Tag Archives: Transparency

Finding the Light

Eastertide

May 19, 2022

Scripture Reading: Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. –Revelation 21:10, 22-27

Scriptures this week have emphasized the oneness in God among communities and nations. For probably too long, people of faith were led to hone in on personal salvation as an end unto itself. Personal salvation is just the first step in our call to partner with Christ in building a world ruled by love. John, the author of Revelation, shares that vision in the above scripture. Using God and the Lamb as the light to the transparency we need to live as God desires for us to live in oneness.

Transparency is a word being tossed about today but rarely practiced. We seem to need to put our spin on things we present and receive. The eighteen-year-old accused of killing 11 people in Buffalo, New York had apparently posted his philosophy and plans on the Internet. He apparently was very transparent. Were the only people who read it already in agreement with him? Was it a cry for help that went unnoticed? Did anybody who knows him care?

How do we as communities in Christ work to bring more wholeness into a fractured world?

Prayer: Lord, help us to find ways we can see through the darkness in our world and understand better how to shine your light on the ways 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.

Truth and Transparency

Lent

March 20, 2020

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14
For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
‘Sleeper, awake!
   Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.’

The new normal in our culture seems to be that truth is what we make it. Of course, such a philosophy is not new at all.  Titus Flavius Josephus is one of the most respected historians of the time that Jesus was on the earth. Now historians and theologians look back on his work as still very helpful, yet they read it with an eye for how much he was trying to please the Roman authorities or at least avoid their rancor. People of faith sometimes scorn politics, but all life is caught in political intrigue.  We humans tend to look out for our own wellbeing, wealth, and power that may or may not have anything to do with political parties or government.

for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Striving to be transparent is a counterpoint to creating our own truth. When we each are transparent to others in our motives and aspirations, we are forced to face up to whether our ideas and actions are good and right and true. Our striving for transparency models for others the cleansing power of truth made know. It may not be pretty, it may not be what we perceive as good and right, but it opens the door to the righteousness in our interactions that God so desires for us. Justice starts with our recognizing our own practice of injustice.

Prayer: Lord, during this Lenten season open our hearts and minds to search for our own transparent truths so that once discovered we might test them as fitting within your world of love and justice. Create in us clean hearts so we might better reflect your righteousness. 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.

Light of the World

Lent
April 11, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
   We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
   and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
   up to the horns of the altar. –Psalm 118:26-27

Transparency is a word often tossed about in our world today. It is applied to personal relationships, business dealings, and governmental work. The desire is to be open and honest about the issues at hand to shine light on the dark places of our world. Transparency is very difficult to attain in the matrices of our lives. Relationships are complex and multi-layered in nature with as many interpretations as there are people viewing the situation.

Returning home from the Philharmonic recently through the series of neighborhoods between my house and the downtown area, I drove forward from a stop light crossing the intersection of a busy commercial area and entered into a half block of bars/restaurants and then a neighborhood. There was no natural light and no street lights. I suddenly realized movement not far in front of me and saw a white leg amid what I otherwise could not make out. I slowed nearly to a stop when I finally discerned a group of young adults crossing the street all in dark clothing. The one white leg I discerned was attached to a woman who was wearing shorts. I do not know what would have happened had she been wearing jeans or dark slacks. I stopped and watched them cross the street. They seemed to be having a good time apparently oblivious to my presence. Had I been the least bit distracted, I believe I could have hit them. A few well-placed street lights would have been helpful.

Our Psalm today indicates that God provides spiritual light for us in our complex world. Jesus proclaimed: ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ (John 8:12) He also stated in Matthew 5:14 that his followers are to be light to the world. Darkness is the metaphor for evil in ancient times that still holds sway today. We are called to live lives of transparent love for all God’s children and to shine light for others to see the benefits of living in and through God’s love.

Prayer: Lord, help us be the light of the world in 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Privacy and Transparency

Lent
March 23, 2017

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14

For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
‘Sleeper, awake!
   Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.’

What an interesting scripture! My first impression on reading it was that I never read it before. I know that is not true because I have read the entire Bible more than once, taught the book of Ephesians where every verse was considered, and followed the lectionary, from which this was selected, in daily devotions for many years. God plants seed for thought as we need them.

Two things greatly debated in our society these days are, the protection of privacy and the need for transparency creating a contraction or at least a bit of a conundrum, wouldn’t you say? At least 20 years ago, something happened at the state agency where I worked resulting from an inappropriate email that was sent. I do not remember what the email contained; it did make the evening news. While the controversy happened in a totally different area of the agency, we were all advised to take notice. At a follow-up staff meeting, I remember telling my staff they should not put anything in an email they would not want their mother to read on the front page of the local paper. Government employees live in glass houses so do Christians. Our lives interpret the story of Jesus to others, right or wrong.

Just like everyone else, I do not want my identify stolen, but keeping those pesky passwords up to date and remembering them is not the subject of our scripture today. Psalm 51:10 (Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me) guides us to an openness enabling us to let our light shine. When that happens, others can see the love of God present and engaged in the world today. Psalm 139 is a good reminder that God knows our every move, our every thought, our every action and when we fail to act. If we live with that in mine and hone our lives to please God, we need not fear the darkness surrounding us or being the light of the world Jesus called us to be.

Prayer: Psalm 139: 1-6
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain 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

Transparent to God

Follow meEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
January 18, 2015

 Scripture Reading: John 1:43-51

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
— John 1:47-51

 What does it mean to you to comprehend that God knows everything about you? Psalm 139:1-6 describes this phenomenon:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.

 I have what I think is a very strange reaction to the idea that I am transparent to God. I find it very freeing. All that time I invest in trying to be someone I am not is not wasted on God. All the time I invest in running from who I really am is also not wasted on God. Standing before God I am me, warts and all, and it is at that moment that my warts can be honed down and my gifts can be manifested and fulfilled. Of course, that is not just true for me, I believe, it is true for all of God’s children.

I think our scripture today describes Nathanael’s moment of transparency with God. It changed his life forever and his fulfilling his gifts is one of the reasons we know about God today.

Prayer: Lord, as painful as it sometimes can be, I welcome the transparency of our relationship and ask that you strengthen my confidence when you call me to use a gift with which I am not yet comfortable and that you ease my grief when I must give up habits of my heart that are not a part of whom you created me to be. 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.