Category Archives: Uncategorized

Citizenship Amongst Noisy Gongs

Do not have loveLiving in the Spirit
September 4, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 14:25-33

Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. –Luke 14:31-33

I worked as a planner in state government for some 20+ years. This experience taught that unforeseen realities often require changing courses, small distractions can be major deterrents to success, and perseverance toward attaining any vision and mission is critical. The first three verses of I Corinthians 13 were written for such a time as this:

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1-3)

The purpose of the Body of Christ is to love God and love like Jesus loves. The purpose of governments at all levels is to provide for the Common Good. These two purposes naturally complement each other unless other political realities intercede to throw either off course. In the United States, we the people, are ultimately responsible for our governance. If we do not like our country’s current status of gridlock supporting economic and social injustice, then we need to do something about it. It begins with electing officials who can work together to find the things on which they can agree, work on those, and use them as a springboard toward furthering the Common Good.

[National] Voter turnout in 2014 was the lowest since WWII – The Washington Post

[In Oklahoma in 2014] 40.7 percent of registered voters showed up, the lowest recorded rate since 1962. – Oklahoma Watch

We cannot get caught up in the noisy gongs and clanging cymbal. I we hear the same thing over and over again whether it is true or not it often sticks in our minds. While important, the Presidential race’s outcome will not matter, if Congress is dysfunctional. Commercial media’s vision and mission seem to relate to high ratings resulting in higher incomes or other self-interest. It may not be the best source of information nor is the wildly exaggerated or truncated stories shared on social media. God gifted each of us with some common sense if something is too good or too bad to be true, check it out.

Prayer: Lord, create in me a clean heart and a right spirit as I prepare for voting this fall. Focus my anger and frustrations with the system to playing my part in improving 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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

What is a Bigot?

imagesP0OTXNSGLiving in the Spirit
September 1, 2016

Scripture Reading: Philemon 1-21

When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith towards the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.

 For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. –Philemon 4-8

What is a bigot? Who can judge when someone is a bigot? What is the politically correct way to call a bigot, a bigot? Merriam-Webster defines a bigot as a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices*. God is the only one capable of knowing the heart of any human or judging human beliefs or actions. In the final analysis, we are all most likely bigots at one time or another. In many instances, our bigotry hides behind cultural norms that define class and other categories of diversity such as race, gender, ethnicity, and religion. As with Philemon, our actions may be norms masking themselves as justice. Such was the case of slavery in the first century CE. In the letter to Philemon, Paul takes on the challenging task of helping a friend, a good man, see himself through the eyes of God’s justice, not cultural norms. While God transforms our way of being and thinking, we must deal with the outward expression of our misunderstanding of who we are by doing justice that seems to go against everything we may have believed.

From Where did those cultural norms come? Some may have grown out of necessity. Nursing women need to stay close to their offspring, leaving men free to search for food. More grew out of greed. Overthrowing strangers produced land, water, other resources and additional labor. We tend to hold on to cultural norms that result in our feeling good about ourselves.

Jesus taught a different way, one identifying all humans as God’s offspring. Envisioning a world where all can feel good about themselves where peace results from justice.

Prayer: Lord, our world is overcome with greed. It is a habit hard to break. Impossible without your love infusing us with the will to see our lives as they really are, turn around, and do justice. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/bigot

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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Effect and Cause

JesusBentWomanPainting%20better%20color%20(1000x750)Living in the Spirit
August 20, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:10-17

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. –Luke 13:10-13

Cause and effect impact our lives far more than we might image and sometimes our assumptions are wrong. In the first century, illness was associated with spirit or demon possession. Today illnesses are named related to scientific discoveries of cause and effect removing the idea of external forces overtaking us. We still may not know what causes gene mutations or whether our patterns of behavior program our minds to dysfunction. Our treatments remain focused primarily on fixing effects.

Jesus practiced preventive intervention. Yes, he did remove barriers to wholeness, but he taught how to live once freed from such constraints. He saw the effects, but he focused on the causes. He understood the connection between justice and wholeness.

Is poverty the result of being fundamentally unable to support oneself or is the cause of poverty more related to failures in our education and economic systems? Is poverty the result of a vicious circle of both making cause and effect, effect and cause?

The USA practices cyclical poverty. Our over indulgences of the 1920’s combined with natural disasters to bring about the Great Depression. The economic recovery following World War II left too many people behind, and we found ourselves picking up the pieces from riots in the mid-1960’s. We find ourselves once again in a lopsided society of a few haves, and many have-nots. I am constantly struck by how this pattern emulates so well the history of the people of Israel in their relationship with God. They too had prophets sounding warnings about the causes to no avail as Jesus did in the first century.

