Tag Archives: Love

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Jesus loved the little childrenLiving in the Spirit
August 18, 2014 

Scripture Reading: Exodus 1:8-2:10 

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’  —Exodus 1:8-10

The headline read: Census: White majority in U.S. gone by 2043* I would have thought it would be sooner than that, but I live in a city where right now the only white not Hispanic population is at 56.7%. The fastest growing groups here are Asian and Hispanic. Most of my immediate world is well integrated: my neighborhood, stores, schools, gym, and the child care at my church but not so much the membership of my local church. It is not unusual for advertisements and other signs to be in both English and Spanish. My denomination at the state and national level are very integrated. I grew up on a farm in a very white community with only a few American Indians and that is still true in much of rural American today, although there is more growth in the Hispanic population working in agriculture. Our country has controlled the number of people being admitted as legal immigrants by country of origin, which results to a great extent in controlling the number by race or ethnicity**.  Thus most of the growth in minority populations is through birth.

We in America could learn from the mistakes of the King of Egypt. His solution to the “problem” of the growth of the population of people he had enslaved probably caused the disaster that he foresaw.  His cruelty and mistreatment drove the Israelites out of Egypt. The fear of giving up the status of white superiority can only lead to further division in our own country.

We use to sing Jesus loves the little children all the children of the world red, and yellow, black and white.*** I wonder if we meant it and whether he expects the same of us?

Prayer: God, increase our understanding that your love is indivisible and there is more than enough for all your children. Create in us clean hearts and right spirits toward all of your children. Amen.

* http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/13/18934111-census-white-majority-in-us-gone-by-2043?lite
** The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, and Asian Exclusion Act (Pub.L. 68–139, 43 Stat. 153, enacted May 26, 1924), limits the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States in 1890.
*** From Jesus Loves the Little Children. Words by C. Herbert Woolston, music by George F. Root
 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.

 

Loving the Stranger

Border CrosserLiving in the Spirit
August 17, 2014 

Scripture Reading: Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly. —Matthew 15:22-28 

Ever wonder at what point in his life Jesus really knew who he was? We have the story of his first visit to the temple at the age of 12 when he said he needed to be about his Father’s work but there is little else to define his awareness of who and what he was  and what his calling was. The story in our scripture today suggests that it was later in his ministry that he realized his calling involved more than the Jewish community with which he was so very familiar. He could not turn away someone, a woman even, in great need even though she was one of the unclean. My hunch is that he had always known who he was and what his calling was but that the reality of what it meant unfolded as he grew in wisdom and in strength.

I have a friend who is a very talented natural, although now well-trained, musician who comes from a family where no one else is a musician. He knew he wanted to be a musician from his preschool years even though he probably didn’t really know what a musician was at the time. He just loved music.

Jesus just loved God. Loved God so much that he could not turn his back on any of God’s children even an unacceptable, woman from a different culture than his own or her precious child.

When the question arises, “What are we going to do with all these children flooding our southern border?” Remember this story. If we love God we will also love them and through the complications of violence and culture and distance and language barriers, we will do what it takes to let them know we love them and that we have their best interest at heart.

but Jesus 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

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.

 

Living Abundantly

Living in the Spirit
August 5, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 

Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.’ And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. — Genesis 37:26-28

The first murder reported in the Bible is brother killing brother, Cain killing Abel. Animosity, jealousy, and, in the case of Joseph the favoritism of a parent, leads to totally dysfunctional behavior. God in God’s wisdom, however, commanded us to love and love only exists in relationship with God or with others. Love is as necessary as food or water. When we continually substitute lesser things for love our response is always dysfunctional. Love God and live. Jesus said in John 10:10b, I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

 I don’t think 20 pieces of silver equaled abundance for Joseph’s brothers. I’m sure they realized that over the next several years starting with facing their father’s immediate grief. But what is meant by having life abundantly? The translators might have used any one of three other words to describe the type of life Jesus wishes for all: fully, amply, and plentifully. Fully could be understood to mean enough, but the other three words imply a sense of more than enough.

I have had the privilege of working on various justice issues with a wise retired couple, Mennonites, who when buying something for themselves, buy the same thing for someone else. If they get a new TV they buy two alike and give the other away. If they get new clothing, they do the same. They live abundantly. Such a practice would serve two purposes for me. It would make me consider how much I really needed those big ticket items and it would help me develop a more generous spirit.  I am not there yet, but I’m working on it.

I fear, in a world that emphasizes a prosperity gospel the meaning of abundantly turns us inward, toward self-satisfaction rather than outwardly toward building the Kingdom of God where all live abundantly as my friends are doing.

Prayer: Forgive me when I place things above you. Help me to order my life so that I love as you love. 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.

Kingdom of Heaven

Living in the Spirit
July 26, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’ He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’ —13:31-33

What Jesus doesn’t point out in his parables about the Kingdom of Heaven is that evil spreads in very much the same way. Like a cancer that starts as what appears to be an innocent mole, melanoma grows above the skin but the worst damage is not so visible. It is cancer’s tentacles reaching and spreading beneath the skin that are so deadly. We humans have finite capacity for both good and for evil. Unless we actively pursue the dominance of good, evil will soon fill the void. On the other hand, when even the smallest bit of love is nurtured, it will grow and grow leaving no room for evil.

