Tag Archives: Loving others

Washing Feet

Living in the Spirit
September 7, 2017

Scripture Reading: Romans 13:8-14

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. –Romans 13:8-10

The lead into our scripture today is a much-debated segment advising Christ’s followers to obey authorities and pay their taxes among other things. The people Paul targeted did not live in a democracy; most had no input about laws or taxes. While the Romans tolerated various religious sects when they did not cause problems, Roman expected obedience to its laws and financial support of its governance.

Paul takes his instruction further in this scripture where he says we should owe no one anything but love and we owe love to everyone. We owe love because we receive and know the love of God through Jesus Christ. How are we to make a positive difference in the world, if we follow the same paths as the world? I recently watched with keen interest the clergy arm in arm forming a wall of love in Charlottesville standing against hate and violence. I watched a white man carrying two black children out of the flood waters of Hurricane Harvey. I watched our Mexican neighbors bring much-needed supplies and help to Texas in response to the hurricane. They simply loved their neighbors. I saw no fear in any of these faces only determination.

1 John 4:18: There is no fear in love. But perfect love cast out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

Jesu, Jesu fill us with your love,
Show us how to love the neighbors we have from you.

Silently washes their feet,
Master who acts as a slave to them.

Jesu, Jesu fill us with your love,
Show us how to love the neighbors we have from you*.

Prayer: Lord, let your love free us from our fears enabling us to love like you. Amen.

*Chorus and first verse of Jesu, Jesu, words by Tom Colvin see at https://hymnary.org/text/kneels_at_the_feet_of_his_friends

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.

O Love that Will Not Let Me Go

Eastertide
April 26, 2017

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 1:17-23

If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. –1 Peter 1:17-20

If God is an impartial judge what are God’s expectations for us? Are our ways in sync with God’s? Do we ascribe high priorities to the same things God does? The Hebrew Bible tells us that the Israelites routinely fell into bad habits of placing priorities on things that did not matter while letting slip the things that did. Idol worship was offensive to God where God’s people were putting their trust in carved images. We think we are way past that sort of nonsense, but are we really? Where do we place our trust? Certainly, accumulation of wealth seems a source of salvation in our society. Power is another. Neither are guaranteed even in our own time much less for eternity.

God apparently thought we needed help in sorting out our priorities and sent Jesus to live among us, one human being modeling being human for the rest of us. He simplified priorities by having only two: loving God and loving each other with no strings attached, no tests for us to administer to determine who deserves either God’s love or ours. The job of judging was reserved for God only.

Loving God and loving each other is an impossible task for humans unless we are plugged into our relationship with God. We might tiptoe around the edges of truly loving another but all others, I doubt it. The potential for loving all others is in every human as we are each made in the image of God who is love. God can and will enable our ability to love like Jesus, when we open ourselves to the fullness of God’s love.  Let it be so.

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 (1882) see at http://hymnary.org/text/o_love_that_wilt_not_let_me_go

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.

Jesus Wept

Lent
April 3, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 11:1-45

When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ –John 11:28-37

I loved The Waltons TV show. One Christmas show is still seared in my mind. The wife of the local mercantile owner organized a charity to help the poor little children in the village. She gathered donations of toys and announced the date and time when the families could come and get their gifts. If you remember the show, you know that she thought she was a cut above her neighbors. A rather ridged woman, she required each child to recite a Bible verse before they could get a toy. The older children did well but the younger they got the less likely they were to know a verse. John Boy, the lead character, standing in the background started whispering short verses that the young ones could remember just long enough to get their toy. For the youngest and the last, he saved the shortest verse taken from our scripture above, Jesus wept (King James Version).  It was most appropriate for after proving their worthiness by reciting a verse, the children opened gifts of broken and worn out toys.

Jesus’ final days were filled with the irony of one whose only desire in life was to love and enable others to love caught in a world where everyone must prove their worth based on human judgment. I do not know why Jesus wept at Lazarus tomb. Perhaps it was because Mary and Martha were in such grief, perhaps he deeply regretted the pain and suffering that Lazarus had experienced in his final days. Both are probably true but I also think he wept for all those who were missing out on the fullness of God’s love by chasing after lesser gods of pride or greed or whatever.

Lent is our time to examine ourselves and see if we have any of those lesser gods distracting us from the love that passes all understanding.

Prayer: God of Mercy and of Grace, help us to see ourselves more clearly. Free us from the chains of idolatry, great or small. Fill our lives with your love so that we can be conduits of love to all your children. 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.