Jesus’ way still works today, and we can still impact effects of lost wholeness by practicing God’s justice.

Prayer: Lord, make us whole and make us just. Make us just and make us whole. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Partners in Kingdom Building

1-corinthians-13-4-7Living in the Spirit
August 16, 2016

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-10

See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.’—Jeremiah 1:10

Just like the earth exists in a constant pattern of cleansing and growth and harvesting and nature’s composting and reseeding and regrowth so too does the Kingdom of God. Like a river flowing to the sea, God is working God’s purpose out, as we partner in its course. While we may gain great joy from the building or the harvesting, they neither happen without the other processes.

Constant vigilance results in the wise use of our time and energy. Going through the motions of church without commitment to outcomes is not productive. Jeremiah’s call to be a prophet came at a time when the Israelites needed to hear such a message. All people of faith need to hear this message. Our worship and service done without our hearts and minds fully engaged are indeed as Paul described in 1st Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Prayer: God of Mercy, enable our loving so that we may further your Kingdom. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

No Excuses

Jeremiah's CallLiving in the Spirit
August 15, 2016

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ But the Lord said to me,
‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you. –Jeremiah 1:4-7

“I am retired. The younger generation needs to take over.” “I must make a living. I’ll do that when I am retired.” “We raise children. We don’t have time for anything else.” Jeremiah said, “I am only a boy” when called to serve in the Kingdom of God and God did not accept his excuse. My mother set the example of answering God’s call in every aspect of her life. As children, she incorporated us in her service, and it became our service. Even as a 95+-year-old in a nursing home, she had an active prayer ministry. The success of the kingdom of God depends on each and every one of us doing our part. No one retires from this calling.

Jeremiah faced serious discord and challenges in his response to God’s call. Written off because of his age, he had to work harder than some just to get people’s attention. When caught in such circumstances, one must have confidence in the call as well as the message and that demands a deep and abiding relationship with God. It also requires that we learn from mistakes we make and rectify any to the best of our ability. We may have to seek other ways of being active in our ministry, gain new skills, or refocus on new endeavors. Quitting is not an option.

Prayer: Lord, walk with me throughout my ministry. When I falter, lead me forward. When I need encouragement, send a messenger with a word of hope. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Cleansing Fire

Cleansing Fire
August 13, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 12:49-56

‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; –Luke 12:49-52

Fire while devastating in its randomness refines when applied well. Fire reduces everything to a pile of ashes when the conditions are right. What did Jesus see in the first century that needed such attention? What do we as a society need to purge permanently from our system? Not much has changed among humans and how they treat one another from the first century to the 21st. I fear greed and lust for power are as epidemic now as then.

In Oklahoma red cedars grow wildly and abundantly. Farmers do control burns to get rid of these trees because farmers know that one spark from the friction of train wheels meeting track can cause a monster fire. Just such an event caused a fire a few years ago that destroyed hundreds of acres of crop land, burned all the outbuildings on my brother’s farm including farm implements and vehicles. Firefighters saved his house. His closest neighbor was not as fortunate, although no one was hurt. Red cedar explodes into great burning bushes that throw off flames toward the next one and the next one until there is nothing left, but blackened fields with patches of red clay earth.

Jesus offered us the salvation of a controlled burn. He still does. He will bring wholeness and oneness and justice if we let him. We have to decide if greed or lust for power or whatever else separates us from living in and through God’s love is more important than being whole in God’s love.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we place other wants above our desire to be in relationship with you. While we are caught in the inferno of our society today, help us see the possibilities of the new life that will spring forth once the fire has died. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Enough is Enough

EnoughLiving in the Spirit
July 30, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ –Luke 12:13-15

Our society, perhaps the world, is experiencing an epidemic of greed, which I believe will be our downfall if we do not implement the cure for it. It is a disease as old as time itself. Was Abel’s offering better than Cain’s? Should a mother’s favored son get the inheritance?

The prophet’s ranted against greed. Jerimiah said in Jerimiah 6:3,
For from the least to the greatest of them,
   everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
   everyone deals falsely.

Our scripture today quotes Jesus speaking about greed.

Greed is insidious. It creeps into all our lives in bits and pieces until it gains control. It is when we cross over the line placing greed as the driving force in our life that we cannot seem to escape it. The need for more grows greater than our need for God—more money, more power, more control.

The power of God’s love in and through us is the only antidote to greed. When we truly accept God’s love our need for more vanishes. When we share our love with others, we recognize that everyone having enough grows to be as important as any of us having more.