Carl Jung says, People tend to believe evil is something external to them – yet it is a projection of the shadow onto others. As one who projects the principle for absolute and unresolvable evil onto others – it is to the degree that one condemns others and finds evil in others, that one is unconscious of the same thing within oneself, or the potential of that within oneself. It is a projection of one’s own shadow. What Carl Jung does not say here is that our projection of good on the other, loving them as they are, projects our own God-authored love for ourselves.

The foundation of the Kingdom of Heaven is loving God and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. It is as old as time as old as God and it is upon this rock that we must do our part of living into the Kingdom of God right now and every day forward.

Prayer: Ancient of Days, fill us with your love so that we can love others as you would have us to love them seeing past what we perceive as evil and seeing your image in everyone. 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.

Shadow Side of Faith

Living in the Spirit
July 16, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Psalm 139

O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
   and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
those who speak of you maliciously,
    and lift themselves up against you for evil!
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
    And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with perfect hatred;
   I count them my enemies. — Matthew 11:19-22 

Memorization is not in vogue as a learning tool in our digital society today, but if ever there was a prayer that cries out to be memorized and repeated daily, it is Psalm 139. It gives me great comfort when I feel alone or disheartened, it urged me to seek forgiveness when I have moved away from God, and it even helps me deal with others whom I perceive to be enemies of God. This last one may be the most important as we work for wholeness, oneness, and justice. I think it is interesting that the lectionary does not include verses 13-22, because I think the Psalmist knows humans very well and these verses deal with the shadow side of our faith. So, just for today, I have stepped out of the lectionary and into that shadow.

Hate by definition is intense hostility toward an object (as an individual) that has frustrated the release of an inner tension (as of a biological nature)* I was sitting outside in our glider under a shade tree with my Mom when my brother brought her the mail that had just been delivered. She opened and read a letter from someone in her family and with tears in her eyes she said out loud, “God damn them.” It was a prayer, and I knew she meant it. I do not to this day remember what the letter said or who “them” were. I was so shocked at hearing my mother use swear words, I lost the rest of the story. She knew her intense, immediate response had been something she later needed to address with her children and she did. We talked about the existence of evil in the world and the harm that it can do. We talked about the fact that Jesus was the only one who could pass final judgment on anyone and that we never, ever have full knowledge about anyone, but God does. And she told us that when we are overcome with hate we need to share that with God as God is the only one that can mitigate our hatred and turn it into love and ultimately the only one whose love will deal with the object of our hatred.

Prayer: Search me, O God, and know my heart;
                  test me and know my thoughts.
              See if there is any wicked way in me,
                  and lead me in the way everlasting. Amen. –Psalm 139:23-24

* http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/Hate

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.

Bone-tired for God

Living in the Spirit
July 11, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 8:1-11

 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. — Romans 8:11

 My sister and I had an interesting conversation the other day. We were comparing notes about how tired one can get sitting at a desk all day with very limited exertion of our bodies. We both grew up on a farm where we did hard physical labor and know well what it means to be bone-tired. I must confess, I was never a good candidate for working in the garden. My mother finally gave up on me and assigned me to cooking and housework when I was about ten. My sister and mother though were closest to God doing that backbreaking work of hoeing and planting and harvesting.

When one is bone-tired there is usually an accompanying sense of work accomplished and productivity whether we are sitting at a desk or using a hoe. The tiredness I experience when I just go through the motions of living has very different results. I think the word ennui would best describe that state of being. Ennui is a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction:  languor or emptiness of spirit.*

Paul is telling us in our scripture today that the Spirit of God who raised Christ from the dead will give life to [our] mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in [us]. It is OK to get bone-tired for Christ. If our lives are filled with going through the motions of living, however, we probably need to reengage with our Maker and seek the work God knows will give us fulfillment and also honor God.

Prayer: Spirit that Dwells Within, we dedicate our lives to being fully engaged with you so that our vocations and avocations are a testament of our Love for God. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/ennui

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.

Planting Seeds of Love

Living in the Spirit
July 9, 2014 

Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:105-112 

Your word is a lamp to my feet
   and a light to my path. — 119:105 

Psalm 119:105 is one of those Bible verses I cannot read without singing it. It is probably one of the first, of what we called memory verses when I was a child, that I learned. Teaching styles have changed over the years but I don’t think using music as a means of teaching has.

My first memory of church was at the one room school house that set on the corner of my grandmother’s farm about three quarters of a mile from the farm where I lived. These buildings dotted the prairie every three miles throughout Oklahoma and much of the land that was opened for homestead settlement. The school had stopped being used as a school when my father was a boy but it was still used as a church each Sunday until it closed when I was in the first grade. A circuit riding minister preached one Sunday a month at our church as he did at three other churches nearby. On the months that had a fifth Sunday all four of these churches came together for a fifth Sunday sing.

