Tag Archives: Loving Like Jesus

Patience in a Time of Fear

Eastertide

Lifestyle, Leisure, Hobby

May 5, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Acts 7:55-60
But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.

Stephen prayed Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34) The above scripture and Jesus’ words from the cross came to mind while I watched news reports of people protesting requirements to follow the rules meant to protect their lives and the lives of others. There is no way to make anybody follow regulations or laws if they choose to break them. That includes the Ten Commandments and even Jesus’ call for us to Love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. All must pay the consequences of their choices. God’s guiding laws were designed to show people the better way of being that will make their lives physically, mentally, and spiritually healthier.

Stephen was preaching things others did not want to hear, and when they could not control him, they gathered others to join them and brought him before the Temple council, which led to his being stoned to death.

Fear does terrible things to people. We particularly fear the things over which we have no control.  I think it is human nature to want to do something, anything to avoid negative impacts. Thus, to most not doing anything except staying home and wearing masks and washing our hands is not a productive response.  The problem with that is it works. These are truly acts of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. Since staying home go against our basic norms, it may be the hardest thing we have ever done.

Prayer: Lord, who routinely counseled us not to fear, give us the courage to love our neighbors as we love ourselves like we have never done before. 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 Gate Openers

Eastertide

May 2, 2020

Scripture Reading: John 10:1-10

‘Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. –John 10:1-6

Jesus opened the gate so that all could come in. There is much talk in our world today about the integrity of globalism.  Watching the spread of the COVID 19 virus assures us that globalism is a necessity whether we like it or not. The impact of climate change has illustrated that reality for some time but perhaps not in severe enough terms to get our attention.  Followers of Christ have known it for 2000 years when we were instructed to go into all the world sharing the good news of Jesus Christ*.

There are no borders in the Kingdom of God. When I heard on the news that some want China to pay for our COVID 19 expenses, I wondered how quickly the USA would pick up the tab for other nations trying to recover from a pandemic outbreak that started here.

The greatest good that could result from this pandemic is that we take seriously our need to open the gate and recognize that we need to share God’s love for and with our neighbors near and far.

Prayer: God of all Creation, help us become gate openers toward welcoming all your children to your table. Amen.

*See Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19 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.

No Fear in Love

Eastertide

April 20, 2020

Scripture Reading: Acts 2:14a, 36-41
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.

Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.’

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

What we do amid times of high emotions, where we may feel personally threatened, matters. Apparently, some people who cried for Jesus to be crucified 50 or so days earlier, were feeling guilt. They may have remembered Jesus as a kind man who healed, fed, and forgave, not a criminal. Perhaps the reports of resurrection had reached their ears. Peter’s declaration of Jesus being Lord and Christ added to their shame. The Lord is the one with absolute ownership rights* over the whole world. The Christ* is the Greek form of the Messiah, the Anointed One, the One for whom they had longed. Rather than harangue them for their actions, Peter invites them to join the Disciples in their work toward forwarding the cause of Christ. They were asked to turn around from their behavior, be baptized, and receive forgiveness. They too would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We are living in a time of high emotions. Fear of catching the COVID 19 virus, fear of spreading this disease, fear of financial disaster. We can trust our loving Lord, the Christ, is with us in every moment of every day. Our following his example must lead us to heal, feed, and forgive. One of his most oft-recorded responses to those he helped along the way was, “Do not be afraid.”  Loving others as Christ loves us is the best way to defeat despair. Here are just a few ideas:

  • sheltering at home, wearing masks, practicing physical distancing
  •  donating
  • fighting loneliness with someone else via a phone call
  • sending cards
  • whatever your unique gifts allow us to do

Prayer: Christ, our Lord, forgive us when our fears and selfishness overcome our compassion. Fill us with the generosity of your love so that we can love one another as we work together to end the pandemic. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/2962.htm
**https://biblehub.com/greek/5547.htm

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.

Called to Shepherd

Eastertide

April 18, 2020

Scripture Reading: John 20:19-31

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.’ –John 20:19-23

What does John mean by retaining sins? It seems to imply that we all know what sin is and how it manifests itself in our world among people. I totally accept Jesus’s command not to judge, found in Matthew 7:1-3: ‘Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? One of my favorite things to say is, “God called me to love not to judge.”

