Tag Archives: Jesus

Being Hope

Being hopeLent February 22, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 1:9-15 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ — Mark 1:14

John’s arrest must have been a bitter blow for Jesus. John was a mentor, cousin, and friend. Perhaps the arrest was the catalyst for the start of Jesus’ ministry. He surely had been working in some capacity with John before the arrest but he now moved onto center stage.

It is hard to watch one’s society imploding, crumbling inside itself as external pressures seem to be insurmountable. John had become an irritant to King Herod, chastising him for his personal misdeeds, and soon Herod would simply have John beheaded as a favor to his wife. Living in such a situation leads to hopelessness and futility. Yet this relative and friend of John’s, this Jesus, responds to the arrest by declaring the good news that the kingdom of God was near.

How do we apply that lesson today in parts of the world where there is little or no hope left? How do we bring hope to our own inner-cities where poverty and lack of opportunities stifle wellbeing? How do we live out being the hands and arms and heart and legs and feet of the Body of Christ in our world today?

Take a few minutes to ponder these questions and then literally write down at least one, maybe two or three, things you can do today that will bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to a hurting world. Perhaps it’s checking on someone who is alone and snowed in. Perhaps it is writing and sending a check to an entity bringing hope to the world, perhaps it is gathering all those shoes you no longer wear and taking them to a ministry that distributes shoes to people on the street. Now do it.

Prayer:  Lord, enable me to be that part of the Body of Christ that you have called me to be and to do the tasks that are associated with it. I understand I cannot do everything, help me realize and actualize that I must do something. 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.

Beginnings

BeginningsEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
January 11, 2015

 Scripture Reading: Mark 1:4-11
[John] proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

  In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ — Mark 1:7-11

 Baby dedications or christenings, baptisms, weddings, initiations, commissionings, ordinations all are rituals of beginnings. These are momentous occasions where something comes to fruition and starts something new. The baptism that John practiced acknowledged the end of slavery to sin and the beginning of living into forgiveness.

Now Jesus stands before John and asked for baptism. Why? He by all accounts is not in need of forgiveness. He had been dedicated appropriately at birth and made his trip to the temple at the age of 12, but we know little else about him until this moment as he asks to be baptized. In a very real sense, he is witnessing to his being fully human, fully capable of sin. In another sense he is setting an example for future followers of the need to turn around from their way of being and follow a new way, his way. But it also serves to mark the beginning of his ministry, transferring the mantle of leadership from John to Jesus.

I thank God for God’s plan of new beginnings because I have experienced them in my life sometimes by choice but other times due to situations beyond my control. I have mourned the loss of what was and feared the future of what was to be and I can attest that God can make all things new and clean and good.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the richness of your renewal to wholeness. Keep me ever in the palm of your hand in all my future beginnings. 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.

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Life

Wedding feastLiving in the Spirit
Light a Candle for Children
October 11, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 22:1-14

 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. — Matthew 22:1-3

Why do you suppose the guest would not come to the wedding? Clearly they are not concerned about how the King would react to such a snub. They have an uncanny lack of political correctness. This group of guest may even have no regard for their own safety or future in the kingdom. Perhaps they feel unworthy to be in the King’s presence or perhaps they worry that they do not have the right clothes to wear. My guess is that, if they are like those of us today, they were so self-absorbed in the everyday routines of life that there was no room left to worry about their neighbor even if the neighbor is a king.

What has set us today at such a frantic pace of ennui—emptiness of spirit? Is it technology pollution or over stimulation from mass communications? Have we lost our sense of hope? Jesus in telling us in this parable that our lack of engagement with God, running our own show doing life our way, is not the answer. Being in sync with God orders all of life so that we can celebrate when it is time to celebrate and love when it is time to love and trust that our future is in God’s hands.

Our challenge is to live our faith such that we are enabling all to come into sync with God. When that happens, the things of this world will not overwhelm us.

Oklahoma Fact: 7% of youth ages 12 to 17 years of age participate in binge alcohol drinking. For young adults 18 to 25 years of age the percentage increases to 38%.*

Prayer: God of Hope, save us from the pitfalls of life that impair our judgment and destroy our potential. Amen.

*http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/38-binge-alcohol-drinking-among-youths-by-age-group?loc=38&loct=2#detailed/2/38/false/909,857,105,118,104/30,31/14407,315

 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.

 

Restorative Justice

Restorative JusticeLiving in the Spirit
Light a Candle for Children
October 1, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Psalm 19

 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you,
   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. — Psalm 19:14

Such familiar words, but do we practice them? This is not a prayer for God to clean up our language. It is a prayer that we live our lives in such a way and speak in such a way that what we do and say gives honor to God. The next question we must consider is: What is acceptable to God?

