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The Righteousness of Faith

Love covers a multitude of sinsLent
February 26, 2015

Scripture Reading: Romans 4:13-25

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. — Romans 4:13-15

I think we sometimes forget that the Torah, the laws came after creation, came after Abraham’s epiphany of God, even came after the Israelites were taken into and led out of slavery in Egypt. Paul points out in our scripture that faith supersedes all other aspects of our relationship with God and the resulting impact that has on community. Jesus Christ as the incarnation of God with us lifts us above besting ourselves in meeting the letter of the law and frees us to invest those energies in loving God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. Frees us to do justice and show mercy.

Now rules and laws have their place, and certainly what we call the Ten Commandments have stood the test of time. While our sanitary practices have evolved with innovation, we still follow rules to assure good health practices not only for ourselves but to protect others. I doubt if our ancient ancestors in faith ever dreamed we would be issuing rules about net neutrality, but they did have ways of keeping people informed. And our etiquette books are a little thicker than theirs but they still exist.

Rules and laws are malleable as the world adjusts to innovation and changes in resources. God’s love never changes. It is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. As we grow in our love and faith in God, we may find that we are living God’s laws of love that cover a multitude of sins.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the host of witnesses that have gone before us and shared their walks with you as testimonies of your faithfulness. Guide us with the light of your love and let your love shine through us. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

The Choice to Love

Love is a choiceLent February 25, 2015

Scripture Reading: Psalm 22:23-31 All the ends of the earth shall remember    and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations    shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord,    and he rules over the nations. —Psalm 22:27-28

My impression, drawn from the scriptures, is that God wants to be loved because we want to love God. We demonstrate our love for God, not only through worship, but also by following the path of caring for one another that God has set before us. We do justice, show mercy, and walk humbly with God. (Micah 6:8) We cannot legislate love and we cannot bully or terrorize people into loving. We have been given the freedom to choose to love.

Our culture has mystified love, making it something we think we fall into or out of. We have trivialized love, applying it, in many instances, to create a superlative form of the word “like”. We have sexualized love often ignoring the boarder scope of the love God has for us or the love we have for others that is like the love of siblings. I like M. Scott Peck’s simplified definition of love: wanting the very best for another.

Such is the love God calls us to choose for all who are made in God’s image. Practicing choosing to love reorders and reprioritizes our lives. It draws us to a center where God has been along.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for choosing to love us. Thank you for the freedom to choose to love you and to choose to love others. Strengthen me to love as you love and let my love always be to your glory and honor. 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.

Ultimat Authority

JusticeLent
February 24, 2015

Scripture Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ — Genesis 17: 15-16

Sarai, Abraham’s wife, is assigned a new name also. Sarah as a proper name means Princess* in Hebrew. As a prime common verb “sarah” means contended, striven, or wrestled. ** It is the same word used to describe Israel’s (Jacob’s) wrestling with God on his return to Canaan. It would appear that God has a sense of humor, since Sarah’s contention with Hagar and with Abraham over Hagar and her son Ismael are well documented. Yet she did become a powerful women in her own right.

Doing justice is always challenging because there are usually winners and losers involved. How do we decide who is right and who is wrong? Probably more contentious is determining how to make reparations for injustice exposed? Once they outgrew the tribal organization, the Hebrews had judges to render decisions to address injustice. We in the United States have created a complex judicial system with libraries full of laws and precedent setting court cases that are applied to right wrongs. However, one could argue that our judicial system is in and of itself unjust as it is often driven by who can hire the best legal counsel and who cannot.

Because of such disparities, I believe that God’s role as the final authority is vital. We do have to make judgments everyday on mundane as well as serious issues, but we do so with the full knowledge that the ultimate authority will judge us on how we judge others. It is imperative that we strive to be right with God at all times so that we will be right in dealing with his other children.

Prayer:
  Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
   teach me your paths.
  Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
   for you are the God of my salvation;
   for you I wait all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5) Amen.

*http://biblehub.com/hebrew/8283.htm
**http://biblehub.com/hebrew/8280.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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Exalted Father

AbrahamLent
February 23, 2015

Scripture Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. — Genesis 17:4-7

“Abram” means exalted father. With the extension to “Abraham” he became exalted father of many nations.* He certainly was a very human father. Negotiating the tension between his wife and her handmaiden, the mother of his first child, he turned the handmaiden and her child away but, tradition says, he maintained contact with them and I presume helped to support them. This oldest son and his younger half-brother were at least on good enough terms to collaborate on their father’s funeral. (Genesis 25:9)

Abraham was a devout follower of God, obedient even to being willing to offer his younger son as a sacrifice, but God stopped him. God established an everlasting covenant with Abraham to be God to Abraham and to his offspring after him. Now that is a rather remarkable situation. Many Christians are asked to acknowledge our belief that Jesus is the Christ the son of God but have we ever thought about the fact that God chose to be our God? What does that mean? What does that mean to you personally?

