Tag Archives: Justice

Carefully Taught

Living in the Spirit

September 23, 2021

Scripture Reading: Psalm 19:7-14

The law of the Lord is perfect,
   reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
   making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
   rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
   enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure,
   enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
   and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
   even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
   and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover by them is your servant warned;
   in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can detect their errors?
   Clear me from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
   do not let them have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
   and innocent of great transgression.

Good question: who can detect their errors? The song You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught from the musical South Pacific tells us that the rules we play by may not be God’s or God’s taken out of context or misinterpreted. This song tells us that other sources, our family, community, culture define what we should hate and fear, mainly as our actions relate to diverse people.  Loving like God would have us Love beyond the boundaries of a closed society. Breaking away from long-held attitudes and perceptions is challenging and may only be accomplished by opening our whole beings to the Spirit of God flowing through us, enabling us to love like Jesus.

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.

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.

What is Just?

Living in the Spirit

September 20, 2021

So the King and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the King again said to Esther, ‘What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.’ Then Queen Esther answered, ‘If I have won your favor, O King, and if it pleases the King, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the King.’ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, ‘Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?’ Esther said, ‘A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!’ Then Haman was terrified before the King and the Queen. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the King, said, ‘Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.’ And the King said, ‘Hang him on that.’ So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the King abated. –Esther 7:1-6, 9-10

Where do we draw the line on injustice present in our world today, and what are we willing to do about it? Who decides what is just and right and what is not? I recently listened to a state Attorney General say that his job is to obey the law and that he believes that life begins at conception; thus, that is what he will uphold. The law does not say that. The conversation eventually turned to the death penalty being reinstituted. The Attorney General said his job was to enforce the law. In the case being discussed, the trial was critically bungled. A jury did find the defendant guilty of murder. The issue passed through the full review process, so the defendant must be executed even though massive amounts of information were left out of the trial that strongly discounts the trial results, but that did not matter.

Esther’s family and community were scheduled to be annihilated for no good reason. She had been taken into the King’s home and designated as Queen. Even so, she risks her life to go before him and ask for her people to be spared. It was the right, the just thing to do, and he responded positively to her requests.

How do we as Christ-followers discern what is just and right in God’s eyes? What is life and when does it begin, when should it end? I could make a well-documented Biblically supported argument that life begins with breath and ends with the lack of breadth. That does not mean in the 21st century that we should not render artificial respiration to someone who needs it, nor does it mean that we should keep someone on life-supports after their brain no longer functions. God did not give us willy-nilly the ability to think, reason, and explore all avenues to deal with justice issues. The well-tested proven way to end abortion is to prevent unwanted, unplanned pregnancies, and that requires the availability of quality, affordable health care, ending poverty, and providing quality education.

The death penalty has no good purpose. It does not serve as a deterrent to crime, and it cost far more than keeping someone in prison for life if it has been determined the person is a danger to others.

Prayer: Lord, open our minds to broader ways of discerning true justice and righteousness.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National to of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Wicked Distractions

Living in the Spirit

September 15, 2021

Scripture Reading: Psalm 1

Happy are those
   who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
   or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
   and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
   planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
   and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.

The wicked are not so,
   but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,
   nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
   but the way of the wicked will perish.

I wondered what the word wicked meant in Hebrew, but when I checked, I discovered the word wicked used above was not the original Hebrew in this Scripture. Instead, the Hebrew word for sinner was used*, which means not following the law. The word wicked, to me, carries a connotation of someone who is innately evil and has ulterior motives. I am just glad I did not have to translate anything from an ancient language and time to be applied to our current world.

That said, a couple of things caught my attention. First, I have grown quite weary in recent years of the scoffers who have taken over our media. They pontificate on what they think is wrong but never seem to address the problems in our world. So much of evil’s role is to distract us from the good God calls us to do. We need to look behind these distractions to see what the real purpose is.

The last phrase also struck me: but the way of the wicked will perish. It does not say that the wicked will perish. It says their way will perish. God is working God’s purpose out, and that gives us the hope we need to live in God’s righteousness even when it seems the wicked are winning.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the wisdom to see what is driving the distractions in our world, and show us your ways of righteousness. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2400.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.

