Tag Archives: Loving our Neighbors

Loving all Neighbors

Lent

March 29, 2023

Scripture Reading: Psalm 31:9-16
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
   my eye wastes away from grief,
   my soul and body also.
For my life is spent with sorrow,
   and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
   and my bones waste away.

I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
   a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
   those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
   I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many—
   terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me,
   as they plot to take my life.

But I trust in you, O Lord;
   I say, ‘You are my God.’
My times are in your hand;
  deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
   save me in your steadfast love.

I read the first segment of the Psalm and identified with it somewhat. I must use pliers to open tight lids, and both my knees have wasted away to the extent that they have been replaced. In general, those realities have made me appreciate that someone invented pliers and titanium knees. I have learned in public to pass bottled water containers to ask even strangers sitting near me to remove too-tight lids. I generally ask only people whom I observed could open their own lids. Doing that has provided opportunities for pleasant conversation.

The second segment made me sad. I thought of the people who are homeless and often in need of physical or mental health care. I just heard, once more, the reports of another school shooting where a now adult former student had returned to the school they attended to carry out some vendetta. I also grow weary of the public officials and others who foster such reactions by castigating people for being different.

The third segment is a beautiful and appropriate prayer for all people who feel the sting of societal exclusion and a call to all people to love their neighbors as they would like to be loved given the same circumstances.  

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the helpers who open lids for and their hearts to others. Help us all fill that void whenever it is in our capacity.  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.

Listening First

Lent

March 27, 2023

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Lord God has given me
   the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain
   the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens—
   wakens my ear
   to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear,
   and I was not rebellious,
   I did not turn backwards.
I gave my back to those who struck me,
   and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
   from insult and spitting. –Isaiah 50:4-6

Education is a big deal in Oklahoma right now as the legislature tries to tackle ways to improve our public education system so that our children are prepared for bright futures realizing their full potential. They are our future.

The above scripture starts off with the recognition that teaching requires special skills. I especially l that the part about listening as those who are taught. If we pay attention, children will tell us how they learn through their actions and responses. Standardized tests are oxymorons. People are not standardized. Animals are not either. I have had the joy of raising two dogs. Hefner, understood words, If I said do you need to go outside, he would run to the back door. He had a very broad vocabulary. A few months after his death, I got another dog, Micah. He frustrated me at first because he did not respond to spoken instructions as Hef did. One day I pointed to the door, and he immediately ran to it, eager to go outside. I started experimenting with hand signals and soon learned that he understood them. I listened to those who were taught.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in finding the best ways to communicate with one another as we grow together in spirit and in truth. 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 Things

Christmastide

December 30, 2022

Scripture Reading: Revelation 21:1-6a
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’

And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

One of my favorite choruses is I Will Do a New Thing in You based on Isaiah 43:19:

I am about to do a new thing;
   now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
   and rivers in the desert.

The chorus makes it more personal, but it is also copyrighted, so I cannot share the words, but the title says what moves me and hopefully moves all of us to action. We need to do new things, most of which are as old as time. Loving your neighbor is first commanded in Lev. 19:18. Doing Justice is described in Micah 6:8. Matthew 25:31-46 spells out precisely how Christ will judge us individually and as a nation, remember for I was hungry and you gave me food… Living in a democracy, we do not have a monarch or dictator to blame for our failures to provide for the Common Good, the purpose of government. We, the people, select those who represent us and who are supposed to support our biding. Maybe the new thing Christ is trying to do with us wakes us up to our responsibilities in providing for the Common Good.

Prayer: Lord, help us see the new/old things you expect from us and give us the courage to do them. 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.

Preventive Love

Advent

November 29, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 11:1-10

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
   and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
   their young shall lie down together;
   and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
   as the waters cover the sea.

On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious. –Isaiah 11:6-10

I watched a segment of a TV program recently that showed natural enemy animals living together without harming each other. That phenomenon happened because they had been raised together and had enough food, shelter, and care. I would add love to that list because of the behavior of their caretakers. There is a lesson for us humans in this story. If we humans ensure that all people have enough food, shelter, and care our crime level will dissipate. Making sure that all children grew up in a loving atmosphere and experience love throughout their lives would help too.

