Tag Archives: Oneness

Continuum of Caring

Eastertide
June 3, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 7:37-39
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Yom Kippur, also called the Day of Atonement, is the high holy day in the Jewish faith a day of repentance, a day of forgiveness. The day Jesus chooses to speak of living water flowing out of believer’s hearts. If we get nothing else from reading the Gospels, we get the message that we are called to nourish the whole world. Go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19) Go into all the world (Mark 16:15) Love your neighbor (Matthew 22; Mark 12; Luke 10; John 13)  Who is my neighbor? (Luke 10) there was a Samaritan (Luke 10) Serving the least of these (Matthew 25)

I think there is a need for a Continuum of Caring to address the needs of the world. I spent many years working in government based human services. Though there are those that like to denigrate anything done by the government, it is the most productive means of meeting the Common Good from building and maintaining roads, to protecting our nation, to meeting basic needs when necessary. The government is not good at providing one-on-one loving support to individuals and families caught in the challenges of life. Loving one’s neighbor is a God thing. There are many other players between these two points of my continuum, both for-profits and not-for-profits some, religious others not who fill the gaps between the broad brush approach of government and the one-on-one of loving our neighbors. All are important and need to work together in positive ways to create a world where justice prevails for all and charity is no longer necessary*. Jesus called it the Kingdom of God.

Prayer: Lord, help us to find the tiniest areas on which we can agree, work together on them, and like the mustard seed let them grow and spread to reshape our world in your oneness. Amen.

*While we do our good works, let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary. -Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic

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.

Race

Eastertide
June 2, 2017

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3-13

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
–1 Corinthians 12:12-13

One body including all people was the world view followed by Paul. He picked it up from the teachings of Jesus. Paul’s list of groups differing included Jews/Greeks and slaves/free.The first two came from tribes. The latter two resulted from cultural distinctions sometimes resulting from tribal discord. One tribe would steal members of another tribe whom they enslaved. Slaves referred to as servants or bonded also were created within the Hebrew tribe often the result of impoverishment. Such practices are recorded early in the Hebrew Bible* and continued into at least the 18th century among Christians. My five generations back English grandfather at the age of 15 was indentured by his father in 1783 for seven years to learn how to operate a forge. Also during that period his master, also English, was to teach him how to read, write, and cipher. Apparently, it worked. My grandfather labored successfully at a forge for many years and signed his will so I know he could write his name. His younger brother signed his will with an X witnessed by others.

What is not present in that discussion is race. Race is a relatively new cultural classification appearing first in the same century my ancestor was indentured**. Was it created to support the economic need for relatively free labor? I find myself more and more identifying greed and lust for power as the primary sin-drivers in our world. We justify both by projecting them into other more exploitable issues like race. Race is one thing I do not think we can justify by Biblical quotes as it did not exist at the compiling of the Bible.

If we drink of the same Spirit of God, we cannot uphold such distinctions. After years of being carefully taught, it is hard to erase its stain from our beings. I doubt that we can without the power of that same Spirit to heal our souls. Let us drink deeply until we are cleansed.

Prayer: Lord, renew our hearts so that we can be one with all your children. Amen.

*Leviticus 25:39-40
**http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-02-09.htm
***Picture above is Greek painting of three Chaldeans with captive Hebrews see at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrews

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.

Spiritual Gifts

Eastertide
June 1, 2017

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3-13

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. –1 Corinthians 12:4-11

Similar to the fact that many of us do not know what to make of the Holy Spirit, we are also confused about the gifts of the Spirit. Some flaunt their gifts, “I am the world’s greatest athlete, movie star, doctor, lawyer, mother, dad, truck driver, or whatever.” Some hide them under a basket*. I like Russell Westbrook’s approach. I know of no one who questions his gifts, and his goals are personally to get better every day and to help each of his team members improve. Personal accolades do not mean as much to him as team wins. These are good aspirations for the whole Body of Christ.

Do you know what your gifts are? Books and other tools exist to help us identify our gifts. While they are helpful, learning to know ourselves is just as important. I think seeking justice is in my DNA, but I was surely also influenced by my egalitarian mother. Anymore, I exercise that gift using a keyboard rather than my feet and posters because I now accept that I am more an introvert than extrovert and I have bad knees.

It is important that we take the time to identify what brings us joy or any of the other fruit of the Spirit. The fruit or produce of the Spirit as spelled out in Galatians 5:22-23 is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Backtracking from an experience of joy, for example, you may be surprised to find its source. Most likely it stems from one of your gifts. I am talking true joy, and it most likely occurs after a lot of hard work and perhaps meeting many challenges. I felt it when I heard the Governor of Oklahoma had vetoed an onerous bill designed to increase the interest rate on payday loans in our state.

