Author Archives: WOJ@deborahsdescendants.com

Self-Sufficiency

Lent

March 21, 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.

I worked in the public welfare arena for 35 years and took a lot of negative blowbacks from friends and relatives, even some strangers, who classified the poor as lazy, no-good, people. I had an aunt who attacked me at every family reunion about all the welfare queens she knew. My observation over those years was that people receiving public assistance were essentially no different than the general population. It may come as a surprise but there are lazy, no-good people at every income level. I have been a waitress and a nurse’s aide (now called a nursing assistant, I think) and can assure you that neither job is for the weak or the lazy. The minimum wage in Oklahoma for waitpersons is $2.12 an hour they are expected to make up the difference between that and the minimum wage of $7.50 an hour with tips. According to the MIT living wage calculator, a living wage for a single person in Oklahoma is $13.53 an hour. What we strive for in the human services realm is helping people become self-sufficient.

Sufficient means to meet one’s obligations or satisfy one’s needs: competency also: a modest but not parsimonious scale or way of living: adequate comfort*.

I thought of this as I read the scripture above regarding the Israelite need for manna after their escape from Egypt. Eventually, they learned to be self-sufficient in planting and growing crops.  I hated the change in the law in the mid-1990s when the federal government changed the work requirement for receiving public assistance to taking the first job offered. Most of those jobs were minimum wages. With an 18-month vocational education course, an individual could move from being a nursing assistant to becoming a practical nurse that would pay enough to make them self-sufficient. Nursing assistants to survive would need food stamps, Medicaid, and if they had children childcare supplements, and they would still face the judgmental biases of their neighbors who are called to love them.

Prayer: Lord, you provided manna when it was needed and people to guide your children into self-sufficiency. Help us never forget our role in helping others to reach that standard. Amen.

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

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 Faith

Lent

March 20, 2022

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:1-9

Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”’ –Luke 13:6-9

I do not think I have ever seen a fig tree in Oklahoma. I checked and learned that they will grow here if the variety planted is hardy enough for cold weather and watered adequately when the weather is hot. I do know that fruit trees vary in the length of time from planting to bearing fruit. Fruiting fig trees have a long juvenile period compared to other fruit trees. Most figs will not produce a crop for the first four to five years*.

I guess that is why this scripture has always puzzled me. The gardener most likely understood that the tree was developing normally as the gardener advised they give the tree another year. I was interested when I read the information about fig trees quoted above that the word juvenile was used. Jesus may be describing ways to help teenagers move through the transition from childhood to adulthood physically, mentally, and spiritually. It could as well apply to all transitions in our faith. James W. Fowler’s book, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning describes the transitions of faith from birth to death.  Getting stuck and staying in one of the stages is when problems arise. I must admit, I have recently wondered if many people in our society are stagnating in the terrible two’s stage of psychological development.

I also noted that the owner changed his tone after hearing the gardener’s recommendation. The owner did not say if the tree failed to produced in a year to cut it down, he gave the gardener permission to cut it down leaving the impression that it was the gardener’s decision.

This scripture draws me to read Fowler’s books again and assess where I am in my faith development. It also challenges us when we are serving in the role of helping others grow in their faith we let God guide us and practice patience.

Prayer: Lord, guide me in my faith development and when I am called to guide others. Amen.

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/fig-tree-bear-fruit-49324.html

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.

Repentance

Lent

March 19, 2022

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’–Luke 13:1-5

Years ago, a woman I worked with was treated very badly by the male executives in the agency. She was clearly the best person for a job that she did not get. It was awarded to a young man with little or no experience and who had less education. He became her supervisor. She, of course, ended up doing the work for which he was paid. I stopped by her office and told her how sorry I was, and she said, “that’s OK, the executives will get theirs in the end.” Something similar to Karma is easy to find in most cultures.

Jesus is telling us that God’s justice is not an accidental coincidence. God has commanded us to love one another with no exceptions. Jesus modeled that love in his life, death, and resurrection. We are judged by that scale. We all fall short of perfection in our love and thus, we need to come before God and confess our shortcomings and seek God’s better way. Psalm 51:1-2 might be a good scripture to apply to our lives. It is ascribed to David as his repentance over his relationship with Bathsheba. Here are the first two verses.

