Tag Archives: Being Christlike

Testing our Worldview

Living in the Spirit
October 3, 2018

Scripture Reading: Psalm 26

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. –Psalm 26:1-3

For some reason, I am spending a lot of time recently considering my worldview and the worldview of others and how such worldviews impact my faith-view and my interactions with others. We are all products of our culture, our histories, our environment that shape how we intake information and apply it. While I have lived in towns or cities since I was 18 years old, I will always carry some of my farm- based childhood in my worldview. That is neither good or bad; it is part of my reality. I am female, white, heterosexual, well educated, and middle classed. I was taught to go to church on Sunday (actually every time there was a service) and to love my neighbors whether I wanted to or not. For those first 18 years of my life, I am sure I assumed that almost everyone else was just like me. College gave me the first major opportunity for that understanding to be tested.

I find that I have gone full circle. Everybody is just like me, unique. Because we are all unique and because we first experienced our uniqueness in family and community, they become a part of our uniqueness as they also shaped the ways in which we respond to diversities in individuals, families, and communities.

The Psalm above calls us to a higher level of understanding of how our uniqueness impacts our interactions with others as we attempt to live as God would have us live among all God’s children. Because our worldviews are so deeply ingrained, we must seek the Lord’s input to prove and try us as we seek to rid ourselves of any wrong values in our worldview and take on the Lord’s view.

Prayer:
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. 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.

Accountability

Ordinary Time
January 23, 2018

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.’ –Deuteronomy 18:19-20

But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’—1 Samuel 16:7

I added the scripture from 1 Samuel to the one provided by the lectionary because it amplifies well the way we are held accountable. If we represent ourselves as being Christ followers, we are responsible for upholding Christ’s name. Our behavior, good or bad, reflects on God. I learned that my behavior reflected on my parents and all the ancestors before me as a child. I had a certain ethic to uphold. Most were basic things: being honest, keeping commitments, working hard, caring for others, being polite, and always doing my best. Not just my outward behavior mattered but doing these things for the right reasons mattered also. The Lord looks at the heart.

We are held to account for doing what Christ calls us to do with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. We may never know the impact that our labors have. We are a part of a great cloud of witnesses whose heart/love work God weaves together into a perfect whole.

I just saw an interview for a new show on PBS, We’ll Meet Again that reunites people significantly impacted in a previous encounter so all involved can better understand the importance of their paths crossing and the interaction that resulted when it did. It looks interesting.

Take a few moments to remember some encounters in your life that made you a better person. Many of the people involved in those situations probably do not know the influence they had in your life just as you may never know whose lives you influenced positively. God knows.

Prayer:
Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.* Amen.

First verse of Take My Life by Frances Ridley Havergal see at https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/445

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

A Work of Art

Statue of DavidLent
March 16, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

I thank you that you have answered me
   and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
   it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
   O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! –Psalm 118:21-29

Michelangelo’s statue of David did not start out as his project. Another artist had been commissioned to create it as part of a larger project. The other artist started the work on the mammoth piece of marble but quit with little work done. He had done enough to make the marble less than desirable. It was relegated to storage on its side where it remained for many years. Finally, Michelangelo at the age of 26 received the commission and the master piece became a reality. The damaged and caste aside marble became a work of art.

Psalms 118 describes a similar situation when it states the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. We Christian with loving hindsight see Christ in this imagery. He was despised and rejected by the religious leaders of the day. There is a message of hope in this scripture for all of us, I think. God can take us just as we are, warts and all, even if we are responsible for them ourselves, and create a work of art, just as Michelangelo could see the David in an otherwise ruined piece of marble.

What talents and skills, are hidden deep in each of our beings, is God nurturing? Are we open to becoming fully the person God created us to be?

Prayer: Lord, you led the way to reclaiming life after rejection. Give us the courage to accept the gift of your loving us enough to make us full partners in your kingdom and help us fulfill that calling. 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.