Tag Archives: Wholeness

Being the House of God

Living in the Spirit

October 19, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 84:1-7

How lovely is your dwelling place,
   O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints
   for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
   to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home,
   and the swallow a nest for herself,
   where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
   my King and my God.
Happy are those who live in your house,
   ever singing your praise. –Psalm 84:1-4

On a trip that had taken me to Switzerland, I climbed up a hill early in the morning to investigate a tiny church I had spotted on my walk. As I arrived at its entrance, I met a local woman who did not speak English but greeted me with a wonderful smile as she welcomed me with a sweeping hand motioning me to enter. The trip was a choir tour, and we had sung in some very beautiful European sanctuaries, small and large, ornate, and simple. This little sanctuary which could only seat maybe eight people was designed for prayer and meditation. I slipped into one of the little pews and felt a wonderful closeness to God. I do like the influence of places dedicated to God to encourage my communion with God, but I also now understand that we are all houses of God. Jeremiah speaks to God writing God’s laws on our hearts:

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. –Jeremiah 31:33

It is humbling to think that our hearts are tiny chapels where God abides and enables our loving others as God loves us.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for planting the seeds of your love in our beings so that we may spread your love to the 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.

Strength to Change

Living in the Spirit

October 18, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22

Have you completely rejected Judah?
   Does your heart loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
   so that there is no healing for us?
We look for peace, but find no good;
   for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.
We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
   the iniquity of our ancestors,
   for we have sinned against you.
Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake;
   do not dishonor your glorious throne;
   remember and do not break your covenant with us.
Can any idols of the nations bring rain?
   Or can the heavens give showers?
Is it not you, O Lord our God?
   We set our hope on you,
   for it is you who do all this. –Jeremiah 14:19-22

We look for peace but are we willing to give up the wickedness that steals our peace? What price is change and are we willing to invest it? Perhaps what we need from God is the consistent affirmation that we have the strength to change our behavior. God created us with that strength, but we must choose to use it. God promises us that the Spirit will be our backup when our strength seems to weaken.

One of my favorite scriptures is Romans 8:26:

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

We can count on it.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for interceding when we do not have the words to deal with our weaknesses. 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.

Pour Out Your Spirit on Us

Living in the Spirit

October 17, 2022

Scripture Reading: Joel 2:23-32

O children of Zion, be glad
   and rejoice in the Lord your God;
for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
   he has poured down for you abundant rain,
   the early and the later rain, as before.
The threshing-floors shall be full of grain,
   the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

Then afterwards
   I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
   your old men shall dream dreams,
   and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves,
   in those days, I will pour out my spirit. –Joel 2:23-24,28-29

Oklahoma is suffering a drought, causing catastrophic outcomes for the state. There is not enough grass to feed cattle. Even where grass might have been available, fires turned the trees and other plants into ash. While the rain that fell last night was accompanied by high winds and hail, it was a blessing.  

As we recover from the avalanche of COVID and are learning to live with its ongoing impacts, we, too are suffering its consequences. Businesses are trying to find a new normal, our supply systems are not as streamlined as we want them to be causing delays in finding what we need contributing to inflation, and a war in Europe is adding to our challenges. We somehow find ourselves in a divide-and-conquer world unable to find common ground for the Common Good. If ever we needed the Lord to pour his spirit on all of us and show us the way to a beloved community, we need it now.

Prayer: Lord, pour out your spirit on us and help us to build a more loving 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.

What is Prayer

Living in the Spirit

October 15, 2022

Scripture Reading: Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.”’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’

God hears our prayers, but what constitutes a prayer? I pray rather formally daily for my family, friends facing difficulties or health problems, and even myself. If I know something particular, I might mention it, but in most instances, I just ask God to bless them. I pray before my Sunday school class and the Bible study group I facilitate. I think these prayers are important even though I have no idea what God thinks about such prayers. My sense is God expects me to pray these prayers. I do not think God keeps a record of how many people prayed for something or someone and responds accordingly. I tend to think praying grows our love and sense of our interrelationship with God and all of God’s children.

The real guts of my prayers, however, come when I grapple with God about the right thing to do or why something is happening. These are not formal prayers. These are prayers of desperation where I see something amiss in my life or the world, and I do not know how to deal with it except to share my consternation with the One who created me and the world around me. Who is better to deal with life choices than the creator of life?

Prayer:
Guide me, O my great Redeemer,
pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but you are mighty;
hold me with your powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me now and evermore,
feed me now and evermore*. Amen.

First verse of Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah by William Williams See at https://hymnary.org/text/guide_me_o_thou_great_jehovah

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.

Finding Ourselves in Service to God

Living in the Spirit

October 14, 2022

Scripture Reading:

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. –2 Timothy 4:1-5

I was writing a piece on reducing poverty in the USA recently when I was struck by the fact that what needed to happen to reduce poverty was not some great mystery, but it did require a lot of hard work and dedication to implement. It particularly required working together with others to find common ground toward attaining the common good and right now our nation is caught up in stubborn diversity of thought and purpose.

I am not allergic to all kinds of hard work, but I do remember disliking work in the garden on our farm. My mother and sister actually thought it was fun. Instead of digging in and getting the job done, I was always finding distractions. My mom finally gave up on my becoming a gardener. By the time I was ten I was left at the house with a list of chores that I did not mind doing and cooking which I enjoyed. I learned from that experience that we are not called to do everything, but we are called to do something and endowed with skills and talents to complement our calling. It may, however, require us to venture into areas that were not originally on our radar.

