Tag Archives: Justice

Day by Day with God

Eastertide

May 29, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 97
2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
   righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him,
   and consumes his adversaries on every side.

7 All worshippers of images are put to shame,
   those who make their boast in worthless idols;
   all gods bow down before him.
10 The Lord loves those who hate evil;
   he guards the lives of his faithful;
   he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.

11 Light dawns for the righteous,
   and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
   and give thanks to his holy name!

I encourage you to read Psalm 97 in its totality. I have selected three grouping from it to highlight here.

Righteousness and justice are words most often related to God. The image of the righteous God being surrounded by thick darkness resonates with me as my locale is inundated with bad, dangerous weather. Flooding is occurring from ever stream and river. Tornado clusters crop up in bands that stretch for miles. All exacerbated by climate change. God’s world is ruled by righteousness and justice and with God present in our lives we are empowered to enable righteousness and justice across our lands for future generations.

When our lives are led by our love for God, we can set right priorities and let go of those things of the world that promise false hope and false love. Idols do not feel or think; they are driven by the evil that benefits from their enticement of us that enriches them at our expense.

Finally, we never ever are alone when we work for righteousness and justice. God is faithful.

Day by day, day by day,
O, dear Lord, three things I pray:
to see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly,
follow thee more nearly, day by day*.

Prayer: God of Justice, grant us the strength to withstand the storms of evil, the faith to trust you first in all we do, and the will always to seek your presence. Amen.

*Day by Day attributed to Richard of Chichester see at https://hymnary.org/text/day_by_day_dear_lord

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.

Greed

Eastertide

May 27, 2019

Scripture Reading: Acts 16:16-34

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.

 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. –Acts 16:16-24

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (1 Timothy 6:10)

The United States of America perhaps the whole world is suffering from an epidemic of greed. If we do not overcome it, rampant greed will lead to our demise. From aircraft builders who shortcut safety inspections to make more money to thousands of lobbyists* trying to buy our government’s support, we are impacted in negative ways everyday by greed. Most of us have a touch of greed ourselves. We, also, want to have our cake and eat it too.

The evilest ramification of greed is that it demands layers of worth among people. A slave-girl suffering from a mental illness is only worth what her unusual behavior nets her owner in profit. Being healed resulted in the diminishment of her value to such an extent that her owner filed charges against Paul and Silas for robbing him of his cash cow. We have no idea what being made whole cost her.

The slavery we deal with today involves human trafficking. Similar challenges lie in our immigration issues. I totally believe that we do not have good and fair immigration laws because many individuals and businesses benefit financially from a readily available group of undocumented aliens who are willing to work for less than American citizens because that is better than life in their country of origin.

Greed is sin and we as followers of Christ need to recognize it for what it is, repent when we are directly involved in greed, and demand justice when we see it manifested in the lives of others.

Prayer: Lord, open our eyes to any situation where we are overtly or covertly practicing greed, forgive us and guide us in ways to defeat it. Amen.

*There were 11,444 registered federal lobbyists in 2018; there are 535 members of Congress. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/01/drain-the-swamp-lobbyists-are-filling-it-up/

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.

Dealing with Calamity

Lent
April 16, 2019

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 65:17-25

They shall not labor in vain,
   or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
   and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
   while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
   the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
   but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord. –Isaiah 65:23-25

The image of refugee children in cages flashed through my mind as I read, They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; I wonder if that is how the refugee mothers feel as they leave one hell-hole of death and oppression only to wander into the grasp of self-serving others who cannot be bothered by their plight. Evil is present in acts of omission as much as in acts of commission.

The perfect vision of the world God created, our world, is presented as a scene of animals sharing a meal together rather than following what we now consider their natural reaction of eating one another while the serpent, symbol of evil, eats dusts. Isaiah has a wonderful way with words.

Where does that leave the followers of this Creator God as we share Isaiah’s insights and feel so helpless to address the carnage that confronts us as we read the papers and watch the news? How do we, in small and greater ways, answer the call of Christ to usher in the Kingdom of God where the lamb does indeed lie down with the lion?

