Tag Archives: Loving our Neighbors

Dog on Ice

Lent

March 31, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 36:5-11
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
   your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
   your judgments are like the great deep;
   you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
   All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
   and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light.

O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
   and your salvation to the upright of heart!
Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
   or the hand of the wicked drive me away.

I had just watched the rescue of a dog from a floating piece of ice on the morning news when I sat down to consider the above scripture for today. I smiled when I read you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. We serve an awesome God who loves all creation including a dog running from a coyote, that got stuck on ice. God calls all of us to love all his creation, stirring the heart of one man to risk his own life to save that dog.

As our society is struggling with how to deal with a horribly dangerous and determined virus, we also are experiencing a pandemic of being out of touch with reality. We are learning the hard way that the idols of the world, such as pride, greed, lust, and envy ultimately have no power in a world created by God who is Love. Yet, we cannot recognize and accept that reality and invest our lives in saving others’ lives. Over 500,000 people in the USA have died from COVID, many needlessly because we will not wear masks, socially distance, and get vaccinations. We have lost the art of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Holy Week is the best time of the year to reengage with God as we observe the sacrifice of God’s Son on a cross to save us from those very idols we cannot seem to let go. The love of God can and will sever those ties if we let it.

Prayer: Creator God, forgive us for turning to the idols of the world in our fear and reaction to things that threaten us. Surround us with your love enabling us to love you more dearly and to 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Made in the Image of God

Discipleship

February 11, 2021

Scripture Reading:
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The world’s gods seem to be blinding the minds of some who profess their faith in Jesus Christ and believe very strongly that what they perceive as Christlike is. I fear we all do that from time to time. Separating our image of God from God’s actual image at times is hard. It is even more challenging when we do it in a group with others who share the same vision of God that we create. We read Biblical history and world history and think, I cannot believe people did those acts in God’s name. It makes me wonder what the people who read our history in a couple of hundred years will say regarding what we sanctioned and practiced. Our ancestors did form a nation that practices the separation of church and state, which I support. I do not think there is anything in the Bible or Constitution of the United States that provides us the right to separate ourselves from God’s commandment to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. When I read that the two biggest spreaders of the COVID virus are houses of worship and bars, I cringe. We may have the right to disobey a government order to wear a mask to reduce the virus’s spread; we have the free will to break God’s commandments, but that does not make it right. We will face the consequences of that decision. We may find ourselves standing by the bedside or even graveside of someone we may have infected. We will stand before God in judgment.

Prayer: Lord, clear our soul vision to seek your image of what your love is like rather than conjuring up our own. 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.

Being a Neighbor

Discipleship

February 7, 2021

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

Indeed, who are our neighbors? I am currently reading the book, This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the troubled History of Thanksgiving, by David J. Silverman. It describes the interplay between the New World’s indigenous people and the English settlers during the last half of the 17th Century centered around the King Philip’s War. When I read the scripture for today, I was immediately drawn to the descriptions of the interactions of the natives and their new neighbors. Some came to practice their faith as they understood it, having been persecuted for their beliefs in England. Some of the European immigrants did bring the stories of Jesus to the tribes and greeted them as equals. They were the exception. Others taught their ideas and claimed to save many of the natives’ souls. They were called the praying Indians and afforded some special treatment. At the close of the King Philip’s War, they got to be slaves of the white people rather than being slaughtered. Is there anything in the four gospels that justifies such behavior?

I also am a fan of PBS’s Finding Your Roots series. The most recent show told the stories of two people whose ancestors were Irish arriving in the USA in the late 1800s. Henry Louis Gates Jr., the star of the show, shared copies of newspaper ads for maids and nannies that included the phrase, No Irish Need Apply. He commented that every group of new immigrants to the USA was greeted with similar discrimination. How can we go into all the world and make disciples* if we treat our neighbors like this?

People who need to be better than others feel inferior in some way. How do we erase this misperception from our culture? How do we cleanse ourselves of not recognizing that we, along with everyone else, were created in the image of God with unique skills and talents? All are necessary and important in God’s Kingdom.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for forsaking your call to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Make who whole in our relationship with you, to enable our wholeness in our relationship with our neighbors. Amen.

*Matthew 28:19-20

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 Neighbors

Discipleship

January 28, 2021

Scripture Reading:
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.

Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ‘no idol in the world really exists’, and that ‘there is no God but one.’ Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ‘Food will not bring us close to God.’ We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling-block to the weak. For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.

So how does this scripture apply to us? The people who brought the food must have thought it was a form of worship. Food was like money to them. A small part of it was burnt to give honor to the idol. A larger part went to the priests to sustain their work. Perhaps considered blessed, the remainder was returned to the donor who could consume it themselves or sell it for a profit. Someone else who worshipped the same idol might have considered buying and eating such food would bring them a blessing. Paul essentially asks Christ-followers to consider that even if the meat carries no particular meaning to them, others seeing them buy and eat might assume that they were identifying the idol as their god and eating the meat representing a blessing.