The wife of the minister at that church was one of the nicest people I ever knew. She radiated love to all the children, probably the adults too. She is the one who taught me those songs and taught me using flannel board characters about Jesus. She nourished the seeds of God’s love that my parents had planted in my heart and probably, more importantly, planted and nourished the seeds of God’s love in some of my little friends whose parents had not yet introduced them to God. We are all called to do that.

Prayer:  Abba, Teacher, instill in each of us the call to plant and nourish seeds of your love in all the children 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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Weave Us Together

Living in the Spirit
July 7, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Genesis 25:19-24 

These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. — Matthew 11:28-30  

When I can carve out the time, genealogy is one of my favorite pursuits. For me, I am sure that is tied closely to my love of history. The opening of our scripture today is innocent enough. The announcement of the coming birth of Isaac’s first child, actually to be his first two children as Rebekah is expecting twins. Isaac, the son that was so important in that society, was to carry on the family name and tradition. Of course, if we read the previous chapters in Genesis we know that Abraham had an older son by Hagar, Ishmael, but he is not mentioned here. In fact Ishmael is only mentioned again in a positive light when he returns to help bury his father.

It is amazing to me sometimes when I find some little tidbit of family history how much my ancestors are reflected in my current family. I am truly a white Anglo-Saxon protestant but each of the eight lines I track introduce slight variations that have passed through the centuries to me.  One of my paternal great grandfathers was blinded fighting for the North in the Civil War. One of my maternal great grandfathers was a slave owner and a Confederate captain in this War Between the States. These facts of history shaped my grandparents who shaped my parents who shaped me.

So goes the family of God. Abraham’s relationship with God shaped Isaac and we shall soon see how Isaac’s relationship with God shaped the babies in Rebekah’s womb. As we read these stories let us pay particular attention to how God weaves in and through our human families to continue God’s love throughout the generations.

Prayer:  We are many textures, we are many colors,
               Each one different from the other.
               But we are entwined in one another in one great tapestry…
               Weave us together, together in love.* Amen.

* From the song Weave, words and music by Rosemary Crow

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.

God’s Purpose

Living in the Spirit
July 6, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

 ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’  — Matthew 11:28-30

This is one of my all-time favorite sayings of Jesus. There is nothing that means more to me than to know that I am yoked with him. At first blush we might consider that as a tremendous lack of freedom—of being enslaved. The paradox of faith is that being totally and completely in synch with God is the most freeing aspect of our lives. God did not create the world and all that lives as a part of it to be isolated, out of control random sparks of energy. We were created to be interdependent. We were created out of love for the purpose of loving. From the moment of each of our births, we had our first job: loving God and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. While that is a most challenging avocation, we never ever have to do it alone. We have a co-worker striving with us each step of the way who is also everyone else’s co-worker, if they choose to accept his yoke.

A part of our job of loving our neighbor is telling them about this marvelous co-worker. Letting them know that there is one who can free them from all that infringes on their wholeness as a child of God. We then must let God’s love continue to work within us and them to mold us together into oneness. It is at this point that we struggle. It is really hard to stay active in our faith while at the same time trusting fully that God is working God’s purpose out through and among us when it seems like the world about us is falling apart. I don’t know about you but I sometimes need to tell God what God should be doing when it really is supposed to be the other way around.

I am a goal oriented person, but I have learned over the years (usually the hard way) that in most instances staying faithful to the process is what makes the end result happen. I love to sing and when I sing right, breathing properly for example and singing in my head not my throat, I can sing better and longer. When I push and sing primarily in my throat, I am soon hoarse and unable to sing. Being a Christian requires us to trust in the process, do it diligently, and know that God has got our backs.

Prayer: Thank you for your love and your yoke. 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.

Faithing

Living in the Spirit
June 24, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Genesis 22:1-14 

Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’ And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt-offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place ‘The Lord will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’  —Genesis 22:10-14

It was one of those God coincidences that the Sunday following the Oklahoma City bombing the choir where I attend church was scheduled to sing Leaning on the Ever Lasting Arms*. The death toll wasn’t even known by then. Bodies were still being pulled from the rubble.  The entire city was in shock and most were trying to do whatever they could because it was unthinkable to do nothing. God was indeed in the midst of the city (Psalm 46.5) even in chaos and horror.

God was on that mountain with Abraham and Isaac whatever was going on in Abraham’s heart and head; whatever purpose God intended for this pilgrimage up the mountain to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. I am an analytical person. I want all the facts. The truth is there are things that happen every day they defy understanding and God is there and God will provide.

We Christians talk a lot about what we believe. I understand from the notes in my Bible that translators use believe in many places when a verb form of the word “faith” would probably be more appropriate, but English does not have a verb form of the word “faith”.  I think that is the transition that happened in Abraham’s life in this mountaintop experience. He moved from believing to “faithing”. Such a move adds perspective to our living. Such a move recognizes that God will provide. It lifts a great burden from our shoulders and allows us to do the thing Jesus tells so to do no matter what: love.

Prayer: Lord, help all we who profess belief in You make faith an active verb describing our lives. Amen.

*Hymn by Elisha A. Hoffman

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.