Tag Archives: God’s Love

The Gift of Grace

Advent

December 20, 2019

Scripture Reading: Romans 1:1-7

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. –Romans 1:7b

Grace is (xáris) is preeminently used of the Lord’s favor – freely extended to give Himself away to people (because He is “always leaning toward them”)*. –From the Greek

This Greek word answers directly to the Hebrew (OT) term 2580 /Kaná (“grace, extension-toward”). Both refer to God freely extending Himself (His favor, grace), reaching (inclining) to people because He is disposed to bless (be near) them.

I love the image of God always leaning toward me, not just the fact that God is there for me but the idea that God is actively engaged in letting me know that God is near. It made me wonder what is my proper, or anyone’s for that matter, response to grace. If grace is a gift giving freely, we do not have a choice in God’s giving it, but we do have choices in what we do as a result of receiving it.

I have been exceedingly busy this holiday season and for the first time ever I sent money as gifts to my nieces and nephews. I guess I moved in that direction last year when I sent gift cards to some of them. My rationalization is that with money they can get what they really want rather than what I think they might want. I think God’s gift of grace falls in similar motivation. God created us with innate abilities that are routinely shaped by our environments and the needs of the world. I also think God created us with the idea that when we all coordinate using our gifts in positive ways, we move closer to God’s ideal kingdom.  With that in mind, though, I think God takes joy in seeing all the possibilities that may result from our maturation into using God’s gift of grace.

That said, we humans are capable of squandering God’s grace, keeping God at arm’s length or only seeking God’s guidance when we are desperate or turning our backs on God altogether. The riches of God’s grace come in regular communion with God who takes joy in our joy as we open our hearts to God.

Prayer: Lord, forgive me when I make choices that are counter to all that is good and right for me as I engage with others in this world. Help me realize that my true joy is your joy and your greatest joy comes from my loving you and loving all your children. Amen.

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

Loving with No Strings Attached

Preparing for Advent

November 27, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 122

I was glad when they said to me,
   ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
   ‘May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
   and security within your towers.’
For the sake of my relatives and friends
   I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
   I will seek your good. –Psalm 122:1, 6-9

I included the first verse of this psalm because it is probably my favorite song from childhood. I do indeed love to go into houses of the Lord and share in worship of God. I love music both vocal and instrumental, like to hear the scriptures read, enjoy watching children share in the service, learn from words shared by worship leaders and pastors, and celebrate the whole Body of Christ as I share in the Lord’s Supper each Sunday.

The closing verses of this poem carries key wisdom that we all need to hear. Everything God does for us is intended for our good and everything we do in God’s name is for our good and the good of all of God’s creation. That understanding requires us to carefully discern what is good for us and what is good for another. We must discern what is just and what is righteous in all our actions.

When I supervised social work at the local level, I was asked by local churches to identify families that the church members could help for Christmas. One year a few days after Christmas, a very irate women from one of those churches arrived with sparks flying from her eyes at my office door to complain that she had donated a very nice dress for a little girl in the family we had referred. The woman had just driven by the family’s house and had seen the little girl playing in the mud in that dress. The woman wanted me to know she was never going to work with any family we referred again. I tried to explain to her that that may have been the only warm clothing the little girl had. I do not think it made a difference. From that time forward, when I coordinated such gift exchanges, I arranged for the churches to provide the gifts to our office and did not share the identities of the families receiving the gifts to the churches. God’s love is given freely to all with no strings attached that is a good role for us to model.

Prayer: Lord, help me to share the joy of your birth with others as God shared you with us with no strings attached. Amen.

*https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/396

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.

No Quid Pro Quo

September 1, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 14:1, 7-14

He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’ –Luke 14:12-14

One of the hardest lessons to learn as a Christ follower is that there is no quid pro quo in God’s Kingdom (you scratch my back; I will scratch yours). I think that is so hard to grasp because it is such a prevalent value in most societies. Being popular does not make anything right. God’s love is given 100% with no strings attached. Jesus died on the cross in our name with no strings attached. God’s grace is given with no strings attached. We can turn our backs on God, but God never turns God’s back on us. The hope and faith of love is that such generosity will be mirrored in our lives. Our loving one another is the greatest gift we can give God.

We get caught in traps of trying to define by rules the depth and breadth of our love and thus God’s love. We cannot set limits on something that has no boundaries. God provided us with basic guidance’s in how to live our lives resulting in our working hard drilling down to the least we must do to meet the expected behavior. This stretches all the way back to Cain asking, Am I my brother’s keeper? (Genesis 4:9) and appears again in the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

Unlike the world’s banquet table, Christ’s banquet table is open to all. We are called to not only desire having our basic needs met but also the basic needs of families fleeing terror in their homelands, the families of our economic competitors in China, and the child labors in Sri Lanka. And not just meeting basic needs but also introducing the whole world to God’s abundant life that is being stolen from so many in our world.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. –John 10:10

Prayer: Thank you, Lord for your great love. Help me mirror your love in my life. 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.

