Tag Archives: Oneness

Welcomed and Welcoming

Eastertide

April 28, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Acts 2:42-47

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. –Acts 2:43-47

Yesterday my  TV froze several times as I tried to worship via a live stream connection from my church. Getting frustrated, I grabbed my iPad, pulled the service up on Facebook, and participated without further interference. Afterword, I flip on my TV to watch the news programs I record on Sunday morning. A notice from TIVO popped up on the screen, saying a problem existed with my Internet connection. I needed to check out either a website they provided or call a number. The site was not available, so I called the number and reached a very nice man in the Philippines who quickly analyzed my problem and patiently walked me through the instructions to check and correct settings on my equipment. We chatted a bit while we waited for my WIFI to reboot, and as the computer cycled through various processes. When all was finished, it dawned on me that he was working amid the COVID 19 pandemic. He was providing me access to the luxury of attending worship remotely and maintain the information flow of news into my home. I asked him if he was following all the social distancing and other COVID 19 safety recommendations, and he assured me he was.

We live in a more expansive world than our ancestors in faith knew in the first century. The Lord’s Table extends from Oklahoma City to the Phillippines and beyond. All are welcomed, and all are called to welcome. It was true, then. It is true now.

Prayer: Lord, let this experience of shared concern and fear, teach life lessons that will help us shed the things that divide us one from the other and seek the ways that bring us together. 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. YesterdayUsed by permission. All rights are reserved.

Planning for Change

Eastertide

April 27, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Acts 2:42-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. –Acts 2:42

This verse describes my life since I have been sheltering in place. Generally, I follow a pattern of trying to be well-organized, setting goals and time frames, and accepting responsibility for some projects or events that fit my time budget. Rarely do they work out the way I envisioned. As one who coordinated planning for a large state agency for 20 some years, I learned early in my career that plans exist to be changed. That does not negate the need to plan in the first place. Planning lessens the challenges of dealing with change.

Recently, circumstances beyond my control had resulted in my need to pick up my pace in late winter and early spring, and just as suddenly, COVID 19 struck. Most of my activities were canceled, alternative solutions to issues had to be addressed, and I had the time to read the NT Wright book I bought several months ago. My fellowship switched to Zoom meetings and telephone calls, live-streamed worship, including the Lord’s Supper, and I awoke this morning, realizing I was dreaming a prayer.

Acts 2 is describing the actions of the Christ-followers working to implement their calling to further the creation of the Kingdom of God initiated by Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection. The remainder of Acts reports their planning and initiation of action and their changing plans. We are called to continue that work today and forever until God’s plan for this world comes to full fruition.

At one point in this rollout, Paul called on Christ-followers to

Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.  (Ephesians 6:11-18)

And during the COVID 19 challenge, he might have added grab hold of the spiritual fruit of patience.

Prayer: Lord, make this time of dis-ease a time of growth and understanding of your plans for us as your disciples in the world today.

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.

Breaking Bread

Eastertide

April 26, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Luke 24:13-35

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. –Luke 24:27-35

Christ is made known to us each time we break and share bread. Eating together is one of the oldest symbols of community where together we assure that each person present gets some of the very staff of life.

Jesus brought a message of salvation for all God’s children as he sent his disciples forth to carry his salvation and love to the ends of the earth. It is not easy to open our hearts to such breadth of love when we have been carefully taught to be cautious of the other. Cultural norms are hard to even recognize as influencing our behavior, much less change them.

Paul had to deal with this issue in his first letter to the church at Corinth (see 1 Corinthians 11:17-34). He writes instructions about people who arrived early. He did not want them to continue the practice of eating all the food before others came. The early birds might have been from the middle or upper class. They might have provided much of the food being offered. The late arrivers were most likely the working-class people arriving late because of the hours they had to work. Paul told the early arrivers if they were hungry, they should eat before they come. The food used to celebrate the Last Supper was to be shared equally.

I do not think Jesus envisioned a world where all had the same amount of wealth. I do believe he expects us to live together in a world where everyone has enough to meet their basic needs. And in a world where one’s wealth is the result of the oppression of the other.

Prayer: God of Love, help us examine ourselves to find where our behavior is driven by anything other than loving as you 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.

Interdependence and Preparedness

Eastertide

April 21, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.

Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.’

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

History reports several great awakening among God’s people. The Hebrew Bible documents a roller coaster of spiritual highs where God’s people turned back to God’s ways, followed by slippage back to serving the lesser gods of greed and lust for power. We read the stories but do not retain or practice the wisdom they share. As I hear of the lack of testing tools related to the COVID 19 virus, I remember the story of Joseph advising the Pharoh of Egypt to store up excess grain from the bountiful harvest because famine was coming. George W. Bush reacting to reports regarding possible pandemics began addressing the issue in 2005: ‘If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare.’* By 2018, we had to cut somewhere, pandemic preparedness being one to provide a significant tax cut, primarily benefiting the wealthiest in our nation.

