Tag Archives: faith

Faith

trust-fallLiving in the Spirit
October 1, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 17:5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you. –Luke 17:5-6

Is Jesus saying to his disciples you either have faith or you do not? Have you ever participated in a ropes course or something similar where you do some challenging, usually physical activities, with a group to increase group cohesion? Often one of the activities is to cross your arms over your chest and fall straight backward with the faith that your teammates will catch you. I am not an athlete. I am also afraid of heights and somewhat claustrophobic. I worked in a time when ropes courses were popular, and I had no choice but to participate. My goal when I was involved was simply to survive. I once suggested in a closing feedback period that having the group form a choir and sing a concert would result in the same sense of camaraderie. To me, it would have been a lot less dangerous and more fun. I got some pretty wicked looks from some of my team. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

I am not sure faith can be learned; it must be real, unexplainable trust. I think the ability to faith (and yes I know faith is not a verb), is planted in us as a part of being made in the image of God. Whether it grows and bears fruit is determined by our recognizing its presence at some point and welcoming it into our lives. C. S. Lewis thought God chased him down until he finally acknowledged faith. The thing about faith is that we all most likely will find a big tree in our way at one time or another and it is really good to know the One who can help us deal with our life’s big trees when needed.

Prayer: God Almighty, sometimes our faith in you is colored by experiences in life that make it difficult for us to trust anyone and that ultimately may impact our relationship with you. Help us turn toward you rather than away from you so that the truth of our relationship with you enables our relationships with 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.

Rock of Refuge

Living in the Spirit
August 17, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 71:1-6

In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
   let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
   incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge,
   a strong fortress, to save me,
   for you are my rock and my fortress. –Psalm 71:1-3

As we struggle to make sense of our world caught in fear of terrorism, racism, bigotry of all kinds, and intractable poverty; I am reminded of Stanley Hauerwas’ wise words, Never think you need to protect God. Because anytime you think you need to protect God, you can be sure that you are worshiping an idol.  We read our Bibles as history and as a result discount the parts that do not fit our modern understandings of the world. The Bible is the story of an indescribable, all-powerful God. The early story tellers awe of God prohibited them from even speaking the Lord’s name. The story of Abram’s Covenant with God* describes God’s using a fire pot to consume the offering laid out by Abram. In a similar way Elijah** called on God in Elijah’ joust with the priest of Baal and God once again fired the altar. These ancestors in faith leaned on God as they journeyed in faith.

We serve the same all-powerful God. I fear, particularly, we stubbornly independent disciples, forget at times whose we are and who we serve. Abram and Elijah were just as human as we are. It was their faith in their Rock of Refuge that enabled their ministry. God is still there to do that for us, if we let God.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when our faith falters. Be our Rock of Refuge as we journey in your service. Amen.

*Genesis 15
**1Kings 18

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.

Watered Down Faith

FAITH THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEENLent
March 26, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 24:1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. –Luke 24:1-5

Perplexed seems a bit mild for what the woman felt when they found an empty tomb. Perplexed might be what one would experience, if he or she had misplaced his or her car keys and could not figure out where they were. Even “at wit’s end” isn’t strong enough to me. Stronger than perplexed, “at wit’s end” does imply a bit of hopelessness. Anger might have been a response, “Who has desecrated the body of the Beloved One?” The numbness of grief might have been increased by this one more horrible event to add to the other events of the past week. So despondency might have resulted. But I wonder if a single one of them recalled Jesus’ words about being raised from the dead.

Of course the book of Luke was written 40 or more years after the fact and written most likely not by an eye witness. The women present told their story to others who told it to others who told it to Luke. In all honest, how the women felt or perceived the situation was not most likely the authors primary focus.

How watered down is our faith today? What is our primary focus as members of the Body of Christ called to bring about the world that Jesus model, lived, taught? Are we so caught up in arguing theology or raising the church budget or establishing who’s in charge of what that we have lost sight of the magnitude of the resurrection in our living and in our loving?

Prayer: Lord, give us the strength and courage to model our lives after yours. Help us get our priorities straight. 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.

Faith Not Seen

wpid-wp-1415681701178Lent
March 24, 2016

Scripture Reading: John 20:1-18

Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. –John 20:3-10

What was it that the other disciple believed? My first thought was he believed Jesus had been raised from the dead, but then it goes on to say that they did not yet understand about Jesus’ rising from the dead.

