Tag Archives: Loving Neighbors

Manifest Destiny?

Living in the Spirit

Living in the Spirit

July 13, 2020

Scripture Reading: Genesis 28:10-19a

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went towards Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ –Genesis 28:10-17

Land grants began with Abram. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.’ (Genesis 15:18-21) . Genesis 26:3 continues the land grant for Isaac, and Exodus 23:13 describes the boundaries of the Promised Land to Moses.

I struggle with scriptures like the ones above. Didn’t God create the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, and others also? Were they not made in the image of God? I understand the calling of Abraham to be a blessing to other nations but was taking their land from them being a blessing? Is there a record somewhere of these events from the viewpoint of those other nations?

The Europeans migrating to what is now the USA claimed divine intervention. The Doctrine of Discovery was invoked by Pope Alexander VI in the Papal Bull “Inter Caetera” in 1493. It established a spiritual, political, and legal justification for colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians. In the 18 hundreds, we called that principle Manifest Destiny.

How do people of faith in God move from an inclusive Supreme Being who created a world putting God’s likeness in each human being morph into a deity that supported exclusiveness identifying winners and losers among God’s own children?

I do not know the answers to these questions. I would love to have sat and discussed it with Jesus when he dwelt among us on earth. I do not recall any quotes attributed to him that even addressed land ownership. He talked about things like selling everything a person had to gain something more significant than earthly wealth. I do know that he loved us enough to take on all the evil in the world on a cross, gifted us with grace, and sent us forth to emulate his way of being, within the foundation of loving God and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Prayer: Thank your Lord for coming among us and modeling your way for us to follow. We are often tempted to project the world’s methods as your ways. Let your light shine in our darkness and help us to clearly see your path before 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.

Loving our Neighbors and Our Enemies

Lent
March 23, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’ –Luke 13:1-5

‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. –Matthew 5:43-45

Bad things do happen to good people. Some people we might consider bad seem to skate through life with few challenges. Jesus implies in both the above scriptures something to the effect that it does rain on the just and the unjust. What he also says is that loving God and loving all of God’s children better prepares us for those events in life that are so unbearable.

Our age of instant communications immediately makes us aware of tragedies around the world. This week we heard of the killings in Mosques in New Zealand and a devastating cyclone and flood in Mozambique killing over 242 people. I watched a farmer walk among the 700 bodies of drowned pigs from floods in the USA, his family’s livelihood destroyed in a manner of minutes. That was just one farm. There is no telling how the floods along the Mississippi river will impact our food supplies.

Of course, the response to salvage what can be saved, comfort those directly affected and rebuild are all our responsibilities. We are also called to do what we can to prevent these type events in the future. New Zealand has already strengthened their gun control laws. Stronger and more levies may be needed along the Mississippi and water sources in Mozambique. We must also face the realities of climate change and do all that is humanly possible to address it. These are examples of working together toward the Common Good. They are also examples of loving our neighbors and our enemies.

Prayer: Lord, awaken us to the needs of all and direct us toward ways to help, as we strive to follow your example of love while working for the Common Good. 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.

Welcome the Stranger

Epiphany
February 6, 2017

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 30:15-20

See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. –Deuteronomy 30:15-18

Moses is addressing a community as he relays God’s agreement with God’s people. Follow God’s plan and God blesses. Do not follow God’s plan and the community must deal with the consequences. Sometime in the 1800’s our faith was individualized. Personal salvation became the focus of our faith practices. The Bible as a source of the history of God makes our responsibility for each other paramount. While perhaps our activities are driven by our individual relationships with God, we are called to share collectively in concern for one another.

How do we live in community with our diverse neighbors? How do we get to know people with whom we have little in common? With advanced communications and transportation in a few hours, we can be anywhere in the world. Two years ago, I had the chance to tour Turkey. I encountered a wonderfully hospitable people and mourned with them when a bomb recently exploded killing several innocent people in Istanbul. I had walked down the streets I saw in those television reports. The people of Turkey are no longer strangers, they are my neighbors.

We cannot walk the streets of every community in the world. We can focus our love on every community acknowledging our responsibility to love all of God’s children and to recognize that they are people just like us.

Prayer: God grant us the courage to love the stranger until we can recognize that they are really our neighbors. 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 as Ministry

Mental_Pies2_630Living in the Spirit
June 19, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 8:26-39

Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him. –Luke 8:35-39

Psychiatrist still explore the chicken and egg questions of mental illness. Does environment create mental illness or is it biological in origin? Mental illness is surely impacted by both biology and environment. Experts try now to seek treatment on this continuum of cause and effect. While the professionals have made some headway, we in general do not deal with it much better than our ancestors in faith did 2000 years ago.

A high percentage of the homeless on our streets are mentally ill. My church worships with the homeless about once a quarter when we provide participants dinner at a sister church serving people living on the streets. It has been with great joy that at both of the last two meetings we have celebrated with persons who have met the criteria for obtaining an apartment of their own as a part of a program provided by the local Homeless Alliance. These people have done the hard work of learning to care for themselves including taking medicines, perhaps working, and sharing their stories of success with fellow pilgrims on the journey to wholeness.

Wholeness correlates with responsibility. The Man called Legion wanted to follow Jesus in his ministry, but Jesus told him his ministry was with those in his own community. That is essentially what Jesus told us all when he commanded us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts and minds to the needs of the mentally ill and grant us the wholeness and oneness to bring justice to their lives. 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.