Living in the Spirit
July 25, 2014
Scripture Reading: Romans 8:26-39
Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 8:34-39
Fear mongers win when we let them write the story. Bad news makes better press than good news. If we hear the same thing over and over again, we begin to believe it is true. During the run up to our first primary election this year, I got so sick of hearing the nothingness of those Super Pac ads, I started hitting the mute button as soon as they came on and I eventually gave no credence to any ad unless that statement by the candidate that he or she approved this message was included. I also generally wrote off any candidate that only defined themselves by one or more of the various wedge issues. Some never addressed any issue with which they might actually deal.
Fear can separate us from the love of Christ. Fear of the unknown is probably what kept the Israelites in Egypt’s slavery for so long and caused them to cry out so many times at Moses when the least travail occurred on the trip to the Promised Land. Fear is what caused the Israelites at the foot of the mountain to craft a golden calf to worship (Exodus 32). My ancestors sang I’m Bound for the Promised Land* as they migrated west into the great unknown. Our greater fears and challenge today may be learning how to live where we have been planted in our city, state, country, or world with whatever neighbors we may find there. Jesus called it becoming ONE.
Paul when writing this scripture from Romans faced and met death head on but he clung mightily to Christ throughout his adventurous undertaking as he kindled the fire of church throughout the known world. We too need to cling to this Christ risen as we rekindled the fire of church in our world today.
Prayer: God of Grace and God of Glory, grant us courage for the facing of this hour**. Amen.