English is a challenging language. We have, for example, transitive and intransitive verbs. The former requires an object for its action. The later does not. The verb “believe” can be either. When used in the intransitive form it means: to have a firm or wholehearted religious conviction or persuasion: to regard the existence of God as a fact. When used as a transitive verb it means: to take as true, valid, or honest.* The Greek word translated here, pisteuó, is more in line with the intransitive form of the English word believed—had faith in.

At that moment in time and place, the other disciple, at the very least, felt deeply that there indeed was much more to this story than he could comprehend and at the same moment had complete faith that this Jesus, he had followed so devoutly, was the real deal.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. —Hebrews 11:1

Prayer: Lord, at times we get hung up on proving things, fact checking. Guide us in differentiated the things for which it is important to fact check and the great mysteries of your love that deepens each time we experience faith in you without proof. Amen.

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

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 God of Grace

cropped-my-grace-is-sufficient-wordpress-blog-header-06-04-2013Lent
February 16, 2016

Scripture Reading: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Then he said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.’ But he said, ‘O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?’ He said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.’ He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him….

 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire-pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, –Genesis 15:7-12, 17-18

The image of Abram working frantically to keep the birds of prey from eating his burnt offering reminds me of my futile attempts to stop something I deemed to be an offense to God and could not. Abram tried his best to honor God in the way that God had instructed and outside forces threatened to destroy all his work. We do not know what happened, because Abram, being a human, fell asleep. God spoke to Abram in his sleep, in a dream perhaps, telling him that he would have many offspring and that they would eventually become slaves for 400 years and they would escape and prosper in the land that God was giving Abram at that time and place. Did Abram want his descendants to face such oppression? He appears to have no choice. From where did the smoking fire-pot and flaming torch come? Were they also a part of a dream? Is this story a Hebrew taste of God’s grace?

Truth is we cannot predict the outcomes of any of our offspring. We can only give them the best that we have to offer and trust then to God’s loving mercy. God’s grace is sufficient.

Most of my lost efforts relate to justice issues and the impact is still the same. Outside forces seem to win the day despite my best efforts. Where would we be today, if Abram had not opened himself to a relationship with God, if Joseph had not overcome adversity to save his people from famine, if Moses had not led those same people out of slavery into the promise land, if Jesus had not come to show us what justice looks like? These are names we remember well, but God’s work requires the best from all of us.

Prayer: Help us discern the difference between faith and fate. Grow our trust in you to help us be the tools we can be to hasten your dominion over all the earth. 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 Fuel of Love

faith works-nohostLiving in the Spirit
September 4, 2015

Scripture Reading: James 2:1-17

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. –James 2:14-17

Works vs faith, one of the great theological discourses of all times, often finds its way back to this scripture in James. One of my favorite church sign quotes I saw many years ago was “If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it.” But faith is not merely what we believe. Particularly those of us who are inheritors of the science of reason. For what we believe is often rooted in what is provable, what the facts support. Faith is about trust and trust is centered in relationship.

True, it could be argued that trust itself is the result of our testing relationships, keeping a scorecard of how often what was promised was delivered. I am in the process right now of changing from a bank I have used for 30+ years because after hours of time spent on the phone and in actually going to the bank, I cannot access my account since the bank upgraded to a different computer system. I have lost trust in the bank to safely care for my money.

Faith and trust in God goes deeper than a checklist of services delivered or not. It rest in the sure and certain knowledge of God’s eternal, unconditional love. It is that fuel that fires our response to nurture the wellbeing of ourselves and others.

Prayer: Called as partners in Christ’ service, with your love as the source of our love, use our love to nurture the wellbeing of ourselves and 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.

Love has Everything to do with It

Domestic-ViolenceLiving in the Spirit
August 24, 2015

Scripture Reading: Song of Solomon 2:8-13

8 The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes,
leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look, there he stands behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice.
10 My beloved speaks and says to me:
‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;
11 for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. –Song of Solomon 2:8-11

This love poem from the wisdom literature occurs in the midst of scriptures describing the comings and goings of good and bad leaders and the prophetic warnings associated with not following God’s way. Life goes on every day. Family happens. Winter turns to spring and young love is eternal. We do need to stop occasionally and remember love drives all parts of our lives whether it is love of God, love of siblings, or love of a spouse. Love drives all parts of our lives, if we let it.

Our society throws up many barriers to love’s wanting the best for another. It is frightening how many accounts we hear on the news of domestic violence: allegations of a boyfriend left in charge of his girlfriend’s baby who kills the child, teenagers who kill their parents and siblings, football players beating women, and a mother investigated 40 times for complaints of neglect of her children. All of these stories were reported in one day’s worth of news. Why is this happening? What do we need to do to help people learn the art of love in all aspects of their lives?

