Tag Archives: Living Love

Transform Us

January 20, 2022

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. –Romans 12:1-8

I am going off lectionary today because I messed up and used the scripture for today, last week. I am sure this scripture from Romans is somewhere in the lectionary but it is one of my favorites and I am substituting it here so I will not repeat the same scripture too closely.

I wrote emails this morning making changes in meetings because COVID is peaking in Oklahoma. I used the phrase “COVID times” to describe how we must adapt to the world in which we live. I then moved on to consider this scripture that tells me Do not be conformed to this world and realized that our world has no conformity. My faith group strongly supports safety precautions during COVID, passing out masks at entrances to people who desire them and offering worship in-person, live-streamed, and on Facebook. Other groups refuse to adapt to such safety recommendations. They indicate requiring them to follow such steps limits their rights as individuals. We are a house divided in so many ways, all believing theirs is the way to which we should conform.

Amid our divisiveness how do we as Christ-followers, be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds, so that [we] may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect? My usual response is to say we need to love like Jesus and to love our neighbor as ourselves, but the louder cry seems to be to question who is my neighbor? These have only become words, not actions. My prayer is for God to reach into our collective hearts and transform us.

Prayer:

Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
With Cords That Cannot Be Broken
Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
Bind Us Together In Love

There Is Only One God,
There Is Only One King
There Is Only One Body,
That Is Why We Sing*. Amen.

First verse and chorus of Bind Us Together by Bob Gillman see at https://divinehymns.com/lyrics/bind-us-together-song-lyrics/

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 Love

Living in the Spirit

Living in the Spirit

September 7, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Isaiah 50:4-9a
The Lord God has given me
   the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain
   the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens—
   wakens my ear
   to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear,
   and I was not rebellious,
   I did not turn backwards.
I gave my back to those who struck me,
   and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
   from insult and spitting.

The Lord God helps me;
   therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
   and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
   he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
   Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
   Let them confront me.
It is the Lord God who helps me;
   who will declare me guilty?
All of them will wear out like a garment;

   the moth will eat them up.

Last week the lectionary dealt with listening but not hearing. Today Isaiah tells us that The Lord God has opened my ear,  and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backwards. He suggests that we must want to hear God even when we fear we will not like what God says. Our relationship with God is the most important relationship we have. It should define and drive all other bonds with family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and strangers. Romans 8:31 states it this way, What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? That statement came from Paul, who was beaten, imprisoned, and eventually executed for his faith.

Christ-followers have heard the most precious truth that God loves us just as we are and is with us every step of our way as we grow in our ability to love like Jesus. It is not a secret for us to keep; it is the simple solution to the complex problems in which we find ourselves today, and it has been there from the beginning of time. We can share this message to others in words like these, but they make a much more significant impact when we share God’s Love through our deeds.

Prayer: Following your example, Lord, empower our love in service to oneness in our 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.

The Rock From which we are Carved

Living in the Spirit

August 18, 2020

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 51:1-6

Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness,
   you that seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
   and to the quarry from which you were dug.
Look to Abraham your father
   and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
   but I blessed him and made him many.
For the Lord will comfort Zion;
   he will comfort all her waste places,
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
   her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
   thanksgiving and the voice of song. –Isaiah 51:1-3

Michelangelo was a 26-year-old artist challenged to create a statue of the youth David from a massive piece of mediocre marble*. It had been tossed on the trash heap of discarded stones the worth of which others had not recognized. The artist decided not to depict David after he had defeated Goliath, but as he might have appeared before entering the field of battle. David holds the stone he chose to hurl near his shoulder in preparation. Not much was expected of the rock and not much was probably expected of David. He was the youngest son, the shepherd boy, known for his musical talents. He became the greatest king in Israel’s history.

In our scripture today, Isaiah is calling each of us to look to the Rock from which we were hewn as we pursue righteousness. What gifts have we received from our heritage and our life experience? Do we simply see them as a pile of worthless rocks, or can we envision the image of God imprinted into each of us at our creation?

We live in a world where what is right and what is just has lost definition. Righteousness lies in the junk pile of stones tossed aside as counter to our cultural values. Justice is measured in dollars, not what is right and good for all God’s children. We are better than that. We are the creation of the living God who breathed the breath of life in us and planted the seeds of God’s love in every fiber of our being. The time has come for us to draw out our ability to love, and with God’s help, be a part of the re-creation of a righteous and just society.

Prayer: Lord, today, help me to see your image in myself so that in days to come, I can see your image in all your children as I work for a just and righteous world. Amen.

*https://www.britannica.com/story/how-a-rejected-block-of-marble-became-the-worlds-most-famous-statue

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 Nourishing Love

Living in the Spirit

June 23, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 13
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
   How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
   and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
   Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, ‘I have prevailed’;
   my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

But I trusted in your steadfast love;
   my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
   because he has dealt bountifully with me.