Bounded by Love

Kingdom Building

August 13, 2019

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7

And now I will tell you
   what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
   and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
   and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
   it shall not be pruned or hoed,
   and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
   that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
   is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
   are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
   but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
   but heard a cry! –Isaiah 5:5-7

As I read this, I remember a sermon I heard many years ago when I was in grade school that obviously left an impression. I do not remember the preacher and thus it must have been one of the interims from Phillips Theological Seminary then located in Enid, Oklahoma. Between student preachers, professors would fill our pulpit at times until a new person was selected. In my naivete I did not know I was being blessed by some outstanding theologians in my tiny rural church like Craddock and Carstensen.

The preacher had us image God as being like a fence in the front yard of a home enclosing a beautiful lush lawn and trees where a small child was playing enjoying the wonders of God’s good earth without restraint as cars and trucks sped by the busy street next to the yard. Then he said image allowing the child to play in the yard with no fence with nothing to stop her from running into the street after a wayward ball and no one there to keep out the weeds and maintain the grass. I wonder if the preacher’s scripture for the day was the one quoted above.

We bristle at being restrained by even Jesus’ simple rules of loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Willfulness stretches us to search beyond God’s common sense and self-righteousness asserts we do not need anyone or anything, we’ve got this.

I think most of us would say after watching the evening news that as a society we cannot say we’ve got this. We are missing the mark as individuals and as society. I think a little soul searching would benefit us all and call us to implore God to help us repair our fences.

Prayer:
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise*. Amen

*First verse of Dear Lord and father of mankind, written by John Greenleaf Whitter, see at https://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Dear_Lord_and_Father_of_Mankind/

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.

Harvesting The Fruit of Love

Kingdom Building

August 12, 2019

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7

Let me sing for my beloved
   my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
   on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
   and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watch-tower in the midst of it,
   and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
   but it yielded wild grapes. –Isaiah 5:2-3

Wild grapevines are a perennial high-climbing vine, growing to 100 feet and clinging to whatever is available as they grow. Commonly found growing up into the forest canopy, wild grapevines attach themselves to tall trees with thin tendrils, or narrow, curling branches that wind around tree branches for support*.

Wild grapes grew wild (amazing as that may seem) on my family’s farm when I was a child. Preferring a little tartness in my sweets, I like wild grape jelly. Wild grapes are not a dependable fruit source like our pear tree was. Some seasons Mom could make a few jars of jelly from the wild grapes we harvested; other years there were none at all or only a few scraggly ones hanging from a tree. I thought for a long time they grew on the trees. Later I learned they were a separate plant just using the trees.

I fear our society is clinging to anything that meets our immediate desires regardless of the consequences of worshipping such lesser gods without thought for our wellbeing or the wellbeing of others. Lesser gods are more concerned with what they get from our relationship with them. The One True God the God of love always loves first and forever and always cares about all creation even each of us.

Perhaps Isaiah in our scripture today is using this illustration to caution the people of his day and us regarding our tendencies to cling to whatever is available* chasing after whatever entices our attention rather than reaping the harvest of God’s love in our lives. It takes a lot of work to care for a vineyard, weeding and pruning and harvesting. It takes intentionality of effort to grow a world ruled by love. We are all called to be a part of the effort, which will only reach full fruition if we strive for the oneness to which Christ calls us where he is the vine and we are the branches.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for loving us just as we are and for nurturing us when, we let you, to grow in spirit and in truth. Help us become conduits of your love. Amen.

*https://homeguides.sfgate.com/differences-between-wild-grape-vines-domesticated-vines-29825.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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Slavery

Kingdom Building

August 11, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 12:32-40

‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. –Luke 12:35-39

Slavery was a norm in the first century when Jesus interacted with the crowds. His audience did not need further description to understand the situation. Of course, we are only 150 or so years removed from slavery being a legal reality in the USA. In many ways, we are still adapting to the cultural changes brought about by the Emancipation Proclamation. Immigrants without documentation are brought into this country by businesses who profit from being able to pay them less than minimum wage with no benefits which is close to slavery. Human trafficking of all sorts is more common than we want to admit. Since such activities are illegal now, it is usually the victims who are punished for the crime when it is discovered. Thus, I find It hard to read our scripture above to find the message of hope and faith that is buried in the sands of slavery, but there is both faith and hope as we drill deep into the story.

If we were the slave awaiting the return of the master and being alert to his coming would we expect him to invite us to sit down and eat while he serves us? Is Jesus turning the culture upside down? How do we relate to this all-powerful, always present, all-knowing God willing to serve us as a slave? How do we understand that such a God as this loves us all and wants the very best for each of us? The answer is simple, we love this one and only God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and pay God the highest honor when we love all God’s children in the same way.

