Tag Archives: God’s Grace

Reconciliation

Lent

March 10, 2023

Scripture Reading Romans 5:1-11

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. –Romans: 5:6-11

My spring Bible Study Group is studying Genesis*. In a video accompanying the study, a Jewish scholar discussed the scene in the garden when Adam and Eve, after disobeying the rule that they could not eat from the tree of good and evil, realized they were naked and began to clothe themselves. He said the Jewish view of that story was that upon discovering they were naked, they had to clothe themselves in doing good deeds to reconcile their failure to follow God’s commandments. I like that interpretation. Firstly, it does not deliver the message that there is something bad about the human body. Secondly, from the very start of life, humans were given the opportunities to find reconciliation with God when we have strayed from doing what is right.

Of course, if you read further into the scripture, we see God kicking Adam and Eve out of the garden and yoking them with hard work and painful birth. What do we make of that? Being reconciled with God frees us to restore justice wherever we can. The pain we may have caused others does not go away merely because we recognize our mistakes. I love the story of John Newton, the author of the hymn, Amazing Grace. He was involved in the slave trade when a killer storm struck the slave ship he was sailing and threatened to kill all aboard. He prayed as a last resort for God to save his life and committed himself to give up the slave trade and serve God fully, which he did. He, indeed, did dedicate his life to Christ’s work. Telling of his reconciliation in his hymn alone has opened the door to God’s Grace for millions worldwide.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for making us whole through your gift of grace. Amen

Invitation to Genesis, A Short-Term Disciple Bible Study, Abingdon Press.

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.

Justified and Graced

Lent

March 9, 2023

Scripture Reading: Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. –Romans 5:1-5

Justified, as used above, means to be made right cleared of all charges through our faith relationship with God. I love the phrase God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. We live, breathe, and have our being (Acts 17:28) with that presence in our lives. We waste much grace when we do not maintain a close relationship with the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts.

My paternal grandmother practiced praying without ceasing. She married and had six children with her first husband, of which the only son died when he was nine. Two years after the boy’s death, her husband was killed in a storm, leaving her to raise those five little girls alone. She remarried a few years later and had three more children, including my father. That couple had been together for about ten years when he died from sepsis. The next year the stock market crashed, starting the Great Depression, and finding my grandmother with a houseful of pre-teens and teenagers living amid the Dust Bowl. Her faith guided her through those times. I was five when she died, but I remember her as a loving woman whom you would never have guessed had dealt with such challenges.

We all need to recognize and relate to God’s presence in all aspects of our lives by always keeping that conversation with God open.

Prayer:
Lord, lift me up, and let me stand
By faith, on heaven’s tableland;
A higher plane than I have found,
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground**. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/1344.htm

Refrain from the hymn I’m Pressing on the Upward Way by Johnson Oatman, Jr. See at https://hymnary.org/text/im_pressing_on_the_upward_way

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.

God’s Grace

Advent

December 9, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Romans 1:1-7

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We celebrate the gift of the grace of God, particularly as it was demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Jesus. We, indeed, should appropriately and humbly accept God’s great gift of grace and redemption. Are we not also called to emulate the example of grace that Jesus set for us in his sojourn on earth? Does that include acts of grace?

I was surprised to learn that the translation of the Greek word “grace” basically means to lean towards.

xáris (another feminine noun from xar-, “favor, disposed to, inclined, favorable towards, leaning towards to share benefit”) – properly, grace. 5485 (xáris) is preeminently used of the Lord’s favor – freely extended to give Himself away to people (because He is “always leaning toward them”) *.

In our world today, we seem to be leaning away from others, even among those who call themselves Christian. From where do such delusions that lean us away from each other stem? Are we leaning away from God? Are we questioning our gift of grace, thus looking for love elsewhere?

Advent is a great time to refresh our faith. Lean into the scriptures of the coming of Christ; lean into the God who comes to us incarnate to help us understand God’s love as God continuously leans into us.

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
leaning on the everlasting arms;
what a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
leaning on the everlasting arms**.

Prayer: O, Lord, as you lean into us this advent season, let your love inspire us to lean our love on others. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/5485.htm

**The first verse of the hymn, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms by E. A. Hoffman see at https://hymnary.org/text/what_a_fellowship_what_a_joy_divine#Author

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.

Finished with Sin

Pentecost

June 1, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
   may the Lord rejoice in his works—
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
   who touches the mountains and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
   I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
   for I rejoice in the Lord.
Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
   and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord! –Psalm 104:31-34, 35

I want my meditations to be pleasing to me. I had not realized that until I read this psalm that says May my meditation be pleasing to (God). I meditate to calm down or collect myself. Now, God is most likely pleased with me calming down and getting my act together, but this scripture made me wonder if I am entering into meditation for the wrong reasons. The true purpose of meditation is to get in sync with God. This is important in our crazy world today where discord is common, and some seem to intentionally focus on keeping people divided. We are all much better at reading the world about us in truth when we are in sync with God.

