Tag Archives: Loving like God

Ruled by Love

Lent

March 26, 2021

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:4-10

When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. –Hebrews 10:8-10

Sanctified means to be made holy. Holy means to be set apart. Through the death of Jesus Christ, we have been set apart, but for what? The term Kingdom of God appears 53 times in the four gospels. Also, Matthew uses the interchangeable phrase Kingdom of Heaven 31 times. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we were set apart to nurture and grown the Kingdom of God throughout our world toward the goal that God’s rule would be the rule and that rule is defined by love.

I was driving through the southeastern states a few years ago with a niece. We noticed a beautiful vine-like plant growing everywhere, covering trees and the ground. We learned it is called Kudzu. While it may look lush and healthy, it ruins the environment for other plants and animals to survive. Evil acts the same way. It wants exclusive use of resources until it has sapped the life out of everything. God created a world that is interdependent where care must be taken to assure that all parts of the world have enough to sustain them for their designated purposes. Humans were created to have dominion over the earth and ensure its vitality.

Our first step in nurturing the development of the Kingdom of God is to assure that all humans have enough love to embrace fully their ability to love one another. When we want the very best for everyone, we work together to make that happen. We do not, like the Kudzu, think we are the fairest in the land and try to claim it all for ourselves.

Prayer: Creator God, show us how to love one another as you love us. 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.

Restorative Justice

Living in the Spirit

September 15, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Jonah 3:10-4:11

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ And the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.

The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’

But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?’ And he said, ‘Yes, angry enough to die.’ Then the Lord said, ‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labour and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’

The people of Nineveh were doing evil; thus, God sent Jonah to proclaim what would happen to them if they did not repent, and they repented.  Jonah was not happy with God because, I guess, Jonah thought God had made Jonah look bad when in actuality, he had been highly successful. God is very forgiving; humans like to exact punishment. We have the same problem in our justice system today. There is a great debate in our treatment of persons found guilty of crimes, whether they are provided restorative justice or punishment. God chose to provide restorative justice. We are called to follow God’s path.

On the side of continuing lifetime punishment for any felony one might have committed, some states take away the convicted person’s right to vote for the rest of their life, even if they have served their entire sentence.

Oklahoma set the threshold for felony larceny at $500 in 2001. Felonies generally carry sentences of over one year in prison. However, for property theft between $500 and $1,000, the Legislature set the sentence to a term in county jail of up to one year*.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for being unable to forgive as you do. Restore us to wholeness so that we might be conduits of wholeness for others. Amen.

*For more information about allowing felons to vote see, https://oklahomawatch.org/2018/06/18/after-prison-many-oklahomans-are-prohibited-from-voting-for-years/

For information on all crimes in Oklahoma, see 2006 Oklahoma Code – Title 21. — Crimes and Punishments

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.

Family

Living in the Spirit

July 6, 2020

Scripture Reading: Genesis 25:19-34

Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, ‘Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!’ (Therefore he was called Edom.) Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ Esau said, ‘I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?’ Jacob said, ‘Swear to me first.’ So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. –Genesis 25:29-34

Family, whether biologic or adopted or borrowed, is our first experience of dealing with others for good or for evil. The movie Oliver, based on the book Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens illustrates that point well. At the start, Oliver is shown as an orphan living in a harsh setting with other orphans, finding community and caring among a band of thieves, but eventually he finds a loving home. One of the songs from the movie, Where is Love, hauntingly describes his quest to find his mother who is dead.

Genesis is filled with almost soap-opera tales of family intrigue. The story above describes a younger brother, Jacob, his mother’s pet, conning his older brother, Esau, out of his birthright. One could argue that the Israelite tradition of the eldest son inheriting the family fortunes was unfair. One could also observe that if Esau could be so easily bought with a bowl of soup, he probably could not have handled the family business.  If we read the rest of the story, we learn that when Dad found out, Jacob had to disappear for a while.

The values we teach our children matter. Loving our neighbors matters too. When children do not learn the values of mercy, justice, humility, self-respect, respect for others at home, it is even more critical that they learn it from the other adults in their lives. Communities of faith must be strongholds for teaching how to love one another.

Prayer: Lord, help us to take our role as neighbors modeling love very seriously. Forgive us when we set terrible examples. Amen.

Where is Love by Lionel Bart, see at https://genius.com/Oliver-musical-cast-recording-where-is-love-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.

God’s Design

Eastertide

May 27, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 113

Who is like the Lord our God,
   who is seated on high,
who looks far down
   on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust,
   and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
   with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home,
   making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord! –Psalm 113:5-9

Who is like the Lord? We are each called to be like the Lord. Not to be the Lord our God but to follow the Lord’s example. God incarnate even went to the extreme of coming to the earth as Jesus to model for us the way of being that will guide us toward a full and meaningful life. When was the last time you helped lift a needy person from the ash heap? The news reported yesterday that during the COVID 19 pandemic, the number of children across the USA who are food insecure has risen to one in five. That is the norm in Oklahoma, has been since 2013 when it was one in four.