Prayer: God who is love, forgive us when we fail to love you as fully as possible by loving all your children as completely as possible. 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 is No Mortal

Kingdom Building

July 30, 2019

Scripture Reading: Hosea 11:1-11

How can I give you up, Ephraim?
   How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
   How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
   my compassion grows warm and tender.
I will not execute my fierce anger;
  I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and no mortal,
   the Holy One in your midst,
   and I will not come in wrath.  Hosea 11:8-9

Hosea opines that God does not want to destroy. God is the God of second changes. We probably all know about Sodom and Gomorrah, but I did not know that Admah and Zeboim* mentioned in the above scripture were destroyed at the same time. Hosea apparently did know of them. I wonder why he chose to use these more obscure examples of the destruction in the Valley of Siddim. Perhaps he did not want to get his lesson bogged down in the details of the event but just to say that the destruction happened.

Does God destroy or do humans project destructive actions onto God? I know that we must face the consequences of our own actions. Jesus indicated that it rains on the just and the unjust**. We all have observed that. God’s mercy surely at times abates both our folly as well as heals the damage from outside forces impacting the innocent. I watched on the news recently as a little girl left a rehab hospital after many surgeries with both her arms intact. She was injured in a tornado and the original fear was one of her arms would need to be amputated.

Hosea recognizes the mighty God as no mortal, a Holy One in our midst, we cannot ever fully understand but we can trust as one who longs for the very best for each of us and all of us. When we falter, God’s tender mercies are there for us, if we seek them.

Prayer: Lord, help us grow in spirit and in truth as we learn to love like you. Amen.

*Deuteronomy 29.23
**Matthew 5:45

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.

Perfect Love Castes Out Fear

Kingdom Building

July 29, 2019

Scripture Reading: Hosea 11:1-11

When Israel was a child, I loved him,
   and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
   the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
   I took them up in my arms;
   but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of human kindness,
   with bands of love.
I was to them like those
   who lift infants to their cheeks.
   I bent down to them and fed them. –Hosea 11:1-4

Hosea describes well God as parent. There is a point in all children’s lives when they break away from their parents allowing them to become the person God created them to be. At this time, they often test what they have learned from their parents and make the decision to retain what they had gleaned or let it go. Most do some of both. Humans are not perfect, and no parent is perfect. Even though parents and children share the same DNA, all are uniquely made. God’s love is perfect, yet God gives us the choice to follow God or not.

So why do we choose to follow the ways of the world as Hosea describes in our scripture today? The history of God’s relationship with humans is marked by ebbs and flows of being rescued by God when things go bad followed by humans pulling away from God when things are going well. Why are we willing to settle for the lesser gods of greed and power? Do we fear living in a kingdom ruled by love? Can we even imagine what that might be like? Or do we imagine God’s kingdom being a place where we must give up our individuality and everyone is alike? What does it mean to be made in the image of God while each person remains a unique being? Can we imagine a kingdom ruled by love being a greater source of all that is good than anything we have ever known?

I John 4 attempts to add insight to these questions: God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. (16b-19)

Prayer: God of Love, help us internalize the reality that perfect love casts out fear. 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.

Being a Witness

Kingdom Building

June 23, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 8:26-39

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him. –Luke 8:34-39

I think we can understand why they wanted Jesus to leave after destroying the swine herd but now we must deal with his leaving to poor guy he healed to introduce the people who had not previously helped him to a God of love. One of my favorite songs in Andraé Crouch’s My Tribute explains the witness power of one who has experienced God’s love in an unjust world:

How can I say thanks
for the things You have done for me?
Things so undeserved,
yet You gave to prove Your love for me;
the voices of a million angels
could not express my gratitude.
All that I am and ever hope to be,
I owe it all to Thee.

To God be the glory,
to God be the glory,                                                                                                                                       :
to God be the glory
for the things He has done.
With His blood He has saved me,
with His power He has raised me;
to God be the glory
for the things He has done.

Just let me live my life,
let it pleasing, Lord to Thee,
ad if I gain any praise,
let it go to Calvary.

Christ calls all of us to witness within our communities our experience of God’s love and to enable those throughout the world to witness in their communities the same thing.

Prayer: Lord help us all be conduits of your 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Actualized

Kingdom Building

June 12, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 8

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infant
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
   to silence the enemy and the avenger.
You have set your glory above the heavens.
   Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
   to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
   and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
   you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
   and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
   whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Having just reviewed the newspapers that I read each day, the question that popped into my mind as I turned to reading the scripture for today was a question to God, “What were you thinking when you made us a little lower than you?” You must understand that Psalm 8 is one of my favorite Psalms, but as divisive government runs amok, another mass shooting occurs, and refugees stream from oppression all over the world, it is hard to feel the goodness of the love of God present in this poem. But there it is.

It is quite humbling to be so honored by God. God is the one entity who knows our true potential for good. I cannot imagine how much joy it would bring God, if we invested ourselves in fulfilling the gifts, he has given us.

Prayer: Lord, on this day, help me strive just a little more to be the person you created me to be, and a little more tomorrow, and the next day. . . .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.