Sharing the Love of God with Us

prophetsAdvent
December 18, 2016

Scripture Reading: Matthew 1:18-25

All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
 and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. –Matthew 1:22-25

The message conveyed by the consistent referral to the prophets of old in the New Testament tells us today that God is God, has always been, and will always be. Simple as this statement is to make, it is the most comforting message we can receive. Running around crying out the sky is falling is not helpful. The prophets in much more poetic language tell us to keep being God’s people no matter what.

Just like the ancient Israelites when times seem good, we too get lulled into states of complacency. We do not want anyone to rock the boat but that is not the way of progress. Such attitudes slow the development of a society to follow God’s plan of love and reconciliation.

As we deepen our spiritual quest toward fuller appreciation of “God with Us” let us consider how God is leading us to greater love for all God’s children so that each human on this earth can attain the full measure of God-based contentment.

Prayer: Lover of all Souls, as we celebrate your coming in human form, grant us the courage to step out in faith to demonstrate your love in action to the world. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, by permission. All rights reserved.

Do Not Fear

rock-that-is-higher-than-iLiving in the Spirit
October 31, 2016

Scripture Reading: Haggai 2:1-9

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. –Haggai 2:3-5

Democracy is messy. Trying to negotiate agreement on best practices is difficult. Change is hard. We live in a challenging world, and as members of that world, we choose to function within a system of governance that requires our full participation. It gets uglier at some times than at other. In history, we read of the scandals of Tammany Hall in the 1780’s recurring in the 1920’s and muckraking of the 1890’s. Not having experienced them, they are not as real to us as the current political situations. They were probably just as bad.

The week before the general election in the USA is a good time to be reminded that we serve an awesome God who abides among us. God created this earth out of chaos and can surely rescue us from our self-created calamity if we abide in God. Being in a relationship with God does require self-introspection. Some, perhaps much, of our fretting and fears comes from our clinging to things of this world that have little or no relevance in God’s Kingdom. Parsing out what is of God and discerning what kind of nation we want to be is important . Not forcing our beliefs on others but letting God’s plan for our lives direct our way of being are reflected in our actions as citizens.

Prayer: Lord, cleanse me of all that inhibits my living your love in all that I do including my role as a citizen of this nation. 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.

Living Cloud of Witnesses

befunky_love-like-jesus-bible-quoteLiving in the Spirit
October 27, 2016

Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4; 11-12

We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring. –2 Thessalonians 1:3-4

I sat down with several women from my church recently and said and meant, “What a wonderful crowd of witnesses!” To which one replied, “I’m not dead yet!” I think that rather proved my point as she is obviously a Bible student. The reference was to Hebrews 12:1 referring to all the saints who had died and paved the way for our service today. I think the writer of 2 Thessalonians, using Paul’s standard salutation in our scripture today, would agree that we also should equally praise those actively serving God in real time and that they too are a great crowd of witnesses.

Everyday Christians go about the business of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, helping the sick, and welcoming the stranger as a normal part of their lives. Most Sunday mornings, I see a 90+-year-old man drop a sack of canned goods in the cart at the entrance of our church for distribution at a food closet with whom we partner. Every Thursday volunteers cook and deliver with love mobile meals to 30 or so homebound elderly and disabled people. The school for which we have been providing mittens, gloves, and hats each year let us know they have enough from last year to meet their needs. This year we will be targeting our donations toward gloves and hats for the homeless at a local shelter that we already help with steel-toed boots to enable their participants to work. Join with me in being thankful for these acts of love engrained in these witnesses’ faith DNA.

Prayer: Lord, when we as your followers each do our part in your service, all have an opportunity to experience your abundant life. Thank you for the gift of service. 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.

Go and Do Likewise

Stangers no moreLiving in the Spirit
July 10, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 10:25-37

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’ –Luke 29-37

When did we get so scared of one another? Is it still a carry over from 9/11 fifteen years later? Is it a reaction to having too much knowledge of the world about us with our easy access to instant news? I usually eat lunch with the noon news in the background that most often leads with a report of a shooting or robbery or car chase that had occurred the night before. I sometimes wonder if I prefer to live in the oblivion of not knowing the realities of our world today.

One of the lessons learned from living in tornado alley is there is relief, but no joy in the storm’s path changing course and missing one’s own home for it will most likely hit someone else’s. There is not much that can be done to avoid natural disasters. Storm shelters protect life. Early warning systems are crucial as is well-organized responses to damage.

