Tag Archives: Righteousness

Judgment

Advent

December 22, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 96

Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is king!
   The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
   He will judge the peoples with equity.’
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
   let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
   let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
   before the Lord; for he is coming,
   for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
   and the peoples with his truth. –Psalm 96:10-13

We Christ-followers see Jesus in scriptures like the one above. To the Psalmist, It describes one who is coming who will judge our actions with righteousness. The Psalmist wrote about the long-expected savior foretold by prophets. Some Christians shortcut Jesus’ judgment to a simple separation of who is going to eternal damnation and who will spend eternity with God. That seems a little too cut and dry for me. In the first place, we have all sinned, missed the mark, so without God’s amazing grace, all of us would come up short on righteousness.

As described in the quote above, I tend to interrupt judgment about how we live our lives from day-to-day. Like a supervisory assessment, Jesus assesses how we are doing our job of being a part of the Body of Christ in the world today. Much of the supervision is done in real-time consultation. Here is a situation: how do we approach it in the best way to enhance the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God on earth. It requires praying without ceasing and routinely evaluating what we did in righteousness and where we missed the mark. When we miss the mark, we need to seek forgiveness from God and others we may have harmed in the process. We also need to change our behavior and work diligently, never to make the same mistake again.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your patience with us as you help us get loving like you, right. 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.

Love Came Down at Christmas

Advent

December 14, 2020

Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; …Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established forever. –2 Samuel 7:5-8, 16

Of course, David’s son, Solomon, eventually built an elaborate temple for the Lord. Having a central place to worship and coordinate mission work and education is helpful, but our scripture above indicates not required. The COVID pandemic has challenged us much in maintaining our work in God’s service outside of the norms to which we are accustomed. Having had to work outside the box or, in this case, the building has made us prioritize and become more creative. While I will welcome someday returning to our sanctuary to worship, I am sure this experience has taught us many useful lessons.

The first week of shutting down and sheltering at home last March was hard. My first reaction to most challenges is to do something. I do not define doing nothing as “something.”  Since that early experience, I realized that we are not called to do “something” we are called to love in righteousness. We are called, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to discern what is right and what is just in the eyes of God, in all aspects of our lives and all interactions with others.

During this time, set aside in our calendars of life, to acknowledge the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior, let us take the time to review and renew our calling to love in righteousness.

Love came down at Christmas,
love all lovely, Love divine;
Love was born at Christmas;
star and angels gave the sign.

Love shall be our token;
love be yours and love be mine;
love to God and others,
love for plea and gift and sign*.

Prayer: Spirit of God fall afresh on us this Christmas as we prepare to face a new year. Amen.

*First and last verse of Love Came Down at Christmas by Christina Georgina Rossetti

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.

Righteousness and Love

Advent

December 2, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

Lord, you were favorable to your land;
   you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people;
   you pardoned all their sin.
          Selah
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
   for he will speak peace to his people,
   to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
   that his glory may dwell in our land.

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
   righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
   and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The Lord will give what is good,
   and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him,
   and will make a path for his steps.

Why is it so hard to do what is right? Why do we define what is right only as it applies to what is advantageous to self? I love that phrase righteousness and peace will kiss each other. God’s righteousness is the cornerstone of our way of being. God’s righteousness entails steadfast love and faithfulness. God’s righteousness demands that our righteousness considers the wellbeing of others.

We have learned a lot about ourselves amid responding to the COVID pandemic. We do consider ourselves to be privileged people. As a result, we ended up having the worst outcomes of the pandemic than any other industrialized nation in the world. I shall never forget almost 40 years ago when my boss, whom I highly respected, was diagnosed with HIV. It was the early years of that epidemic, and such a diagnosis was often a death sentence. Indeed, it was for him. As we prepared for his return to work and were concerned about staff responses, we held staff meetings where medical professionals explained how the disease was spread and that we were not in danger. I spoke to every one of my staff afterward. To a person except for one, the response was the same. They all were only concerned about the one who was sick, and many mentioned praying for him. The one exception informed me that the medical staff did not know what they were saying. That HIV could be carried through the air. I asked her how I could help her feel more comfortable about his returning if she feared she would catch the disease. And she responded that she was the apple of God’s eye. God was protecting her from HIV. It was the rest of us that needed to worry. I said OK, and she left my office. That conversation left a lasting impression on me. All God’s children are the apple of his eye, and our faithfulness to God is drawn from his unconditional love, which we are called to emulate.

Prayer: God, forgive us when we drift away from your love to the extent that we do not love one another as you would have us to 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.

Faithfulness and Righteousness

Living in the Spirit

August 6, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 85:8-13

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
   for he will speak peace to his people,
   to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
   that his glory may dwell in our land.

