Tag Archives: Oneness

Right or Righteous?

St. PatrickLiving in the Spirit
August 26, 2016

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

So we can say with confidence,
‘The Lord is my helper;
   I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?’  

Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. . .. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. –Hebrews 13:6-7, 15-16

It is scary to me how we Christians treat scripture. I take great solace in Hebrews 13:6 understanding that the Lord is my helper. I have had this same scripture, or ones like it, thrown in my face like hot scalding water to justify stances claimed as Christian that are totally alien to my faith. Stances that to me echo fear rather than faith, exclusion rather than inclusion, and judgement rather than empathy. How do we discern God and practice the oneness to which Christ has called us, in a world afraid of its own shadow? How do we mesh what we perceive as right with what God considers righteous? Where is the 21St century plumb line that God provided for Amos? (Amos 7:8)

We waste a lot of time and energy butting heads on issues for which we may never find common ground while writing off as mundane the things we could accomplish together if we can drop the need to be right and adapt Jesus’ righteousness. He is our plumb line. For example, social science* tells us there is a direct link between poverty and abortion. I doubt that consensus may ever be reached on abortion, but surely all Christians have heard the call to end poverty. Some may create jobs, others may provide job training, and others may stem the symptoms of hunger and homelessness while all are one in Christ.

Prayer: Lord, make us seekers and imitators of your righteousness, which in action becomes justice. Amen.

*https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2010/abortion-has-become-more-concentrated-among-poor-women

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Wrapped in Love

Abraham-Welcomes-Strangers-in-14th-Century-illuminated-manuscriptLiving in the Spirit
August 25, 2016

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence,
‘The Lord is my helper;
   I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?’ –Hebrews 13:1-6

This sage advice excludes any instruction for us to judge anyone else. The writer of Hebrews takes the time particularly to state that God judges fornicators and adulterers we do not have that assignment. This scripture advises us on how we need to conduct ourselves and examine ourselves.

This scripture, wrapped in love, encourages us to show hospitality to strangers. I worked in a big chain restaurant in high school and college. One day while working the counter an older gentleman scooted onto one of the stools in my station. I handed him a menu. He pushed it away and said, “I just want a cup of black coffee.” As I got the coffee for him, I asked if he would like a piece of pie to go with his drink. He said, “What do you have?” and I gave him the laundry list of pies available that day. He ordered pecan and yes, he did want wiped cream. After serving the pie, I refilled his cup and made some small talk with him while handing him the ticket. Moving on to another customer, I did not notice when he left. He had not touched the pie, and he left me a standard tip. Shortly after that, the manager approached me and said, “Do you know who you just served?” I said, “No I did not recognize him.” The manager said that I had just served the owner of the chain who had taken the time to congratulate the manager on the quality of the service. It seems the owner traveled the country incognito and tested the staff to see if we were fulfilling his goal of providing hospitality. I was just doing what I had been trained to do both by my parents and by that manager.

We are called to welcome the stranger as if he or she were a messenger from God. I believe all strangers are messengers from God sent to enrich our lives or for us to enrich theirs.

Prayer: Lord, show us the Christ in each person we encounter in our walk with you. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Structure and Process

structure-process-peopleLiving in the Spirit
August 21, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:10-17

But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. –Luke 13:14-17

Systems Theory seeks to find a balance between process and structure. In our story today Jesus tries to find that same balance. The structure of the Jewish religion defined life practices regarding when to work and when to rest. In our story today, structure outweighed even human kindness. Jesus had broken the Jewish rules by healing a woman on the Sabbath. Jesus did not say the rule was wrong or unwise. His biographers carefully described many instances in his life’s story of his withdrawing for prayer and rest. The Sabbath, created for the purpose of rest and renewal, was not just another item to check off a list of how many rules one obeyed on any given day nor was it an excuse to ignore human need.

I worked as a waitress while in high school and college at a restaurant with an ice machine nestled in a tiny space with just enough room to prop a bucket on a frame and fill it with ice. Any waitress that noticed the ice chest in the serving area getting low on ice knew to fill that bucket and replenish the supply. We had a manager in training working at the restaurant who observed me filling the bucket and told me that I was doing it wrong and thus wasting time. The trainee very carefully demonstrated the proper way to scoop ice from the machine and left. It took me a while to figure out what I did differently than he did. I am very left handed and thus to get the ice out I had to scoop across my body to reach into the ice machine. Set up for a right handed person, he did not reach across his body. I did try it right handed just to see if it was faster. It was not.

The church must carefully consider what it holds dear that is not productive and what it does that makes no contribution toward the goal of being the Body of Christ in the world today.

