Tag Archives: Doing Good

Making All Things Good

Lent

March 2, 2020

Scripture Reading: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’ –Genesis 2:15-16

At times, when I read scripture, particularly very familiar scripture, I think of the weirdest things like if the garden of Eden were perfect why did it need to be tilled and kept. Creation is a new beginning of a continuous process. While it sounds contradictory, change is a constant. In my job in human services, I was involved in the roll out of a multitude of new programs and new computer programs to support them. The first tries in computer programming are referred to as beta testing. I remember when our first computer program tracking case records, limited the number of letters for first names to seven letters. For the record, my first name has eight letters. We immediately received responses that seven was not enough. The same need to test and tweak new creations applies to initiatives like the Affordable Care Act. Common sense changes were needed within the first year but were never made because ruler-ship of Congress had changed. In the political arena change is often to redo or undo something passed by a previous administration when failure becomes a desired option by the current majority.

So goes our relationship with God in communion with all of God’s children. Faith traverses the same paths as progress.  As children of God we are called to be one.  Our challenge as God’s people is to maintain our fidelity to God while welcoming the continuum of creation, working to make all things good, and never accepting failure as a desired option.

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to join with you in striving to make all things good. 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.

Evil or Good

Living in the Spirit
September 2, 2018

Scripture Reading: Mark 7:1-8; 14-15, 21-23

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’. .For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’ –Mark 7:14-15, 21-23

Doing good or doing evil are choices we make. Evil exists whether separate from human behavior or not, I do not know. It does not matter because evil cannot control us unless we let it. Mark describes a laundry list of behaviors that fit the definition of evil. There are more. Habitually doing evil begets more evil as does habitually doing good begets more good.

We also must deal with the consequences of all our actions, good and evil. Most of the laundry lists of behaviors above involve other people. Do we choose to spread evil or good? Are we the instigators or the followers? Why do would we choose to share evil?

Christ calls us to love one another, to want the very best for the other, to share God’s gift of love with one another. Habitually, intentionally loving one another begets more love and love grows exponentially as it threads throughout all peoples everywhere. Jesus calls us to do good, share love and grow a kingdom ruled by love.

Prayer: Lord, give us the strength to resists evil, do good, and love like 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 Justice

david-sees-bathshebaLiving in the Spirit
July 20, 2015

Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 11:1-15

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

 It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, ‘This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’ So David sent messengers to fetch her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, ‘I am pregnant.’ –2 Samuel 11:1-5

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”* David had become so full of himself and his power he no longer bothered himself with going into battle against the lesser rulers. Perhaps he had become bored with the very thing that got him where he was. He was so powerful he could have anything he wanted and he took it. I do not know what Sir Dalberg-Acton discerned to be a “great man”. Jesus did say it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:24b)

Empires must be very careful about their use of power. The United States of America needs to be very careful about its use of power. I do not think great men are necessarily more apt to be bad than anyone else. I know we are all as capable of doing good as we are of doing evil. We most often suffer the consequences of our own behavior by knowing the right path and refusing to walk it.

Our government was created on purpose with a balance of power between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches to protect ourselves from the corruption of power. It was a wise move, messy at times, but wise.

Justice starts in each of our personal lives. God calls us to not only open our eyes, but our hearts and minds to living what is just, what is right whether it is what we want at the time or not.

Prayer: Lord, help us to live justice in all that we do. Amen.

*John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

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.