Tag Archives: Love Neighbor

Parenting

Living in the Spirit
July 8, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Genesis 25:19-24 

The children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it is to be this way, why do I live?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her,
‘Two nations are in your womb,
   and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
one shall be stronger than the other,
   the elder shall serve the younger.’ — Genesis 25:22-23

So begins a saga of deception and intrigue. The two boys in Rebekah’s womb are Esau and Jacob—the first the father’s favorite and the second the mother’s. Jacob was a manipulator. We would probably call him a shrewd businessman today. Esau became an outdoorsman apparently a hard worker with little guile. How much of those traits were in their DNA and how much was taught them, I wonder?

Early childhood specialist indicate that the character of most children is well on its way to formation by the time they are three years old. Whether we like it or not, most adults rear their children like they were parented. For those of us who had “good” parental role models we laugh in later years when we recognize some of their traits in ourselves. Usually it is the same trait that once irritated us when we experienced it with our mother or father. Even when ones parental role model was very “poor” or even worse abusive, those traits are very, very hard to change. Change is, however, not impossible.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if such change could be realized before a child is born, if we could reach the teenage mothers and fathers and help them learn to postpone parenthood until they were more mature, if we could give new parents the tools to nurture their own babies, if we could make wholeness a reality for broken spirits?

We can, you know. God empowers us with the ability to love our neighbors and that love coupled with a whole lot of hard work and patience and dedication can change lives as well as move mountains.

Prayer: Father and Mother of all, instill in us the traits of your love and make us champions for all your children even those who are parents. Amen.

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

Love Productively

Living in the Spirit
June 14, 2014

  Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’–Matthew 28:16-20 

Jesus supported a very productive way of life. Productivity in management is the result of work that is both effective and efficient—the best bang for the buck. He simply says in our scripture today that we are called to teach others to obey everything that I have commanded you. Now Jesus did give advice on specific things that were stated in the form of commands, for example:

  • In everything do to others as you would have them do to you;–Matthew 7:12a
  • …let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.—Matthew 5:16
  • Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. –Luke 6:36

Jesus essentially said, however, that all we really need to work at is: loving God and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. (See Matt 22:36-40 and Luke 10:25-37) We do not need to expend our time with a long check list of right and wrong things to do. If we start in love, our throughput is love, and we end in love we will get the most out of our work. In fact a lot of our time is wasted trying to figure out how to get around those two simple commands.

The lawyer who asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment followed up Jesus’ answer with another question, “Who is our neighbor?” Now the guise of course is to assure that the lawyer would be righteously carrying out the command, but the actual question is a subtle way of determining who could be excluded.

Until we accept that no one is to be excluded from the Kingdom of God and learn to love all, we will never attain the results we have been commanded to do: bring all of God’s children into one united whole.

Prayer: God, we are challenged from all sides by actions and attitudes we cannot comprehend and yet you love all your children and want us to all love you. Let your light shine on us so that through your illumination we can love one another. Amen.

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