Tag Archives: Christ

Stumbling-Blocks

Stumpling blockLiving in the Spirit
August 30, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 16:21-28

 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ — Matthew 16:21-23

What are your stumbling-blocks? What are the things in your life that set your mind not on divine things but on human things?

 It is a practice at my church to give a small token of remembrance when someone is baptized. Each year during Lent we offer a Pastor’s Class for those considering to become a follower of Christ and being baptized. Several years ago I found a wonderful potter who made some individual chalices for this gift. The potter lived several miles from where I lived but he was going to have a booth at a large outdoor annual festival soon to be held in a suburb near me and we agreed that I would pick up the pottery at his booth.  I actually knew a parade was part of the festival but in my hurry to find the booth amid a huge crowd of people, I guess I forgot. Seeing some open space to my right I excused myself and stepped into it not realizing that the empty space was the street. The crowd was standing at the edge of the parade viewing space. The edge was the curb and the first step past the curb was about four to six inches lower than the curb. If an ugly picture of a short women falling all over herself into the middle of a parade flashed through your mind at this point, you have the right picture. The people on the curb were very gracious. I assured them I was fine as I limped quickly away. My stumbling-blocks had been impatience and pride. I had been guilty of placing a stumbling-block in my own path.

There are instances when others out of fear or greed or prejudice or for whatever reason place stumbling–blocks in our paths. Peter was doing that to Jesus in our scripture today. Our society does it with racism, sexism, poverty just to name a few.

When we place stumbling-blocks in our own way it reflects our need for wholeness. When a stumbling-block is placed in another’s path it most likely reflects a need for justice. God through Jesus Christ is our best source of finding personal wholeness. We may be God’s best resource for bringing about justice in our world.

Prayer: Help me to see my self-imposed stumbling-blocks and help me remove them from my being. Help me see the stumbling-blocks of injustice in this world, use me as you choose to help remove them from your sight. 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.

Share the Good News

Living in the Spirit
August 8, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 10:5-15 

But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ — Romans 10:14-15 

I do not know how many conversations I have had in recent months when someone says something about not being able to get around like they once did and my response is to ask if they have tried yoga. I share the good news that regular use of yoga has made me much more flexible, that the right kind of movement is one of the best things anyone can do for osteoarthritis, and that I am living proof of both. Regarding yoga, I don’t think I press the point too much, but I usually increase their interest. Now, if you get me started on tracing my family tree and encouraging others to do the same, the occasional response is that glassy-eyed look from someone trying to change the subject.

There is a time and place for discussions about what being in relationship with God through Jesus Christ has meant to us. If we know the greatest story ever told, why don’t we tell it? Most of those of us over 50, at least here in the Bible-belt, have been corned at one time or another by an oppressive zealot asking if we have been saved etc. I think in the backs of our minds we do not want to be like them so we don’t say anything at all.

Those of us who are called “cradle Christians” because we were raised in a Christian home and have known no other way of being may take for granted that everyone had the same experience. I learned on my first sleepover with a friend when I was about six that everybody didn’t follow the same routines as my family. My father loved to play the guitar and sing and almost every evening after we children had gone to bed he would sing. On that first sleepover, after lying in bed with my friend for a while, I finally asked her when was her dad going to sing, and she thought I was crazy. There are many young people in the world today who have little knowledge of the Christian faith because they never heard it at home.

Paul challenges us in this scripture today to realize that we cannot take for granted that everyone knows about the Good News of Christ Jesus. We are the ones to share it.

Prayer: O Lord, make me a blessing to someone today and please save me from boring them in the process. 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.

Sunrise

Living in the Spirit
July 29, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Genesis 32:22-31 

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. — Genesis 32:30-31

Jacob’s new name, Israel, literally means “who prevails with God”.  By dealing with God, Jacob had become the person God knew Jacob could be, wanted him to be. Now named Israel, he even has a permanent limp to remind him of this wrestling match. “Peniel” means face of God. “Penuel” is the name of the actual location. While they essentially mean the same thing, perhaps the writer chose the different spellings here to suggest that one never leaves an encounter with God. It travels with him or her, if he or she accepts God’s presence.

What do we do after such an encounter with God? Our scripture suggests a new day dawned for Israel when it says that the sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel where he had struggled with God. It implies Israel accepted God’s presence in his life. This is not a goal attained; it marks a new beginning. For Christians that new beginning is becoming a vital and productive part of the Body of Christ bringing hope and love to a fragmented world.

Jesus also talked about the impact of a risen sun. ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow…Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. (Matthew 13:3b, 5-6) Jesus calls us to sink our roots deeply into the rich soil of his love and follow his way in functioning as the Body of Christ. Our wholeness in Christ is the beginning of wholeness in a fragmented world, but we must be able to stand the heat. The nurture of God through Christ is what makes that possible.

Prayer: Clear the rocks from my path, O Lord, grow my roots deep into your love and let your wellspring surge through me as a conduit of your love to others. 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.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Living in the Spirit
July 13, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 

But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. — Matthew 11:23  

If you have been around church very long you have meet some of these good-soil people. I had the privilege of being reared by one. My mother was a very resourceful person. I always thought it came from being a Deaconess in the Methodist church serving in the mountains of West Virginia in the midst of the Depression. I honestly think she got more joy out of making something new out of old cast of clothes than starting with brand new fabric. She could multiple bread, if needed to feed unexpected guest; was equally comfortable talking to a street person or a Senator; and was most often empathetic rather than judgmental. I say most often, because I do not think you would have wanted to come up against my mother, if you were mistreating someone. Even in that case she would have been there for you, if you expressed the desire to turn your life around.