We must first recognize that we are not called to do anything along. We are called to be a branch nurtured by the vine of Christ (See John 15:5). The second thing we must practice is the art of being one in Christ. If ever there was a time for Christ’s followers to model oneness it is now. We are a part of the problem when are a house divided. We need to invest ourselves in finding Common Ground for the Common Good. It is time for us to stop allowing deep issues that divide us, control us. If we dedicate ourselves to following the list of actions Jesus set forth for us in Matthew 25:35-36, “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” and let everything else go, I think we would find those divisive issues would disappear.

Prayer: Lord, make us whole, make us one, make us just. 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.

Called to Break the Silence

Lent
April 14, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 19:28-40

As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,
‘Blessed is the king
   who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
   and glory in the highest heaven!’
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’ –Luke 19:36-40

What happens when the stones seem silent? Prophets warned the Israelite of pending doom and few if any paid attention. Exile resulted. For many years, experts have warned of the impact of climate change and are ridiculed by political leaders, while coastal areas deal with rising water and we all deal with unusual weather. A policy of reducing taxes for the wealthiest with the idea that wealth would trickle down to the poor failed in the 1920’s resulting in the Great Depression, failed again in the 1980’s leading to a recession, failed again at the beginning of the 21st Century resulting in another recession, and was implemented once more in 2017. The result is the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the stabilizing middle class shrinks. People with diabetes are dying because they cannot afford insulin. A patient with Type 1 diabetes incurred annual insulin costs of $5,705, on average, in 2016. The average cost was roughly half that, at $2,864 per patient, in 2012, according to a report released on Tuesday by the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute*. This essentially is the same insulin produced a hundred years ago.

Greed lies at the heart of all these major problems we face. As followers of Christ made in the image of God, we are called to emulate Christ in loving God and loving one another. In the simplest of terms, love means wanting the very best for another. Greed is the antitheses of love.

Are we destined to find ourselves in exile because we have failed to listen to the prophets of today?  Are we unwilling to turn around from the greed that seeps into our every day life? Are we willing to speak for the voiceless? Is God waiting for a signal from us that we are ready to deal with the realities of our world? Christ followers in our story above raised their voices in celebration of this One sent by God. It is in that context that Christ said if you do not listen to these you will hear from God on their behalf.

God made the earth and all that is within it including us. God calls us into partnership to build a better world. When God sees we are ready to act God can and will bring the entire weight of and earth to complement our efforts evening to having those stones shout.

Prayer: Lord, empower our drooping hands and strengthen our weak knees** as we step forward in faith to love away greed. Amen.

*https://www.nbcnews.com/health/diabetes/u-s-insulin-costs-patient-nearly-doubled-2012-2016-study-n961296
**Derived from Hebrews 12:12

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.

Waiting while Doing

Lent
April 13, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 19:28-40

When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.”’ So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. –Luke 19:29-35

Doing justice is hard work. I attended a Health Care Forum yesterday evening designed to education and inform the public about the crisis of affordable and accessible health care in Oklahoma and what can be done to alleviate it. Hours of work went into the research necessary to present the problem, tons of communication was developed to let people know about the meeting, expert presenters took time from busy schedules to participate on the presenting panel. The building and microphone system were provided and readied. I did not count the attendees, under 40 would be my guess, most of whom could already were aware of the problem and the solutions. Other meetings like this one are scheduled around the state. A rally is planned next week at the state capitol. All the bills that could have eased the situation have already failed. We all know that legislators can do anything they want to until the session ends. The routinely pull rabbits out of hats for politically expedient issues that most likely is not going to happen in this instance. But all this hard work is not in vain. It may lead to an initiative petition to make the changes needed. If that does not happen it will lead to another effort next legislative session.

The disciple’s trip into the village to get a colt for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem was preparation for their work to spread the love of God and to do justice following Jesus’ death and resurrection. It remains our call today as we work to bring about a world ruled by love.

Prayer:  Lord, during this Lenten season we are actively engaged in waiting as we are actively engaged in doing justice for, we know that
those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint*. Amen.

*Isaiah 40:31

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.

Poverty or Poor

Lent
April 7, 2019

Scripture Reading: John 12:1-8

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’ –John 12:4-8

I am sure the four gospels do not contain quotes of all the wisdom Jesus shared. The last sentence of the scripture above is one that I, at times, wished had not made it into the record books. It, like many other scriptures, when taken out of context provides a foundation for some dubious theology, including bad attitudes toward the poor. Jesus is talking about priorities at any moment in time and at that time and in that moment the woman’s ministry to Jesus was the appropriate priority.