Prayer: Lord, help us to trace our gifts and to hone our crafts together with all our fellow members of your Body engaged in the world today. Amen.

*See Matthew 5:15

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.

Rejoice in the Lord Always

Eastertide
May 31, 2017

Scripture Reading: Psalm 104:24-35

May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
   may the Lord rejoice in his works—
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
   who touches the mountains and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
   I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
   for I rejoice in the Lord. –Psalm 104:31-34

Do we take God for granted? Yes and we should but we also should not. I believe that God is eternal, always present, all powerful, and all knowing.  The Psalmists prays May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; may the Lord rejoice in his works in acknowledgment of and reference to the favor we receive from God’s love and to pledge our love to God and all of God’s creation.

What meditations are pleasing to God? I must confess I probably spend more time ranting and raving to God about the injustices I see and cannot change and the complexities of solving problems working for and with others who share a diversity of understandings of the issues and ideas for addressing them. I do not think God minds. It is when I can put words to what I am experiencing/feeling; I am pliable to God’s amazing ability to reshape and refocus my responses.

When something finally works, when good things happen, when love rains on parched lands and lives, including God in our rejoicing, brings God joy too. God’s sustaining grace and love makes all things possible.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for loving us so much you accept us as we are and work to make us love like you each day. 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.

 

Breath, Wind, Spirit

Eastertide
May 29, 2017

Scripture Reading: Numbers 11:24-30

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. –Numbers 11:24-25

The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach, which is used interchangeably for breath and wind. In Biblical literature, the Spirit of God is as ancient as the creation stories. The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.(Genesis 2:1). We should not be surprised to find it in the book of Numbers. The mysteries of the nature of God abides with us always.

I fear we Christians may limit the beginning of the history of the Spirit of God to Pentecost or the book of John’s report of Jesus breathing the Spirit on the disciples after the resurrection. The book of Hebrews (13:8) proclaims Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Surely this description includes the Spirit.

What does the foreverness of the Spirit mean to us today? What does a relationship with the Spirt mean? I write this to a symphony of wind gales in the background the aftermath of damaging winds and tornados that ravaged the Plains about 100 miles west of my home last night. Many homes were destroyed, people were injured, and one man was killed. We do not take wind lightly in Oklahoma. We should not take the Spirit of God lightly either. A power able to form the earth from chaos can shape us into a powerful Body carrying out the work of Christ in the world today. Let it be so.

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, move among us making us each whole, together one, and advocates for your justice. 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.

Brotherly Love

Eastertide
May 28, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 17:1-11

‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
–John 17:6-11

Brotherly love meets agape love. Jesus’ concern for those whom you gave me weaves through this scripture. I get a sense Jesus is saying “I am really going to miss these guys—and gals. I have been glorified in them.” Jesus gained value from his interactions with his disciples. The love of God is mutually synergistic. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. (Matthew 18:20)

As Christ’s disciples, we are called to continue melding brotherly love and agape love as we strive to be the Body of Christ in the world today. We close our Congregational Council meeting each month with prayer including updates on member-related issues. Most often this list of concerns relates to health concerns. Someone is in the hospital, someone just moved to assisted living, someone was able to return to church for the first time in two and a half years. Sometimes we celebrate a new birth, and sometimes we mourn the loss of a dear friend.

For Christ’s disciples, the coming together of brotherly love and agape love extends beyond the local congregation. It takes us just down the street to a school where we fill backpacks with food for 14% of the students to take home for the weekend because the school lunch program is believed to be their only source of nourishment. It takes us to the City Rescue Mission where we provide steel-toed boots for job seekers who must have these shoes to work at construction sites where day jobs are available. It takes us to the halls of the state legislature and Congress to help assure that the least of these are not disenfranchised. It takes us to the Dominican Republic where children learn skills that lead to employment removing them from exploitation.

Where does brotherly love and agape love come together for you?

Prayer: God of Love, thank you for the opportunities to share the wealth of your affection with all our brothers and sisters in Christ. 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.

Glorified?

Eastertide
May 27, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 17:1-11

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. –John 17:1-5

What connotation do we give to the word “glorify”? Do we turn it into condescending slang? When we use the word glorified are we saying someone or something is overrated? The Greek word translated glorify, doxazó* means to ascribe weight by recognizing real substance (value).  It seems what Jesus is saying here is that he is ready to fulfill his calling come what may. Hebrews 5:5 describes this phenomenon, So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’.

