Tag Archives: Loving Like Jesus

Journeying to Oneness

Living in the Spirit
June 25, 2018

Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

After the death of Saul, when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. 

David intoned this lamentation over Saul and his son Jonathan. 

Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely!
   In life and in death they were not divided;
they were swifter than eagles,
   they were stronger than lions. –2 Samuel 1:1, 17, 23

We live in a divide and conquer world. Israel was in the midst of such a world as Saul and David battled for supremacy in leadership. It ended with the death of Saul and his son Jonathan, David’s best friend fighting an external foe, the Amalekites. That is what happens when great nations battle from without sapping their strength to the extent that when it faces an outside adversary the nation loses. In this instance, David went on to become a great king and Israel eventually knew peace during his rule and the rule of his son Solomon. Israel returned to divide and conquer following Solomon and eventually ended in exile.

There is wisdom in Christ call that we all become one. We will never attain that status until we give up divide and conquer fighting over who is right and who is wrong and thoughtfully work to find the ideas and issues on which we agree. If we place a moratorium on establishing who is right or who is wrong and work on Christ’s priorities of loving God and loving one another, we might surprise ourselves with what we can accomplish. If you read my devotions regularly, you may grow tired of me setting forth this same idea repeatedly. I promise I will stop when I begin to see the light of Christ shining through our feeble attempts at-oneness. For my experience with God is that when a few folks make a genuine attempt at loving all, the Spirit of God joins in the effort, and its impact expands greatly.

Pass It On
It only takes a spark
To get a fire going
And soon all those around
Can warm up in the glowing
That’s how it is with God’s love
Once you’ve experienced it
You’ll spread His love
To everyone
You’ll want to pass it on*

Prayer: God of Mercy and Justice, help me be a spark in your quest for the oneness of your followers. Amen.

*https://st-takla.org/Lyrics-Spiritual-Songs/English-Coptic-Hymns-Texts/7-Christian-n-Gospel-Lyrics-O-P-Q-R/Pass-It-On.html

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 Breadth of God’s Love

Living in the Spirit
June 10, 2018

Scripture Reading: Mark 3:20-35

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’ –Mark 3:31-35

One of the by-products of dabbling in genealogy is the further back I go in history and the more people I add to my family tree the more I understand that we are all at least cousins. Being family leads to greater complexities. Our self-identity is shared by the identity of those with whom we are related. That is also true in the family of God of which all people are members. We pride ourselves on our independence while being a part of a web of interdependence.

I do not know about you, but every time I read the scripture above, I wonder if Jesus’ words hurt the feelings of his mother, sisters, and brothers. Did they understand the breadth of his love or that he was not reducing his love for them as much as he was elevating his relationship with all people? I think it took the resurrection and the chat he and his brother James had following his resurrection for James to pick up the mantle and continue Jesus’ ministry. By the time Jesus was an adult, I doubt Mary was surprised by anything he said or did.

The challenge of this scripture for us is can we also view all God’s children as relatives. May is a time for a lot of family stuff. One of my grandnephews and one grandniece graduated from high school. Both attractive, smart, talented, young people are excited about moving on to college. One grandnephew studying to become a minister married a lovely young woman. Cousins from across the country came in for a family reunion a few I had not seen for some time and really enjoyed seeing them all.

Monday night I will be serving dinner and be sharing in worship with a church whose membership is largely homeless people including school dropouts, addicts, alcoholics, persons with mental illnesses, and people who work fulltime but cannot afford housing. These are my relatives too as we share a common brother, Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Prayer: Lord, enable me to love as you love by seeing your image in each person I encounter. 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.

Shouting Stones

Living in the Spirit
June 7, 2018

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—‘I believed, and so I spoke’—we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. –2 Corinthians 4:13-15

Luke’s report of Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem includes a story of some Pharisees asking Jesus to order his followers to stop celebrating his arrival to which Jesus replied, ‘if these were silent, the stones would shout out’. (Luke 19:40) Jesus’ message of love to the world cannot be quieted even if we do not say a word. But how much better would the world be if we followed Jesus’ lead and spoke out about injustice and about his way of being that results in the well-being of all God’s children?

Paul spoke because he knew that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus. Our faith is grounded in the faithfulness of God. While we humans may waver in our beliefs, fight doubt, and question ourselves, God’s faithfulness to us is rock solid.

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!”
  Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
    “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!*

Prayer: Lord, enable us to speak out against injustice as we work to share your love throughout the earth. Amen.

*First verse and chorus of Great is Thy Faithfulness by Thomas Obediah Chisholm. See at https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/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.

Love Lived Needs no Law

Living in the Spirit
June 2, 2018

Scripture Reading: Mark 2:23-3:6

One sabbath he was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’ And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’ –Mark 2:23-28

Rules, regulations, and laws are meaningless if they do not address a perceived end or result. They are never ends unto themselves. When we make them ends unto themselves, they are rendered worthless. Most rules, regulations, and laws we obey or choose not to obey are practiced as habits that do not make them any less means to an end rather than an end unto themselves, although It is probably a good idea to revisit at times their continued necessity. Observing the Sabbath is a rule we tend to ignore at our own peril. God’s wisdom in creation to rest on a routine basis provides refreshment for our souls as well as our bodies making us ready to face a new week.