The other piece about this scripture that caught my attention was the phrase, Let sinners be consumed from the earth. That reads like the sinners will be destroyed. I looked up what the Hebrew word Tamam translated as consumed in this Psalm and found that it means to be finished. I can identify with that. Romans 3:23 says since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We still must work at outgrowing our turning to sin as a lesser way of dealing with the realities of life. Our goal is to trust in God enough that following God’s ways is the higher ground we are called to follow. We are also promised that if we stick with God’s ways, God’s grace fills the gaps we may not even see when necessary.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your grace Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you (Psalm 19:14) Amen.

   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 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.

Cling to God

Lent

March 22, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Joshua 5:9-12

The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.’ And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.

While the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

The disgrace of Egypt may have been the failure of the escaping Israelites to continue the practice of circumcision when they wandered in the wilderness. I am unsure why. Were they angry at God for both being enslaved and being thrust into what they considered a God-forsaken place to wander with only what they had been able to carry out of Egypt? Maybe they thought if God had left them, they would leave God. Joshua reminded his people that God is still with them, that they needed to return to his loving care that was there all along.

My morning news today carried a brief video of a worship service being held in Ukraine amid the bombings. It gave me hope for them but also for the rest of us dealing with a world gone mad and in desperate need of a Savior we already have.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.

 Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
  In the light of His glory and grace.

Prayer: Lord, hold us closer than ever in your loving arms and help us to see a peaceful way to end the battles of war and governance. Amen.

First verse and chorus of Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus by Helen Howarth Lemmel. See at https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/645

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.

God’s Grace

Advent

December 16, 2021

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:5-10

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
   but a body you have prepared for me;
in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings
   you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, “See, God, I have come to do your will, O God”
   (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).’
When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Civilization from its inception seemed to intuitively understand that there was something more powerful than individuals and even clusters of people, so they identified gods for all occasions.  Our ancestors in faith were among the first to recognize that there was one supreme God who created them and set the ways for them to live successfully. Yet, they struggled to know God more nearly as they discerned their imperfections in following God’s ways and sought a means to rectify their failure by offering what was of value to them. Eventually, the prophets helped them understand that they were valuable to God. God did not want their perfect sheep or even a turtle dove. God wants loving relationships with each and all of God’s children, and among them, in a world, God created to meet their every need. He made that clear in accepting the utmost offering of Jesus in his death on the cross.

Once we learn that we cannot buy God’s grace, that it is a gift, we are forced to deal with living a life of loving God and loving others in times when we may not want to love some of those others at all. God indicates, however, that the best way to show our love for God is to love all others just as they are. People we encounter who, in our opinion, are harming themselves and others need even more of our love. I do not think we can individually change anyone, but we can plant seeds to open their minds to new ideas and their hearts to receiving love by walking beside them as we all grow toward the perfection Paul describes in his writings. The hard part for us is that we must follow Jesus’s instruction in Luke 6:42, how can you say to your neighbor, “Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye”, when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

Prayer: Lord, forgive me when I am more self-righteous than righteous. Help me to see the image of God in each of my brothers and sisters in Christ. 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.

Wholeness in Christ

Living in the Spirit

October 22, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Hebrews 7:23-28

For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever. –Hebrews 7:26-28

What is meant by the high priest being separated from sinners? The very human Jesus was criticized for interacting with sinners by the religious leaders of the day. Yet, this One who gave his life for those same sinners would, I think, desire their presence even in the exaltation of the heavens. So what does this phrase mean?

I was a sickly child routinely having strep or tonsilitis, along with spring and fall reaction to whatever pollen was riled by the changing of the seasons. Because of that, I missed a lot of school, causing me great distress. As I lay in my bed unhealthy and unhappy, I would envision a magic machine that started at the top of my head and scanned down my whole body erasing my symptoms and curing my illnesses. I even imagined it repairing my eyes so that I did not need to wear glasses. Such a machine has yet to be invented, but the daydream may have lulled me to sleep, which was a Godsend after coughing all night long.

My first reaction to the phrase separated from sinners, was negative because I could not believe that the Jesus I know and love would ever give up on me or anyone else since we are all sinners. However, remembering my longed-for magic machine, I realized that Jesus’ death on the cross resulted in his gift of grace that makes all sinners complete or whole. His subsequent resurrection as the Christ, the high priest Hebrews describes above, reminds us that we are made whole through his presence. I cannot tell you how it works, but I can tell you it does. Now some of you inventors God gifted with the skills to create solutions to problems need to be working on my magic machine.

