Tag Archives: Trusting God

Dealing with Dispare

Lent

March 25, 2023

Scripture Reading: John 11:1-45

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’ –John 11:17-27

Did you catch the twist of a phrase in the last sentence above? The one coming into the world is the person Martha speaks to.  Martha was reared in the Jewish tradition; the one coming is referred to in the Hebrew Bible 41 times as the Messiah, translated in Greek as Christ. The one coming is to bring unification among the tribes of Israel plus universal peace and to announce what the world to come would be like. Martha acknowledged who Jesus really was. She also demonstrates her faith in him regarding her brother Lazarus. She was confident Jesus could have healed Lazarus. Her trust in Jesus and her faith said she would recognize as right whatever his actions would beknow that Lazarus was dead.

In the direst of situations, Martha’s faith remains. I must confess I get discouraged with the world today and wonder what more I can do to foster the love God commands us to share with all. Lent is a good time to rekindle our faith and renew our trust in the God of Love. William Wordsworth may have said it best; the irony of our despair in giving up on the God of Love is that we turn to the powerless pagan gods of the world.

The World Is Too Much With Us

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
his Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we allow the world’s ills to encroach upon our trust in 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Who Do You Trust?

Ordinary Time

February 8, 2022

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-10

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
   whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
   sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
   and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
   and it does not cease to bear fruit. –Jeremiah 17:7-8

In the 1950s there was a game show on TV. Who do you trust? It required a couple to decide which one would answer the next question, the man or the woman, based on the question’s subject. Indeed, we each must make the decision whether we trust in the Lord, but we also gain trust in the Lord by sharing our personal experiences with others.

I love my Sunday School class for that reason, it includes business owners, schoolteachers, government workers, lawyers, engineers, nurses, each with a slightly different take on life. As I wrote this, I was reminded that that group of people are mostly well-educated middle class or above people. Reminding me I also value highly my experience in high school and college working as a waitress and nurses’ aide. Working with women in minimum wage jobs who were the sole support of their families was eye-opening. Some were young mother’s others were older women who were working outside the home for the first time in their lives because their spouse had died or become disabled. It certainly is not the same as living in their shoes but at least I knew they existed. When I worked in those jobs the minimum wage was about the same as the poverty level. Today the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and $2.13 an hour for persons receiving tips. The poverty wage for 1 person in Oklahoma is $6.13 and a living wage is $13.53. In all families with more than one person, the minimum wage is below the federal poverty level*.

During Jesus’s ministry, he went out of his way to open his disciples’ eyes to the needs of all people. Rich or poor and called us to love them all. I am sure you can trust that remains his goal for all his disciples today in a world where trust is in short supply.

Prayer: Lord, renew and restore our trust in following your example as we work to renew and restore the love we need for one another and all others.  Amen.

*https://livingwage.mit.edu/states/40

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.

What Ifs

Living in the Spirit

November 6, 2021

Scripture Reading: John 11:32-44

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ –John 11:2-37

Was Mary merely stating the obvious in the scripture above, or was she blaming Jesus for not coming when he was called? Maybe both, grief clouds our thinking. I had wondered why Jesus did not go immediately when he was notified of Lazarus’s illness. He would have been entering dangerous territory crossing from Galilee to Judah. Did Jesus need time to prepare himself for this next phase of his ministry? Many of us have tossed and turned throughout a sleepless night trying to discern God’s plan for some action, the consequences of which we cannot be sure. I often write a serious post and let it lay fallow for a night before I post, reword, or toss it. However, those instances are not life or death in nature. “What ifs” are lessons to be learned. We cannot change the past; we can avoid making the same mistakes. Hebrews 11:1 states that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. We can note that the raising of Lazarus was a pivotal point in Jesus’s sojourn on earth.

That said, we would do well to remember that Jesus taught and practiced preventive behavior. The Ten Commandants are excellent guidance for living a fruitful life. Jesus seems to have taken those rules a step further in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus prescribes a preventive form of righteousness dealing with the causes of the sins outlawed in the Commandment. If we address the anger that leads to murder, we save ourselves from sin and another person’s life. If we love our enemies, we will not take advantage of them.

Prayer: Lord, grant us your shalom when we face situations that are not clear to us at the moment. Guide our thoughts and our words in such a time as these until we gain greater understanding. 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.

Living in the Spirit

September 24, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 25:1-9

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust;
   do not let me be put to shame;
   do not let my enemies exult over me.
Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
   let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
   teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
   for you are the God of my salvation;
   for you I wait all day long. –Psalm 25:1-5

The Oklahoma City bombing shook the building a couple of miles away, where I worked. We quickly turned on radios and TVs to see want had happened and were greeted with the awful pictures of the destruction. My immediate reaction was to think I had to do something, but the reporters were saying stay away let the emergency responders do their jobs, your help will be needed later. In just a few minutes, a call for O- blood was issued, giving me something to do. I left my office and headed toward the blood bank about ten blocks away. About four blocks from the blood bank entrance, I encountered the back of the line of donors. Thinking that would take too long, I drove to a bank that had converted into a blood donation site and found the same situation. This time I joined the back of the line. In less then five minutes, someone came by asking if any of us had O- blood. I was promptly moved to the much shorter back of the universal donor line.

When COVID-19 struck, we older folk all got a similar message. The best thing we could do for the pandemic was to stay home, wash our hands often, and if we did go out, wear a mask. I felt a similar frustration to COVID that I had with the bombing, as I restricted my life within what seems to be a counterintuitive lack of activity. Of course, in both instances, there was plenty to do in the following days. I have become reasonably capable of hosting or participating in Zoom meetings, enhanced my prayer life, and read many books that broadened my thinking.

The problem with living in a troubled world is that hyper-reaction response is necessary for emergencies, but when it lingers, it becomes a detriment to progress. This whole year we have been caught in the web of uncertainty and disconnections. The Psalmist above is telling us to take the time to trust God. God does work through us and wants us to be of service to others, but we can only be productive in our work if we take the time to get in sync with God each day, be alert to what actions (or inactions) are needed. These times when it is hard to trust anything, are the exact times when we need to trust God most.

Prayer:
Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
   teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
   for you are the God of my salvation;
   for you I wait all day long. 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.

Trust and Responsibility

taking-responsibility-e1337876714312Christmas
January 4, 2017

Scripture Reading: Psalm 29

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
   the Lord sits enthroned as king for ever.
May the Lord give strength to his people!
   May the Lord bless his people with peace! –Psalm 29:10-11

One of the hardest challenges in doing faith in God is walking that fine line between trusting in an all-powerful God and taking responsibility for doing our part in forwarding God’s vision and mission. I chose the word doing instead of practicing because living our faith is the real deal on the court or field of life. It is not something we are preparing to do in case we are called to participate. Indeed, we need to hone our skills every step of the way, but the game of life proceeds.

As I write this, there are terrible floods in the southeastern part of the United States. Homes destroyed, people died. Bad things do happen to good people. It does rain on the just and the unjust*. Psalms 29 assures us that even in the floods of life God is with us giving us strength, opening doors for us to share our lives and love with those afflicted.

The players on the best sports teams are in sync with their coaches. Good advice for Christians, don’t you think?

Prayer: We thank thee, Lord God, for all the benefits thou hast given Us in thy Son Jesus Christ, our most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, and for all the pains and insults he hath borne for us; and we pray that, following the example of thy saintly bishop Richard of Chichester, we may see Christ more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever**. Amen.

 

*See Matthew 5:45
**Prayer from 1253 see at http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/139.html

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.