Barrenness was the curse of every woman when this Psalm was written as having children was their primary purpose in life. The stories of Sarah and Hannah illustrate that reality, even though both their husbands were very compassionate; other wives and society were not.

Of course, it is all about loving like God, which can only happen if we love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls. God loves us whether we meet society’s criteria or not.  We are to love others as God loves them, not as the world defines them. God wants the very best for all God’s children, and all people are God’s children.  God created the earth that serves our needs well when we take good care of it. God’s design for life is righteous. Our task is to stay in sync with God’s plan.

Prayer: Creator and Systainer of All, forgive us when we align with the ways of the world. Help is to taste and see that the Lord is good*. Amen.

*See Psalm 34:8

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.

Epiphany

Epiphany

January 7, 2020

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 42:1-9

Thus says God, the Lord,
   who created the heavens and stretched them out,
   who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
   and spirit to those who walk in it:
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
   I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
   a light to the nations,
   to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
   from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
   my glory I give to no other,
   nor my praise to idols.
See, the former things have come to pass,
   and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
   I tell you of them. –Isaiah 42:5-9

God is very consistent about wanting the very best for God’s children, all God’s children from the blind to the prisoners. God is the very source of life who gives breath to the people. The world has taught us differently. The world prefers hierarchies of people with some being better than others. Oh, we call it something else, richer than others, whiter than others, prettier than others, better educated than others. It is not God’s way.

Once this better than phenomenon is implanted in our being it is really hard to erase. I think the only way we get rid of it is by getting to know others in our day-to-day lives in their day-to-day lives. I once provided transportation for a mother and her three or four-year-old son to several specialists visits at Children’s Hospital clinics. He had multiple medical problems and was developmentally delayed, but he was the same size as a normal three or four-year-old. He lacked the ability wrap his arms around our necks or his legs around our bodies. He could not sit up in a wheelchair and we did not have the kind of chair in which we could have transported him, so we carried him. That mother, tiny though she was, had developed the muscles to handle his dead weight. I was young and healthy so I could carry him for short periods to give her a break, but he was her precious child and she wanted him in her arms. I learned a lot about love that day. I learned a lot about loving like God that day.

Prayer: Lord, grant us those day-to-day experiences so that we might grow more loving and accepting every day. 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.

Redemption

Kingdom Building

September 5, 2019

Scripture Reading: Philemon 1:1-21

To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church in your house:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith towards the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.

So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. –Philemon 1:1-7, 17-21

Diplomat is not the first title that comes to my mind when I think of Paul, but it applies in his letter to Philemon about Philemon’s runaway slave Onesimus. What is included in Paul’s letter is all we know about these two characters and we do not know the final outcome. Some scholars*, think Onesimus was a thief not a slave who stole from Philemon. He could have been both.

I think the complimentary things Paul writes about Philemon are true. It is rare though that we share these kinds of observations with others. We often take them for granted. Paul, however, is crossing a lot of cultural barriers asking for exceptional understanding and flagrant disregard for cultural norms. No underground railroad here, Paul is returning a slave to his owner with two possible outcomes Philemon returns him to Paul to help Paul in his ministry. Paul even offers to pay him for Onesimus. Or Philemon takes Onesimus back into his home as a brother rather than a slave. Paul had a lot of faith in Philemon by trusting him in making a choice.

I do not know how common it was for runaway slaves to come home in the first century. I am more acquainted with the outcomes of slaves in the early history of the USA who ran away, were caught, and most often punished even killed to set an example for the other slaves. Face saving among the elite is very important.

The thing that stands out to me in this story is the evidence of faith Paul had in Philemon and Onesimus; and the faith Onesimus had in Philemon. I believe such faith was only possible because all three men had faith in God. In our world where we do not know who to believe or trust this is a very challenging example. Can our faith in God rebuild our faith in one another as we learn to love one another rather than distrust each other?

While we do not know what the outcome of this request was, tradition reports that a man named Onesimus was consecrated a bishop by the Apostles and accepted the episcopal throne in Ephesus following Timothy. Perhaps Paul’s faith in a redeemed slave or thief were worth the efforts to save him. I wonder how many Onesimus’ are languishing in our criminal justice system now?

Prayer: Lord, grant us the courage to have faith in our brothers and sisters in Christ who are ready to turn their lives around and make them count for good. Amen.

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

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.