That said, we can find ourselves looking in all the wrong places trying to find what is right for us. I chose to base these devotions on the lectionary scriptures because that forces me to read most of the Bible over a three-year period, even the parts I do not like. Thomas Jefferson solved this problem by cutting out the verses with which he disagreed.  Indeed, that is accumulating teachers to suit our own desires. We also tend to intermingle with people like us. Branching out into the whole beloved community may surprise us when we discover new ways of loving God which results in learning to love all our neighbors which might result in our learning to love ourselves better.

Prayer: Lord, as we grow in spirit and in truth help us to find and hone new skills and talents to 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.

Opening our Hearts to God’s Lov

October 12, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills—
   from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
   who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;
   he who keeps you will not slumber.
He who keeps Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
   the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
   nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
   he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
   your going out and your coming in
   from this time on and forevermore.

We are wise to seek higher ground. We need to lift our eyes to the hills. We can easily get mired in the everyday rush of life but particularly when we have no control over what is going on about us. I awoke to the news this morning that Ukraine had been hit by a barrage of missiles from Russia.  All week I watched videos of hurricane victims trying to make sense of the fact that they can no longer recognize their neighborhoods. These people certainly need to lean heavily on God. Most of us, however, get bogged down in the pesky interruptions in our lives. They seem to add up until their heaviness holds us back from being the person God has created us to be. Spending time with God is the best way to let those burdens fall from our being and lift us to a better perspective.  

Prayer: Lord, help us to routinely lift our eyes to higher ground from time to time as a part of our everyday life. 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.

Growing into Faith

Living in the Spirit

October 11, 2022

Scripture Reading: Genesis 32:22-31
The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ The sun rose upon him as he passed Peniel, limping because of his hip.

We are always the child of our parents, but at some point, in our lives, we must transition to being fully responsible for our actions and decision. We call it adulthood. It is not defined by age but by that point in time when we step out and take responsibility for who we are and what we do. It is also when we personally commit ourselves to God. Jacob came lately to that point. His story describes a person who was full of himself. He stole his brother’s birthright and cheated his father-in-law out of sheep. I do not know what he had in mind when he decided to return to his original home. It may have been to continue his conman habits, but as he traveled home, he had an encounter with God that turned him around refocusing his skills and talents on following God putting all those misplaced skills to better use.

Self-examination needs to be a part of our lives. Are we investing our skills and talents to fulfill our calling of creating the beloved community, the Kingdom of God in this world today? Sometimes such self-examination may result in our, too, wrestling with God until we understand our role in that calling.

Prayer: Lord, grace us with finding our role in the development of the beloved community and dedicating ourselves to its fulfillment. 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.

Turning To a Better Way

Living in the Spirit

October 10, 2022

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 31:27-34
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say:
‘The parents have eaten sour grapes
   and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

In so many ways like the people of Israel, we have lost our way, and we are paying for it dearly through the outcomes of our children. Indeed, we have eaten sour grapes set our children’s teeth on edge. A law was past this year requiring school systems that have ID cards for their children to include the help number for suicide prevention on the card because we are experiencing so much suicide among our youth. The time is now for us to turn this mess around. We can return to the Lord and live in the light of his covenant of love. Love is not severe rules and harsh judgments of others. It is the love that says do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (Matthew 7:12) and Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29) God is always pulling with us.

Prayer: Lord, renew in us a right spirit*. Amen.

*From Psalm 51:10

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.

Fear

Living in the Spirit

October 5, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 111
Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
   in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the Lord,
   studied by all who delight in them.
Full of honor and majesty is his work,
   and his righteousness endures forever.
He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds;
   the Lord is gracious and merciful.
He provides food for those who fear him;
   he is ever mindful of his covenant.
He has shown his people the power of his works,
   in giving them the heritage of the nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just;
   all his precepts are trustworthy.
They are established forever and ever,
   to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
He sent redemption to his people;
   he has commanded his covenant forever.
   Holy and awesome is his name.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
   all those who practice it have a good understanding.
   His praise endures forever.

While visiting a museum at the University of Texas, I rounded a corner and found myself face to face with an enormous stone that had facial characteristics carved on it. I screamed and then looked around embarrassed to see if anyone heard or noticed me. It was a god from antiquities.  We would call it an idol. Just its size scared me. Thank goodness the museum was empty of other visitors in the area I was observing. I stood and studied it and wondered about the people who carved it and most likely worshipped it. A big solid rock is not something to fear. It would have taken a strong push to tip that rock over. Studying it, I wondered about how we perceive God. Fear can mean being in awe of something and that certainly applies to God. I liked the phrase in the above poem He provides food for those who fear him. I envisioned trying to entice a hurt animal to let me care for it by enticing it with a bit of food. And then I move to the closing lines and read The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Tying those two phrases together we realize that everything that entices us is not good for us, but God is always good for us. Discerning the difference between God’s love and the temptations of the world is indeed the beginning of wisdom.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the wisdom to discern the differences between knowing you more nearly and the enticements of the world that distract us. 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.

Intentional Harmony

Living in the Spirit

October 4, 2022

Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’

But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.’ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’ But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, ‘I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?’ He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.’

How many of our problems have simple solutions that we just do not want to do? From eating healthy food rather than junk to simply putting something in the trash can rather than letting trash stack up in all the wrong places. How does that idea apply to our faith lives? One of my study groups is reviewing the Ten Commandants, guidance for living that most of us have known since early childhood. How much do we practice it? Jesus took those words to higher ground with the Sermon on the Mount when he prescribed taking preventive measures, so we never have to deal with the thou shalt nots in the Ten Commandments. We are all called to be intentional about our lives in Christ.  For example,

‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; 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. (Matthew 5:21-22)

Prayer: Lord, help us become intentional in living our lives in concert with your plan for all live in harmony. 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.