Evil overcomes us only when we drift away from God. Drifting away takes many forms and perhaps the most insidious is when we substitute manufactured false religious fervor for love and trust and hope in the living God. Selfishness overcomes love. Greed overcomes love. When the church sells both it tears at the fabric of faith.

Prayer: Lord forgive us when we choose to worship idols of self-indulgence rather than your great love. Merciful God help us love one another as you love 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.

Dance, Dance

Jesus loveLiving in the Spirit
August 23, 2015

Scripture Reading: John 6:56-69

66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” –John 6:66-69

These are hard, hard words to digest. Eat my flesh; drink my blood. It is not surprising that many disciples turned back. Even the ones who stayed were less than enthusiastic. Where else could they go? Some turned back because they thought he was crazy. Some turned back because they understood what he was asking. Ever been there? I have. I have felt the hopelessness of situations that led me to the feet of Jesus because it was the only place I had left to go. I am not proud of that. I wish I had at all times the faith and trust and especially the hope in Christ every time I must face a challenge but I sometimes have weak knees even as I have experienced the power of God working in my life in similar situations.

I remember once coming home from a particularly disappointing day of failure at work. My soul was disturbed and I could find no peace so I tried an imaging prayer, I had been reading about where one imagined her or himself in one of the stories of Jesus. I chose the story of the woman washing Jesus’ feet with her tears. As I sat, in my mind’s eye, at Jesus’ feet feeling really sorry for myself, he reached down tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Let’s dance.” And he waltzed me off into the air turning and whirling like pros with our feet never touching the ground. Never had that happened to me before and never since but it was the most amazing way to refresh my hope and get me out of my self-pity. I now grin every time I sing or hear Lord of the Dance* particularly the chorus:

Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he

Prayer: Lead us Lord, keep us from defeating ourselves, from turning away from you just as we begin to make sense of your mission. Grant us your peace of spirit as we strive to do your will. Amen.

*Lord of the Dance by Sydney Carter see at http://celtic-lyrics.com/lyrics/309.html
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.

Living by Faith

Yoke6Living in the Spirit
June 28, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 5:21-43

Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. –Mark 5:25-29

It seems we humans are pretty good at living by faith when there is nothing else left to live by. The old saying holds true; there are no atheists in foxholes. The harder course is living by faith when we put a lot of stock in our own skills. Created in the image of God, we were born with brains and hearts, muscles and senses to use. Called by Christ to be his Body in the world today, we are partners in his kingdom building. Instilled by the Holy Spirit, every action we take comes under the guidance of God’s love. I do not believe faith and works are contradictory but complementary. Jesus said:

‘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)

The woman in our scripture today was on a twelve-year quest to be made whole. She was apparently open to trying new things. I love the phrase: She had heard about Jesus. How many people in our world today are longing for wholeness and either have not heard about Jesus, or at least not about his love. Who will tell them about Jesus? Who, in living his love, will expel the negative images of God, people may have experienced? We are the ones called to love like Jesus and when we head out the door to spread the good news we had better put on Jesus’ yoke because we will need it.

Prayer: Holy one hone me as you will use me to spread the good news to anyone who needs to hear 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.

Seeds of Love

Parable of the seedLiving in the Spirit
June 13, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 4:26-34

He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’ –Mark 4:26-29

The insidious nature of evil is recognized. It creeps in slyly yet it can eventually overcome its prey in harmful, damaging, or destructive ways. In this parable Jesus describes the kingdom of God as guileless, which sounds terribly fragile, frail even. But then, of course, there is nothing stronger than love.

I grew up on a farm. My family was dependent on those planted seeds growing and producing food for our table and to feed our animals. Farming is a career steeped in faith. For five or so years Oklahoma has been plagued by drought. This spring crops were ruined by floods, but at the next time of planting the seeds will be sown to start the cycle again. Seeds are not planted out of cunning but out of perseverance. The lesson of the seed is one of faith but more importantly one of love.

The writer of the book of Hebrews put it this way: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. (Hebrews 11:1-3) These verses are followed by a short history of God among God’s people being faithful in love even when promised outcomes are not in their lifetime.

God’s people are called to plant seeds of love that do not harm and are not destructive but persevere throughout history to re-form the world into a place lacking evil.

Prayer: Lord, make us all sowers of the seeds of love. 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.