We are all called to be good-soil people striving to be like Christ in all that we do. Being a disciple of Christ is a lifelong journey. While we may find ourselves lying on top of the soil rather than extending our roots deeply or thinking the rocks are actually fertile soil or getting caught in the briers of life, we will not become disciples until we relax into that good soil and let it change us from a seed to a vital plant.  Plants are sources of oxygen. So perhaps we are called to be Christ oxygen in a carbon polluted world.

Prayer:  Here I am Lord, bury me deep in the soil of your love so that I may be a breath of fresh air in our world today. 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.

 

Christ’s Bride

Living in the Spirit
July 2, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Psalm 45:10-17 

Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;    forget your people and your father’s house, — Psalm 45:10  

I just returned from the national, actually international, meeting of the women of my denomination where we celebrated wholeness. Although the meeting was totally focused on the roles and responsibilities of women in the church, I was very impressed by the husbands who were there supporting their wives. We had a family center in the worship hall where the younger children were allowed to participate as they could in the service or do other activities at times more appropriate to their ages. Some of the young fathers were actively engaged in shepherding these children freeing their mothers to be full participants in worship and sharing ideas.

My niece accompanied me on this trip. She has been much engaged for several months in helping her daughter plan her fall wedding. It has been a year of change for my grandniece, she graduated from college, started her first professional job and will be married in the fall. I experienced and interesting crossover of thoughts as I moved from the meeting to conversations related to the wedding and was struck by the importance of equity in our lives as a part of wholeness.

Our scripture today describes a bride, a princess actually, preparing for her wedding to the king. It says she must forget her family. Genesis 2:24, often quoted at weddings, which states: Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. In either case these are very strong words describing the action that bride and groom takes when they become one: forget—leave.

The traditional wedding vows in American goes something like this : I, (name), take you (name), to be my (wife/husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part. There is a give and take understood in this relationship that is more than equal. It includes the ebb and flow of life as we meet it where at one time one may be strong and the other weak, at one time one may lead and the other follow, but there is equity in everything.

Jesus uses this type of relationship to describe the bond between the Christ and the church (See Mark 2:19 or John 3:29). We are called to wholeness and oneness with Christ where we share in his mission with the full weight of his support. We two must forget our former way of being, step out in faith like a young man or woman leaving home for the first time and grasp the hand of the one who will always walk with us in all of life’s adventures. It is a remarkable gift of love.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for sharing yourself so totally with us that we may be whole as one 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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Seeing Christ in Everyone

Living in the Spirit
June 28, 2014 

Scripture Reading: Matthew 10:40-42 

‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; — Matthew 10:40-41

One of my goals in life is to see the Christ in each person I encounter. I must confess I have to work really hard at this and sometimes I slip up and sometimes I go for days without it even crossing my mind. What I have discovered though is that if someone is vexing me in some way, God’s little reminder often goes off and a message pops into my head from Christ saying Here I am, see me?

It may have been as selfish as wishing the person in line in front of me had gotten her coupons out before the cashier finished checking out her cart load. It may have been while watching one of the multitude of campaign ads currently running when someone is espousing something with which I totally disagree or more likely over simplifying something that is exceedingly complex.  I hate 30 second sound bites. It may have been when I hear on the news about one more senseless killing in a school, in a mall, on the street. I don’t need a lot of help seeing Christ in victims. It is perpetrators that fall from my grace, but not from God’s.

Welcoming, truly welcoming someone entails accepting them as a child of God just as they are. I doubt if anyone ever entered my mother’s house who was not offered a comfortable place to sit and some type of refreshment even a glass of water. When I was five or six a very poor family that lived near us stopped at our house to get my dad’s assistance in welding a broken piece of equipment. Mom invited the mother and the children into the house and gave the little girls the free paper dolls that had come with my hair permanent to play with. I was mad about that but knew better than to say anything. After they left, Mom gathered the paper dolls up and threw them in the wood stove.  I was more than mad then! She explained to me that the girls had something called impetigo, a highly contagious skin condition, and that she burned the paper dolls to protect me from getting it. In my mother’s mind it would never have been right to not give the children something with which to play. She saw the Christ in everyone.

Prayer: Lord, open my eyes to see the Christ in everyone. 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.

He Lives

Living in the Spirit
June 21, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 10:16, 24-39 

‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves….

‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.– Matthew 10:16, 26-31

As Christ’s servants we are sent out into a broken, scary world where people of faith fight each other and where old wounds fester and rot the very heart of those who suffer them, where promising young basketball players get shot in the crossfire of gang warfare while home from college on summer vacation, where children are shuffled across borders as refugees to save them from their own neighbors, where young women—children even—are sold as sex slaves,  and that is just the headlines from this week’s news.

Anybody in their right mind would experience fear if caught up in any of these circumstances, wouldn’t he or she? Jesus says have no fear of them…do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Jesus is calling us to live through his death into the fullness of life offered in the Kingdom of God while we live in a world torn asunder.  The only way anyone could really do that is to accept without reservation that they serve a risen savior who is in the world today*.

Prayer: Lord, remind us often that we serve a risen savior. Amen.

*Taken from He Lives by Alfred Ackley

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.