Oklahoma recently added a law that restricts the use of the left lane to passing on a multi-lane highway. One of my pet peeves while driving is getting behind a truck who slows when going up a hill and speeds up going down when someone who apparently sets their cruise control on the speed limit is driving in the left lane right next to the truck. I feel confident the left lane drivers think they are doing nothing wrong because they are obeying the speed limit law. They, however, are setting up their fellow travelers for very dangerous circumstances particularly when the highway is full of large trucks whose loads often dictate how they drive and whose blind spots differ from those in an automobile. The result of the new law is to provide for safer highway driving.

The rule that only priest could eat the bread of the Presence established the result of elevating the bread to a more sacred status, which was overshadowed by the understanding that feeding the hungry is even more sacred.

Prayer: God, mold us into followers who understand that love lived is our most sacred gift 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.

 

Transparency

Living in the Spirit
May 30, 2018

Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

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

I am hearing the word transparency a lot in political ads. While I support transparency in government, the transparency that really matters is that God knows every detail of our being and loves us anyway. That symbiotic* relationship linked together having been made in the image of God is the source of hope that we each are persons of worth and that we each have a support system in God willingly striving toward our becoming fully the persons we are capable of being.  God created us with a full spectrum of choices of how we live out our potential from farmer to doctor, prophet to priest, mother to advocate, writer to artist, all options together or any combination of them. Our roles develop and grow as we age. What was once a primary purpose may become a springboard to another calling.

The essence of Psalm 139 that God is fully aware of our capabilities, is that God is fully aware when we are not using them. It really does not matter what anyone else thinks about us when we are synched into God’s will for our development as God’s creation. At this time in history, alas at every time in history, the full force of God-driven talent is needed to shape our world into the Kingdom of love God desires for all.

While transparency in government is desirable it is also very scary. It requires a much greater knowledge of our world than most of us acquire. While we may possess in-depth information on a few subjects, none of us can know everything. We are interdependent on the wisdom of each other. Such trust is best formed in relationships of mutual respect and dare I say love to make the pursuit of the Common Good a reality. Thus, we come full circle back to Jesus’ instruction that the most important commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, in this election year, move us to action as citizens striving for the Common Good and help us identify and elect those who practice mutual respect and love. Amen.

*The intimate living together of two dissimilar organisms in any of various mutually beneficial relationships, http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/symbiosis

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.

Serving on the Edge

Living in the Spirit
May 28, 2018

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’ Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.’ –1 Samuel 3:10-14

God does not need to punish us; we suffer the consequences of our own actions. God from the beginning carefully prepared us and continues to prepare us for how we are to live and love to our best advantage and to the best advantage of all God’s children. God apparently thinks it is important that we choose to follow God’s guidance. God even went to the extraordinary step of sending Jesus to dwell among us and model that way of being understanding that we might need some further help in understanding what those right choices are. God followed that up with gifting us with the advocacy, guidance, and counsel of the Holy Spirit.

I worked on the edge of services for persons with mental illnesses for many years providing public human services that complement mental health services and still am involved in volunteer advocacy. It is a frustrating coordination because the mental health system practices under the philosophy that people must be willing to get help before the help works. While I tend to agree with that, the reality of homeless, hungry persons with mental illness must be addressed by human services including adult protective services. The solutions are complex; the near absence of primary preventive mental health services makes it even harder.

I detail these divergent ideas not to suggest that all sin in mental illness or vice versa, I do not think it is. I am suggesting that followers of Christ, in working toward the fruition of the Kingdom of God, must also work on the edges being present with people and ready to help when and if they choose to seek God’s ways while tending to their basic needs in whatever way possible. Perhaps working on the edge is what Jesus was suggesting in Matthew 25 when he speaks of feeding the hungry, healing the sick, dealing with prisoners, welcoming strangers.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see your work on the edge of those suffering from mental illness and those who live in the prison of sin. 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.

Growing Love

Eastertide
May 12, 2018

Scripture Reading: John 17:6-19

Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth. –John 17:11b-19

Jesus describes his followers as aliens in the world where we live and work. We are challenged to make that world more like the world will be like when the Kingdom of God comes to fruition. I wonder at times if God is waiting for us to accept the fullness of a Kingdom ruled by love until we are mature enough to become comfortable with the changes to our current environment in which we have attained a level of comfort. We go along often to get along. Making waves can be a burden. I find it distressing to see people longing for better lives and searching in all the wrong places to find them. We are perhaps all victims of instant gratification and depend on others to create a more hospitable world rather than take on that challenge ourselves.  I fear we want all the enticements of evil and all the rewards of being a follower of Christ. Faith just does not work that way.