If you have a chance, this week you might want to read the entire poem to the song we know as the God of Abraham Praise and contemplate the nature of God. The first verse of the poem is:

The God of Abraham praise, who reigns enthroned above; Ancient of everlasting days, and God of Love; Jehovah, great I AM! by earth and Heav’n confessed; I bow and bless the sacred Name forever blessed.**

Prayer: Lord, as I contemplate the death of Jesus, I am drawn to finding a deeper understanding of our relationship and what it means to the way I live my life. I am a seeker; help me to find wholeness in you. Amen.

*http://biblehub.com/hebrew/85.htm
** Words: From The Yigdal of Daniel ben Judah, a Jewish judge in Rome, circa 1400, paraphrased by Thomas Olivers, cir­ca 1765; first appeared in The Gospel Magazine, April 1775. The lyrics are based on the 13 creeds of Moses Maimonides (circa 1130-1204). See at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/o/godofabe.htm

Being Hope

Being hopeLent February 22, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 1:9-15 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ — Mark 1:14

John’s arrest must have been a bitter blow for Jesus. John was a mentor, cousin, and friend. Perhaps the arrest was the catalyst for the start of Jesus’ ministry. He surely had been working in some capacity with John before the arrest but he now moved onto center stage.

It is hard to watch one’s society imploding, crumbling inside itself as external pressures seem to be insurmountable. John had become an irritant to King Herod, chastising him for his personal misdeeds, and soon Herod would simply have John beheaded as a favor to his wife. Living in such a situation leads to hopelessness and futility. Yet this relative and friend of John’s, this Jesus, responds to the arrest by declaring the good news that the kingdom of God was near.

How do we apply that lesson today in parts of the world where there is little or no hope left? How do we bring hope to our own inner-cities where poverty and lack of opportunities stifle wellbeing? How do we live out being the hands and arms and heart and legs and feet of the Body of Christ in our world today?

Take a few minutes to ponder these questions and then literally write down at least one, maybe two or three, things you can do today that will bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to a hurting world. Perhaps it’s checking on someone who is alone and snowed in. Perhaps it is writing and sending a check to an entity bringing hope to the world, perhaps it is gathering all those shoes you no longer wear and taking them to a ministry that distributes shoes to people on the street. Now do it.

Prayer:  Lord, enable me to be that part of the Body of Christ that you have called me to be and to do the tasks that are associated with it. I understand I cannot do everything, help me realize and actualize that I must do something. 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.

Crossing the Line

Vision questLent
February 21, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 1:9-15

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. — Mark 1:12-13

The experience described in these two short verses is very much like the Vision Quest practiced by some of the Native tribes of the Americas. I have wondered if Jesus’ experience in the wilderness and the Vision Quest of the Native Americans came from the same ancient source. Young people in search of more definition to their purpose in life pursue the Vision Quest. It is a very serious experience never taken likely, and if entered with a truly searching heart, can be life changing, I understand.

I have no knowledge of Jesus’ days spent in the wilderness being a common practice in the Jewish faith of his day. Fasting certainly was. The story as it is found in Matthew and Luke is extended to include stories of the temptations: enticements for Jesus to use his talents for food, greed, and power. I do think all of us are faced with the temptations of perhaps over indulgence, greed, and power. These temptations can certainly lead us away from our purpose in life.

This wilderness experience seems to have been the point in Jesus’ life when he crossed the line and said nothing in more important for my life than doing God’s will and he did.

Prayer: Lord, I have a tendency to want to compartmentalize you. You get this much of my talent, this much of my money, this much of my time. Help me cross the line and fully understand that no matter how mundane or great anything I am called to be or do is, I need to do it to your glory. From cleaning house to yard work, from earning a living for my family to serving communion at church, show me your will for my 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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Cleansed from the Inside Out

SweatingLent
February 20, 2015

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. — 1 Peter 3:18-22

I am not sure what our scripture’s author is trying to say nor does there seem to be consensus among those better read than I in the meaning and use of the Greek or the subtle references to the flood or circumcision. What this scripture reminded me of was something Jesus said, as quoted in Matthew 23:25-26: ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean. Could the author be saying “Woe to you followers of Christ. . .?” Had Christians by the time of this writing reached the point where outward appearance was being substituted for real change?

