Tag Archives: Unity

Empathy

Living in the Spirit

August 12, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 133
How very good and pleasant it is
   when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
   running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
   running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
   which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
   life for evermore.

Truer words have never been written, and I do not recall a time in my life when discord has been higher. Of course, my life span is short compared to the history of God’s people. Reading scripture and history since the Bible was canonized, we see discord over and over again. Everybody is scared, but of what? Many feel threatened, but why? What is this dis-ease that overshadows our lives? How do we escape its grasp?

Jesus, I think, portrays a lot of empathy. Strange though it may sound, to be empathic, we must become more objective. We must try to see our fellow sojourners from their perspective, not our own. That requires us to shed the bias filters that we all have taken on from our families, life experiences, and education. We need to discern which of those filters are wrong and work to eliminate them from our being. We also must understand that those practices we favor that are not bad are not universal. Both actions of self-evaluation are hard to do because they are so much a part of who we are.

I will always be a person who grew up on a farm, knew the source of food from my earliest years, and that work had to be done often daily to maintain that food supply. My work ethic differs markedly from that of someone whose life experience taught them that food came from grocery stores bought by money earned from employment that had specified hours of working with some days off.  

I was taught to say please and thank you, respect authority, and expect other people to respect me. I do not ever recall my parents having “the talk” of how to go the extra steps of self-preservation when stopped by the police.  I have only been stopped by the police twice and was guilty both times. I got a warning ticket both times. The first time, I was breaking the speed limit. The other time, I had an expired tag. When the policemen stopped me for the tag, it was laying on the passenger seat of my car. He saw it and said somewhat sarcastically, “You know you are supposed to put that on your vehicle.” I assured him I would. I cannot imagine being stopped for being white in the wrong part of town. Empathy does not come easy and requires intentionality until it becomes a natural part of our being. I think that may only happen when we allow the Holy Spirit to open our hearts to love one another completely.

Prayer: Lord, Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin*. Amen

*Psalm 51:2

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.

Unity of Purpose

Kingdom Building

November 14, 2019

Scripture Reading:
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. –2 Thessalonians 3:6-9

The greatest challenge facing those who are striving to be the Body of Christ in the world today is that Christ’s vision is fully inclusive. All God’s children have roles to play in initiating the Kingdom of God throughout the world. A big part of what we are called to do is enable all people to actualize fully their gifts and talents while working together. That may be the hardest assignment of all.

I saw a sign recently that read something to the effect that the devil does not want to destroy us; the devil wants to distract us. Evil wants to capture our talents for evil’s purpose. That is often accomplished by causing discord which divides us rather than makes us one. It might be a good habit in all our lives to consider carefully any issue that arises in our working together to ascertain if the divisive factors are even related to the tasks at hand and whether completing the work before us is our primary goal.

Prayer: Lord guide us to find unity in combining our gifts and talents to bring about your vision for our world. 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.

Serpents and Doves

Jesus’ Ministry
January 17, 2019

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.
–1 Corinthians 12:1-3

I wonder what circumstances in Corinth led Paul to explain that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’? I assume that such a situation did happen, it became so controversial that Paul felt the need to intervene. We live in a world where writing or saying bizarre or wacky things is constantly used as a distraction from real issues that need to be considered. Besides reading or listening to the news each day I now must review fact checkers to help determine what was fact, partial fact, fiction, or at the least was taken out of context.  Such behavior is becoming the norm in our country. We all get so bent out of shape over the craziness we lose track of the real issues. Jesus said, Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one. (Matthew 5:37)

The greatest challenge is figuring out how to deflect the distraction without making the distraction even bigger. Letting others drag us to their level of divisiveness helps them not our cause. We must become shrewder than them at taking the high road as they are at dragging us down.

‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16

Prayer: Grant us your peace, O God, so that we may be ready when called upon to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 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.

Serving God More Nearly

Living in the Spirit
September 29, 2017

Scripture Reading: Philippians 2:1-13

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
   did not regard equality with God
   as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
   taking the form of a slave,
   being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
   and became obedient to the point of death—
   even death on a cross.

 Therefore God also highly exalted him
   and gave him the name
   that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
   every knee should bend,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
   that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father. –Philippians 2:5-11

We have a great role model in Jesus Christ. We must study his words and his ways and incorporate them into our lives. Too often, I fear, we skim the surface of his teaching, picking and choosing the ones that already are part of our natural selves or are easy to master. We let go of the challenging ones.

Remember the story of the rich young ruler? (Matthew19:16-22) He asked Jesus what he must do to be saved, and Jesus told him to follow the commandments. To which the young man said that he had always done that what else should he do. Jesus replied, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

No armchair quarterbacks needed here. We are called to participate fully investing all our skills and resources on Jesus’ team. All of our efforts are needed to build a world ruled by God’s love.

Prayer: Grant us the courage to step out in faith and serve you more nearly. 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.

Starting Over

iraqLiving in the Spirit
November 14, 2016

Scripture Reading: Haggai 1:15b-2:9

Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. –Haggai 1:3-5

The paper this morning featured an Iraqi Christian woman holding a picture of the Virgin Mary as the woman stood in the rubble of her once loved church. Her faced told the story of her loss and grief. The article reported that a statue of Mary in the church was beheaded. There was no picture of that. Coming home to destruction to start over, the woman surely found hope in the tattered picture she had found.

The church universal has much work to do as we answer our call to bring wholeness to a fragmented world. As painful as the loss of a cherished structure may be, such buildings are never permanent. God is. Reestablishing a place to worship may serve symbolically as a measure of normalcy, and that is important. What is more important is sharing our love with our neighbors near and far in whatever struggle they may find themselves. What is even more important is recognizing that all of God’s children are our neighbors.

Prayer: Lord, we grieve with the people of Iraq who are in the middle of war. We pray for a quick resolution to a long-existent dispute. We ask for your guidance for ways we can help. While our differences pale in comparison to war, we pray for unity based on love and respect. 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.

Unity

Brothers and sistersEastertide May 6, 2015

Scripture Reading: Psalm 133

How very good and pleasant it is
when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron,
running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
   which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
   life for evermore.

The first definition Merriam Webster list for kindred is a natural grouping*. While a family is a natural grouping, I suppose, I have always considered the word to mean blood relative, which is listed in Merriam Webster under the word archaic. The Hebrew treats it as brother** but then in Hebrew the word brother connotes a broader spectrum than a blood relative also. As we have followed Jesus command to take his message to the ends of the earth our natural grouping of followers of Christ has grown and still there are others to be added.

Perhaps the Psalmist is celebrating when actual, blood brothers and sisters get along. It is a good place to start. There is something very special about siblings. We know each other about as well as any people can know each other. We know about the times of joy and achievement, about the times of shame and despair of each other from earliest childhood. Brothers and sisters are the training camp for life where we learn to get along with each other while learning to stand up for ourselves. It is indeed pleasant when siblings get along.

Today is a good day to remember the best things about being brothers and sisters by blood or in Christ and to celebrate the joy of unity which can be very fragile.

Prayer: God who created us, made us each the persons we are becoming, we thank you for our brothers and sisters in life and in Christ and pray that our relationships can foster unity among all peoples by being a shining example of it. Make us whole, make us one. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/kindred

**http://biblehub.com/hebrew/251.htm

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.