While I am not in the same place right now, that this Psalmist was, I have been there. Soul pain is the worst agony when one’s world is spinning out of control, and there is nothing he or she can do to stop it. Hard for an individual and a family, we are experiencing soul pain as a society. One catastrophe after another slam against us at every turn. Living in a divided nation torn apart more by fear of that lack of control than anything specific, some take power from our lack of unity playing us against one another for their own gain.

We may feel a lack of power, lack of control, but we serve an omnipotent—all-powerful—God who loves each and every one of us. We serve an omnipresent—always with us—God who is working God’s will as God’s Spirit moves among us, guiding and directing us toward bringing new creation from the chaos in which we find ourselves. We serve an omniscient—all-knowing—God who opens our hearts and minds to a new understanding taking us forward into the next iteration of the fulfillment of living in a world ruled by love. Our challenge is to trust in God’s steadfast love and follow God’s rule of love.

Prayer: Lord, we do get weary, and we do respond fearfully, but deep in our hearts, your love is still within us.  Nourish us for the facing of this hour. 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.

Living Love

Lent

March 3, 2020

Scripture Reading: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. –Genesis 3:1-7

I was struck when I looked this scripture up on an online bible source that the heading above this scripture inserted by the publisher is The First Sin and Its Punishment. The word “sin” is not included in the scripture. Granted I cannot remember when I was first taught that this scripture described the first incidence of sin, but I was very young. I even checked my Strong’s Concordance and did not find it there. The first use of the word sin in the bible is in Genesis 4:7 in the story of Cain and Abel. Clearly Adam and Eve missed the mark in this story so perhaps the word “sin” itself is not required.

We followers of Christ have invested a lot of time and energy in trying to define sin to exact measures. Perhaps we work so hard at it because we want to know how close to the line, we can get without crossing it. Therein lies the problem with trying to master the meaning of “sin.”

I prefer to live under the positive commandments Jesus gave us to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves*. It is much less complicated. It does demand closely linked communion with God to help us live in God’s love rather in what humans distill as love and sometimes we still need to have our eyes opened in recognizing what is good and what is evil and choosing the good.

Prayer: God who is Love, teach us in every encounter with every neighbor near and far the essence of your love as we attempt to live in the light of your love. Amen.

*Matthew 22:36-40

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 Love

Living in the Spirit
October 31, 2018

Scripture Reading: Psalm 146

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
   the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
   the Lord loves the righteous.
 The Lord watches over the strangers;
   he upholds the orphan and the widow,
   but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. –Psalm 146:7b-9

Psalm 146 was probably written in post-exilic Israel around 515 BC. To the Christian ear it seems to be an accurate description of Jesus except for the last phrase but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin, although he did chase the money lenders out of the temple. If Jesus’ way is the way to wholeness not following it could lead to ruin, I suppose, although I do not think that is Christ’s desire for anyone. This caring side of Jesus sometimes is overlooked as we invest much of our time in worrying about what hymns to sing or if we have enough funds to keep the lights on in the church or whose turn is it to serve coffee after church. Worship is important, Maintenance of a place of worship has its advantage, and hospitality is always important. Ultimately how we love is the crux of following our Lord Jesus Christ who was an ardent student of the Psalms.

Could Psalm 146 be the foundational source for Jesus’ statements in Matthew 25:34-36?

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 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.”

Everything we do as followers of Christ must be an extension of his love whether in worship or providing sanctuary or providing hospitality or meeting basic needs.

Prayer: Guide us, O Lord, in all aspects of our service to you. 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.

Love as Action

Living in the Spirit
August 18, 2018

Scripture Reading: John 6:51-58

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 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.’

In reading Allan W. Eckert’s, The Winning of America Series, I learned that some American Indians upon killing an enemy-warrior they respected from another tribe, removed the enemy’s heart and ate it raw trying to extract the power they had seen in the warrior. That was life in the USA before it was the USA. I experienced a whole range of responses when I read that. Revulsion was my first; amazement at the warrior ethos of respecting his opponent was another.

Reading our scripture today helps us understand how gentiles when they first heard of Jesus had grave concerns about the descriptions of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper wondering what they were doing behind the closed doors of their meetings. We talk of metaphor as a learning tool today.

John’s gospel was the last of the four gospels written probably in the 90s of the first century BCE. I wonder how far away Christ followers had moved from modeling their lives after Jesus’? Why did the author feel so compelled to stress the death that inevitably had to happen before consuming flesh and blood can occur? Had Christian’s lost sight of the need to live their love as they immersed themselves in the trappings of religion?

I wonder if we too need to be reminded that our faith is not based on our wise philosophies but on One who came to teach us how to love and left us with a living memorial of bread and wine to remind us that loving is of the heart as much as it is of the mind.

Prayer: Lord, while we may enjoy abstracts ideas and discussions, keep us grounded in love as action. 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.