Baptism does not mean a thing, if it is not meaningful to the person being baptized or the parents dedicating their child at birth or the congregation accepting the responsibility for walking with the adult or child toward their full development as a disciple. If we are just going through the ritual, like taking a shower after a good workout, all we gained is clean skin. Our spiritual health results from creating the sweat not washing it off, albeit we probably don’t want to put up with our old sweat any more than our fellow travelers along the way don’t appreciate it. The real meaning, the real cleansing lies in the development of a good conscience because we are being the best follower of the resurrected Christ we can be.

Sweat is God’s way of removing toxins and other waste from the human body. What toxins or wastes do we each need to purge from our souls during this season of Lent? What plan do we each have to accomplish this tasks and how can we carry our cleansing into the future?

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.
              For I know my transgressions,
              and my sin is ever before me.
             Create in me a clean heart, O God,
             and put a new and right spirit within me. (Psalms 51:1-3, 10) 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.

God’s Love Never Ends

Christ proclaims to the dead in spiritLent
February 19, 2015

 Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. — 1 Peter 3:18-20

Commentators differ in opinion about what this scripture is saying. Some believe the Christ, after Jesus’ death, visited the spirits of those who died in the Great Flood and were subsequently imprisoned in the spirit. To them he proclaimed his message. Others think it refers to offering salvation to all spirits imprisoned in death. While it would be interesting to know precisely “who” the writer of 1 Peter was addressing here, I think it may be more important to recognize that it indicates God’s love never ends and God never stops trying to reach all of God’s children.

In all honesty, this scripture had meaning for the living of that day and for us today. For, I believe, we are fully capable of enshrouding our spirits in prisons right now that keep us from being whole and being one within the Body of Christ. Christ did not suffer just for us to transition to a glorious retirement center after our death. Christ suffered and died to free us to carry on his work in the world today. As the man, Jesus, he knew full well his limitations in space and time. His mission, which by the way he fulfilled beyond all imagination, was to plant the seeds of the Kingdom of God so that they might spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. We are still sowers and reapers in that garden.

Lent is a great time for each of us to consider the shrouds that are holding us back from being whole and working with all the parts of the Body of Christ. Jesus never once said it would be easy. Oh, well, maybe he did: ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’(Matthew 11:28-30)

Prayer: Lord we thank you for suffering for us and for bringing us to God. Now, guide us as we share your yoke in ministry throughout the world. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Seeking to Know God’s Way

Coptic ChristiansLent
Ash Wednesday
February 18, 2015

Scripture Reading: Psalm 25:1-10

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust;
   do not let me be put to shame;
   do not let my enemies exult over me.
Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
   let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. . — Psalm 25:1-3

 Twenty one Egyptian Coptic Christians were ceremoniously beheaded this week by members of ISIS simply because they were Christian and, I assume, would not renounce their faith. ISIS has also executed Jews and other Muslims who do not accept ISIS’s doctrine. When I read the scripture for today, I thought of these Christians, as they were paraded for the cameras near a beach, each with his own executioner. Mercifully the television station spared us the actual beheadings.

This the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday, is an appropriate time for God’s people to consider what has gone so horribly wrong among peoples of faith? The quick and easy answer is evil, but that is not a good enough answer. What causes God’s people to turn away from God in the first place and seek out evil?

The Bible is full of just as heinous stories of persecution and annihilation done in the name of God. Some, according to the scripture, were done at God’s command. My sense is that is what ISIS believes they are doing, following God’s command to rid the world of evil.

I do not know the answer to these questions, but I have a need to explore them with others who are willing to struggle with the truth we might find as we seek to know God’s way in this season of Lent.

Prayer: Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
             teach me your paths.
            Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
           for you are the God of my salvation;
           for you I wait all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5) 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.

Made in the Image of God

RainbowEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
February 17, 2015

 Scripture Reading: Genesis 9:8-17

God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’ — Genesis 9:12-17

When you see a rainbow, do you recall God’s promise to Noah, to all of us actually? God committed to remembering that promise each time a rainbow appears in the sky. We should do that also. Rainbows are beautiful, representing the full spectrum of color.

I read the young adult book, the Giver, recently. It describes a colorless world devised to avoid change, conflict, and struggle. It prescribes a sanitized life with no meaning and no love. Like Hitler, it carefully extracts from the world anyone who is different or drifts from the sanctioned ways. There is, however, one person, the Giver, who is responsible for maintaining the memory of life before this chosen way. The story is about the current Giver passing that history to his replacement and raises the question: is there salvation for such a world as this?

People were created in the image of God and God is an innovator, a pioneer, a thinker who struggles with tough challenges and searches for solutions that can further God’s creation through God’s love and the love God instilled in each of us. God sent God’s son to show us the way of love. We are called to follow Christ’s example as innovators, pioneers, and thinkers, not run away and hide.

Prayer: Embolden us Lord, to act like you created us in your image by loving like you do. 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.