Tag Archives: faith

Hope for Tomorrow

Hope for tomorrowEastertide
May 21, 2015

Scripture Reading: Romans 8:22-27

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. –Romans 8:22-25

If you live in Oklahoma, you get a real-time education in meteorology whether you want it or not. I know a whole lot more about hook echoes and super cells than I ever thought possible. Just yesterday evening I spent time watching as a huge super cell cross southern Oklahoma. Tracked for 27 miles, it destroyed much in its path, primarily in open country with few structures. The buildings lost in its path were just as important as the ones destroyed in urban areas, but there were not so many and so far no injuries have been reported. Living in tornado alley also provides real-time experience of hope as does living in the path of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.

 I love the third verse of Great is Thy Faithfulness, which I think captures the essence of our scripture today.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!* 

At times, it seems the whole world is in the path of super cells of evil not related to nature. Some are the consequences of our own actions or our ancestors’ actions. Some result in damage to people who are innocent but have the misfortune of being in the path of evil. Most are designed to shatter hope. We worship a forgiving God who has also willingly sent God’s son to show us how to do faith in the face of such evil and whose dear presence continues as our guide and advocate. Our hope is built on nothing less**. 

Prayer: Lord, give us the strength we need for today and the bright hope we need for tomorrow to serve you as you have called us to do. Amen.

*Great is Thy Faithfulness, words by Thomas Obediah Chisholm see at https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/19

**First line from The Solid Rock by Edward Mote see at http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/The_Solid_Rock/

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 First Loved Us

jesus-love-newEastertide
April 30, 2015

Scripture Reading: 1 John 4:7-21

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. –1 John 4:7-21

While I enjoy thinking about scripture and making comments about it, sometimes I read something like our scripture today and I just want to say, “We all need to read this. Inhale it. There is nothing more important than this message.”

When I was a child we sang this scripture. It is no longer in hymn books at least in the form I knew it:

Christ Jesus my Lord from Heaven came,
 To save me from guilt and sin and shame;
 His death on the cross of Calvary
 Brought pardon and gave me liberty. 

I love Him because He first loved me,
 He first loved me, He first loved me;
 I love Him because He first loved me,
 And died on the cross of Calvary.*

The church goes through phases of identifying what is theologically correct like society defines what is politically correct. I guess at some point we decided that simple sing-song messages were not up to our standards. Isaiah would not have agreed. He liked repetition. He knew we need to constantly be reminded of God and God’s love or it slips from our hearts and minds. I was pleased to see, when I looked for these words on the Internet that there are several current day variations on this song. In whatever form you chose, keep the words of this scripture always in your heart.

Prayer: God who is love, be near to us reminding us that you have always loved us. Make that message the one that enriches our love for you and for each other. Amen.

 

*I Love Him Because He First Loved Me, words by Frank E. Roush, see whole hymn at http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/i/l/o/iloveHim.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.

Dealing with Doubt

Doubting ThomasEastertide
April 12, 2015

Scripture Reading: John 20:19-31

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’
— John 20:26-29

My childhood, best friend’s father was nicknamed “Fat.” He wasn’t. I never knew why he was called that. It wasn’t like calling someone who was heavy, “slim,” either. He was a regular sized man. Actually my dad was the one who called him “Fat.” They had known each other forever. I don’t remember really saying anything to him that would require me to call him anything. Even If I had needed to address him directly, my mother would never have allowed me to use his given name much less a nickname.

The lead character in our story today was assigned the nickname “Doubting Thomas” and he is still called that today. It really wasn’t fair. Thomas may have been the only one brave enough to say what others were thinking. Remember Thomas was the first disciple to step up to the plate when Jesus decided to go to Bethany upon hearing about Lazarus’ death. Thomas said, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’ (John 11:16b)

Facing our doubts, getting them out in the open, is the quickest way of moving from the paralysis of uncertainty to empowering faith. Our world is in desperate need of empowering faith. So let us all deal with our doubts, our questions, and our quest for understanding. Let us do our best to present ourselves to God as one approved by him, workers who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.*

Prayer: Lord, protect me from being paralyzed in my service to you and your Kingdom. Where and when I have doubt, give me the courage to face it. Amen.

*Paraphrased from 2 Timothy 2:15

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.