Do we have such idols in our world? What behaviors do we practice that might lead others to practice the same thing thinking it might bring them blessings? I could not help but wonder if the reactions of faith-based groups demanding their rights not to follow the recommended preventions related to COVID 19 is like this. I disagreed with this reaction from many perspectives. Wearing a mask, socially distancing, and washing our hands is a way to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We had that play out in real-time recently. Bars who were ordered to close at 11:00 pm to reduce the spread of COVID sued, and the court ruled in their favor. If the Christians can do it, why cannot they?

Prayer: Lord, help us see clearly how our behavior impacts our neighbors to your honor or disdain. 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.

Wonderfully Made

Epiphany

January 13, 2021

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; –Psalm 139:1-6

How well do we know ourselves? How hard do we work at perfecting the person we are rather than changing ourselves to be someone else? In the story of Creation recorded in Genesis 1, we learn that humans were made in God’s image. When God surveyed all that had been created, God saw that it was good.

In Mark 12:31, quoting from Leviticus 19:9-18, Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Part of the problem today is that many people have trouble loving themselves as God created them to be. If we do not love ourselves, how will we love our neighbors? We live in an environment that can and does attempt to define people in castes or hierarchies that are not true. They, however, set the stage for our internalizing the prejudices and stereotypes of others. Once we have taken on these ideas, we evaluate ourselves and others by those same prejudgments. Approximately 8 to 10% of the world population has blue eyes. Of the first 45 presidents of the United States, 30 or 67% had blue eye*, which most likely means they have a white, European background. We make judgments of ourselves and others by our misinterpretations of facts, not in evidence. There is a direct correlation between the number of Mexican lemon imports and the lowering of highway deaths. Does that mean we need to import more Mexican lemons to reduce road hazards?

Ridding ourselves of prejudices and stereotypes is impossible without the loving intervention of God, our Creator. That is why Psalm 139 is one of my favorite readings in the Bible. God knows us thoroughly, loves us completely, and if we invite and allow God to toil with us, we can persevere to be the person God created us to be. The more we grow toward being that person, the more God enables us to love one another and accept how each of us was wonderfully and beautifully made.

Prayer: Lord, I open my whole being to you today to clear out my prejudices and stereotypes and help me learn to celebrate the worth of all your other creatures, great and small. Amen.

*https://www.1800contacts.com/eyesociety/eye-color-of-winners-over-time/#:~:text=From%20the%20president’s%20eyes&text=In%20fact%2C%20blue%20eyes%20most,be%20a%20green%20eyed%i20president.

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.

Comfort the Mourning

Advent

December 7, 2020

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
   because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
   to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
   and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
   and the day of vengeance of our God;
   to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
   to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
   the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
   the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins,
   they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
   the devastations of many generations. –Isaiah 61:1-4

More people died of COVID on December 5, 2020, in the USA than in the 9-11 bombing of the World Trade Center. COVID is now the leading cause of death in the USA. This morning a friend sent me an apology for whispering in my ear at an event yesterday without her mask. She was trying to avoid an interruption of the service and did not think. She also just returned to work from having had COVID and passing all the tests to work. By nature, a caring person, she cares even more now, having had several family members sick and being sick herself with the virus.

We need to take a day in Advent to bind up the broken-hearted and comfort all who mourn. I pray for:

  • The new father, whose beautiful baby was safely delivered as his mother died of COVID.
  • The ICU nurse who held the hand of patients with her gloved hand one after another on the same day, standing in for family members not allowed to be with their loved ones when there was nothing else the nurse could do.
  • The nurse who retired in January answering the call to fill the void of trained staff in March and died of COVID in November.
  • The families and friends of the 66,000,000 people worldwide, including 278,932 from the USA, were killed by COVID as of December 5.
  • I pray that our leaders, guided by your Spirit, wisely choose how to address the people’s needs.

Prayer: Lord, help us all do the simple things that have been proven effective in curbing the pandemic: wearing masks, staying six feet apart, washing our hands, avoiding crowds. 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.

Choosing God’s Choices

Living in the Spirit

October 24, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Matthew 22:34-46

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘”You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’—Matthew 22:34-40

We use the word love rather loosely. It is both a noun and a verb in English. In Greek, the word translated love in English relates to several terms. The word translated love* in the above scripture, sometimes called divine love, describes actions we take–like wishing someone well, taking pleasure in something or perhaps the company of someone, longing for something or someone. It denotes both the love of reason and esteem. It means to choose God’s choices for ourselves.  

I have had the refugee children, the ones separated from their parents at our southern border, on my mind. We now cannot unite them with their parents because we did not keep track of them. The song from the musical Oliver, Where is Love? came to my memory when I thought of these lost children or lost parents, I do not know which. If you will recall, Oliver was separated from his mother and placed in an orphanage. This was his song to her:

Where is love?
Does it fall from skies above?