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
   righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
   and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The Lord will give what is good,
   and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him,
   and will make a path for his steps.

This Psalmist longs to hear and see God among the people. God will be recognized when steadfast love and faithfulness meet and when righteousness and peace are joined. Love is the driving force of faithfulness* as righteousness** is of peace. These words we read are the Word we are to live. Our living the Word is the glory of God.

I think of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter as excellent examples of steadfast love and faithfulness. God calls us to love one another with that degree of fidelity. Faithfulness is not limited to marriage. We are called to love our neighbors as we love ourselves faithfully.

Righteousness equals justice, and justice does indeed lead to peace. We live in a time of fear and mistrust dealing with a pandemic amid acts of violence, both disproportionately impacting persons of color.

What do we think the world would be like if we genuinely wanted the absolute best for each person and all people? I saw a story on the news recently of a neighborhood that at one time was primarily populated with people of color. In recent years more and more white people have relocated there. Because of the recent shootings of black people, one of the black residents who once ran every day in the neighborhood became concerned for his safety. Upon establishing positive relationships among a growing group of white and black people, he was joined on his run by a diversity of his neighbors, turning love into faithfulness and righteousness into peace.

Prayer: Faithful and Righteous God, help us reflect your glory in our everyday lives. Amen.

*Faithful–true and constant in affection or allegiance see at https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/faithful

*Righteous– characterized by uprightness or justice see at https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/righteous

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.

Righteous Diversity

Living in the Spirit

July 4, 2020

Scripture Reading: Romans 7:15-25a
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is

do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

I do believe these words from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I also understand that all people are created by God with free will. We have the right to chose whether to do good or to do evil—to be righteous in the eyes of God or not. God prefers that we live in righteousness. I think God created the earth and all that is in it to function optimally when we are all living righteously. God also did not leave us clueless as to what is right or just. God, through Moses, gave us the Ten Commandments, through Jesus, a role model to follow, and ultimately through Christ, the forgiveness of our sin. Still yet, not leaving us on our own, God gifted us with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I also think God was purposeful in creating a wide variety of plants, and animals, and people to populate the earth. We are better for that diversity. On this day, we celebrate our country’s Independence brought forth by ancestors who were just as human as Paul describes himself to be in our scripture today. We must concede that we, too, are all totally capable of doing the very thing we hate and be overcome by sin. God is not through with us yet. God continues to remold and make us like God divine. As we grow in faith, hope, and love, we see more clearly the value of the right choices as we build a world ruled by love.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the depth of your love that created a world full of the wonder of diversity. Guide us in righteously caring for it. 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.

Rising into Justice

Living in the Spirit

June 11, 2020

Scripture Reading: Exodus 19:2-8a
They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.’

So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. The people all answered as one: ‘Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.’ Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.

I love how the Bible is so interrelated like how Isaiah 40:31 (but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary,   they shall walk and not faint) reaches all the way back to our Exodus scripture above. We should never underestimate the impact being freed from Egyptian slavery had on the Israelites.

I recently watched a rerun of Finding Your Roots that shared the family tree of the civil rights leader John Lewis. Now Representative John Lewis discovered he inherited his enthusiasm for civil rights from a great great grandfather, Tobias Carter. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865, freeing the slaves. Tobias Carter was one of those slaves. Finding your Roots discovered the documents that showed where this man was one of the first slaves to register to vote in 1967. He claimed his place in a world made new.

God’s eagle’s wings are there for all of us when we commit ourselves to live in God’s righteousness. The struggle for individuals and communities is first, ferreting out what is God’s justice. Secondly, bringing our definition of what is right and just into sync with God’s, and finally, living God’s justice. This process starts with our delving deeply into tracing the threads of God’s justice throughout the Bible, not just picking a few verses here and there that line up with our prejudgements. Christ-followers may be in for a big surprise as we consider the justice Jesus lived as our model. An interesting exercise might be reading Matthew 12 or 25 and then trying to imagine what we believe and live compared to what he taught and lived. Changing our ways of being is very hard. When we align with God, we receive the power of those eagle wings to lift us out of our disparities with God’s righteousness.

Prayer: Forgive us when we find ourselves caught in the world’s idea of justice. Lift us up on eagle’s wings to a higher plain of 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.