Prayer:
Have mercy on me, O God,
   according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
   blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
   and cleanse me from my sin. 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 is Faithful

Lent

March 18, 2022

Scripture Reading:

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. –1 Corinthains 10:6-13

Bad behavior can result in bad outcomes, but not necessarily. Good behavior can also result in bad outcomes. For example, the person who jumps in a lake to save a child from drowning drowns. I believe Jesus when he says it rains on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). That does not authorize us to do bad things. More times than not our bad behavior catches up with us whether it is overeating or mistreating others or robbing convenience stores. Our ancestors in faith lived in a time when direct connections were made from a bad outcome to something someone had done. When I worked in a nursing home one of the patients told me the story about the long red birthmark on her thigh. Her mother told her the birthmark was punishment for her mother’s climbing over a fence to take fruit from a neighbor’s tree. She slipped and the barbed wire cause an identical scar on her mother’s thigh. I did not know what to make of that when I was 19. I doubt she ever stole fruit from a neighbor’s tree. Paul’s comment No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone is important for us to heed. We come from a different perspective when we are tested because God is faithful and is always with us.

Prayer: Thanks be to God. 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.

Seeing through Christ’s Eyes

Lent

March 17, 2022

Scripture Reading:

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. –1 Corinthians 10:1-5

People who identify as Christians all read the same Bible and, too often, see what we want to see. There is a campaign ad running in Oklahoma against Governor Stitt regarding the crimes of one of the 400+ people who were granted early release under a program to reduce the sentences of people already in prison. This is not an endorsement of any candidate for office. It is an example of how totally different people understand the same stories. The man killed a woman cut out her heart, cooked it, and when some of the man’s family members refused to eat it, he killed them. The ad is saying the current Governor is not tough enough on crime. I saw it as the story of our total lack of appropriate mental health services in the state of Oklahoma. The man was not recommended for release, and, indeed there may be some people who need to be confined for the protection of others, but society has a responsibility to offer them every opportunity to find wholeness and to be the best person they can be. He could have committed the same crime in prison, killing other prisoners or prison staff. We just executed another mentally ill man who killed a member of the prison staff. That crime, too, was preventable had he received appropriate care.

Our scripture today talks about the fact that the Israelites had access to the God of love who fed them all the same spiritual food and drink, but some did not like its taste.

In times like these you need an anchor;
Be very sure, be very sure,
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!*

Prayer: Lord, help us clearly see the needs of all your children and work to help them attain wholeness. Amen.

First verse of hymn In Times Like These by Ruth Caye Jones See at https://namethathymn.com/christian-hymns/in-times-like-these-lyrics.html

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.

Heal Our Souls

Lent

March 16, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Psalm 63:1-8

O God, you are my God, I seek you,
   my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
   as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
   beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
   my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
   I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
   and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed,
   and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
   and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
   your right hand upholds me.

This is my go-to scripture for refreshing my relationship with God. I memorized it years ago and rarely read it. Today’s reading reminded me that the version I memorized is slightly different from the verses quoted above, but the sense remains the same. I am not sure how satisfied my soul is currently and I avoid rich feasts for my health. I do remember lazily sitting with mostly the women in my family after Thanksgiving dinner when I was a child. I know what a rich feast with loved ones is about and that the riches come from the sharing of love, which can also be measured by the healthiness or quantity of the food.  

Satisfying my soul, however, is a greater challenge. I am reminded of the third verse of the Christmas carol I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on Earth, ” I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, good will to men*

Hate is a symptom, not a cause. Greed and lust for power are the drivers of our lack of peace. I doubt seriously that those who war against others care about the people they hurt, the greedy want the other’s land or money or whatever else they may have that is of worth to the perpetrator. Greed is a fatal disease but before its death, many people can be damaged. Our great challenge is to share the love of God throughout the earth until the souls of all God’s children can be satisfied and they can end their quest for abundance by recognizing it only lies in sharing love with God and with one another.

Prayer: Lord, heal our souls so that we can be a conduit of your love to all your children. Amen.

*https://www.google.com/search?q=i+heard+the+bells+on+christmas+day+lyrics&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS987US987&oq=I+heard+t&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j35i39j46i512l4j0i512j46i512j0i512l2.4028j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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.

Communing with God

Lent

March 15, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 55:1-9

Seek the Lord while he may be found,
   call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,
   and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
   and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts. –Isaiah 55:6-9

When can the Lord not be found? When is God not nearby? My experience tells me that I am the one who is lost, and I am the one who has pulled back from God. For two or three months after my mother died, I said my nightly prayers and got the sense that they were not getting past the ceiling. Grief does that to people. Finally, one evening as I prayed, I had the great sense that the very heavens had opened, and my prayers had not only transcended the ceiling but had indeed reached all the way to God’s abode. I also hold tightly to the scripture Romans 8:26, Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

On the other hand, I am guilty, at times, of wanting God’s ways to be my ways and wonder why God does not share my logic. To enjoy the abundant life the Lord designed for us we must seek the Lord not only in our prayers but also in our study and sharing with other people of faith. The challenge with that is we can invest more time in trying to convince others that our ways are God’s ways until we, like the first-century Pharisees, perceived God’s ways that Jesus modeled as a threat to the more comfortable ways we have established.