Is it underneath the willow tree
That I’ve been dreaming of?
Where is she?
Who I close my eyes to see?
Will I ever know the sweet “hello”

That’s meant for only me?
Who can say where she may hide lit ?
Must I travel far and wide?
‘Til I am beside the someone who
I can mean something to …
Where…?
Where is love?

Who can say where…she may hide?
Must I travel…far and wide?
‘Til I am beside…the someone who
I can mean…something to…
Where?
Where is love?**

Expressing love by choosing God’s choices certainly applies to care for others and is the driving force behind doing justice.

Prayer: God, bless each of these separated families and those who are working diligently to reunited them. Forgive us when we or those that represent us do not choose your choices. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/25.htm

**Song from the Musical Oliver by Lionel Bart

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.

Welcoming

Living in the Spirit

June 27, 2020

Scripture Reading: Matthew 10:40-42
‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’

Who do we welcome? We citizens of the USA have had difficulty adjusting to wearing masks and “social” distancing as precautionary measures to bring COVID 19 under control. Most churches, I think, are trying to use the word “physical” distancing as we continue to continue social contacts. Some also seem to have a stream of thought that “no one can tell me what to do.” I supposed that arises from our intense feelings about individualism that is often connected with 19th-century individual salvation.

The same Savior from whom our ancestors and we sought individual salvation is the one that modeled for us welcoming all. Jesus Christ is the one who judges each of us. We do not have to apply any measure of worth or faith to the ones we welcome. We are called to love them. Jesus invested time among people. He was conversant enough with them to know them—there joys and sufferings, their aspirations, and their fears. We cannot love our neighbors unless we know our neighbors. Jesus said, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. –Matthew 5:16 That is a command to all. We must know our neighbors well enough that their light illuminates our being, too.

Prayer: Lord, help me see your light in each person I welcome into my life and help me to move out of my comfort zone to learn your love from the neighbors I do not yet know. 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.

Never Alone

Eastertide

May 17, 2020

Scripture Reading:
John 14:15-21

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’ –John 14:18-21

Where do we see Christ in the world today? The news is so bad right now I understand why the various news sources have broadened or added good news stories to their output. We see or hear about people singing together from adjoining balconies in Italy. A grade-school boy secretly delivered hand sanitizer and toilet paper to his elderly neighbors. Nurses sit by dying patients because their families cannot be with them. Such behavior is undergirded by the knowledge that we are not left alone.

There are also stories about people building and stocking bunkers with food and other necessities plus weapons. I find it ironic that people willing to escape to a bunker are unwilling to wear a mask and practice physical distancing because it somehow shackles their personal freedoms. We do not like to deal with a force we cannot control. At this time, there is little we can do to contain the coronavirus. We do have control over how we respond to it and all of the side effects it is having on our society.

A friend sent me an article about how many people are dying alone. She commented that she wondered about that too and particularly about those who have no one routinely checking on them. I responded that we do need to identify those who are alone and let them know people care about them. I then added that I do not believe anyone ever dies alone because God is always with them. God does not leave us orphaned.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see the opportunities we have to be present with those who feel alone. 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.

Laws Guide Us

Kingdom Building

October 16, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:97-104
Oh, how I love your law!
   It is my meditation all day long.
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
   for it is always with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
   for your decrees are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
   for I keep your precepts.
I hold back my feet from every evil way,
   in order to keep your word.
I do not turn away from your ordinances,
   for you have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
   sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through your precepts I get understanding;
   therefore I hate every false way.

I drove over 3,000 miles on a road trip this summer. Occasionally, I would turn onto a highway where I did not see a speed limit sign for miles. In some places, I drove long distances without seeing another truck or car. In other places, vehicles surrounded me, but it was impossible to ascertain the speed limit because some drivers were sailing by me while others were driving more slowly. It was a relief to finally see that familiar road sign that stated the speed limit. When I am in familiar places, I usually know the speed limit and do not have to think about it.

God’s laws provide helpful guidance for moving through life productively. I probably heard as a child at some point that breaking God’s laws led to an eternity of fire and brimstone, but that idea never really stuck to me. What I did incorporate was that God’s laws, particularly the Ten Commandments, were proven ways of being that made my relationship with God and with others work. Failure to adapt to the laws made life a whole lot more complicated and unpleasant. I also learned at an early age that one had to pay the consequences of his or her behavior and laws like loving our neighbor as we love ourselves was a short cut to avoiding bad consequences. Many of the laws in the Hebrew Bible are what we call civil law today and relate to things like the traffic example above. Others are etiquette rules. Both civil laws and etiquette rules change over time as the world changes. Jesus made it easier for all of us when he said,  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ (Matthew 22:37-40)

Prayer: Thank you for giving us guidance in living life that is made abundant with 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.