There is much wisdom to glean from our current pandemic. God created an interdependent world for all God’s children. We must learn to care for and love one another to survive. God created a world with enough for everyone, whether it is food or the skills and tools to address pandemics. Working together results in synergy where the total effect is more than the sum of the parts. Jesus put synergy best in saying, whenever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with you.**

Prayer: God of Hope help us learn from our mistakes as we move forward from pandemic to build a healthy world for all. Amen.

*https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/george-bush-2005-wait-pandemic-late-prepare/story?id=69979013
*See Matthew 18:20

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.

No Fear in Love

Eastertide

April 20, 2020

Scripture Reading: Acts 2:14a, 36-41
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.

Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.’

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

What we do amid times of high emotions, where we may feel personally threatened, matters. Apparently, some people who cried for Jesus to be crucified 50 or so days earlier, were feeling guilt. They may have remembered Jesus as a kind man who healed, fed, and forgave, not a criminal. Perhaps the reports of resurrection had reached their ears. Peter’s declaration of Jesus being Lord and Christ added to their shame. The Lord is the one with absolute ownership rights* over the whole world. The Christ* is the Greek form of the Messiah, the Anointed One, the One for whom they had longed. Rather than harangue them for their actions, Peter invites them to join the Disciples in their work toward forwarding the cause of Christ. They were asked to turn around from their behavior, be baptized, and receive forgiveness. They too would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We are living in a time of high emotions. Fear of catching the COVID 19 virus, fear of spreading this disease, fear of financial disaster. We can trust our loving Lord, the Christ, is with us in every moment of every day. Our following his example must lead us to heal, feed, and forgive. One of his most oft-recorded responses to those he helped along the way was, “Do not be afraid.”  Loving others as Christ loves us is the best way to defeat despair. Here are just a few ideas:

  • sheltering at home, wearing masks, practicing physical distancing
  •  donating
  • fighting loneliness with someone else via a phone call
  • sending cards
  • whatever your unique gifts allow us to do

Prayer: Christ, our Lord, forgive us when our fears and selfishness overcome our compassion. Fill us with the generosity of your love so that we can love one another as we work together to end the pandemic. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/2962.htm
**https://biblehub.com/greek/5547.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.

Called to Shepherd

Eastertide

April 18, 2020

Scripture Reading: John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ –John 20:19-23

What does John mean by retaining sins? It seems to imply that we all know what sin is and how it manifests itself in our world among people. I totally accept Jesus’s command not to judge, found in Matthew 7:1-3: ‘Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? One of my favorite things to say is, “God called me to love not to judge.”

Who am I to discern what is sin and who is meeting the definition of sin? I was taught that sin is missing the mark or being separated from God. For the everyday commissions of missing the mark, when I am the one wronged, I forgive the other, and when I am the one who missed the mark, once I realize what I have done, I try to always ask for forgiveness. Separation from God, though, seems to me to be between God and the person, including me.

Yet, with Jesus’s resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus passed his work on earth for us to do. Jesus also seems to think we are capable of doing the work. In fact, John 14:12-14 tells us:

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Retaining something means holding on to it, not letting it go. When we discover a person who is lost, we stay with him or her until he or she finds a safe place, finds their way home. Is not that the appropriate action when we discern that someone has lost their faith or have never known the love of God? We are not called to judge; we are called to shepherd people into a place where they can find their way home to God.

Prayer: Spirit of God fall afresh on all of us who love and serve you, equipping us to walk humbly with those you are calling us to shepherd back to your loving arms. 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 Normal

Good Friday

April 10, 2020

Scripture Reading: Romans 6:3-11

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. –Romans 6:5-11

Preparing for the new normal is the talk of our world right now. How to live with the coronavirus until we develop a new vaccine. How are we to behave once we stopped sheltering in place? What will replace handshaking? When will it ever end? What have we discovered about ourselves and our systems to avoid this happening again? Social Security was born out of the Great Depression, a system that has served us well where we are required to set money aside to provide a basic income for our care when we are disabled or retired.

Sin, separation from God, missing the mark whatever we want to call it is like a virus run amuck. Greed is an addiction, as is lust for power and privilege and self-righteousness. The list is endless, like a virus without a vaccine.

Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection produced a new normal that changed the whole world. Some indeed followed his path for a short time then faded back to something like the old normal. Others practiced his ways until it became their new routine, habits hard to break of loving God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. This pandemic can serve as a reminder to us that God’s habits of the heart are the fuel for our new normal.

Prayer: Lord, help us to turn the tragedy we now face into an opportunity to model our world after your example. 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.