The prophet Micah gives us some clues when he writes: He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

Jesus addressed the issue when he answered a question: ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ (Matthew 22:36-40)

Put God first, love your neighbor, and do justice. These surely are enough to keep each of us busy for a lifetime. We are called to do justice particularly for those who cannot do justice for themselves. Our children need us to do justice for them. Restorative justice for parents is justice for their children too.

Oklahoma Fact: On any given day, more than 26,000 Oklahoma children have a parent in an Oklahoma prison.*

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you,   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

http://oica.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Children-of-Incarcerated-Parents-Report-January-1-2012.pdf

 

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 of Wonder

partingredsea08Living in the Spirit
September 8, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Exodus 14:19-31

 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, ‘Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.’ — Exodus 14:19-25

The second movie I ever saw as a child was The Ten Commandments. Thus Cecil B. DeMille’s rendition of the Israelites crossing the sea will probably always pop into my brain whenever I read our scripture today. I now know that high drama is not reality but in some instances it may speak the truth more than the real situation. The truth is that Moses believed in the God he had encountered in Midian as did apparently at least a fragment of the Israelites back in Egypt. Some were probably revolutionaries itching to fight for their freedom. But for some the tradition of the God of Abraham had remained a vital part of their lives as it was passed down through the generations. The remaining multitudes were hungry for a better life and were willing to follow those who promised it.

The anthropologist Margaret Mead said, Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. She is describing story after story in the Bible. None more obvious than Jesus and his disciples. That is our heritage in faith and one we must cling to in times like these when God’s love is the only solution to the many evils that we face.

We are called to remember the traditions of the first disciples sent by Jesus into the world to spread the news of God’s love, the salvation given us through Jesus Christ, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We spread that word best by living it.

Prayer: God of Wonder, keep afresh the dreams you planted in us when we first discovered you. Make them our vision for the world today so that we might live into them. 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.

Binding and Loosing

 bindingloosingLiving in the Spirit
September 7, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:15-20 

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’ —Matthew 18:18-20

The above saying should scare the daylights out of us. Do we realize the responsibility it entails? Read it again and think about it. When I was a little girl, and thus my memory may be somewhat limited, my dad brought home a new cow. I think he had bought her from a relative. We milked several cows every day and sold milk and cream so it was not unusual to get a new cow now and then. I seem to remember somebody saying something about the cow being wild, maybe the word untamable may have even been used. My brother and my dad got her unloaded from the truck without a lot of difficulty but that marked the end of any appropriate cow behavior. She ran zigzagging all over the pasture, swam the pond, and may have jumped a fence before her first nightfall with us. I really don’t remember what happened to that cow. I don’t think she lived with us for very long. For a while though she was definitely “loosed on earth” and I don’t think anybody would want to spend a single day with her in heaven. Binding could have equally distressful results. We have passed some pretty crazy laws that we are now bound to follow.

What I glean from this is that we better be getting our act together loving God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves right now and take as much advantage as we can of having the Holy Spirit with us to guide us for we are right now living into our eternity.

Prayer:  Creator God, Jesus, Christ, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove guide us in all that we bind and in all that we loose so that your Kingdom comes and your will is done. 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.

Taking Up a Cross

carrycross6Living in the Spirit
August 31, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 16:21-28 

Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? — Matthew 16:24-26

Denying self is an unheard of concept in our culture today. We want what we want and we want it now. It is really hard to escape. I can rarely remember chapter and verse from the Bible, although I do remember lots of scripture. I quoted Jesus recently in a study group and someone said that they had heard me say that before but they had never been able to find it in the Bible. Before I could say that I would look the citation up and get it to them later, one of the other participants had found it on their cell phone and gave her the reference. My immediate thought was, “I’ve got to have that App.”

It’s funny, but I think I understood denying self and taking up the cross of Jesus better when I was a child. My favorite hymn as a child was, Must Jesus bare the cross alone and all the world go free. No there’s a cross for everyone and there’s a cross for me*. We do not even sing it anymore. It is not in our hymn books.

We know what cross Jesus took up. He bore the cross of our salvation but what is our cross? We hear this phrase many times applied to circumstances beyond our control. “Her disability is such a cross to carry.” The cross Paul is discussing is one we take up by choice, something to which we are willing to dedicate our very lives. I heard on the news yesterday and interview with a staff person at a Catholic center for youth in Guatemala. She has worked there for many years and described how much worse the situation was now with gangs and violence. Yet she works every day at providing job skills training for young people in the hope that a skilled job will lift them away from the stumbling-blocks regularly thrust in their paths. This woman seemed to be at perfect peace though she was expressing great sadness for the situation. She is there by choice. She has found her cross. What is mine? What is yours?

Prayer: Christ of the Cross, it is so easy to get caught up in mundane things that really do not matter. Refocus my life so that I may make the right choices in your service. Amen.