God’s Design

Eastertide

May 27, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 113

Who is like the Lord our God,
   who is seated on high,
who looks far down
   on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust,
   and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
   with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home,
   making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord! –Psalm 113:5-9

Who is like the Lord? We are each called to be like the Lord. Not to be the Lord our God but to follow the Lord’s example. God incarnate even went to the extreme of coming to the earth as Jesus to model for us the way of being that will guide us toward a full and meaningful life. When was the last time you helped lift a needy person from the ash heap? The news reported yesterday that during the COVID 19 pandemic, the number of children across the USA who are food insecure has risen to one in five. That is the norm in Oklahoma, has been since 2013 when it was one in four.

Barrenness was the curse of every woman when this Psalm was written as having children was their primary purpose in life. The stories of Sarah and Hannah illustrate that reality, even though both their husbands were very compassionate; other wives and society were not.

Of course, it is all about loving like God, which can only happen if we love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls. God loves us whether we meet society’s criteria or not.  We are to love others as God loves them, not as the world defines them. God wants the very best for all God’s children, and all people are God’s children.  God created the earth that serves our needs well when we take good care of it. God’s design for life is righteous. Our task is to stay in sync with God’s plan.

Prayer: Creator and Systainer of All, forgive us when we align with the ways of the world. Help is to taste and see that the Lord is good*. Amen.

*See Psalm 34:8

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.

Blindly Seeing

Lent

March 22, 2020

Scripture Reading: John 9:1-41

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered, ‘And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ He said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him. Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains. —John 9:35-41

What causes us not to see what is right in front of us? Do we only see what we want to see? Do humans create blinders when they cannot or do not want to deal with the truth? What seems so clear to me is absurd to others while what they profess is totally alien to me. Why did the sale of guns increase because of a virus pandemic? How can we become one when we are so very far apart?

The story of the blind Bartimaeus is too real to be created as an allegory designed to help Christ followers understand how fragile our faith becomes when we are not able to be honest with ourselves and confront the fears gripping our hearts. It is that realness that makes the allegory work. Jesus describes purpose in the Pharisees blindness. They are caught in the web of lust for power and greed to the detriment of anyone who gets in their ways and not caring who they must step over to get more power and more greed.

When such behavior is carried to an extreme, we can be very critical but to be honest the lust for power and greed are as epidemic in our world as the coronavirus. We need to be very, very careful not to be drawn into their grasp.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see that which deceives with false facades of righteousness and 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.

Accountable to God

Epiphany

February 15, 2020

Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:21-37

‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. –Matthew 5:21-26

This scripture reminds me of the reality that people spend more time and energy criticizing others for their behavior than cleaning up their own lives. People seem to identify as sins actions that they would never think about doing while reaping what they did not sow. I sat in court once awaiting another case and watched a teenager being sentenced to a year in county jail for stealing an empty billfold. While wealthy people who renege on paying for services rendered end up not paying either the debt or facing any consequences for their actions because the defendant cannot afford the court costs to win their case in civil court. Stealing is stealing whether it is called that or not.

While all are accountable to governmental statutes and regulations, we are more accountable to God. Our justifying our actions by whatever means makes us feel better does not make the behavior right or just in the eyes of God. I do not think God has a system of offsetting our unrighteousness by our calling out others for what we deem to be unrighteous. If you in your relationship with God deem something as a sin, something that separate you from God, something that makes you miss the mark in your life, I strongly encourage you to seek God’s support in not doing whatever that behavior or thought is. Regarding others, we are called to love them and walk with them in their journey with God not judge them or punish them.

Prayer: Lord forgive us when we work harder at taking the speck out of another’s eye when we are blinded to our own shortcomings by a log in our own eye*.  Amen.

*See Matthew 7:5

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.

Who Am I?

Epiphany

February 3, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Isaiah 58:1-9

Shout out, do not hold back!
   Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
   to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
   and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
   and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgements,
   they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?
   Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day,
   and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
   and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
   will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
   a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
   and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
   a day acceptable to the Lord? –Isaiah 58:1-5

My book club just read and reviewed Anne Perry’s book, The Face of a Stranger. The book opens with the main character in the hospital recovering from an accident that caused him to lose his memory. He did not know who he was and did not recognize himself in a mirror. It made me wonder if most of us knows ourselves as well as we think. As this man moved through picking up his life without knowing who he was he found himself being rude and wondering, “Is that who I am?” Meeting people he knew before his accident who did not know he had lost his memory, he gaged their responses to him and wondered what kind of man he was. Perhaps more importantly, he wondered what kind of man he was becoming.

In our scripture today Isaiah describes a people, God’s people, who seemed to be substituting self-righteousness for God’s righteousness. Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day, and oppress all your workers. If we looked in the mirror through Christ’s eyes what would we see?

Prayer: Lord, open our eyes to see ourselves as you see us. Forgive us when we seek you out to undergird our self-interest rather than your divine plan. 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.