Tag Archives: Loving Like Jesus

Elections Matter

Living in the Spirit

November 8, 2022

Scripture Reading: Malachi 4:1-2a
See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

I am writing this the day before the mid-term election looking forward to the end of all those awful anonymous campaign ads. I do think if someone pays for any part of a campaign ad, they should be required to list their name among the contributors. I am not sure I want the arrogant and all evildoers to be stubble, but I do wish they would have an encounter with the sun of righteousness so they may see more clearly and follow more nearly the far better way of the Kingdom of God. I guess we all might want to consider that as we transition from campaigns to making our government work for the well-being of all the people living in our nation and our nation’s impact on the world. Election Day is not an ending; it is a new beginning.

Prayer: Lord, make us a blessing to our neighbors near and far as a nation. Open our eyes to our shortcomings as we search for the common ground for the Common Good. We pray for all the newly elected public servants and those returning. 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 Truth

Living in the Spirit

November 4, 2022

Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word. –2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Pilate’s response to Jesus “What is truth?” in his trial (John 18:38) is the question of the day in our society. Many people seem to believe if they say something it is true.

In ancient Greek culture, [the word for tuth] 225 (alḗtheia) was synonymous for “reality” as the opposite of illusion, i.e., fact*.

I found it interesting that Merriam-Webster does not use the word fact in its definition of truth and spends more time describing something in alignment.

1: something that is true: ultimate truth: reality —usually used with the

2: the quality or state of being accurate (as in alignment or adjustment) —used in the phrases in true and out of true**.

I understand alignment regarding building tools or hanging a picture. I live in an older house with a crawl space foundation. I bought two tall bookcases and set them up next to a wall in my living room. They made a perfect V shape because my floor was not flat. You cannot see it with your naked eye, but it was self-evident when the bookcases skewed in opposing directions. Small pieces of wood were slipped under the slopping sides until the tops of the bookcases were even.

I think Paul is trying to tell the people of Thessalonica that they need to make sure that they are following the foundation described by Paul and not be attracted by skewed ideas that stray from the foundation established by Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Lord, help us seek the facts and sources of information when we are making decisions about how to follow you more nearly. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/225.htm

**https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/true

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.

Responding to Disaster

Living in the Spirit

October 31, 2022

Scripture Reading: Haggai 1:15b-2:9

In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the Lord of hosts. –Haggai 2:1-9

I just watched on the news people from neighborhoods in Florida who did not experience as much damage in the hurricane as other bringing the simple necessities of life to the ruined areas. Diapers and toothpaste and all kinds of things we take for granted were welcomed with tears. That news helped me understand how the people of Israel may have felt when they returned to a ruined Jerusalem. The messages scattered through this scripture applied to those returning from exile apply to us today–take courage, work for God is with you, and do not fear. While it was not in the above scripture it is in scripture: love your neighbor as you love yourself as the neighbors in Florida did. (Leviticus 19:17-18, Mark 12:31)

Prayer: Lord, help us be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves*. Amen.

*James 1:22

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.

Living our Faith

Living in the Spirit

October 16, 2022

Scripture Reading: Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.”’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’

I would much prefer recognizing people’s faith by their actions, not words. The woman in this parable was persistent in her quest for justice and everyone knew it. I think that is what the scripture above is suggesting when the Son of Man comes he desires to find people being actively involved in loving themselves and loving their neighbor as they love themselves*.

In reference to Christ, [faith] denotes “a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God” **.

The kingdom of God is the ideal beautiful community where love is the rule, not power, wealth, or wisdom. Many of us were raised with the concept that we have a final reward in a place called heaven if we believe in Jesus Christ and serve him. The problem is that our culture values power, wealth, and wisdom as transcendent characteristics and we tend to set them as the character traits of faith, not the love Christ modeled for us.

The parable above warns us that we must not be distracted by the ways of the world, but we are to champion justice and righteousness as we live the love of God now and forever.

Prayer: Lord, guide us away from that which distracts us and toward that which makes us whole. Amen.

*See Mark 12:30-31

**https://biblehub.com/greek/4102.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.

Finding Ourselves in Service to God

Living in the Spirit

October 14, 2022

Scripture Reading:

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. –2 Timothy 4:1-5

I was writing a piece on reducing poverty in the USA recently when I was struck by the fact that what needed to happen to reduce poverty was not some great mystery, but it did require a lot of hard work and dedication to implement. It particularly required working together with others to find common ground toward attaining the common good and right now our nation is caught up in stubborn diversity of thought and purpose.

I am not allergic to all kinds of hard work, but I do remember disliking work in the garden on our farm. My mother and sister actually thought it was fun. Instead of digging in and getting the job done, I was always finding distractions. My mom finally gave up on my becoming a gardener. By the time I was ten I was left at the house with a list of chores that I did not mind doing and cooking which I enjoyed. I learned from that experience that we are not called to do everything, but we are called to do something and endowed with skills and talents to complement our calling. It may, however, require us to venture into areas that were not originally on our radar.