Love of Neighbor

Living in the Spirit

September 2, 2021

Scripture Reading: James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’, have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, also said, ‘You shall not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

The entire scripture recommended by the lectionary for this Sunday is quoted above. It is full of practical wisdom for those of us who strive to serve God. Loving our neighbor as we love ourselves has no limitations or boundaries. To commit adultery is equal to murder and so forth. I have noted that we humans tend to create hierarchies of sin. As a child of the late 1940s and 1950s, I grew up in a culture that deemed divorce a significant sin. Adultery was a capital offense in Hebrew law. Both are commonly accepted in our society.  Lying or otherwise misrepresenting facts may get one fact-checked. Still, we seem to accept that we should not believe anything we read or hear unless it agrees with our political opinions. We are fascinated with wealth and denigrate poor people, identifying them as lazy or unable to handle money. I worked at minimum wage jobs in high school and college and thus can attest to the rigor and, at times, the humiliation of being a waitress and the challenges of being a nurse’s aide. When I held those jobs, the minimum wage was at or slightly above the poverty level. The federal minimum wage now is below the poverty level for one person, much less for a family. And yes, it is the rich who oppress people still.

Prayer: Lord, tune us to be your instruments of love, not those 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Righteousness becoming Self-Righteousness

Living in the Spirit

September 1, 2021

Scripture Reading: Psalm 125

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
   which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
   so the Lord surrounds his people,
   from this time on and for evermore.
For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest
   on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous may not stretch out
   their hands to do wrong.
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
   and to those who are upright in their hearts.
But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways.
   the Lord will lead away with evildoers.
   Peace be upon Israel!

I do not think anyone, including children, should have to leave their homeland to escape starvation, being taken as slaves, trained as criminals or terrorists, or exploited into the sex industry. Our world is full of people caught in these situations. These people fleeing from such circumstances are called refugees. Most citizens of the USA stem from families coming here as refugees.

As I read the above Psalm, I was struck by the phrase For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous.  Who determines what is righteous? I am confident my ancestors who came to the USA to escape religious persecution believed they were righteous, as did those who fled famine. They were saving their lives and the lives of their children. But when does righteousness morph into self-righteousness, bringing the scepter of wickedness to our land?

Our ancestors called it Manifest Destiny. God gave this land to us without regard to who was already living here.

I was not surprised when I read the will of one of my southern relatives who left his slaves to his children along with horses and cattle. However, I was taken aback when I read an ancestor’s will who lived in Massachusetts in the 1600s. He gave his “negro man” to one of his children. I was unaware slavery was pervasive across most of the territory inhabited by whites along the eastern coast.

The more I observe human behavior, the more I understand that God calls us to live in God’s intentional righteousness all the time. That requires us to dig deeper into scriptures than just picking and choosing from antiquated language that agrees with our philosophies. It makes it even more important to observe and follow the words Jesus said and his ways of being. Such study will force us to realize that when we ask what’s in it for us about anything, we must understand that the only appropriate answer is God’s love and righteousness and act accordingly.

Prayer: God of the Ages, strengthen our intentionality living in your righteousness. 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.

People First

Living in the Spirit

August 30, 2021

Scripture Reading:

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
   and favor is better than silver or gold.
The rich and the poor have this in common:
   the Lord is the maker of them all.
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
   and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed,
   for they share their bread with the poor.
Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
   or crush the afflicted at the gate;
for the Lord pleads their cause
   and despoils of life those who despoil them.

These pithy sayings from Proverbs add to saying that people are more important than money, and injustice leads to calamity. My reading came to a halt as I read, do not crush the afflicted at the gate. My brain flashed back to the explosion at the Abbey Gate, where masses of people fearing for their future were crowded together trying to enter the Kabul Airport. I was struck by the name Abbey and wondered why it was the name given the gate. An abbey is a monastery or church because it is a monastery ruled by an abbot or a convent ruled by an abbess—a holy place. There is little good that came out of the USA’s sojourn in Afghanistan. Still, the one good thing I have observed in tracking this tragedy is the USA soldiers’ commitment to saving the Afghans who supported their work while serving in that country. They call them brothers.

I am not a person who dwells on regret. I am sure there will be many books that will tell us what we did wrong. I tend to look to the future and wonder what we can do for the Afghans and all people in our world to correct the injustices that keep them from being the people God created them to be. War is not a viable solution. Injustice is most closely aligned with the economy. Perhaps we need to pay more attention to the first two sentences in the above scripture.

Prayer: Lord, show us the better ways to lift people out of injustice and into the fulness of your love and 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.

God’s Nurture

Living in the Spirit

August 21, 2021

Scripture Reading: John 6:56-69

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.’ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’ –John 6:56-65

My first thought on reading this scripture was to wonder why I have to deal with it twice in the same month. I can usually follow the subject matter path of those who created the lectionary set for readers each week. Some are easier to perceive than others. My sense regarding the emphasis on eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood is a call that, to follow him, we must be fully committed. All the New Testament was written after the crucifixion and the resurrection. Just as we relate our lives to extraordinary or traumatic events, so did the authors of the New Testament. Jesus’ followers had to accept that his death was necessary for their salvation and the realization of Christ’s Kingdom throughout the world. The flesh must die before it can be eaten, providing the nourishment for the consumers to fulfill their responsibilities.