I know of a program for the mentally ill homeless that starts the program by placing the persons in a fully furnished apartment supplied with the necessities of life, clothing, food, soap, etc. They provide close, supportive care. It is amazing how the formerly homeless person adapts to having enough and regaining their self-worth, which allows them to respond to treatment. Can you imagine living on the streets, never knowing from where your next meal will come, and being avoided by others as they pass you on the street? Can you imagine moving from that to an apartment of your own with a door that locks, a clean bathroom, and a kitchen fully stocked?

I drove into the Walmart parking lot yesterday. Just as I stopped and opened the door of my car, I heard the noise of a five-alarm fire to my west. The first thought that flew through my mind was, is there a mass shooting going on here? Everything seemed all right so I went about my shopping and there was no problem there. I learned on the news that evening that a fire in the kitchen of a restaurant in a large nearby shopping mall had caused a massive response because of the danger if the fire got out of control at that location. I did not like learning that the fear of mass shootings is now buried in my memory banks. My reaction resulted in the fact that three mass killings had happened in grocery stores across the country in just a few months. It is time we understand that taking care of others is one of our prime directives from Christ and it also protects the innocents caught in the crossfire.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in spreading your love throughout the world to all people so that everyone has enough of everything required for a healthy life.  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.

Wearing the Armor of Light

Advent

November 25, 2022

Scripture Reading: Romans 13:11-14
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

During the run-up to the election, we were barraged with advertisements that were described as being provided by “dark” money. Ads with mean-spirited pictures wrapped in dark fog seemed to pick a small bit of out-of-context truth and shape it into some force that would purportedly end the world as we know it if we allowed it to prosper through the leadership of a specified candidate. I received between ten to 20 text messages every day asking for donations to support candidates as they try to fight back from the condescending ads. I wondered where they got my phone number. It irks me to know that our government cannot keep track of children who have crossed legally into the US when my personal information was spread helter-skelter among candidates across the country. If we get nothing else done before the next election, we must pass legislation that at least requires the “dark” money donors to be identified.

Paul’s comments above, however, are not targeted at our nation. They are targeted at us. Whether we like it or not our government reflects “We the People.” It is our bigotry, greed, and lust for power that provide the steam for candidates’ ads. We must wake from sleep lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

This week the Oklahoma City Council considered rule changes regarding the homeless people on our streets. The proposal was very detrimental to them. Forty citizens attended that meeting to speak against the measure, which failed. They wore the armor of light.

Prayer: Lord, help us examine ourselves to see if we reflect your love in our civic responsibilities and create clean hearts and right spirits* in us enabling us to shine your light through our communities, our nation, and the world.  Amen.

*Derived from Psalm 51:10

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.

Loving Ourselves

Living in the Spirit

October 23, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Luke 18:9-14
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’

Acting holier-than-thou or self-righteous is often the result of people not being comfortable in their own skin. The need to constantly prove that we are better than others tends to grow from not loving ourselves as a person of unique worth. The faith problem with that way of thinking is we cannot fully clasp the idea of loving our neighbors, all our neighbors if we do not love ourselves. Fully accepting ourselves as we are does not mean we do not need to dedicate ourselves to becoming fully the person God created us to be.

Many of the problems in our world today are based on our not loving ourselves enough to be who we can be. We may have received messages that we were inferior. I will never forget asking a judge to authorize our agency to remove children from their home because the children were being severely abused and neglected. The judge finally signed the order, handed it to me, and said, “That family has always been worthless, you are not going to change that but if you want to try go ahead.” I pondered as I left the office that they sure are not going to change if everyone thought as he did. I read in the paper several years later the story of a beloved policeman and all the wonderful things he had done for the community who had been killed in a car wreck. He was one of those children.

Prayer: Lord, help us look for the worth in ourselves and others so we all can model our lives after Christ’s. 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.

Can’t Bye me, Love

Living in the Spirit

September 24, 2022

Scripture Reading: Luke 16:19-31

‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. –Luke 16:19-25

I am so tired of being asked for money. During this election season, I get five or more text messages or emails a day begging for campaign donations. Most of the pundits I hear predicting election outcomes base their prognostications on how much money the candidate has raised whether it came from a few rich supporters or many small donors. The Beatle’s song titled Can’t Bye Me, Love runs through my mind, and I wonder if we end up electing people who are better at raising money than finding common ground for the Common Good. I am not sure the skills are interchangeable.