 

That Which Enslaves Us

Credit-Card-SlaveryLent March 3, 2015

Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:1-17 Then God spoke all these words:  I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. — Exodus 20:1-6

It is interesting that the first commandant relates God’s salvation of the Israelites from slavery to worship of other gods. Israel’s salvation from Egyptian slavery, as far as I can tell, was an act of pure grace on God’s part. God heard the people’s cries and God responded. In relation to Egypt, there are none of the stories about Israel’s sinning and being taken into exile that followed in later stories. No claim that the slavery was the result of any specific misdeeds.  Yet the Bible reminds the children of Israel many, many times of God’s saving the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt and in most of those instances, I think, the Israelites had lost faith or took it for granted and were placing their trust in lesser gods.

Lent is a great time for us to dust off our faith that may have been stored in an honored place but left there for all practical purposes unattended.  What lesser gods are we serving? Most of us do not have little effigies to which we bow, but we do have other gods: the quest for power at any cost, the desire to control other people’s lives, greed in all its manifestation, addictions certainly to drugs and alcohol but to things also, and the need to be better than other people played out in self-righteousness.

Just as God groomed Moses and sent him to lead the Israelites out of slavery, God sent his son to bring us salvation, also a gift of pure grace. I know it is hard to take in our tit for tat world that such a thing could happen. It requires us to grasp an entirely new way of being. It demands our full commitment, our very lives. It is the way to God’s abundant life in Christ.

Prayer: God of Justice and Mercy, grant us the strength and courage to accept your gift of grace and may our receiving it be reflected in our lives. 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 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.

 

Right Words

FarmerAdvent
December 22, 2014

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 61:10-62:3

 For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
   and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
   to spring up before all the nations. — Isaiah 61:11

Saint Augustine advised Christians to Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you. This phrase sounds to me more like something a farmer would said and not a man who spent his younger years in wealth and hedonism. In those years the closest he came to a garden was probably when he was caught stealing fruit for a snack*.  The phrase is good advice. By the time he said it, he had turned his life around.

The advice does go along with the life of a farmer who works very hard at his vocation but is totally dependent upon the nurture of the earth and nature in general for a crop to result. It is an interesting commingling of faith and works. In our scripture today, Isaiah is telling a people who no longer trust in themselves and are most likely strongly questioning whether God was truly with them that just as nature causes what is sown in the earth to grow at the proper time so too will God cause righteousness/justice to become a reality for all people that indeed will be a time for praise.

Isaiah had a tough job giving people hope in a time of hopelessness. We are also called to give hope to the world. We do that every time we share the story of Jesus particularly in the way we live our faith, but if need be, in our actual word. The writers of Matthew and Luke have given us a great script from which we can start the conversation.

Prayer: Lord, I hate it when people try to cram something down my throat and I don’t want to come off like that to others. I think it just turns them off. I do love you and you have made such a difference in my life, I want to tell others but I don’t know what to say or do. Give me the right words when words are right and right actions when leading by example speaks louder than words. Amen.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo

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.

 

Strength for Today

StrengthAdvent
December 18, 2014

Scripture Reading: Romans 16:25-27

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages— Romans 16:25

During after dinner conversation on Thanksgiving Day, I bragged about the fact that I had finally reached my goal of being able to push my weight on a leg press machine at my gym. Family members just nodded rather politely but my former high school football-playing grandnephew stated rather matter-of-factly that he could push four times his weight. Do you have any idea how much work it took to reach that level?

My trainer says that the difference between me, whose exercise goals are to move without pain and continue to do the routine functions of daily living as independently as possible as long as possible, and an athlete is that most athletes don’t have a stop button. They work through strain and even sometimes pain when the rest of us would be backing off or nursing an ice pack or heating pad. Athletes often require an outside source like a trainer or a coach to say you cannot do that as it may result in permanent, irreparable damage.

This truth applies to our faith strength training as well. We must be an athlete of faith investing our time, talent, and treasure in strengthening our faith until we test God’s parameters of growth and he ultimately says, Well done my good and faithful servant. (Matthew 25:23) Take heart, like a good trainer and coach, God is with us each step of the process and it is God who is the source of our strength and it is God who will catch us when we occasionally get off balance and start to fall.

Prayer:Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your Kingdom come,  your will be done,  on earth as in heaven
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours.
Now and for ever. Amen.*

*new English version – adopted by the Church of England in 1977
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, Love, and Hope

suicideRatesByAgeLiving in the Spirit
November 14, 2014

Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
— 1 Thessalonians 5:8-11

I heard a radio interview with one of our wounded warriors this week in which he spoke of despair and a close-call with suicide, one of the leading causes of death among returning soldiers in the USA. The chart above illustrates that except for the very young, suicide is no respecter of ages. The young veteran went on to say that with the help of other soldiers, he had gotten his act together. Putting a serious drinking problem in its place, he has been sober for over a year now. With God’s help, he will continue to keep his sobriety one day at a time. It is not easy, but being a soldier was not easy either.