Prayer: Make us one in our quest toward your Kingdom. Help us discern well both our structure and our processes. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Reading the Signs of the Time

StormLiving in the Spirit
August 14, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 12:49-56

He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? –Luke 12:54-56

Growing up in Oklahoma, one becomes accustomed to weather’s sometimes randomness. We apparently live in a spot on the earth where various weather phenomena converge creating the unpredictable. Our forecasts come in percentages of likelihood. The first year I lived in Denver, I did not know how to react to weather forecasts. The reporters, often not meteorologists but attractive young women who read a national weather report, would state an absolute that most often happened. I particularly remember one such report that said it would rain at 8:00 pm and it did. Our scripture today is centered in a place more like the weather forecasts outcomes in Denver than Oklahoma City.

Of course here Luke talks more about the storms of life than the weather. Much like we treat climate change today, the people of Galilee and Judea chose not to see what was right in front of them. Living in oppression ala the peace of Rome they survived rather than thrived. Jesus called them to claim an abundant life not vested in money or power but love.

Poverty in the world today is related to oppression ala the peace of Rome, and it does not need to be. Those of us not living in poverty must realize that our worth does not result from class distinctions. Much of the working class and middle class through one major medical event could find themselves in poverty. Ben Franklin, one of the USA’s founders, in talking about forming our government said, we must all hang together, or we’ll surely hang separately. He meant that literally, but I think it is food for thought regarding our economy today. When we divide by classism or racism or any other ism, we lose the power of our common need to have an economy for all not just a few.

Prayer: Lord, give us the courage to be one in mutual love as you called us to be, as we work toward the full realization of your kingdom. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Baggage

baggage7-300x298-1Living in the Spirit
August 12, 2016

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. –Hebrews 12:1-2

Our scripture today makes my top ten list of favorites. I appreciate the ancestors in faith who have prepared the ground for our sowing and reaping. The advice to lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely reminds me of my daily need to let go of the baggage that I so readily pick up in my daily walk with God. Such baggage holds us all back from being fully the person we are created to be. The tough part is discerning the difference between learning from our mistakes and letting them cripple us. We must figure out a better response for the future whether we messed up ourselves or got caught up in someone else’s bad day and were not able to salvage the experience for either of us. Rudyard Kipling may have said it best, in his poem If*

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

God enables such maturity. Strengthening our relationship with God prepares us for the work we have before us giving us not only the courage to face difficulties but the very purpose for our being who we are.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the gift of discernment in all our relationships as we struggle toward oneness in our quest for being the Body of Christ. Amen.

*First verse, If, by Rudyard Kipling see at http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/if/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

The Meaning of Life

A Long Time AgoLiving in the Spirit
August 11, 2016

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11:29-12:2

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace. . ..

 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us, be made perfect.
                                                                                                                                 –Hebrews 29-31, 39-40

I cannot say it better than Viktor Frankl: Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

 Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

A psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Frankl took the lessons he learned from his detention and used them to challenge all to understand better the meaning of life. While our lives do matter in real-time each day, we choose how to live, and our choices affect all future generations. The author of Hebrews stresses this truth in our scripture today. We journey with God every moment of our lives and the steps we take will shape the world well beyond our existence.

In all the genealogy work I have done on both sides of our family, I keep finding two consistent traits. Our ancestors were people of faith and were hard workers. I see those same traits in my nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and nephews.

As we enter another election year, we must take the impact seriously our decision will have not only on us but on the generations to come. Living for today only is not one of the options on God’s tasks list.

Prayer: Lord, guide our decision making. Help us to see the panorama of our nation and world. Help us to understand the complexities of life our decisions impact. Grant us wisdom in our discernment. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Living in Covenant

joseph-bin2Living in the Spirit
August 8, 2016

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7

Let me sing for my beloved
   my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
   on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
   and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watch-tower in the midst of it,
   and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
   but it yielded wild grapes.  

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
   and people of Judah,
judge between me
   and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard
   that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
   why did it yield wild grapes? –Isaiah 5:1-4

An old saying, “You never know a good thing until it is gone” was true for Judah and I fear true for us today. Do we comprehend what it means to live in covenant with God? We who choose to recognize God as our sovereign live in a special relationship of trust and responsibility. This covenant relationship has a long and tested history with God from Noah to Abraham to Christ. We flirt at its edges like dipping our toes into a pool of water trying to determine if it is too hot or too cold for us to immerse ourselves. We seem to be willing to swim when the water is warm, the sea is still, and there are no sharks in the water not recognizing when it is our pollution of greed tainting the pool and attracting sharks.

Another old saying describes us: “I want to have my cake and eat it too.” It describes Isaiah’s Judah also. Why do we never learn from our mistakes? In Oklahoma, following the oil bust of the 1980’s we worked hard to diversify our economy and established a solid tax base for necessary services to meet the common good. Even in the depths of that recession we were able to give the oil companies a break on taxes just to help them survive the downturn. In recent years we eroded that tax base with reckless cuts to line our own pockets and now in another cycle of oil and gas decline, we cannot appropriately fund the most basic services like education much less offer any help to an industry in trouble. We need to fill our public offices with many Josephs* who planned for the future and did not just live for today.