One Body

Maundy Thursday

April 9, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Romans 6:3-11

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. –Romans 6:3-4

I was six when baptized. I remember it very well. A short, skinny, sickly little kid, the congregation could only see the top of my head when I took the last step to the floor of the baptistry in my small hometown church. Dr. Fred Keller did the honors. He was a history professor at Phillips University, located about 50 miles northwest of the church, and an ordained minister in the Christian Church now called the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Our church was too small to afford a fulltime pastor. Many of the small rural communities that surrounded Enid, Phillips’ location, were shepherded by both faculty and seminarians in parttime capacities.

I “went forward” and made my confession of faith the week before my baptism, a surprise to everybody in the sanctuary, I think, including my parents and Dr. Keller. He and I had a friendly chat after church. I guess he was satisfied that I knew what I was doing as he scheduled the baptism.  Dr. Keller and I routinely had chats anyway because I was a history buff at a very early age. I think he enjoyed my curiosity. Before we entered the baptistry, Dr. Keller walked me through the procedure. After he said the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,” placing his hand gently over my mouth and lowering me backward into the water, he just as gently raised me to a standing position. I felt different as I stood for a moment to get my balance. I cannot describe what that difference was, but I knew that I had made a lifelong commitment. I remember that.

Once again, the scripture above reminds me of my baptism and that commitment. Today we remember Jesus’s last supper when he took the bread and blessed it and gave it to all the disciples saying take and eat of this all of you for this is my body broken for you. In like manner, he took the cup blessed it and gave it to them, saying this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins drink of it all of you.

For the last few weeks, I have shared the reenactment of this supper at home via Facebook and my laptop as my congregation practices safe distances in response to the covid-19 pandemic. While I would prefer to be sharing the Lord’s table in our sanctuary, the fulfillment of Jesus’s instruction to do this in remembrance of him does not require a special place. We are one in Christ wherever we may be as we celebrate how large and how far-reaching the Lord’s Table is.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for being present with us whenever and however we come together One Body with you sharing your love throughout a troubled world. 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

Lent

April 8, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 114
When Israel went out from Egypt,
   the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
Judah became God’s sanctuary,
   Israel his dominion.

The sea looked and fled;
   Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
   the hills like lambs.

Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
   O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams?
   O hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
   at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water,
   the flint into a spring of water.

God’s in His Heaven, All’s Right With the World*. It does not feel right; does it? As we shelter at home, we feel impotent to address a virus that does not discriminate as we mourn the loss of so many people and the pain and suffering of many more. We are thankful for living in a country that has some resources. We are also grateful for all those who are risking their own lives to save others. We pray for those in other lands with limited medical care and for all who do not have homes in which to shelter. We thank God for God’s servants who are already among those in such stark need as we do whatever we can from afar to support them.

Our scripture today is a poem describing the experience of the Israelites as they fled Egypt. Going from known oppression to an unknown future is itself daunting. We no more like to live in an out of our control unknown existence than these ancestors in faith. We do serve the same God who loved them and tabernacled with them throughout the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. They, too, had to be reminded regularly that God’s in His Heaven, All’s Right With the World. We need to say and hear and understand that over and over too.

Prayer: Lord of Life, help us use this experience to grow in spirit and truth as we strive to serve you more nearly. Amen.

*The last line from the poem Pippa’s Song by Robert Browning

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.

Facing of this Hour

Lent

April 6, 2020

Scripture Reading: Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18
Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.’ And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

In the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. The rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah with his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons, entered the ark, they and every wild animal of every kind, and all domestic animals of every kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every bird of every kind—every bird, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.

The flood continued for forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters.

As we all shelter in place to mitigate the coronavirus, Noah’s story of salvation from the flood seems very appropriate. Not so much related to who is righteous and whether the catastrophic occurrence was the result of the world’s unrighteousness, but more in light of our need to withdraw and shelter to prevent or lessen the impact of a new and potent disease. Sheltering for approximately three weeks at this point has given me time to ponder what it means to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The CDC estimates that every person who gets the virus results in three more people getting the virus if we do not avoid contact with one another. That is particularly essential now that we know people may be contagious for days before they have any symptoms. Some with the virus have few if any, symptoms.

I must say I am a little puzzled with this scripture’s association with Holy Week. Perhaps it is a stretch, but it may illustrate the need for salvation in the world at the time of Jesus’s crucifixion and his death, burial, and eventual resurrection resulting in all things becoming new in Christ.

Prayer: Lord, we welcome being reminded that you came to bring us new life and a calling to build a new world under your leadership. We need your guidance and direction as we struggle to address a pandemic that is recking havoc across the globe. Grant us wisdom and courage for the facing of this hour*. Amen.

Derived from God of Grace and God of Glory written by Harry Emerson Fosdick see at https://hymnary.org/text/god_of_grace_and_god_of_glory

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.