This all ran together for me as I considered Paul’s analogy of putting on the armor of faith, love, and hope with this young man’s interview as background. Indeed, what I heard in his voice was exactly that: faith, love, and hope. He found faith in himself through the supportive love of fellow soldiers and gained hope for the future.

We have been given a precious gift in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A gift we may take for granted at times, but a gift too valuable to hold tight to ourselves and not share with others. In having the courage to tell his story, this young veteran probably saved someone else’s life. I know he gave me a greater sense of faith, love, and hope.

Prayer: God of faith, deepen our faith
               so we may bear witness to Christ in the world;
              God of hope, strengthen our hope
              so we may be signposts to your transforming presence;
              God of love, kindle our love
              so that, in a fragile and divided world,
             we may be signs of the faith, hope, love
             which we share in Jesus Christ. Amen**

*The chart above was copied from https://www.afsp.org/understanding-suicide/facts-and-figures
**Bishop Christopher’s Call to Mission, http://www.southwark.anglican.org/FaithHopeLove/fhl-prayer

 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.

 

Shunning Evil

BaalLiving in the Spirit
November 10, 2014

Scripture Reading: Judges 4:1-7

The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years. — Judges 4:1-3

We really do not know exactly what the Israelites did again that was evil. Back in chapter three they were charged with forgetting the Lord their God, and worshipping the Baals and the Asherahs. This seems to be the way of human nature. When things are going well we don’t necessarily think a lot about God. We might even seek out the allure of lesser gods that may not have any real power but are tempting in some way. The desire for more and more wealth or power, for example, are probably our 21st Century Baals and Asherahs. Of course, we are far too sophisticated to worship some figure carved from stone, although we can become seriously attached to our gadgets. What the book of Judges tells us over and over is that doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord always ends badly. I think it is also telling us that our relationship with God is a 24/7 proposition. Good times or bad, we are called to be in sync with God.

Speaking of gadgets, I have been using one of those step tracker things that people can wear to tell them how active they are. It works for me, probably because I am rather goal oriented. If it shows I have walked 4.6 miles, I’ll make the extra effort to get it up to five. Our relationship with God is like that. When things are going pretty good it doesn’t mean we should rest on our laurels but rather that we are at a point when we can take the next step up in our journey of faith. We know we can always depend on God through the bad times. The question is can God depend on us in the good times.

Prayer: God of the Dance, help me to keep on moving toward the fulfillment of your will and your way through the good times and the bad times. Help me to know evil when in crosses my path and to shun it in favor of faith, hope, and 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.

Called

Wade in the waterLiving in the Spirit
November 4, 2014

Scripture Reading: Joshua 3:7-17

When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing towards the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan. — Joshua 3:14-17

What constitutes a “church”? I had the opportunity recently to participate in a short discussion of this question at a meeting of one of the organizational bodies of the faith group with which I am a member. We were discussing that our by-laws use the word “church” to describe certain rights and privileges. When we apply a conventional definition of the word “church” we most often think of a congregation with a building, by-laws, officers, and staff. We have ministries that might benefit from these same rights and privileges, but do not necessarily have a building or by-laws or officers or a staff. We decided that at a future date we needed to delve further into what is a “church” and perhaps reconstitute our by-laws to match what we find.

The English word “church” comes from the Greek word kyriakos, “belonging to the Lord” (kyrios)*. The Greek word ekklésia is translated 114 times in the New Testament as “church”. It means an assembly, congregation, church; the Church, the whole body of Christian believers*.  These definitions are certainly broader than the conventional perception of the definition of the word “church”.

What does all this have to do with the Israelites crossing the Jordan? Religious leaders must not be afraid to step into deep water to fulfill the call of Christ to be the Body of Christ in our world today and that may mean changing our constitutions and by-laws to keep up with the Joshua’s of the world. Such change will require much discernment and a whole lot of covenantal conversations that entail at least as much listening and prayer among all participants as they do talking.

Prayer: Holy One, grant us the courage to step out in faith and wade in the water of your callings. Amen

*http://biblehub.com/greek/1577.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.