Living in the Spirit

September 8, 2023

Scripture Reading: Romans 13:8-14
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. How do we live that? I am so tired of living in a world of divide and conquer, a world of making the rich richer resulting in increased poverty. How do we crawl out of this hole of unrighteousness and sometimes self-righteousness? I think it starts with self-examination. How much are we supporting those behaviors and actions without even knowing it? I am a creature of habit, and I do not like to shop, so I trade at the same places without knowing anything about how they treat their staff, how much profit they are making if they pay a living wage with appropriate benefits, employ their staff only part-time so they do not have to pay then certain benefits or work undocumented aliens to whom they do not pay the minimum wage and no benefits.

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts and minds to how we can love our neighbors as we love ourselves by wisely shopping. 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 in the Spirit

September 7, 2023

Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:33-40
Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes,
   and I will observe it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
   and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments,
   for I delight in it.
Turn my heart to your decrees,
   and not to selfish gain.
Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;
   give me life in your ways.
Confirm to your servant your promise,
   which is for those who fear you.
Turn away the disgrace that I dread,
   for your ordinances are good.
See, I have longed for your precepts;
   in your righteousness give me life.

In recent years, I have seen Jesus’s teachings as commentary, exploring the meaning of parts of the Hebrew Bible, like the Ten Commandments. Read the Sermon on the Mount, Mathew 5-7, and you will see that Jesus broadens the depth of some of those Commandments or other teachings. The commandments are not just a check-off list to make good grades, they describe a way of being designed to unite all people in an abundant life ruled by love.

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts as well as our minds to living your way 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.

Living in the Spirit

September 6, 2023

Scripture Reading:

Ezekiel 33:7-11
So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked ones, you shall surely die’, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?’ Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?

I am 100% against the death penalty. My basic reason is that the final judgment belongs to God. I support having a criminal justice system, and I believe some people who are a threat to themselves, or others may need to be sentenced to life in prison. The death penalty carries the inherent risk of executing an innocent person. Since 1973, at least 190 people who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated. We do not know how many innocent people have been executed. Once they are executed, no official investigation occurs to challenge the sentence.

Does God define as wicked all the things I identify as wicked? Do I see something I consider evil as evil in God’s eyes? Yes, I do think as Christ-followers, we have a responsibility to live and communicate God’s ways of being as described in the Bible, like the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. Rather than chastise someone for something I deem is evil, I am more comfortable suggesting someone try to follow Christ’s example of living and loving that would, of necessity, rule out the behavior I have observed.

Prayer: Lord, we are your servants and are called to do your wishes. Please guide us in the best way to share your love with someone who seems to have lost their 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.

Living in the Spirit

September 5, 2023

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 149
Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
   his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
   let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
Let them praise his name with dancing,
   making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
   he adorns the humble with victory.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
   let them sing for joy on their couches.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
   and two-edged swords in their hands,
to execute vengeance on the nations
   and punishment on the peoples,
to bind their kings with fetters
   and their nobles with chains of iron,
to execute on them the judgment decree.
   This is glory for all his faithful ones.
Praise the Lord!

I am left-handed, and although I have not experienced it, I have heard the stories of how my great-grandmother thought being left-handed was the mark of the devil. She had two daughters who were born left-handed. As soon as she noticed that tendency, she started tying their little left arms to their side every day until they learned to use the right hand instead of their left. My ancestor’s belief came from the story of the separation of the sheep and the goats. (See Matthew 25) The goats were labeled as the bad guys, and they were put on the left, and the sheep were good in other words obeyed Jesus’ teaching, and they were sent to the right. The truth is that goats and sheep are both valued animals. My dad’s doctor prescribed that he drink only goat’s milk. Wool comes from sheep. I understand Jesus’s point in telling the story in Matthew 25, but we humans sometimes get so caught up in the facts that we forget the meaning of what we read. Jesus also illustrated the same imagery of separating the wheat from the chaff; I do not think that story set apart any children being of the devil. (Matthew 3:12)

I do enjoy the Psalms, but many of them get caught up, like the one above, in separating, those whom we identify as not following God from the righteous that I fear sometimes leads to self-righteousness. That is not and has never been our calling. We are to live a life that invites people to know the God we love, who loves all God’s children and awaits them all with open arms tying no one’s arms to their sides.