Being True to  the Image of God

Living in the Spirit
August 1, 2018

Scripture Reading: Psalm 51:1-12

You desire truth in the inward being;
   therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
   wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
   and blot out all my iniquities. –Psalm 51:6-9

Our scripture for today is a prayer ascribed to David as his response to Nathan’s confronting him about his affair with Bathsheba. Today people perhaps define “truth” as the opposite of “lie” thus relating “truth” to something not being factual. Truth has a richer meaning. It not only represents what is factual but has a more eternal connotation related to our reaction to knowing what is true by being faithful to what is true. This scripture implies that truth rest in our inmost being and radiates out through our whole being. Others know us by our truthfulness in deed as well as word.

The world used in antiquity for identifying a building as being well aligned is that it was true to its building specifications. What is the measure to which we are being true in our inward parts?

Shakespeare addressed truth this way in Hamlet:
“This above all: to thine own self be true
And it must follow, as the night the day
Thou canst not then be false to any man/Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!”

The speaker is saying we measure our true selves by our ideas of who and what we should be toward attaining what we want to get out of life. It is more than a little selfish but represents much of the thinking in our world today.

I think the Psalmist would take umbrage with such an interpretation. Those of us who follow the path that says God created each of us in God’s image are called to hold God’s image as our plumb line of truth. God did not create us to be puppets without self-will but rather children of love created with a vast array of choices regarding how to use our talents and skills to craft a world ruled by love. Many of us have only begun to scratch the surface of what we can contribute to such a world.

Prayer: Lord, help us dive deeper into your well of truth in our lives. 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.

 

Living Love

Ordinary Time
January 25, 2018

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.

 Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ‘no idol in the world really exists’, and that ‘there is no God but one.’ Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. –1 Corinthians 8:1-6

How do we glean from the experiences of our first-century brothers and sisters in Christ ways to address the issues we face today? While eating meat offered to idols is no longer an issue, we still have idols. Greed and lust for power are two of the most virulent. Perhaps purchasing fair trade products is a counter to both of these idols. Greed and lust for power are directly related to all kinds of injustice in our world today. How we invest our money whether simply buying groceries or purchasing stocks matters.

The key Paul provides, for us to measure how we are to act, is love. We may spend hours comparing products to buy hoping to get the best appliance or the best deal. How much time do we spend discerning whether what we cannot live without was made by child labor working long days in horrid conditions? How much of our food is harvested by undocumented aliens because our government stalemates on creating an immigrant system that is effective and efficient? Who benefits from an antiquated and disjointed immigration system? Would border safety issues decline if a workable immigration system operated?

In the first century Corinth, Christianity was judged by the actions of its practitioners. It still is today. Reminds me of a children’s song I sang many years ago:

Watch your eyes and ears and lips and hands and feet
Watch your eyes and ears and lips and hands and feet
For there’s a Father up above, looking down in tender love
Watch your eyes and ears and lips and hands and feet.*

Prayer: Parent of All, help us remember what we learned as children and if we have not yet learned your message of love, teach it to us anew. Amen.

Summary last verse of Watch your Eyes, see at https://gospelchoruses.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/watch-your-eyes/

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.

Ethnocentric

EthnocentricityLiving in the Spirit
July 29, 2016

Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:1-11

In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! –Colossians 3:11

Ethnocentric*
1: centering upon race as a chief interest or end
2a: inclined to regard one’s own race or social group as the center of culture
b: exhibiting an incapacity for viewing foreign cultures dispassionately

I first discovered the word “Ethnocentric” in Sociology 103. A required basic college course taken in my first semester, it changed my life and my major. I came to school in pursuit of a degree in speech pathology, left with a degree in pre-social work sociology. The Watts Riots, happening in August 1965 a few days before I left for college, also had an impact. Fresh off the farm and small town life, entering a college world that challenged thinking was a going home experience. I found myself there.

I am the substance of my background and upbringing. I probably sang Jesus loves the little Children, All the Children of the World** by the time I could speak full sentences. Singing songs and reciting memory verses about doing unto others and loving our neighbors plants the seeds of Christ’s way. Most of us never realize when we have picked up cultural norms without even thinking. The realities of racism, elitism, sexism, and the other areas of life by which we take on our ethnocentric tendencies while subtly acquired, require intentionally expunging.

The lessons of the early church apply to us today. What is of God and what is of culture? Discerning the answer to these questions was necessary for the fledgling way of Christ to come to fruition. It remains necessary today as we journey geographically and culturally to the ends of the earth and perhaps even beyond.

Prayer: Lord, you call us to serve in a diverse world. We can see it either as a dangerous threat to our ethnocentric ways or as an opportunity in which we can see even more facets of your glorious love. Give us courage to discern your way and live it. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/Ethnocentricity
**Jesus Loves the Little Children, words by C. Herbert Woolston. See at http://www.allaboutgod.com/jesus-loves-the-little-children.htm. An updated version.

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.