Prayer: Dear Lord of all, thank you for your gift of grace and your patience with your children still striving toward wholeness. 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.

God’s Graciousness

Living in the Spirit

October 12, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Exodus 33:12-23

Moses said to the Lord, ‘See, you have said to me, “Bring up this people”; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, “I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.” Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.’ He said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.’

The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.’ Moses said, ‘Show me your glory, I pray.’ And he said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, “The Lord”; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Moses prayers for his salvation and for that of the people he leads. The Lord responds that God will be gracious to Moses and otherwise will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Paul says in Philippians 2:12–Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

Moses is praying for protection regarding the Israelites escape from Egypt of both the individuals and the collective involved. Paul, too, seems to be instructing the Philippians as they strive to be the Body of Christ in an unwelcoming world in the same manner. God cares for us as individuals and as part of the family of God, and God holds us accountable as individuals and as the collective Body of Christ. The further we get into the story, the Exodus illustrates that Moses had his hands full, occasionally dealing with his fellow Israelites working together, following God’s ways.

Those proclaiming to be the Body of Christ in the USA today are torn asunder with the various sides, not recognizing the other groups as relating to the same Christ. We, too, must pray for God’s presence to go with all who call on Christ’s name that we might be the One Body of Christ working together toward building the Kingdom of God.

Prayer: Be gracious with us, Lord, forgive us for our sins of self-righteousness. Let your love flow through us, enabling us to love one another. 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.

Keeping Commitments

March 27, 2020

Scripture Reading: Romans 8:6-11

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

I may not remember the name of the book my book club is currently reading, although I can tell you its entire plot, but sometimes when I read scripture like the one above, a hymn I learned 60 or so years ago will pop into my head. Today it was I know not why God’s Wondrous Grace which is no longer in our hymnal but carries Paul’s powerful message just the same:

I know not why God’s wondrous grace
  To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
  Redeemed me for His own.

 But “I know Whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
  Unto Him against that day*.”

We modern progressives are a little uncomfortable about a judgment day as perhaps was the author of this hymn since he refers to it as that day. I do not know why this song was dropped from hymnals. Perhaps its just fell from the top hits list and publishers can only put so many hymns in one book. Perhaps it stems from our theological concentration on what we do in the now rather than racking up brownie points for the hereafter. I tend to fall in that last category.

Yet, we talk about the resurrection thrusting God’s kingdom into actualization and that we have chosen to be partners in its building. I perceive pleasing God as a constant in our work toward that Kingdom. The Greek word translated “please” is Areskó** and it means to satisfy or make good on something. How important is someone keeping their commitments to you rather than getting caught up in the distractions of the world?  Do you think God feels the same?

Prayer: Lord we thank you for your wonderous grace and ask you to forgive us when we fall short of our commitments to you. Help us to understand there is nothing in the world that is greater than your wondrous grace. Amen

*First verse and chorus of I know not why God’s wondrous grace by Daniel Webster Whittle. See at https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/333

**https://biblehub.com/greek/700.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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Rest in God

March 11, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 95

O that today you would listen to his voice!
   Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
   as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your ancestors tested me,
   and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
   and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
   and they do not regard my ways.’
Therefore in my anger I swore,
   ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ –Psalm 95-7b-11

How do we react when life takes a turn for the worst? I was glad to turn off the news this morning as I am weary of listening to updates on the spread of the coronavirus, the drop in the stock market, the oil war going on between Saudi Arabia and Russian. One reporter noted that the battle over the price of oil was good news for those of us who like seeing the cost of gasoline going down. Who does not like that? Those of us living in states where the production of oil is a major part of the economy have very mixed feelings about the drop in price.

People are fearful of what we do not understand. Scientist are just beginning to analyze the corona virus and we do not know if we have any immunity to it. We have no control over Russia and Saudi Arabia’s production and resulting price war regarding oil, but we do suffer the consequences of it. The drop in the stock market only verifies once again that where money is concerned, we do not learn from our mistakes.

I read Psalm 95 this morning as it reminded me about the panic of the Israelites in the wilderness when they had no water, and I thought how human behavior has not changed much over time. We serve a God who loves us, wants the very best for us, set down guidance for how we are to live to have God’s abundant life, sent prophets to remind us of both God’s love and guidance, and ultimately sent God’s son to teach and model a life filled with love and ultimately to give his life so that we might have life more abundant.

I read the last line of Psalm 95 as words from God telling us that God is the god of rest and peace and wholeness. His gift is there for the taking and it makes God angry when we flail about like a fish out of water ignoring the one who can and will slip us gently into God’s stream of living water, if we will just let God.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we look everywhere else but to you as we face the challenges of life. Grant us  shalom that we might address with courage and love problems we face in our world. 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.