Prayer: Lord, fill my soul with your love so that there is no room left for greed and let my love be the source of everyone having enough. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Parenting 101

Moloch-and-His-Minions-e1460383254356Living in the Spirit
July 25, 2016

Scripture Reading: Hosea 11:1-11

When Israel was a child, I loved him,
   and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
   the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
   and offering incense to idols. –Hosea 11:1-2

All children age-appropriately test and try the wisdom they receive from their parents. It is how they grow and mature into strong, healthy adults. “Don’t touch; it’s hot” is a truth learned very quickly when a toddler’s hand just cannot resist the grill guarding a fire. Score one for the wisdom of parents.

My mother grew up in an age when a deck of playing cards was the devil’s handiwork. We never had such a deck in our home. When my brother, sister, and I were teenagers visiting friends, we routinely played spades and hearts without an iota of guilt. The inherent problems of gambling stuck, cast in the math of chance and better uses for hard earned money. Mom was a math teacher. Cultures change; God does not. There is always give and take as children grow into adults each as unique beings. We would want it no other way. Hopefully, all journeys toward adulthood are undergirded by loving parents who make the tough trip easier.

In the scripture today, Hosea describes God in the role of a loving parent who saved the people from oppression, gave them a way of being beyond the only things they knew–slavery, and traveled with them every step they took toward the promised land. Somewhere beyond their rescue, the people grew restless wanting to touch the grill and not get burned, and if God could not protect them, they would find a god that would. They turned their back on God’s wisdom and God’s love.

While God’s love never diminishes, the Lord grants us the freedom to follow God’s way and to accept the consequences of our decisions and actions. As we face the challenges and fears of our world today, we need to hold on more tightly than ever to God’s wisdom and not waste our time searching for other gods whose motivation is not love.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we hunt for other gods willing to allow us to live in danger’s way. Remind us of the wisdom of your loving ways. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Beyond All Hope

let-the-nations-be-glad-series-453x340Living in the Spirit
July 19, 2016

Scripture Reading: Hosea 1:2-10

She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen.’

 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said, ‘Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God.’ –Hosea 1:6-9

Hosea intimates that when God went in search of Israel, God could not recognize the country because it had shifted so far away from God’s will and way. It had moved past the point of pity and even past forgiveness—past any hope of salvation as a nation. At this point in Biblical history, the Nation of Israel had split into two countries. The country on the north retained the name Israel; the country on to the south became Judah. Israel had aligned earlier with the Assyrians to strengthened their cause against Aram around 846 BCE, which brought them safety for a time. Hosea thought the alignment went against God and that it would only end badly for Israel. Israel did fall to Assyria in 722 BCE.

We are making decision today that will affect our descendants. What was going on in the Middle East in Hosea’s time mirrors our world today. With whom should we align? The “7th generation” principle taught by Native Americans says that in every decision, be it personal, governmental or corporate; we must consider how it will affect our descendants seven generations into the future*. I fear we cannot see past our present self-serving interest.

How do we get past our need for instant gratification and entitlement? We might start by reading the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Or read the parables about Christ’s vision of the Kingdom of God. We might examine ourselves to see how closely we are following Christ’s lessons. If each of us finds answers for our behavior; we will find the answers for our behavior as a community of faith.

Prayer: Lord, renew in us the desire to be a positive light unto the world. Amen.

*http://www.mollylarkin.com/what-is-the-7th-generation-principle-and-why-do-you-need-to-know-about-it-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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Burnout

why-love-healsLiving in the Spirit
July 17, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 10:38-42

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

Jesus apparently felt right at home at Mary and Martha’s place, being able to say what he thought without fear. Being nurtured physically, socially, mentally, and spiritually was surely rejuvenating. Mary and Martha’s place was home for his soul’s restoration.

The Body of Christ in all its manifestations is called to be a haven for soul-nourishing and healing when needed. I have experienced real, diagnosable burnout. I was transferred to a children’s hospital to supervise social workers in the midst of the state’s dedication to resurrecting that facility. My work started with a small staff doing specialized work during a normal eight-hour-day, but soon morphed into supervising three shifts, round-the-clock with ever broadening responsibilities. Uneven development is a necessary hazard in most business startups or restructures. I did not know I was in burnout until I left that job and went back to graduate school, which became the oasis in my desert of too much.

I learned an important lesson in that process. God wants us to take care of ourselves and each other as we journey together toward the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom. Our success in implementing God’s plan depends on it.

Prayer: Lord, bless each of us with your wisdom of self-care. Protect us from not investing enough in answering your call and protect us when we think we must do it all

. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.