Jesus indicated that he judges us by how well we love our neighbors. He is quoted in Matthew 25 listing the criteria by which he judges people:  feeding the hungry, providing water for the thirsty, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, restoring the prisoner, and welcoming the stranger.  Rather than how much money a candidate raises, where they stand and act on these issues might be a better criterion for choosing someone to serve in our government.

Prayer: Lord, enable us to love our neighbors as you would have us to love them. 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.

Trampling on the Needy

Living in the Spirit

Bottles of Gatorade are pictured, left, a 32 fluid ounce and 28 fluid ounce, in Glenside, Pa., Monday, June 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

July 11, 2022

Scripture Reading: Amos 8:1-12

Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
   and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, ‘When will the new moon be over
   so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
   so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
   and practice deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
   and the needy for a pair of sandals,
   and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’ –Amos 8:4-6

I keep a supply of antacids at my house and buy them in large quantity bottles, thus I do not buy them often. I do not like to shop. I noticed the bottle was almost empty so I purchased a new one the next time I was in the pharmacy. When I picked up the bottle, I noticed that it was only about 75% full. I opened the lid to see if the seal had been broken and if the pills were missing. The seal was in place. I paid for the medicine and took it home. Since it is something, I routinely buy I did not read the labels. The old bottle indicated that it contained 160 tablets. The new label read 140 tablets. The price was the same for both. I guess the company had a backlog of bottles, so they used them and just changed the labels. The rules of supply and demand have been shattered by the COVID pandemic. We are struggling to find a new normal.

This, however, is a good time for us to consider how much our society is driven by greed. Price gouging because we can, is not acceptable. Reducing the number of pills in a bottle is not necessarily price gouging. It also was not a transparent increase in price. Pricing pharmaceuticals because they are desperately needed at higher and higher prices is greed. For example, insulin has been insulin for years. You may be able to obtain it in a fancier delivery system, but the medicine is still the same and should not cost more because lives depend on it. Oil companies control supply by whether they drill or not and whether they pump actual wells or not. Supply dictates the price they can charge for the oil they produce. They, indeed, may need to reinvest in drilling which will impact pricing, but they must not overdo it.

Prayer: Lord, help us to recognize greed for what it is and guide us to a better way of using our resources. 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.

Self-Sufficiency

Lent

March 21, 2022

Scripture Reading: Joshua 5:9-12

The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.’ And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.

While the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

I worked in the public welfare arena for 35 years and took a lot of negative blowbacks from friends and relatives, even some strangers, who classified the poor as lazy, no-good, people. I had an aunt who attacked me at every family reunion about all the welfare queens she knew. My observation over those years was that people receiving public assistance were essentially no different than the general population. It may come as a surprise but there are lazy, no-good people at every income level. I have been a waitress and a nurse’s aide (now called a nursing assistant, I think) and can assure you that neither job is for the weak or the lazy. The minimum wage in Oklahoma for waitpersons is $2.12 an hour they are expected to make up the difference between that and the minimum wage of $7.50 an hour with tips. According to the MIT living wage calculator, a living wage for a single person in Oklahoma is $13.53 an hour. What we strive for in the human services realm is helping people become self-sufficient.

Sufficient means to meet one’s obligations or satisfy one’s needs: competency also: a modest but not parsimonious scale or way of living: adequate comfort*.

I thought of this as I read the scripture above regarding the Israelite need for manna after their escape from Egypt. Eventually, they learned to be self-sufficient in planting and growing crops.  I hated the change in the law in the mid-1990s when the federal government changed the work requirement for receiving public assistance to taking the first job offered. Most of those jobs were minimum wages. With an 18-month vocational education course, an individual could move from being a nursing assistant to becoming a practical nurse that would pay enough to make them self-sufficient. Nursing assistants to survive would need food stamps, Medicaid, and if they had children childcare supplements, and they would still face the judgmental biases of their neighbors who are called to love them.

Prayer: Lord, you provided manna when it was needed and people to guide your children into self-sufficiency. Help us never forget our role in helping others to reach that standard. Amen.

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

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.