During these days of trauma, we need to lean into God’s nourishment for our souls. We must cling to God’s love as we struggle to deal with the worst pandemic in our history, earthquakes and other climate-related events that are exceeding records, and the ending of a twenty-year war for which there are no good immediate answers or outcomes.

Prayer: Lord, surround all our world leaders and us with your love so we can fulfill our call to work toward a kingdom ruled by love. Amen

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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.

Study War No More

Living in the Spirit

August 19, 2021

Scripture Reading:

Ephesians 6:10-20
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. –Ephesians 6:10-17

We sang Onward Christian Soldiers recently at my church as the closing hymn. The song is no longer in our hymnal, and we were not provided a handout copy. I am not sure anyone under 40 had ever heard it, much less knew the words. I remembered the words to the chorus and the first verse. I had to hum through the following verses. I turned to the friend about my age with whom I exited the service and said, I think you had to be a post-WWII child to know that song. I looked it up and discovered it was written in 1865, at the end of the Civil War. My adult war was fought in Vietnam.  I do not recall any sacred anthem created for it, nor did we rediscover Onward Christian Soldiers. As sad as it was, some of us rejoiced when the USA pulled out. Others, however, saw it as a terrible loss for our nation. I long for the day we beat our swords into plowshares* as the ancient prophets foretold.

We have been steeped in the history of killing and maiming people for every imaginable reason primarily lust for power and greed. Christ-followers face the same foes. There is, however, a difference in fighting with truth rather than with weapons of mass destruction or working to bring about justice through peaceful means.

Prayer: Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with me;
let there be peace on earth,
the peace that was meant to be.

With God our creator,
family all are we.
Let us walk with each other
in perfect harmony**. Amen

*See Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3
**Let There Be Peace on Earth by Sy Miller and Jill Jackson-Miller see at https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-let-there-be-peace-on-earth

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.

Discouraged

Living in the Spirit

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV.

August 3, 2021

Scripture Reading:
1 Kings 19:4-8

But [Elijah] himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

I am deeply concerned about many issues facing our nation. The pandemic has to be at the top of the list. I had just started to not wear a mask in places where I know everyone has received the vaccine. Now I understand that even if I do not get sick I can carry the disease to others. I walked up to a store today and saw a sign asking customers to wear masks, returning to my car to get one, I wondered how much longer is this going to continue?

Also, I recognize that assuring all who work earn a living wage would solve many issues in our society. I have been working with others to reach for that reality by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. In all honesty that is only a beginning step toward addressing the poverty that is ravaging our nation, but it is an important step. What we who are trying to champion this goal are finding is that many do not care. One of my US Senators locked the elevator to his office and the door at the top of the stairs leaving a sign that said they were not seeing visitors. I thought he was supposed to represent us.

My discouragement is not as serious as Elijah’s was, but I have experienced a hint of what he felt. I thank God for the angels with whom I work who lift my spirits when I get down. I also think it is even more important in times like these that we deepen our prayer relationship with the Lord for indeed his yoke is easy and his burden is light* when we are aligned with his vision of a world ruled by love.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the strength to champion your desires for all your people. Keep us on the right path in all we do. Amen.

*Matthew 11:30

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.

Simply Love

Living in the Spirit

July 31, 2021

Scripture Reading: John 6:24-35
So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

We are very much like our ancestors in faith. We want to know what is in it for us.  We, too, long for absolutes in a world constantly changing. Viruses mutate to catch us off guard. We get frustrated with scientists trying to keep a step ahead of the virus, changing their recommendations to at least match but preferably to win the race against the virus. We thus become our own worst enemies refusing to do the most straightforward actions that might save our lives and the lives of those around us.

In the story above, Jesus recognizes that human nature is not hearing what he is teaching. Jesus did not come to help us get rich quickly or overindulge. He came to bring us life and bring it more abundantly*. His abundance is not related to material wealth. He is trying to help us understand that abundant life is a life where our love of God, ourselves, and all others brought together in oneness results in the best outcomes for everyone in all aspects of life.  It perhaps is too easy. Thus, it becomes too hard when we must give up the ways of the world to attain shalom and justice for all.

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts and minds to accept the simplicity of living in our love of you, ourselves, and one another. Amen.

*John 10:10

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.