The phrase, You always have the poor with you, is an observation of society not an acceptable way of being.  I guess if there are differences in income levels the statement always applies. The concern is not that some earn more income than others; the concern is whether there are people who do not have incomes adequate to meet their most basic needs. In modern language we call that a living wage for those who work or its equivalent for those who are aged or disabled to the extent they cannot work*.

In the 1960’s the US federal government developed a measure of what is enough to meet basic needs and called it the poverty level. It was based on the discerned cost of food multiplied by three to cover the cost of clothing, food, shelter and so forth. At the time it was a positive move to address poverty. Time and cultural changes have long since rendered it to be an impractical means of measuring what is adequate. Finding a better means of defining what is enough over the last fifty years has become a political football and resulted in odd practices to offset its limitations. For example, food stamp eligibility is based on 33% of the poverty level. The current minimum wage is below the poverty level even for a single person.

In 2017 the poverty rate for Oklahoma was 15.8%** of the total population. While Jesus recognized the disparities in incomes in our scripture today, he commanded us to make sure that people had enough to eat, safe water to drink, clothing to wear, and health care. We have a lot of work to do.

Prayer: Lord, bring us together as the Body of Christ working in the world until those who are designated as poor have incomes that are high enough to meet their basic needs. Amen.

*For more information on the concept of a living wage see http://livingwage.mit.edu/

**https://okpolicy.org/new-census-data-shows-that-oklahoma-fell-further-behind-the-u-s-on-poverty-and-uninsured-rate-for-second-consecutive-year/

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.

Living God’s Love

Lent
April 3, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 126
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
   we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
   and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
   ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’
The Lord has done great things for us,
   and we rejoiced.

 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
   like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
   reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
   bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
   carrying their sheaves.

I am in the process of finishing the book We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter. It is a novel describing the real story of a Jewish family living in Poland at the outbreak of World War II. It traces the lives of the family members, parents and young adults, as they were scattered from Poland to Brazil, Siberia, Tahran, and Italy. The story provides new insights on what it truly must feel like to worship God after the horrors of being condemned refugees. They were the lucky ones. Around 6 million European Jews were killed*. I could not help imagining that family’s emotional response to reuniting as I read the above scripture.

One of my uncles served in Germany during that war. He and a few other soldiers had just crossed a bridge in Germany when it was blown up with the rest of his platoon on it. German soldiers came along shortly and shot all but my uncle and one other man all were defenseless and severely injured some already dead. When my uncle was flipped over by the butt of a rifle to see if he was alive, he said he played possum. I guess all those hours of hunting and observing wildlife had paid a dividend. He and his buddy were two of the lucky ones also. He lived the rest of his life with a metal plate replacing a bone in his head and another metal bar holding a shattered leg bone together. He did not tell me this. He did not talk about the war. My dad got the story probably from someone else when he visited him while he was in the hospital. After reading the book I wondered what other horrors my uncle had seen.

The Psalm above is a song of ascent sang by worshipers as they walked up the hill to the temple. It relates the story of celebration when Israel was freed from bondage. There were an estimated 68.5 million* refugees in our world in 2018 and the number is growing. These people were driven from their homelands to save themselves from certain death from violence, starvation, lack of drinkable water, and oppression. How is that possible in a world where many claim allegiances to the God of love who calls followers to love our neighbor as we love ourselves? God created a bountiful world with enough resources for all to live in their homelands and have adequate resources to not just survive but thrive. Too many people, some claiming to be God’s people worship at the feet of greed and lust after power resulting in even more mistreatment of those escaping violence. God’s call still echoes through this world, we need to listen for that still small voice and live God’s love.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for turning blind eyes to the needs of refugees. Show us avenues of service where we can help meet their immediate needs and paths to justice to create a world ruled by love. Amen.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust

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.