Discernment

Kingdom Building

July 25, 2019

Scripture Reading: Colossians 2:6-19

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. –Colossians 2:8-15

I truly enjoy discussing theology, learning other people’s take on a scripture and sharing my own. I do not like to be harangued by anyone who claims theirs is the only interpretation and I try not to harangue in return, although I have been told I can sound overly confident at times. That is probably true regarding just about any subject. My first social work supervisor, who became a dear friend, advised me to preface sentences with, in my opinion, because I tend to state my ideas as if I were quoting scripture. I jokingly started adding the phrase “that is from 1 Marilynn 1:1” to some of my stronger opining when she and I got into discussions and I saw that right eyebrow raise a bit. I am also pragmatic. When I am presented with reasonable facts of which I was unaware, I can change opinions very quickly.

I think what Paul is saying in our scripture above is that we need to take care in discerning the ways of Christ. Open dialogue among people of faith is so important as we learn from each other, but we must be diligent in testing the values we derive from such discussions against those basic key commandments that override all theology. Does God experience love through my practice of this value? Do my neighbor’s experience love? Here we are speaking of agape’ love. I like M. Scott Peck’s definition of love as wanting the very best for another and I would add not as we perceive their best but as the other identifies what is best for them in and through their relationship with God.

Prayer: Thank you Lord, for providing a wealth of thoughtful scripture and well-studied people to guide us in your ways. 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.

Gut-Level Compassion

Eastertide
April 19, 2018

Scripture Reading: 1 John 3:16-24

We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
–1 John 3:16-22

The term hearts used here refers more broadly to our gut-level compassion*. In our heart of hearts, we know what is right or wrong. Sometimes we throw up barriers that blind us from accepting what is right and what is wrong which at the least complicates our consciences and at its worst leads us down a spiral toward evil. Recognizing that God is greater than our hearts and God can break down whatever barriers are holding us back from practicing God’s love is key to our spiritual growth as well as our acting toward the development of the Kingdom of God.

Great joy results from having God love us completely without regard to any of our missteps. God sent his Son to model his love and provides the gift of the Holy Spirit who guides us back into right paths. Such a Holy One is worthy of our love and worship. Praise God forever!

Prayer:
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:1-6) Amen.

*http://biblehub.com/greek/4698.htm

Sent

Pentecost
June 4, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 20:19-23

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

As the Father has sent me, so I send you. For what reason was Jesus sent? Marshaling all humans to work toward and achieve a world ruled by love seems to be the primary thrust of Jesus ministry. It started at creation when God the parent imprinted the ability to love in each of us. God’s abiding love shone forth in the gift of Jesus as a role model, a teacher, and ultimately as a Savior. Without question, we each have a major role to play. Love is impotent when it lies dormant; it multiplies exponentially with the smallest expression. What greater example of the phenomenon of love is there than an itinerate preacher, the questionable son of a carpenter who lived perhaps 33 years left the seeds 2,000 years ago that are still producing love today.

Is it human nature to expect a return on any investment we make? Can we love without ever seeing any return? God practices love without any promise of return. If God through Jesus Christ loves without strings, does he expect the same behavior from us? God’s love is based on the sure and certain knowledge that love always grows more love even when God saw his only son cruelly crucified on a cross.

O Love, that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be. 

O Light, that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be*.

Prayer: Let your love flow through me to others. Amen.

*Verses one and two from hymn O, Love that Wilt Not let Me go by George Matheson  see at https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/432

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.

Dead Works

purposeLiving in the Spirit
October 30, 2015

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 9:11-14

For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God! –Hebrews 9:11-14

How do we identify dead works? Are they the routines we do through life whether they are accomplishing their purpose or not? Did they actually ever have a purpose? Are they something we inherited from our families or work or school that we do without thinking? Are they perfectly good activities that are not gaining the results desired?

I have been through a lot of management classes as a government employee trying to make government operate more like private business. The people who press these issues are missing one important ingredient: whether it is in private business’s mission statement or not its sole purpose is to make a profit. That singularity of purpose makes it easy, for example to walk away from a store, fire all the employees, and open another store somewhere else or drop the production of a product because it did not sell well but might have been of high quality even better than anything else like it.

The sole purpose of government is to provide for the common good. In a recession, while the economy takes a nose dive, public assistance programs increase, sometimes markedly, while their income source, tax collections, goes down. Government does not have the luxury of just walking away and saying we will see you when the economy turns around. I think we also would agree as tax payers that we want the best bridges for the long-trim rather than a trendy one that will have to be replaced sooner than later and hopefully before it collapses beneath our car’s weight.

Our purpose as children of God is to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Anything that separates us from that purpose is dead works. The challenge is to understand what it really means to love and then do it.

Prayer: Lord, you set examples of your love on page after page of our Bibles. Help us discern how your examples work in our world and then help us do 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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.