Tag Archives: Growing in Love

Loving the Christ in Everyone

Kingdom Building

August 2, 2019

Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:1-11

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! –Colossians 3:9-11

Not lying to one another starts with not lying to ourselves. When we can be fully honest with ourselves, comfortable in our own skin, we have the freedom to love everyone. When we measure our worth in comparison to others is when we fall into the trap of qualifying people based on our self-concept and how it measures against other people.

When we accept that Christ is the only plump line by which we need to measure ourselves and when we accept that Christ meets us with grace as he guides us toward being able to love perfectly, we are freed from a comparison-defined life.

Just this week I read or heard of people threatening the lives of people or killing them because of the color of their skin or their religion or their political viewpoint or their sexuality. In some instances, such hatred is being done in the name of Christ. Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he is surely weeping over our world today.  Paul tells us in the scripture above that Christ is in all, no exceptions. When we denigrate anyone, we are denigrating Christ.

Prayer:
Help us accept each other
as Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother,
each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us
and Bring us to believe:
we are ourselves accepted
and meant to love and live*. Amen

*First verse of Help Us Accept Each Other by Fred see at https://www.hopepublishing.com/find-hymns-hw/hw3521.aspx

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.

Spirit Led

Eastertide
May 1, 2017

Scripture Reading:  Acts 2:42-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. —Acts 2:42

Acts describes a four-fold schematic of spiritual disciples that stands the test of time: teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers.

Teaching here is derived from the Greek word didaché*, a noun, which describes a body of knowledge.  Its verb form describes instruction about a body of knowledge that certainly includes the Hebrew Bible, perhaps the writings of the Apocrypha, and maybe by the time of the writings of Acts, Paul’s letters and other works in circulation, for example, the gospel of Mark, the missing Q document, and other writings now in the New Testament such as Hebrews. The Bible as we know it did not yet exist when Acts was written. We are each required to study and discern from a wide variety of sources related to God, ancient and current. We are wise to do that in dialogue with other seekers to hold us accountable for not limiting our discernments to what we want to hear.

Fellowship is the companionship of persons on equal and friendly terms**. I value highly the fellowship of my congregation as it strives to nurture and care for people from birth to the grave. Even in the limited size of a single congregation, it is a challenge to have companionship with all persons on equal and friendly terms. Jesus commanded us to take that fellowship to all the people of the earth. To do that, we must first and foremost understand what God’s purpose is for us. It is hard to love everyone. It amazes me still that as a child welfare worker, I learned to look at someone who had beaten his or her own child severely and see the pain in their beings that lead to that atrocity. It is easier to do that when the offender is a stranger. Objectivity suffers when a relationship exist which compounds our ability to respond with love when we feel our love has been betrayed. The presence of the Holy Spirit in relationships is key to re-balancing relationships.

Ephesians 4:26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger is most likely the source of the adage do go to bed angry. I think the same advice applies to eating together. The breaking of bread in communion with others derives from the culture of family. Family presumes a permanent relationship. There is just something about eating together that reminds us of our oneness and our dependence on each other. Jesus chose this most common of practices to symbolize his mission and ministry when he took the bread and gave it to his disciples to share as he did the wine. Again, he encourages us to go beyond our comfort zones and commune with the entire family of God.

The Greek word for prayer, proseuché***, means exchange of wishes. We are probably most adept at presenting our laundry list of desires to God, and not so good at reciprocating by not only taking in God’s list but also trying with all our might to fulfill it. At times our lists may include wishes, if granted that would not be in our best interest. We can be assured that God’s wishes are always in our best interest and perhaps more importantly the best interest of the Kingdom of God.

Prayer: Lord, guide my growth in learning how to love like you. Amen.

*http://biblehub.com/greek/1322.htm
**http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/fellowship
***http://biblehub.com/greek/4335.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.