Prayer: God, help us to examine ourselves and recognize when our desires are shallow and short term. Guide us in be responsible citizens for today and tomorrow. Amen.

*See story of Joseph storing grain for Egypt in Genesis 41

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Leaving the Cocoon

butterfly-leaving-the-cocoon-costa-ricaLiving in the Spirit
August 4, 2016

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. –Hebrews 11:1-3

Humans are complex creatures. Foreseen to be God’s companions on this earth, we are blessed with free will to accept that role or not. The substance of genetics that may or may not have mutated, we are the reflection of our creator, our ancestors, our environment. Each of us unique, we are instilled with special gifts and talents needed for this world to succeed. We have an awesome God who is somehow working within and through this complexity of humans to create a Kingdom ruled by love. This is God’s purpose and is our purpose.

This world seems to be in a scary place right now. Particularly here in the USA, we are divided in the strangest ways. One of the positive things about such discord, it makes us explore what is really of God and what is not. It makes us own our faith. We can no longer go through the motions of our faith systems as we have always done and be satisfied with the outcomes. What does it really mean to love God? What does it take to love our neighbors? How are we supposed to love ourselves? And who is our neighbor, anyway?

This is one of those times when we are once again struggling to escape a cocoon of spiritual development, take the nourishment we obtained from that experience and become a new creature ready to spread our wings and further fulfill our purpose. Scary, yes, it is, but what an opportunity for which God thinks we are ready. God apparently is.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the courage to leave our cocoons and the faith to love like you. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Learning to Do Good

Do GoodLiving in the Spirit
August 2, 2016

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
   remove the evil of your doings
   from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
   rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
   plead for the widow. –Isaiah 1:16-17

How much time do we spend examining ourselves and correcting our life course? Some invest much time in judging others and pointing out what the judging one perceives to be the others faults while being blind to their own. Others identify as sin only behaviors that do not attract them, while easily discounting those things which truly separate them from God. We are probably all guilty a little of both actions. Thus Isaiah’s instructions from God are important for us to heed.

Most are guilty of some form of indiscriminate discrimination. Discrimination is a neutral word. As humans, we must discern what is right and what is wrong every day. Problems arise when we practice discrimination without ethics, values, or complete knowledge to guide our decisions. In many cases, we accept as truth things we inherited from our culture without ever testing them.

The Body of Christ is called to be one in a diverse world. That will never happen until we can discern well the situations and cultures with which we are to mold. The USA has had a lot of experience at welcoming the stranger over its years. It was not always pretty but in most cases, we muddled through with God’s help learning to love the Christ in the new and helping them to see the Christ in each of us. It all starts with us seeing the Christ in ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, help us examine ourselves cleansing ourselves of that which is not of you while filling the gaps with your love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Ethnocentric

EthnocentricityLiving in the Spirit
July 29, 2016

Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:1-11

In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! –Colossians 3:11

Ethnocentric*
1: centering upon race as a chief interest or end
2a: inclined to regard one’s own race or social group as the center of culture
b: exhibiting an incapacity for viewing foreign cultures dispassionately

I first discovered the word “Ethnocentric” in Sociology 103. A required basic college course taken in my first semester, it changed my life and my major. I came to school in pursuit of a degree in speech pathology, left with a degree in pre-social work sociology. The Watts Riots, happening in August 1965 a few days before I left for college, also had an impact. Fresh off the farm and small town life, entering a college world that challenged thinking was a going home experience. I found myself there.

I am the substance of my background and upbringing. I probably sang Jesus loves the little Children, All the Children of the World** by the time I could speak full sentences. Singing songs and reciting memory verses about doing unto others and loving our neighbors plants the seeds of Christ’s way. Most of us never realize when we have picked up cultural norms without even thinking. The realities of racism, elitism, sexism, and the other areas of life by which we take on our ethnocentric tendencies while subtly acquired, require intentionally expunging.

The lessons of the early church apply to us today. What is of God and what is of culture? Discerning the answer to these questions was necessary for the fledgling way of Christ to come to fruition. It remains necessary today as we journey geographically and culturally to the ends of the earth and perhaps even beyond.

Prayer: Lord, you call us to serve in a diverse world. We can see it either as a dangerous threat to our ethnocentric ways or as an opportunity in which we can see even more facets of your glorious love. Give us courage to discern your way and live it. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/Ethnocentricity
**Jesus Loves the Little Children, words by C. Herbert Woolston. See at http://www.allaboutgod.com/jesus-loves-the-little-children.htm. An updated version.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.