Prayer: Lord, when we study your work, help us not get so tied up in its story that we miss its lesson.  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 in the Spirit

September 4, 2023

Scripture Reading:

Exodus 12:1-14
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations, you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

I watch the Dark Winds series when it is available, based on Tony Hillerman’s books telling stories of the Navaho people woven into a storyline of combating crime. I have read all the books, and the series brings to life the Navaho culture, which is alive too in the books, but it is nice to see that it can be displayed well in video. I fear we are missing the importance of understanding our culture and how it can relate well to our faith or not. I might even ask if we have a culture. Is our world moving so fast that we no longer have time to understand how we are living and if how we are living is congruent with how Christ calls us to live? I do not know where I am going with this. I wonder if we need to consider what we have lost or gained from losing our connections with our faith’s history and traditions.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in our studies of both scriptures and the history of our faith since those scriptures were written. What do we need to keep what is it time to let some go.   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 in the Spirit

September 2, 2023

Scripture Reading: Psalm 98:1-5
O sing to the Lord a new song,
   for he has done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
   have gained him victory.
The Lord has made known his victory;
   he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
   to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
   the victory of our God.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
   break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
   with the lyre and the sound of melody.

I awoke this morning with good around me, and I had not realized that that had not been my norm for a while. Usually, the news tells me how many people were shot in Oklahoma City overnight, where horrible fires, hurricanes, or tornadoes are destroying homes, and Russia is bombing Ukraine, driving Ukraine to hit back, COVID-19 deaths are rising again, and child sex trafficking is rampant.  The news programs are apparently tired of bad news, too. Many always look for some good news to share. For example, this morning, I heard of the schoolteacher who worked with her community to ensure that all the children in her school had food to eat and clothing to wear. God is still working God’s purpose out, and we are each a member of God’s staff implementing God’s purpose.

Prayer: Thank you for the examples of good people doing good things toward establishing your Kingdom on 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.

Living in the Spirit

September 1, 2023

Scripture Reading: Numbers 21:4b-9
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’ Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

The ancients seem to see a direct connection between catastrophe and sin. Jesus said that it rains on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45) Today, we have books such as Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner, grappling with the relationship of our behavior and its outcomes and the realities of the world in which we live. All three statements are true. Sin can result in catastrophe, but not always. It raining on the just and the unjust can be good or bad. Rain in times of drought is a welcomed gift from God, floods are not. The lesson in each of these outcomes is that God is always with us through all of life’s trials and joys, and when we are always with God, we understand that God is always working God’s purpose out including whatever role God has for each of us and all of us to create a world ruled by love.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we turn away from you and get caught in our misery. We thank you for always being with us as we strive to always be with 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.

Living in the Spirit

August 30, 2023

Scripture Reading: Psalm 26:1-8
Vindicate me, O Lord,
   for I have walked in my integrity,

   and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
   test my heart and mind.
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
   and I walk in faithfulness to you.

I do not sit with the worthless,
   nor do I consort with hypocrites;
I hate the company of evildoers,
   and will not sit with the wicked.

I wash my hands in innocence,
   and go around your altar, O Lord,
singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
   and telling all your wondrous deeds.

O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell,
   and the place where your glory abides.

I must confess this scripture hit me in all the wrong places. I was OK with the first two segments, but when I reached, I do not sit with the worthless I felt a negative reaction through my whole being. No one is worthless, and we all have experienced our battle with hypocrisy. Why is it that humans tend to establish their worth in comparison to being better than others? I am not an athlete, but I appreciate the ones I watch who only seem to work to improve themselves.

I fear when we put so much emphasis on being better than others, we begin to feel unworthy, which brings us down. When we work to become the best person we can be in whatever areas God has graced us with skills, we learn to appreciate the skills and talents of others and help them feel worthy.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we feel our worth is based on someone else’s lack of worth. Help us to live lives that celebrate everyone’s worth. 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.