Romanticized History

Lent
April 1, 2019

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord,
   who makes a way in the sea,
   a path in the mighty waters,
who brings out chariot and horse,
   army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
   they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
Do not remember the former things,
   or consider the things of old. –Isaiah 43:16-18

Humans romanticize history, but we fail to learn from it. My “cooking” today involves heating something five minutes in a microwave and loading water and coffee into a single-cup coffee machine then pushing a button. I do not recall the last time I used my kitchen range. Other food preparation includes opening a single serving cup of hummus or guacamole, pouring pre-cut salad greens in a bowl, tossing in a few nuts, adding canned salmon, and salad dressing from a bottle. Food preparation in my childhood was a major production three times a day. We raised most of our food—vegetable, fruit, beef, and chicken—which required a lot of hard work. The advent of the pressure cooker to hasten cooking time was an innovation my mother appreciated. My dad bought a home freezer in anticipation of the installation of electricity in our neighborhood. His mother had to can or dry the beef they butchered, even more hard work. And yes, it brings back happy memories for me because it involved working with my family and the love that flowed through everything we did.

Isaiah warns the Israelites about longing for the ways of the past and about how fleeting they were. Progress happens and much of it is driven from finding new and better ways to meet our needs. We have excelled at creating better machinery of war. Chariots and horses have been relegated to movies and rodeos while we now build nuclear missiles and fight digital warfare. We have learned from experience how to build bigger and better machines of destruction. We have not learned how to eliminate war through developing better relationships with our worldwide neighbors.

What mattered in the past were the relationships among people. That is the same thing that matters most today. God calls us to heal relationships and turn our weapons into instruments of harvest* because we no longer need them for wars and there are many hungry people in our world who could benefit from our harvest.

Prayer: Lord, heal our relationships with each other and with all others so that we may live in peace. Amen.

*Derived from Isaiah 2:4

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.

Restorative Justice

Lent
March 31, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.

  ‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”’ –Luke 15:20-32

Are we the older brother? With whom do we identify in this story? If we find ourselves in the role of the older brother, we are most likely taking our privilege for granted.  I have observed families who invest all their pride and energy in the children that do well according to the ways of the world, and I have seen families who worked so hard at saving a wayward child they ignored the others. God wants all God’s children to thrive and reach their full potential. We are called to see others the way God sees them.

The season of Lent is a great time to examine ourselves to determine if our perception of the people around us is driven from God’s ways or from the ways of the world. Oklahoma incarcerates more people than any other state. A wide variety of people are now examining that situation to see how we can move from an overly punitive system to a more restorative system of criminal justice. Is incarceration the best way to deal with a person who has been found guilty of a non-violent crime? Does labeling a person for the rest of their lives as a felon imped their reintroduction into normal society? What do people who cannot get a job because they are labeled a felon do to support themselves? Should drug or alcohol abuse be treated as a disease rather than responded to as a crime? What about those who make a lot of money off the addictions of others? If the prodigals of the world turn around and come home do we greet them with open arms and help or turn them away?

Prayer: Lord, guide us as we study and develop better ways of responding to crime and all that is impacted by it. 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.

Manna to Crops

Lent
March 26, 2019

Scripture Reading: Joshua 5:9-12

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. –Joshua 5:10-12

When I worked in human services, I lost count of the number of times people on hearing what I did, telling me I surely did not understand about the worthless lazy poor who lived off the speakers hard-earned tax dollars. I grew weary of it and soon learned they were usually not opened to dialogue. So, I nodded and planned a graceful escape as soon as possible.

What I learned over my career is that people are just people at all income levels and in every stage of life. I worked with people who could make a dollar stretch to meet many needs and others who could earn a dollar and never get home with it–rich people and poor people alike. I have walked unexpectedly and unannounced into poor people’s homes that were spotlessly clean and homes that were so bad I did not want to sit in the chair that was offered. I once visited an adoption applicant to begin their adoption study with a two-week lead appointment to find general chaos

That said, my life mission is largely targeted at assuring that everyone has enough which equals at least a living wage, accessible affordable health care, quality education from birth to career, and a general sense of maintaining self-sufficiency.  For many people it is a major transition from poverty to self-sufficiency. It may be like moving from manna to eating the produce of their own productivity.  Christ calls all of us to be conduits of self-sufficiency. We do that best when we take the time to get to know our neighbors who live in poverty or in mansions and journey with them out of their wilderness and into self-support and self-sufficiency.

Prayer: Lord, forgive me when I judge people by stereotypes when I really do not know them at all. Help me to learn to love first and assess situation from the eyes of love an growth toward self-sufficiency. 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.