The storms we face from our fear of one another are not the same as natural disasters. Based on human failings, they seem to be beyond our understanding. To conquer them we must face them. Ugly as they turn out to be, we will never eradicate them until we demonstrate a willingness to deal honestly with them. These failings are as old as time, and we are not the first generation to be caught in their web. We need to learn from our ancestors in faith who did not deal with them well and the ones who did. We need to trust that God in infinite love will provide the answers that we need if we open our total beings to God’s guidance. Like the story of the Good Samaritan we may need to determine if our religion is getting in the way of our hearing God’s leading us in the ability to love like Jesus loves.

Prayer: Lord, make us mindful of our own limitations in fully loving each other. Show us the way to rise above our fears and enter fully into your grace in building 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 American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Fear Not

Fear-NotEastertide
May 12, 2016

Scripture Reading: Romans 8:14-17

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Franklin Roosevelt’s famous words need to be heard again in our world: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. It seems we are afraid of our own shadows.

When I was a child polio was a big unknown, untamable killer. I remember my mother holding me over public toilet seats to prevent me from picking up this germ. Way back in the early 1980’s when AIDS was an untreatable killer there existed a lot of real fear about its contagion as well as irrational fear largely tied to the population most affected by it. My boss, a wonderful man, was diagnosed with AIDS during that time. I worked in a large public agency. In planning for his return to work after his first hospitalization and this resulting diagnosis, we had medical staff come in and explain to the staff that AIDS could not be transferred through casual contact or even sneezing. Most of the staff were more concerned about their dear friend and understood any precautions that might need to be taken in the rare possibility that a cut or fall or something resulted in possible contact with his blood. I had one staff member who was not dissuaded and was sharing the views of her church that this information was not true. When I called her in to see if I could lessen her fears. She assured me that I could not but that she had nothing to fear because she was the apple of God’s eye and thus fully protected by God. Totally stunned by this comment I said, “Well, OK, I guess you have no fears about him returning to work.” She assured me that she did not.

Shortly after he came back to work, I walked into a large staff meeting with him when the nurse who supervised our home care program and who is a rather imposing black women, jumped up from her seat moved quickly to smother him with the biggest hug anyone could give saying something about how glad she was to see him. Her actions set the tone for the whole meeting and the remainder of his tenure with the agency. She lived her love in the recognition that he too, was the apple of God’s eye. The words “fear not” appear 365 times in the Bible. We should heed them.

Prayer: Lord forgive us when we get caught up in irrational fears that not only limit our ability to love like you but are destructive to others. 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

Loving One Another

To die forEastertide
April 24, 2016

Scripture Reading: John 13:31-35

Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ –John 13:33-35

If we are to model our lives after Jesus, we are going to have to rid ourselves of our need to judge others. Sure he castigated religious leaders for their failures in leading the people in the ways of God. Yet he had great compassion, amazing empathy, without condemnation for the people. I take great solace in the breadth of his forgiveness and love. We all need those.

I saw a sign recently that said don’t judge others because they sin differently than you do. The people who have made the most positive difference in my life are the ones who saw something in me that I did not perceive and helped me to develop it. Jesus did a lot of that. I have also been impacted by those who accept me as I am and love me anyway. That’s a Jesus thing too.

Loving others includes a willingness to engage with others even those we do not understand or particularly those we do not understand. Truth is we become more ourselves the more we grow in loving others in spite of perceived differences. I use to sing the old song, Love Lifted Me with the idea that it was God’s love lifting me and I am sure that is true, but If you think about it our loving others lifts us too.

Prayer: Lord enable us love one another. 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.

God’s Great Choir

MusicEastertide
April 14, 2016

Scripture Reading: Revelation 7:9-17

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’
And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing,
‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’ –Revelation 7:9-12

Is it our great desire to stand among peoples from every nation tribe and language in communal worship of God? It appears that is God’s great desire. Our actions would indicate that it is not ours. We may be willing to stand before God together with all people when and if they finally learn to conform to our ways of being and doing and faith, but the scripture does not say that. We may be willing to stand before God together with all people as long as we have the best spots to stand. But the scriptures do not say that either. The scriptures say we are to be willing to give up our box seats for the standing room only in the nose bleed section.

Of course as hard as it is for any of us to step out of our self-centered definitions of what is truth about God, if we let them go, we might find it joyous to discovered that all the seats in God’s kingdom are front row, that the joining of all cultures adds flavor and spice to our lives, and that the Body of Christ truly does have many members with differing gifts and all are vital to the world. It is at this point of understanding that we can in one voice, even speaking many languages, sing together.

Prayer: Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God for ever and ever! 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.