Prayer: Lord, create in us clean hearts and right spirits to incorporate your ways of being into our ways of being. 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.

Assuring that all have enough

Lent

March 14, 2022

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 55:1-9

Ho, everyone who thirsts,
   come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
   come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
   without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
   and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
   and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
   listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
   my steadfast, sure love for David.
See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
   a leader and commander for the peoples.
See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
   and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
   for he has glorified you. –Isaiah 55:1-5

Enough is a simple word that sets the boundaries on wholeness which can only happen when supported by oneness and justice. I have spent most of my life addressing issues related to poverty. Poverty is the end result of never having enough of the necessities of life. I once heard a speaker say that the difference between being poor and living in poverty is that the latter live without hope.

The poverty ratio in the USA for four people is $25,701* per year or an annual salary of $12.35 per hour working 52 weeks, 40 hours per week. Sixteen percent of children live in poverty*.

God’s desire is for everyone to have enough. That does not mean everyone must have the same resources but it does mean that all should have the necessities of life written about in the above scripture. We are called to bring hope to the hopeless.

Prayer: Lord, help us assure that others, all others have enough. Amen.

*https://www.povertyusa.org/facts

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.

Do Something

Lent

March 13, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. –Luke 9:28-36

I find it hard to imagine what it must have been like to be a part of Jesus’s disciples as he ministers across Galilee and Judea. He was a man who never met a stranger, took on the establishment when he did not agree with them, told Peter to “Get behind me Satan” (Matthew 16:23) when Jesus tried to explain that he was to be killed. He loved children and cried when his friend died. He, indeed, was fully human, but then he healed the sick, raised the dead, stilled the storm, and reunited with Moses and Elijah on the mountainside. Was this man, really the Messiah, the promised one. If he was what does that mean to the disciples?

I do know the feeling of the need to do something, anything after a remarkable event. On the day of the Oklahoma City bombing, the building where I worked shook. TVs and radios were turned on to see what was going on and we saw the face of the Murrah Building gone. An announcement for blood donors was made, particularly for people with O- type blood, and that included me. I ran to my car and quickly drove to the nearest blood center only to see a line that was already two blocks long. I turned around and went to a nearby bank that had been turned into a collection center and encountered an even longer line. I parked and stepped to the end of the line. In just a few moments a volunteer passed by asking for people with O- blood. I raised my hand and was immediately rushed to the front of the line, still behind 50 or so people.

Jesus was transformed on that mountain but so were Peter, James, and John. Their first knee-jerk reaction sounds rather pathetic but was the beginning of a mission that changed the world. We wear their shoes now and our world could sure use some help.

Prayer: Lord, send your Spirit to guide us as we take your love to the ends of the earth. 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.

The Common Good

Lent

March 12, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Luke 13:31-35

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” 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! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”’

I wonder what Jesus would say if he looked down upon our nation and our state today. I feel confident his words would be the same as those he spoke looking down on Jerusalem. Oklahoma is a state fighting against its own best interests. It ranks 47th in life expectancy* and 42nd in poverty**. The percentages vary among the different measures used to determine the standing of our ability to address these issues, but the numbers are only slightly different. We rank in the bottom 10 among all states in health care and health outcomes, education, and criminal justice. The one common denominator among these three ways of solving these problems is our leader’s desire to spread our tax dollars among for-profit providers rather than tackle the issues without greasing the skids of greed.

Jesus showed us the way in his life and his teachings. In Matthew 25 he says he will judge the nations in whether they fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, cared for the sick, and restored those in prison. In recent times we have turned inward only caring about our personal rights not the wellbeing of all. Jesus teaches us that there is room in God’s kingdom for all to have enough to thrive and we are each individually and collectively responsible for striving for that common good.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for not fulfilling your plan for your world. Amen.

*https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa/oklahoma-life-expectancy

**https://www.news9.com/story/5e3498fe527dcf49dad814d4/oklahoma-ranks-among-the-poorest-states-in-the-us#:~:text=And%20Oklahoma%20wound%20up%20in,median%20household%20income%20at%20%2449%2C176.

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.