 I think the disciples knew Jesus was special; I doubt they knew he was who he was before the resurrection. Some I am sure wondered, and others like Peter turned hot and cold. The disciples often did not understand him, but they knew they wanted to be around him. He had charisma. We are even jaded in that department. We encounter folks with charisma who use it for selfish gain.

Why is he saying this in the presence of his disciples? Why was it retained for us to read today? Jesus promises eternal life and says that eternal life is knowing God and is available through an encounter with Jesus. Jesus is setting the example for us to follow. He is glorifying us through our relationship with him so that we can pass on to others the real substance of the God who is love.

.Prayer: Lord make us worthy of your trusting us to carry forth your mission as the Body of Christ in the world today. 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.

Discipline

Eastertide
May 26, 2017

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.—1 Peter 5:6-11.

I do not know about you, but I am very disciplined about the things I am disciplined about not so much the things I am not. Probably addicted to doing yoga every morning, I must make myself practice the art of putting something up after I use it. One day l I walk into my kitchen and wonder from where did all this clutter come: scissors two inches from the draw in which they belong, two cutting boards, the strip of cellophane recently torn from the top of a bag of coleslaw. Putting away or throwing away similar items seems to be in the DNA of most of my friends.  Once I discover my untidiness, I improve for a few days, but then there it is again.

The truth is there are some things that are a part of our being that we do by rote, which is not discipline. To me, discipline means doing the right thing every time whether we want to or not. Now that is a tough order, and it is what  Peter is calling us to do regarding our discipleship.

Much of discipleship’s discipline involves getting relationships right, loving our neighbors, wanting the very best for them, all the time every time. People say things to us that came from something that happened to them earlier in the day or in life and had nothing to do with us but it hurt anyway. At another time,  we go off on something that causes pain to another with no idea something about the same issue impacted their life. How do we learn to weave ourselves together as the one Body of Christ? Our scripture today speaks eloquently. God enables our discipline. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. . .the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. God can and will enable our discipleship when we let God.

 Prayer: God, make us whole, make us one. 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.

A God Thing

Eastertide
May 21, 2017

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

“ That’s a God thing.” is a phrase I picked up from someone else and I use to explain the obvious presence of the hand of God, in particularly regarding unexpected or at least unpredicted outcomes. We do see God at work in our world today. In little things as well as big. I see it now in people previously reluctant to make their opinions heard speaking out articulately about human need. People with real life experiences are sharing them to raise awareness of the impacts of lack of health care or poor education, and the power of a second-chance justice system to restore wholeness rather than sentencing a person to decay in an overcrowded, understaffed prison.

On a more personal level, the Spirit rescues me from becoming jaded by the negative forces pushing against forming a Kingdom ruled by love. Music is often the balm for my soul, and nothing can replace the satisfaction of the constancy of the Spirit’s presence when I turn to God in prayer. As I pour out my stress and distress, I am cleansed of their residue and refreshed with God’s abiding love.

I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’—Joshua 1:9

The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ –John 16:32-33

Prayer: Lord, help us each to see your hand at work in and through us and 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Serving God is Serving Others

Eastertide
May 15, 2017

Scripture Reading: Acts 17:22-31

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. –Acts 17:22-27

How many times do we use language describing ourselves as serving God? Today I stumble over Paul’s sentence (emphasis added): The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. I am amazed that I had not seen this before or  at how much sense Paul makes. God loves us and wants the very best for us. Thus, it stands to reason that the service we do for and with each other is the extension of God’s love through us to one another. Following the way of being  Jesus modeled and taught shows us the how of living into God’s love by serving one another.

Recently, I was stunned by a leader in the Oklahoma legislature who refused to put forward a change in our state gaming laws, which included more revenue for the state, because gambling was against his personal moral values based, I assume, on his faith. While he apparently sees no moral issues in increasing state revenues by adding regressive taxes that impact the poor disproportionately. He clearly does not understand that a 6 cent per gallon gasoline tax increase causes extreme hardship for someone living on $7.50 an hour while it would barely impact someone making $50 an hour. It seems we confuse the responsibility to follow our personal moral beliefs by projecting them onto others as addressing the Common Good. We fail to provide for the Common Good through finding our collective moral center in concern for our fellow citizens, which is the Common Good.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in serving you more nearly by considering and serving all your offspring in your name. Amen.

Credit for Slide: https://www.slideshare.net/ValuesCentre/cultural-transformation-vs-change-richard-barrett

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.