That said, we can find ourselves looking in all the wrong places trying to find what is right for us. I chose to base these devotions on the lectionary scriptures because that forces me to read most of the Bible over a three-year period, even the parts I do not like. Thomas Jefferson solved this problem by cutting out the verses with which he disagreed.  Indeed, that is accumulating teachers to suit our own desires. We also tend to intermingle with people like us. Branching out into the whole beloved community may surprise us when we discover new ways of loving God which results in learning to love all our neighbors which might result in our learning to love ourselves better.

Prayer: Lord, as we grow in spirit and in truth help us to find and hone new skills and talents to serve you more nearly. 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.

How do we judge others?

Living in the Spirit

October 9, 2022

Scripture Reading: Luke 17:11-19
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’

Jesus weaves many lessons into simple stories. Here he deals with racism while ostensibly addressing the need to thank God for God’s blessings. We humans do not like to be confronted directly with our prejudices. We all have them, and we all do not recognize them as judging people by some preconceived idea of who they are. Have you ever wondered why we seem to have such easy access to Canada and they to us, but have the need to build walls between the USA and Mexico? Racism is a relatively new concept, with 19th-century origins perhaps evolving from the aftermaths of the Civil War. What we classify as racism in the Bible was more like tribalism not based on skin color or other physical traits. Bigotry by any other name is just as discriminatory.

In this scripture, Jesus demonstrated that he judged people as Martin Luther King stated: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts and minds to see people for who they are not some preconceived notion handed down to us through history. 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.

Bring Us Together

Living in the Spirit

October 6, 2022

Scripture Reading: 2 Timothy 2:8-15

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself. –2 Timothy 2:8-13

I always have a problem with words like “elect.” They ring of privilege over others.  We are granted the freedom to choose to follow Jesus or not. I suppose that could be written elected to follow. Jesus, however, loves all of God’s children even those who do not choose to follow him. Jesus also saw the righteousness in people who did not proclaim to be his follower even though they lived his example. The phrase if we deny him, he will also deny us; may simply mean Jesus does not force himself upon anyone. It rings true to the instruction in Matthew 10:14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.

As we plow our way through our midterm elections, we may want to consider what “elect” means as we elect people to work together toward finding common ground for the Common Good which is their assignment. I fear we have lost track of that reality. Some do not want to work together in search of common ground, and it appears that some do not want the Common Good. Some have their own definition of what is Good that only includes those who agree with them. How we reshape our government during this election will have a lasting impact on our lives for many years. We need leadership that can walk away from the negative influences and bring our country together.

Prayer: Lord,  bring us together, Lord, bring us together in 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.

God is not Dead

Living in the Spirit

October 3, 2022

Scripture Reading:
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Yesterday was a very busy day for me. About 9:30 pm, I finally kicked back in my recliner and pulled up the national newspapers to read. It was depressing, to say the least. Reports from the impact of hurricane Ian laid out grime details of its destructive, deadly impact. The division in our nation seeped through almost every other article. A line from the Christmas carol, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day came to mind

For hate is strong and mocks the song
 Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men*.

Jeremiah, in the scripture above, provides good advice for us today.  Continue to build the beloved community no matter what is going on around us. The carol goes on to say,

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on Earth, goodwill to men*

Prayer: Let it be so. Amen.

*From the hymn, I heard the bells on Christmas day by Henry W. Longfellow, see at https://hymnary.org/text/i_heard_the_bells_on_christmas_day

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.

Partners in Christ Service

Living in the Spirit

Living in the Spirit

September 27, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
   and you will not listen?
Or cry to you ‘Violence!’
   and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing
   and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
   strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack|
   and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous—
   therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
   make it plain on tablets,
   so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
   it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
   it will surely come, it will not delay.
Look at the proud!
   Their spirit is not right in them,
   but the righteous live by their faith. –Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:2-4

What we fail to understand is that God expects us to do our part in providing for the Common Good among all people. The first line of this scripture calls for help, but I fear we want God to wave a magic wand and make everything the way we want life to be. There are many problems with this way of thinking, but the major one is that we all have different perceptions of what that way should be. God expects us to work together to find common ground in defining and providing for the Common Good as we seek justice, act kindly, and walk humbly with our Lord (See Micah 6:8) The hymn Called as partners in Christ’s service* addresses this well.

Prayer: Lord, help us respond with a deep commitment to fulfilling your chosen end.  Amen.

*See at https://digitalsongsandhymns.com/songs/6113

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.

Building a Faith Foundation

Living in the Spirit

September 23, 2022

Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. –1 Timothy 6:11-19

do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future,

What we do today builds the foundation for our future, for everyone’s futures. When I was a child, I remember seeing tons of trash along the highway driving from our farm the fifteen miles to the town of Stillwater. People just threw napkins and sacks out the windows of their cars. The trash landed in the ditches and stuck to the fences. I guess someone got tired of seeing it. The Governor introduced a campaign called Don’t Lay That Trash on Oklahoma! Cute ads ran on television. Groups of people went out and speared trash into bags to remove what was already strewn about. The campaign worked and made a major difference in showing we cared about our world. We laid a solid foundation that remains intact today.

In the scripture above, Timothy was instructed to lay the foundations in following Christ that must be instilled into our faith culture to build the beloved community. The foundation Jesus set modeled for us in his life, the way of living by loving God and loving one another. We are called to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future.

Prayer: Lord, help us build the foundation to support the beloved community. 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.