*First verse of the hymn, Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone? By Thomas Shepherd
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 Blame Game

blamegameLiving in the Spirit
August 26, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Exodus 3:1-15 

Then the Lord said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land,…The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.’ — Exodus 3:7-12

Jesus told us that God counts every hair on our head and knew what was happening with every sparrow. It should not come as a surprise to us then that God was fully aware of the plight of the Israelites. Surely there were many among those slaves calling out to God for mercy, but there were many perhaps who had given up, forgotten about God. God was still keeping an eye on them, too. And God sees the plight of families with children pouring out of Syria, Guatemala, Afghanistan, and Democratic Republic of the Congo in our world today. There are no easy answers to the problems that cause such migration, but we are called to seek solutions and offer assistance.  While it is usually beneficial to analyze what is happening to seek answers, it is a waste of precious time and resources to invest most of our energies in establishing blame.

I once had a supervisor for whom it was very important that she not be seen as the blame for anything that might have gone wrong in our challenging work with abusive and neglectful families. After spending long sessions with her where the time was mostly spent trying to fix blame, my co-workers and I discovered that we could forgo the blame game and get on about the business of addressing the issues, if in some way we would say “It was my fault, and I will never do it again.” That or a similar phrase seemed to lift the burden off her shoulders and free her to become a very good, proactive problem solver.

Jesus essentially did just that at the cross. He took the blame for all our misguided actions to free us to serve as his Body in the world today. We need to get about the business of doing just that.

Prayer: Great I AM, we thank you for the gift of your Son who frees us every day to serve you. And we thank you for hearing our cries and the cries of the oppressed. Show us what our response is to be and enable us to make it happen. 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.

Jesus is the Builder

Jesus is the builderLiving in the Spirit
August 24, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 16:13-20

He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  — Matthew 16:15-18

It makes sense that a carpenter’s apprentice would envision the future through the eyes of a builder. One of the first tasks of a builder is to select the raw materials, gather the rocks from which to form the foundation. Jesus is doing that task in our scripture today as he shapes and molds the first disciples making them the foundation for the community of faith not made with hands. He has even assigned Simon a nickname, Peter, the rock, to emphasize this role.

Simon Peter’s natural leadership ability was key to the success of the formation of this community particularly after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Simon Peter’s faith and thus his success was totally dependent on this confession of faith: You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. The Jews had long been looking for this promised one who was to come and save them from destruction. But like us, those first century Jews had an image of what that anointed one would look like, be like. Perhaps they hoped for a mighty warrior, perhaps a wise and powerful monarch, probably not a carpenter’s apprentice whose primary function was loving everyone. The other disciples had most likely seen the same clues that Simon Peter had. He gave voice to what everyone else was afraid to say.

And so today we are still working on that community of faith using the foundation of these first disciples. Jesus, the Christ, is still the builder. It is being constructed based on His design and we are the ones now saying Christ Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. We are called as one community with many facets all striving for justice and mercy.

Prayer: Keep us focused on your design as we strive to extend your community of faith to all the peoples of the 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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Jesus loved the little childrenLiving in the Spirit
August 18, 2014 

Scripture Reading: Exodus 1:8-2:10 

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’  —Exodus 1:8-10

The headline read: Census: White majority in U.S. gone by 2043* I would have thought it would be sooner than that, but I live in a city where right now the only white not Hispanic population is at 56.7%. The fastest growing groups here are Asian and Hispanic. Most of my immediate world is well integrated: my neighborhood, stores, schools, gym, and the child care at my church but not so much the membership of my local church. It is not unusual for advertisements and other signs to be in both English and Spanish. My denomination at the state and national level are very integrated. I grew up on a farm in a very white community with only a few American Indians and that is still true in much of rural American today, although there is more growth in the Hispanic population working in agriculture. Our country has controlled the number of people being admitted as legal immigrants by country of origin, which results to a great extent in controlling the number by race or ethnicity**.  Thus most of the growth in minority populations is through birth.

We in America could learn from the mistakes of the King of Egypt. His solution to the “problem” of the growth of the population of people he had enslaved probably caused the disaster that he foresaw.  His cruelty and mistreatment drove the Israelites out of Egypt. The fear of giving up the status of white superiority can only lead to further division in our own country.

We use to sing Jesus loves the little children all the children of the world red, and yellow, black and white.*** I wonder if we meant it and whether he expects the same of us?

Prayer: God, increase our understanding that your love is indivisible and there is more than enough for all your children. Create in us clean hearts and right spirits toward all of your children. Amen.

* http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/13/18934111-census-white-majority-in-us-gone-by-2043?lite
** The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, and Asian Exclusion Act (Pub.L. 68–139, 43 Stat. 153, enacted May 26, 1924), limits the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States in 1890.
*** From Jesus Loves the Little Children. Words by C. Herbert Woolston, music by George F. Root
 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.