Tag Archives: Wholeness

Finished with Sin

Pentecost

June 1, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
   may the Lord rejoice in his works—
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
   who touches the mountains and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
   I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
   for I rejoice in the Lord.
Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
   and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord! –Psalm 104:31-34, 35

I want my meditations to be pleasing to me. I had not realized that until I read this psalm that says May my meditation be pleasing to (God). I meditate to calm down or collect myself. Now, God is most likely pleased with me calming down and getting my act together, but this scripture made me wonder if I am entering into meditation for the wrong reasons. The true purpose of meditation is to get in sync with God. This is important in our crazy world today where discord is common, and some seem to intentionally focus on keeping people divided. We are all much better at reading the world about us in truth when we are in sync with God.

The other piece about this scripture that caught my attention was the phrase, Let sinners be consumed from the earth. That reads like the sinners will be destroyed. I looked up what the Hebrew word Tamam translated as consumed in this Psalm and found that it means to be finished. I can identify with that. Romans 3:23 says since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We still must work at outgrowing our turning to sin as a lesser way of dealing with the realities of life. Our goal is to trust in God enough that following God’s ways is the higher ground we are called to follow. We are also promised that if we stick with God’s ways, God’s grace fills the gaps we may not even see when necessary.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your grace Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you (Psalm 19:14) Amen.

   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 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.

Learning to Trust God

Eastertide

May 29, 2022

Scripture Reading:

John 17:20-26

‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’

How important is it to have someone we trust say they trust someone else, and we can trust them too? When we apply for a job, we are often required to provide references. My dad cosigned the first loan I made to buy a car. Having paid that loan off as prescribed by the agreement, I never had to have anyone cosign for me again. One of Jesus’s missions, when he came in human form, was to tell us by word and example that we could trust God.

I can envision God scratching his head following the exile, following the calamity after the exile, and following the rule of Greece and Rome wondering, “What do I need to do to convince my children that I love them and that my love is the guiding principle in living successfully in the world I created?” God decided to come to us in the incarnation of Jesus Christ to model the way that living in God’s world works.

What we have learned is that when we get out of sync with God’s plan for the world, we suffer the consequences. There is no room for hate, bigotry, greed, dishonesty, violence, or adultery in God’s world.  Just as there is no room for the results of such behavior such as allowing poverty or violence to exist.

Prayer: Help us clearly see the way Jesus modeled life in your love and change our lives to follow his way. 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 with the Spirit Now

Eastertide

May 27, 2022

Scripture Reading: Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

‘It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.’

The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen. Revelation 22:16-17, 20-21

The Spirit of God is present with us every moment of every day even when we have turned away from the Spirit, either not recognizing the presence or by choice. We are the bride of Christ called to extend his ministry throughout the world. We may cringe at the language Paul uses in Ephesians 5:22-33 using the roles of the first-century husband and wife to illustrate our relationship with the Spirit of God, but we are, indeed, called to be partners in Christ’s service in whatever way the roles of men and women have evolved or time and changes in culture.

I must confess, having been raised on a farm, where everyone worked and did their part based more on their age and capabilities, I am perplexed at times by the gender role interpretation that grew out of Paul’s writings. My guess is that first-century Christian women had their hands full working as hard as my mom, sister, and I did every day. I am reading the book After Jesus Before Christianity and learned the hierarchy in the roles of women and men has always existed with women usually being deemed less than. All I have to say about that is no man would have ever existed had it not been for a woman. Everyone has the right to become fully the person God created them to be. The world is more productive when the best person for a job fills the job.

I write this because our world invests more time in distractions than in fulfilling our call to usher in the Kingdom of God. We fight over which toilet one can use, who can decide what health care an individual needs, and whether mass shootings could be curbed by placing limitations on what guns can be sold and to whom. We rarely hear about already existing positive ways of addressing all these issues—like making all toilets private for everyone or providing quality accessible, affordable health care for everyone coupled with life education, or recognizing the proof from previous experience that outlawing assault rifles reduced deaths from mass shootings.

Prayer: Lord, help us turn toward the Spirit rather than away from you so that we might 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.

Subtle Idols

Eastertide

May 25, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 97

The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
   and all the peoples behold his glory.
All worshippers of images are put to shame,
   those who make their boast in worthless idols;
   all gods bow down before him.
Zion hears and is glad,
   and the towns of Judah rejoice,
   because of your judgments, O God.
For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
   you are exalted far above all gods.

The Lord loves those who hate evil;
   he guards the lives of his faithful;
   he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
Light dawns for the righteous,
   and joy for the upright in heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
   and give thanks to his holy name! –Psalm 97:6-12

The sad thing in our society today is we do not seem to have a clue when we are worshipping worthless idols. Bowing done to a statue of Baal is at least something one does with visible proof. Our idols are more subtle and much more dangerous because we do not recognize that we give them power over us. Greed for example. My microwave quit working a few years ago. When I noticed that I could not warm up my tea, I grabbed my purse, jumped in my car, and had a new microwave and heated tea within 30 minutes. I do own a perfectly good range on which I could have reheated my tea. Afterward, as I sipped my warm tea, I realized how attached I was to my microwave. There is nothing wrong with progress, microwaves included, but reviewing my behavior made me stop and think about what I value which is demonstrated in how I spend my money. Where do I invest my time, talent, and resources? I think God wants us to be intentional about why and what we do. Particularly if we put ourselves forth as Christ-follower. My Dad told my siblings and me when we were children that we represented the Knott family, and we need to remember that when we are tempted to do anything that did not represent our family well. We are, indeed, all a part of the family of God, and thus our words and deeds impact others’ view of God in our behavior or words.

For me, one of the most potent scenes described in the scriptures is the image of Jesus sitting on a hill overlooking Jerusalem saying ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Matthew 23:37) I remember as a child not ever wanting to break Jesus’s heart like that. Many things are being said and done in the name of Jesus today that are alien to my concept of the God of Love. We all must live intentionally in full communion with God as we interact with our neighbors whom we are called to love.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the simple hearts of children who know love when they see it and return 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.

Tired of Being Sick and Tired

Eastertide

May 22, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 5:1-9

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
Now that day was a sabbath.

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired* When I read ‘Do you want to be made well?’ from the scripture above, the quote from Fannie Lou Hamer’s speech describing events in 1962 when she deigned to register to vote flashed through my mind. There are physical and mental illnesses from which individuals want and need to be healed, but there are societal illnesses that do much harm that must be healed if we are to transition our world from its current situation to Christ’s ideal of the kingdom of God. There are two sides to the situation described in the scripture above. First, we are all often blind to the needs of others around us as we scurry to grab hold of what we feel is ours to win. Some take the time to reach back guiding others to healing while they experience healing themselves. The other side of the story is the need for all of us to seek wholeness understanding our individual shortcomings and our societal shortcomings which will only improve if we invest ourselves in making the changes necessary to bring the world into sync with God’s will. We are indeed partners in God’s service.

Called as partners in Christ’s service
Called to ministries of grace
We respond with deep commitment
Fresh new lines of faith to trace
May we learn the art of sharing
Side by side and friend with friend
Equal partners in our caring
To fulfil God’s chosen end**

Prayer: Lord, guide us in being partners in your service. Amen.

*Taken from a speech made by Fannie Lou Hamer describing her treatment resulting from registering to vote in Indianola, Mississippi August 31, 1962.  See full transcript at https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2019/08/09/im-sick-and-tired-of-being-sick-and-tired-dec-20-1964/

**First verse of hymn Called as partners in Christ’s service by Jane Parker Huber and John Zundel see at https://digitalsongsandhymns.com/songs/6113

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.

Giving Up On God

Eastertide

May 21, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 14:23-29

Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.” If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

Our society is becoming dedicated to putting our words in Jesus’s mouth. I am fascinated by how many actions/behaviors are not covered in the Bible but quoted as absolutes delivered straight from God, while the foundation of Jesus’s whole ministry is routinely ignored. We make easy exceptions for behavior that has become normalized in our society like adultery and even idolizing greed while over-reacting to actions like wearing a mask to prevent the spread of a virus that has now killed over a million Americans. I think Jesus would have classified wearing a mask as loving your neighbor as yourself.

I fear people are giving up on God when we need to lean on God the most. The further we slide from following Jesus’s commands to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves the more we think God has given up on us. We are the ones that moved and like our ancestors in faith are headed for exile.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we feel the need to overrule your plan for us. Help us to turn back to 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.

God’s Order

Eastertide

May 20, 2022

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

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. –Revelation 22:1-5

I learn something new every time I read scriptures that I have read many times before. Hopefully, I grow more spiritually from my exploration. This morning when I read that there were twelve kinds of fruit on the tree of life—one for each month, I wondered when the idea of months began. I guess, I just accepted that a tree could produce a different fruit each month.  So, I googled when did months begin and was surprised to learn that it is traced back to 3100 BC by a people called Sumerians in Mesopotamia. Each of their 12 months had 29 or 30 days. The Gregorian-based calendar we use today was initiated in 753 BC. I experience a similar surprise when I think I have written something unique, but when I google for pictures to illustrate my idea, I almost always find many pictures from which to select using the same language.

God created an ordered world where generations after generations of people recreate that that existed since the beginning.  A world where rain nourishes the earth creating rivers that flow to oceans, the sun rises and sets, and plants feed on the sun’s light and produce and contribute to clean air for us to breathe. God had enough faith in us to let us enter such a place with the freedom to interact wisely or not with the world and each other. That is an amazingly wonderful opportunity that we must not take for granted. Our job is to make the most of God’s great gifts within the rule of God’s love. We get that at times, but at other times we stumble by stepping outside God’s order and stop caring for both the earth and all the people that are on it. Each day we must take stock of our living in God’s world and recalibrate when needed so that our lives flow like the water of life in our being fully the person God created us to be. We must work harder at doing that in community with all others.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for placing us in a world of wonder. Guide us in caring for it and each other. 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.

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.

Deepening Faith

Eastertide

May 17, 2022

Scripture Reading: Acts 16:9-15

On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.’ And she prevailed upon us. –Acts 16:13-16

How open are we to deepening our faith? Lydia described as a worshipper of God apparently practiced the Jewish faith as she observed the sabbath, whether she was a Jew by birth, or a convert is unclear. When she heard Paul preach, she readily accepted the Lord and offered hospitality to Paul and his companion. Did she appreciate the advancement of God’s order from her Jewish training through the one called Christ? How are we advancing God’s order in our time and space? Faith is not frozen in form. Hebrews 4:12 describes it as living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

I am a strong supporter of following spiritual disciplines, prayer, study, meditation, and service, for example, because they empower faith. Celebrating the Lord’s Supper is my opportunity to review my faith walk for the previous week and open a new door for the next. Faith is alive and propels us toward building that Kingdom of God Jesus sent us forth to actualize.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the example of Lydia who open her heart and her home as she deepened her faith. 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.

Alone

Eastertide

May 14, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 13:31-35

When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

This scripture was preceded by John’s version of the last supper, where Judas leaves to sell Jesus’s locations to those who sought to kill him. As reported in John chapter 8, Jesus did tell the Jews who confronted him, