Tag Archives: Justice

Loving our Neighbors and Our Enemies

Lent
March 23, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’ –Luke 13:1-5

‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. –Matthew 5:43-45

Bad things do happen to good people. Some people we might consider bad seem to skate through life with few challenges. Jesus implies in both the above scriptures something to the effect that it does rain on the just and the unjust. What he also says is that loving God and loving all of God’s children better prepares us for those events in life that are so unbearable.

Our age of instant communications immediately makes us aware of tragedies around the world. This week we heard of the killings in Mosques in New Zealand and a devastating cyclone and flood in Mozambique killing over 242 people. I watched a farmer walk among the 700 bodies of drowned pigs from floods in the USA, his family’s livelihood destroyed in a manner of minutes. That was just one farm. There is no telling how the floods along the Mississippi river will impact our food supplies.

Of course, the response to salvage what can be saved, comfort those directly affected and rebuild are all our responsibilities. We are also called to do what we can to prevent these type events in the future. New Zealand has already strengthened their gun control laws. Stronger and more levies may be needed along the Mississippi and water sources in Mozambique. We must also face the realities of climate change and do all that is humanly possible to address it. These are examples of working together toward the Common Good. They are also examples of loving our neighbors and our enemies.

Prayer: Lord, awaken us to the needs of all and direct us toward ways to help, as we strive to follow your example of love while working for the Common Good. 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.

Out of Sync with God

Lent
March 15, 2019

Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1
Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

At the time of this writing, I am studying Henri J. M. Nouwen’s book Life of the Beloved. Thus, I found the final phrase of the above scripture particularly interesting. Nouwen posits that God recognized Jesus as God’s beloved at Jesus’ baptism. We, too, are God’s beloved through God’s love for us as demonstrated in the life, death, and resurrections of Jesus, the Christ. As God loves us, we accept all of God’s children as our beloved friends even family.

I take great hope in that statement particularly in a world that seems in many cases out of sync with God’s love. We are each called as individuals and collectively as the Body of Christ to bring our world into sync with God’s love. That all begins with our fullest understanding that we are indeed God’s beloved. I fear many, including me at times, have trouble accepting that reality. I wonder how much of our reticence toward accepting that we are the beloved of God is the result of our enchantment with some of the things of the world that cause our world to be out of sync? Things that are such a normal part of our lives we cannot image they are interfering with our relationship with God or impacting anyone else’s relationships with God.

Sometimes it takes a disaster for us to realize some of our life choices are interfering with the vision God has for us. I am afraid that disasters have become so common place that even those, unless they hit very close to home, no longer raise our awareness to comprehend what is off kilter in our society. Refugee children being separated from their parents and held in cages would not have been accepted as appropriate treatment of any of God’s beloved by the One who said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ (Matthew 19:14)

Prayer: Lord shake us out of our complacency so that we might better target our work toward building a world where all are recognized as your beloved.

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 not Judging

Lent
March 8, 2019

Scripture Reading: Romans 10:8b-13

The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ –Romans 10:11-13

We live in a world where some, even in the name of God, are trying to enhance their own powers by divide and conquer methods. Thus, we need to hold fast to the teaching the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. It is hard to play my god is better than your god when we finally agree there is only one God. Abraham is identified as the father of monotheism and is claimed as the father of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

Jesus addresses this issue in Matthew 3:12: His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’ And Matthew 25:32: All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Only God can in the final analysis discern who is calling on God and who is using God to their own ends. Our job assignment does not include judgement. We were selected to love. Christ earned the judge assignment by already fulfilling the task of loving when he gave his life for all. That does not mean that we do not have to deal with the forces of evil that set us against each other while they thwart the very heart of Jesus’ teachings.

We had another incident of a young adult child killing his parents in Oklahoma City this week. This time reportedly because he sensed them telepathically telling him that they were Satanist. He has a history of mental illness as did the last such incident where a young man killed his father. Addressing the mental health needs of people was one of the examples Jesus set for us as he went about healing the sick. The least people of faith could do is call upon our government to provide quality mental health services to all who need it. Surely, the loving, healing care of people with both mental and physical illness is a life legacy left to us from Jesus. Health care is a right not a privilege and therefore must be a major component of the Common Good.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in seeking justice for those who cannot seek justice for themselves. 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.

Dominion Over the Earth

Jesus’ Ministry
March 3, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It throws him into convulsions until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.’ Jesus answered, ‘You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.’ While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astounded at the greatness of God. –Luke 9:37-42

Who would have ever thought that some 2,000 years after Jesus healed the child with seizures, we would still be seeking cures for seizures and to discover that ingredients in what we previously identified as an illegal drug, marijuana, could markedly reduce the number of seizures patients with this disorder have? God created the earth with all that we need to sustain life and gave us dominion* over it.

Dominion means a supremacy in determining and directing the actions of others or in governing politically, socially, or personally: acknowledged ascendancy over human or nonhuman forces such as assures cogency in commanding or restraining and being obeyed . . . the exercise of such supremacy**

God made us sentient beings with the ability to perceive and feel things. We have been given a grave responsibility to care for the earth and all that is in it, to choose wisely how to use its abundance for good and not for greedy gain and for health and not overindulgence. We must use all our skills and talents to address the problems we face from starvation in many parts of a world able to produce and abundance of food, to finding cures for diseases that destroy life, and to controlling our habits that contribute to global warming. God gave us resources; we must use them wisely.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we misuse the abundance of resources you provided us. Guide us in always seeking the better way of caring for your earth and all that is in it. Amen.

*Genesis 1:28-31
**http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/dominion

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.

Frames of Faith

Jesus’ Ministry
February 28, 2019

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. –2 Corinthians 3:12-18

People of faith seem not to like loose ends. We like everything neatly framed and stored to make us comfortable. Jesus did not invest a lot of energy in assuring the comfort of people who lived within their designed frames of faith. Rather, he broke down barriers that held people of faith from fully grasping the width and depth of God’s love for all God’s creation. He threw away the veils that protected God’s people from experiencing God’s love and allowing it to enter their being and flow among one another until the entire world functioned within the freedom of a loving God.

Are we innately judgmental feeling the need to establish hierarchies of who is lovable and who is not? While God created us with the freewill to choose our behavior, God certainly fully equipped us to love all God’s children and accept them as we encounter them growing together with them in spirit and in truth. We cannot blame God for our bigotry; it derives from our choice of evil.

There is no question in my mind where Jesus stands when we caste people aside as unworthy. I do not think any of us wishes to be on the wrong side of God’s love.

Prayer: Lord, remove the veils we use that allows us to discriminate in faith against any of your children. 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.

Jesus as Judge

Jesus’ Ministry
February 24, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 6:27-38

 ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’ –Luke 6:37-38

We all have some quirky ideas about life and living. We probably do not think they are weird. My sister and I got into a discussion recently about some of our Dad’s unusual quirks and wondered from where they started. He did not believe in surgery, in cutting into human bodies at all. I never discussed it with him and doubt that I would have gotten very far if I had tried. Even though my mother did not share this opinion, when he died my mother refused to let an autopsy be performed because she knew my Dad would not approve. I guess it was a good thing that he never had a condition requiring surgery.

It is unfair to judge anyone for anything without the full story and God is the only entity who has the whole story on anyone. I suppose that is why God gave the judgement assignment to Jesus*. We do need a judicial system to ferret out the various civil and criminal issues of our world, but we must always understand that such systems are limited by their inability to know the whole truth. Such systems are opportunities for us to provide restorative justice to those caught in cycles of crime.  Our inability to know the whole story about anyone’s behavior is also the reason I do not support the death penalty.

Prayer: Lord, help us provide as fair a justice system as possible within the limitations of our knowledge of events that lead to crimes and to always provide restorative justice. Amen.

*Matthew 25:31-46

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.

Work Ethic

Jesus’ Ministry
February 23, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 6:27-38

‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. –Luke 6:27-31, 35-36

Give to everyone who begs from you. Oklahoma has a strong work ethic. I was raised to work. While I describe myself as the laziest person in my immediate family, I was placed in charged of chickens when I was five years old which meant I fed and provided water for them and gathered their eggs every day. I added milking cows in grade school and got my first paying job when I was sixteen as a nurse’s aide in a nursing home. I could go on, but you get the idea.  My history is very much like most of the people in my farming community were hard work was a necessary way of life. It was not drudgery, if anything it was fun. The idea of giving to everyone who begs was foreign to me. I do not remember seeing anyone begging as a child. I will confess that I never give cash to panhandlers on the street and only rarely give cash to anyone begging.

That said, helping people become self-supporting and self-sufficient does require investment of our time and energy and perhaps our financial resources. It requires our loving our neighbors enough to walk together with them as they search for wholeness in what must seem to be a dry and weary land*. Treating people like they are inferior who were not raised with the same values we were, who had no role models working beside and with them every step of the way and did not have the same privileges that open doors for us that were shut for them does not help. Seeing the Christ in every beggar requires us to give deeper than tossing a few coins in a cup.

While working my way through college as a waitress, I waited on two young mean whose only tip was a pamphlet that said something about the greatest tip you will ever get and listed five steps to salvation.  While the audacity of the assumptions of the pamphlet left me angry, it did teach me a good lesson on how not to do evangelism. Seeing the Christ in every beggar requires us to humble ourselves as we work for justice and show mercy as we help them recognize the Christ within themselves.

Prayer: Lord, open our eyes to see the potential of everyone we meet particularly those in search of enough. Amen.

*See Psalm 63

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.

False Prophets

Jesus’ Ministry
February 20, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40

Do not fret because of the wicked;
   do not be envious of wrongdoers,
for they will soon fade like the grass,
   and wither like the green herb. 

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
   so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
Take delight in the Lord,
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 Commit your way to the Lord;
   trust in him, and he will act.
He will make your vindication shine like the light,
   and the justice of your cause like the noonday. –Psalm 37:1-6

If it were not so serious, the advent of the mighty “socialism” becoming the scourge of our land would be amusing. Socialism is defined as any of various theories or social and political movements advocating or aiming at collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and control of the distribution of goods*. Does that sound like health care for all or free and appropriate education? These are both services that provide the workforce for capitalism to thrive. What we are doing as a nation is using our tax dollars so corporations can make big profits that are not being reinvested in the Common Good.

Contrary to popular opinion, most non-elderly adults receiving food stamps, Medicaid, and child care subsidies work. Our tax dollars provide these subsidies for corporations who do not pay living wages but who do enjoy the fruits of their employee’s labor through the profits the business earns. Cities and states routinely provide corporations tax incentives to encourage companies to locate in their area. We denigrate the recipients of public assistance while we hold in high esteem the moguls of industry both living off the dole with the corporations the ultimate winners in both instances.

The average CEO-to-worker pay ratio for the 168 companies included in this report stands at about about 70-to-1, with some CEOs making more than 300 times the median salary of their employees – just in cash (base pay, bonuses, profit sharing, etc.). Many CEOs receive substantial stock/option grants and perks as part of their compensation, which can more than quadruple their total annual pay. But similar data for employees by company is not readily available, so we looked solely at cash compensation for both CEOs and workers to calculate ratios for this report**.

Prayer: Lord, create in us clean hearts so our doing justice is not blinded by false prophets of greed. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/socialism
**CEO Pay: How Much Do CEOs Make Compared to Their Employees? See at https://www.payscale.com/data-packages/ceo-pay

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.

False Prophets

Jesus’ Ministry
February 17, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 6:17-26

‘But woe to you who are rich,
   for you have received your consolation.
‘Woe to you who are full now,
   for you will be hungry.
‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
   for you will mourn and weep.

  ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets. –Luke 6:24-26

I have read the entire Bible through a couple of times. Now, I am not suggesting that is the best way to study the Bible but when we first get started as young adults, we search for ways to understand our faith. It certainly was not a waste of time. I have continued to be a Bible student all my life using various means of study. That said, it never stops to amaze me how many times I read a scripture, a very familiar scripture like the one above, and see something I have never processed before. The last verse above was startling to me as I read it today. Perhaps it stood out because my software set it apart from the other section of the scripture.

We live in a world that speaks well of people because they are saying what we want to hear as the false prophets of old did. These people are very good at manipulating us as were the false prophets of old. They are the false prophets of our day. We ignore or rebuke people who speak the truth we do not want to hear.

Perhaps one of the greatest lies is the statement that, if the rich get richer the poor will eventually get rich too. It has never happened as far as I know in the history of the world, but it is one of the most common messages preached by false prophets. The very existence of wealth differences demands winners and losers. The other popular message is that cutting taxes puts more money back into the economy. When the truth is that all money spent goes back into the economy including our tax dollars. Most tax dollars are spent relatively quickly while many private dollars are invested and saved for later use.

In the scripture above, Jesus is encouraging us to recognize greed when it creeps into our hearts and minds and to fight against it before it destroys us.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we fall prey to the false prophets. Help us to see the better way of finding common ground for the Common Good. 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.

Working to attain the Common Good

Jesus’ Ministry
February 12, 2019

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-10

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
   whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
   sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
   and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
   and it does not cease to bear fruit. –Jeremiah 17:7-8

We are suffering a drought of seeking the Common Good in the United States of America. We no longer are a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We are a government for sale to the highest bidder. As soon as officials are elected, their main job becomes raising enough money for their next election. Term limits has not helped. They only limit the time the winners must pay back their financial supporters making then more stubbornly resistant to search for common ground requiring negotiation and compromise as they practice obstructive maneuvers which usually result in stalemate that gets nothing done. Often the result is that a few people benefit greatly.

Governments come and go and people suffer the consequences of their failures. People of faith, however, are called to follow a different ideal. We are called to live into the Common Good. Called to desire the very best for all God’s children and while we are never called to force our faith on anyone else via government or any other practice, surely our faith quest for the Common Good should spill over into those who represent us in government. When it does not we need to make our message loud and clear because whether we own it or not, we in the United States of American are the government and right now I do not like what I am seeing in the mirror.

Prayer: Lord, give us the strength and courage to elect people who care about the Common Good for all and are willing to do the hard work of learning what that is and how 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.