Who am I to discern what is sin and who is meeting the definition of sin? I was taught that sin is missing the mark or being separated from God. For the everyday commissions of missing the mark, when I am the one wronged, I forgive the other, and when I am the one who missed the mark, once I realize what I have done, I try to always ask for forgiveness. Separation from God, though, seems to me to be between God and the person, including me.

Yet, with Jesus’s resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus passed his work on earth for us to do. Jesus also seems to think we are capable of doing the work. In fact, John 14:12-14 tells us:

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Retaining something means holding on to it, not letting it go. When we discover a person who is lost, we stay with him or her until he or she finds a safe place, finds their way home. Is not that the appropriate action when we discern that someone has lost their faith or have never known the love of God? We are not called to judge; we are called to shepherd people into a place where they can find their way home to God.

Prayer: Spirit of God fall afresh on all of us who love and serve you, equipping us to walk humbly with those you are calling us to shepherd back to your loving arms. 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.

Laying Fallow

Eastertide

April 16, 2020

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Today we lay fallow as we shelter at home protecting ourselves and others from the COVID 19 virus. I learned the word “fallow” as a child. The neighbor, who owned the farm just north of ours, practiced the ancient farming technic of letting land lay fallow. It is bibilical. Exodus 23.1, But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. He divided his farm into several large plots. Each year nothing was planted in one of those plots, and it was not tilled, which allowed the earth to restore its nutrients. My dad did something called crop rotation. By changing what he planted in the various plots of land, he was able to sustain its nutritional value while using all the ground each year. I have no idea which type of farming is best.

I will confess I have gotten a little stir crazy at times in my shelterings, but I have also read some books, I had not had the time to read, and completed a couple of online Bible studies, I purchased some months ago that I had moved to the back burner of my time. I think this unplanned downtime provided nurture for my soul.

The real question is, what good are we going to harvests from this calamity? The Prophet Hosea spoke to fallow farming too:

Hosea 10.12:
Sow for yourselves righteousness;
   reap steadfast love;
   break up your fallow ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
   that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

Peter tells us in the scripture above that we received new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that still sustains us today. Let us learn valuable lessons from this pandemic across all aspects of our lives as we gradually move into the time when we can break up our fallow ground and plant new seeds of love through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Prayer: Lord, as you nurture our souls, plant new seeds of understanding and service in our hearts for recovering from such a time as this. 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.

New Normal

Good Friday

April 10, 2020

Scripture Reading: Romans 6:3-11

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. –Romans 6:5-11

Preparing for the new normal is the talk of our world right now. How to live with the coronavirus until we develop a new vaccine. How are we to behave once we stopped sheltering in place? What will replace handshaking? When will it ever end? What have we discovered about ourselves and our systems to avoid this happening again? Social Security was born out of the Great Depression, a system that has served us well where we are required to set money aside to provide a basic income for our care when we are disabled or retired.

Sin, separation from God, missing the mark whatever we want to call it is like a virus run amuck. Greed is an addiction, as is lust for power and privilege and self-righteousness. The list is endless, like a virus without a vaccine.

Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection produced a new normal that changed the whole world. Some indeed followed his path for a short time then faded back to something like the old normal. Others practiced his ways until it became their new routine, habits hard to break of loving God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. This pandemic can serve as a reminder to us that God’s habits of the heart are the fuel for our new normal.

Prayer: Lord, help us to turn the tragedy we now face into an opportunity to model our world after your example. 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.

What is Pleasing to the Lord?

Lent

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14
For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
‘Sleeper, awake!
   Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.’

As a cradle Christian, I have no excuse for sinking into darkness. The letter to the Ephesians was written primarily to new Christ followers with varied past. When I toured Ephesus a few years ago, I walked past the statues of gods that were worshipped as Paul and others brought the Word to these people. I remember pausing beside a representation of a fish etched in the stone walkway sending the message to those new followers that they were not alone.

These words to the Ephesians today may be as important to us as they were to those new followers of antiquity as we deal with varying messages regarding who Christ is and what Christ taught some sounding unfamiliar to this lifelong Christian. I am particularly struck by the phrase, Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. How do we do that? I write and speak often of putting everything in our lives to the litmus test of does this act, do these words, does this motivation passed the test of love? I accept the definition of love in very simple terms as wanting the best for another just as God wants the best for me. I do not accept that I have the capacity to determine what is the best for another, which makes loving another more complicated. I must deal with observing what I consider to be harmful self-inflicted behaviors based on my understanding of God’s love and must discern what, if any, appropriate response I might make. Perhaps suggesting to another to Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord is a great place to start.

Self-examination is really hard. The filters we build up in our beings are difficult to clean. The first step in self-examination is admitting that fact and soliciting God’s help in supporting our earnest attempts at understanding that which is interfering with our ability to accept God’s love and to love all God’s children including ourselves like Jesus loves.

Prayer: Lord, help me clean the filters that are clogging my ability to love. Once cleared help me to install new filters that keep out that which entices me not to 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Developing Empathy

March 12, 2020

Scripture Reading: Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. –Romans 5:1-5

First, let me be clear, I do not believe anyone should suffer through child abuse or domestic abuse or any kind of oppression for the purpose of developing endurance or character. Hope is not a destination it is the driving force to positive outcomes. We are all called to break the chains of oppression however and whenever we can.

That said we all suffer to one degree or another and how we deal with suffering defines us in many ways.  I was told at the age of 50 that my left knee needed to be replaced but at that time the protocol was not to do such surgery until the patient was 60 except in rare cases. So, I limped around for ten years using a cane, gaining a lot of weight that made matters worse, and becoming an expert in pain management.  About the time I turned 60 the protocol was changed as implants had been improved. I did have the surgery on my left knee, and it made a major difference in my life. What I learned through that process is that suffering does produce endurance. The pain from the surgery was less than the routine pain to which I was accustomed, and the pain from surgery soon went away.

Our life experiences dictate how we view others. We project our experiences on others for better or for worse. Yet we can never know the pain others have or understand fully the things in their background that foster their responses to life challenges. Empathy is an art not a science. Trying to see the world from another person’s perspective requires us to set aside the filters of our being to help us understand another’s driving forces. We cannot magically erase their past anymore than we can ours. We can walk along beside them and support them in building the hope they need to thrive.

Prayer: God of Grace and Mercy, grant us the gift of empathy as we work toward a world ruled by 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Receiving Jesus’ Testamony

Lent

March 7, 2020

Scripture Reading: John 3:1-17 or Matthew 17:1-9

‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. –John 3:11-17

Are we followers of Christ by doing the job Jesus assigned us to do? Are we now in the same position as the people of the first century; are we not receiving Jesus’ testimony? I just listened again to Hymn for the 81%* by Daniel Deitrich. He is much younger than I am but he writes for all the children of the church over the years including me who sang Jesus Loves Me and Jesus Loves all the Children of the World Red and Yellow, Black and White and in our teens sang They Will Know We are Christians by Our Love. When we learned these songs together with reading the stories of Jesus describing how he lived his love, we thought that was what we are supposed to do. Nothing about Jesus’ message has changed. Apparently, nothing about human’s receiving his testimony has changed either.

Prayer: Father forgive us, for we know not what we do**. Clean our hearts and minds of the world’s waste that is cluttering our being from receiving Jesus’ testimony. Make us whole, make us one. Amen.

*See at https://www.google.com/search?q=Hymn+for+the+81%25&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS852US852&oq=Hymn+for+the+81%25&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l7.7822j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
**Derived from Luke 23:34

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.

Sins of Omission

Ash Wednesday

February 26, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 51:1-17

For I know my transgressions,
   and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
   and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
   and blameless when you pass judgement.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
   a sinner when my mother conceived me. –Psalm 51:3-5

Do we know our transgressions? The above scripture is attributed to David after his affair with Bathsheba.  We all can recall something we have done that made us miss the mark God set for us. Most of us probably were aware that the actions we were drawn too would separate us from God before we committed it. I think each time we deal with any of the temptations of life it paves the way for us to slip further down the rabbit hole of more and more temptations which eventually do not seem like temptations at all. These are our sins of commission which usually catch up with us and we must face the consequences of those actions. I see God’s rules as being designed to help us avoid such mistakes.

I fear though that many of us who follow the laws of government and Bible and seek to avoid the traps of temptation fail at recognizing our sins of omission. In Matthew 25, Jesus does not assert that we will be judge by doing the things we know we should not do. Jesus tells us we will be judged primarily by not doing the things we should do. Feed the hungry, clothe the poor, etc. In other words, love one another.

Today as we begin the journey of Lent, we must also begin a time of self-evaluation and yes we need to curb our sins of commission but more importantly we need to get on with the business of being Christ’s disciples in the world today loving the world to wholeness.

Prayer: Lord, guide us as we pursue recognition of our transgressions. Forgive us and show us the better way of 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.