah scripture quoted above. The verses leading up to verse five list the sins of those who were too holy for others. I fear we live in a world where holier-than-thou behavior is practiced.  Our justice system even acknowledges that status, when white color crimes result in finds and stealing food, results in a jail term. In Oklahoma, if you cannot meet bail you go to jail even though no determination of guilt has been made. Often because of the backup in the justice system, a person can sit in jail for weeks, months before they are tried. In such instances, they often lose jobs and may be evicted for failure to pay rent, and may have not been guilty of a crime at all. As people of faith, we are called to do justice ourselves but also to assure that our governments at all levels do justice.

Prayer: Lord, open our eyes to the injustice that is all around us and help us to do justice and support the rights of all to justice. Amen.

*https://grammarist.com/usage/holier-than-thou/

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.

A New Creation

Lent

March 25, 2022

Scripture Reading:

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 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. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

How do the norms of our lives intersect or even serve as our faith? A norm is an ideal standard binding upon the members of a group and serving to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behavior*. I am what is called a cradle Christian. I jokingly say I was singing Jesus Love Me in the womb. We prayed before each meal, went to church whenever the doors were opened, serving in various jobs. How much of our faith is a well-practiced habit and how much is our living in Christ as a new creation.

I value growing up in a faith-based family and still sing Jesus Loves Me. Yet, at some point, in my life I had to work out my own relationship with God, requiring me to examine the norms I inherited to determine if they are true of God. Jesus did this in his 40 days of wandering in the wilderness. The process never ends. We must all take time to consider whether our actions are simply a reflection of our life norms or if they are of God. In a world that gets smaller every day, we must reassess how we love all the one another’s we encounter outside the boundaries of our norms.

Prayer: Lord, help me learn to love all the children you created. Amen.

*https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/norm number 3

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.

Reconciled to and through God

Lent

March 24, 2022

Scripture Reading:

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 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. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Reconciliation always requires change whether we are reconciling ourselves to God or one another. We reconcile to God when we commit to coming in line with God’s loving ways of being where God accepts us as we are and as we grow into being all that we can be. Reconciliation with one another involves every day coming into sync with people as we traverse the routines of our lives making the effort to bring our lives into alignment with others. Reconciliation also must occur to correct the fault lines, we may have inherited, but remain a danger to justice for all people. The lack of reconciliation among people is at the heart of most of our problems in this world today and is often the result of being out of sync with God’s justice as we withdraw from being reconciled to God in search of the gods of the world.

The peculiar thing about reconciliation is the issues needing to be reconciled are not the heart of the matter they are merely outcomes. We will never solve those negative outcomes until we address the fundamental problem of failing to love like God at some time in some place recently or historically and change our hearts as well as our behavior.

Prayer: Create in us clean hearts and right spirits as we work for reconciliation. 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.

Spirit Memory

Lent

March 23, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 32

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
   whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,
   and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

While I kept silence, my body wasted away
   through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
   my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
   and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’,
   and you forgave the guilt of my sin. –Psalm 39:1-5

This Psalm is specifically attributed to David. He opens with a celebration of being forgiven but follows it with a segment that reeks of guilt describing the time between committing a sin and the attainment of forgiveness. From all reports, David had a deep and abiding life-long relationship with God. He was all too human, also. Fred Craddock wrote a Bible study years ago that was based on the premise that we sin in the areas of our greatest gifts.  (My words, I do not remember his exact description.) David was a crafty strategist. He slew Goliath with shrewdness not might. He played games around poor King Saul while avoiding killing the King. He sent Uriah, to the frontline assuring his death to cover up David’s dalliance that went too far with Bathsheba. And David built one of the most successful nations in history.

How do we decrease using our skills and talents in negative ways and hone them to perfection in service to God?  Our natural, go-to reactions are almost completed before we even consider a response. I wonder how quickly David realized what he had done after ordering his general to send Uriah to the frontline. Spiritual memory is like the muscle memory of a good athlete. The field of play is not the time to contemplate the next steps. Athletes spend hours every day building that muscle memory so that when they act the action is spontaneous in the right way to achieve their goal whether it is hitting or blocking a shot, for example. All people of faith must work diligently to attain spiritual memory so that our reactions are based on service to God. That, indeed, requires individual work with good teachers/pastors, but it also means honing our skills to work effortlessly with a team. Think how firefighters respond to a blaze where everyone seems to know the next important response and does it reflexively. How much time and training must be completed to do the impossible so effortlessly.  People of faith must build their teams, too.

Prayer: Lord, keep us focused on your desired outcomes and mold and make us into individuals and teams ready to respond in spiritual memory. 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.

Cling to God

Lent

March 22, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Joshua 5:9-12

The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.’ And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.

While the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

The disgrace of Egypt may have been the failure of the escaping Israelites to continue the practice of circumcision when they wandered in the wilderness. I am unsure why. Were they angry at God for both being enslaved and being thrust into what they considered a God-forsaken place to wander with only what they had been able to carry out of Egypt? Maybe they thought if God had left them, they would leave God. Joshua reminded his people that God is still with them, that they needed to return to his loving care that was there all along.

My morning news today carried a brief video of a worship service being held in Ukraine amid the bombings. It gave me hope for them but also for the rest of us dealing with a world gone mad and in desperate need of a Savior we already have.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.

 Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
  In the light of His glory and grace.

Prayer: Lord, hold us closer than ever in your loving arms and help us to see a peaceful way to end the battles of war and governance. Amen.

First verse and chorus of Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus by Helen Howarth Lemmel. See at https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/645

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.