I saw a five-year-old on the news recently wearing a superhero cape while delivering sandwiches to the homeless with his dad. The TV exposure had resulted in others getting involved providing sandwiches and now money to start a broader program. That is the way love spreads one sandwich at a time until the whole world has enough and the kingdom on earth is as it is in heaven.

Prayer: Lord, grow our love until evil is no more. 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 and Forgiveness

Eastertide
April 26, 2018

Scripture Reading: 1 John 4:7-21

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. –1 John 4:7-12

One of the great apes at our zoo had a baby recently. The local news showed sweet pictures of the mother ape kisses and nuzzling her baby. I think that is a form of love. Perhaps all of God’s creature received the ability to love at their creation. John tells us in our scripture today that all love comes from God and starts with the fact that God loves each of us. Sharing the knowledge of that truth is part of our purpose as followers of Christ. But life happens, and love can get distorted even from very early ages. Thus, another part of our purpose is striving for wholeness for ourselves and journeying with others striving for wholeness in loving themselves and others.

Jesus commanded: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:31) I fear many of our problems result from our doing exactly that when we do not love ourselves we love our neighbors incompletely too. We must implement this commandment in its totality. Loving oneself relates to wholeness, not selfishness or being self-centered. It is perhaps a paradox, but we are only fully capable of loving another when we are comfortable enough in our own skin to risk loving another. God takes that risk with each and every one of us.

So how do we learn to love ourselves as God loves us? A good place to start is seeking God’s forgiveness for those areas for which we cannot forgive ourselves. With the assurance that God does forgive, God also will enable us to forgive ourselves when we are not perfect. We must learn from mistakes for sure, but then move on. The next step is to forgive others. When we have been hurt or even harmed by someone we often incorporate the pain as part of our self-awareness. There has never been a perfect parent, spouse, friend, co-worker. Let go of the negatives that reshape us and give them to God. God will remold us and remake us as God created us if we let God.

Prayer: Lord, enable me to forgive and to learn from mistakes rather than regress. 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.

Reckoned As Righteousness

Lent
February 25, 2018

Scripture Reading: Romans 4:13-25

Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification. –Romans 4:18-25

I am always surprised when I read the words reckoned to him as righteousness. The word “reckon” in my experience is a slang word meaning agreeing to something. “I reckon so.” Apparently, it is an accounting term itemizing credits to someone. The NIV uses the word credited.

The Bible is full of stories of people who communed with God routinely and trusted that God would keep God’s commitments. A two-way relationship existed. God expected God’s followers to keep their commitments. Abraham’s story is one where Abraham was committed to God even with some imperfections. There are, of course, stories of those who did not keep commitments. The whole tribes of Israel eventually failed and were taken into captivity.

Our scripture today speaks of Abraham being fully convinced that God was able to do what God had promised. I certainly agree with that, but I may not have the faith of Abraham who, taking God at his word, pioneered new lands and met new people as he fulfilled his response to God’s covenant with him. If we are fully convinced that God can do what God promises are we living that faith to its fullest? I have read several opinions recently that taking God out of the schools is the reason for the school shootings.  I cannot help but wonder if that is not reactionary on the part of the church knowing that we are not succeeding in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. Since I believe that God is omnipresent, it is impossible to take God out of school. God is in the image of every student and staff and the hearts of every one of God’s followers. The question we followers of God must consider are we being conduits of the love of God to all God’s children? God’s love is not judgment or condemnation, God’s love is not forcing others to understand and worship God as we do. God’s love is accepting people where they are and enabling them in any way possible to become the person God created them to be as we make that same journey. Our covenant with God through Jesus Christ is that commitment to love, and the same God of Abraham enables us every step of the way as we seek to do God’s will. God reckons our love as righteousness.

Prayer: Almighty God, we live in very trying times. Our world is fragmented and fearful. Please take us as we are and guide us to being who you envisioned us to be fully engaged in loving you and loving like Jesus. 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 Power of Love

Ordinary Time
February 4, 2018

Scripture Reading: Mark 1:29-39

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons. –Mark 1:35-39

If we believe we are to model our lives after Jesus, how do we cast out demons today? Jesus was a pray-er. All of the gospels describe him finding a quiet place to pray. I know what that is like; my mother was a pray-er also. My guess is she had mastered the art of praying without ceasing, but each evening she closed out her day on her knees at the side of her bed with her head propped against her folded hands talking to God. Obviously, the starting point of casting out demons lies in strengthening our relationship with God.

What are demons to us today? Today we are skeptical of the first-century idea of demons as evil spirits. We do not deny the existence of evil in the world. The mass shootings experienced in recent years often are described as evil. We are uncomfortable with that which we cannot explain. Yet, Jesus through his life, death, and resurrection demonstrated for us that Love can conquer evil. Jesus always chose love. Paul describes love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

We are all capable of both evil and love. God’s love can fortify us to make love our standard response. It all starts with prayer.

Prayer:
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.*  Amen

*First verse of 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.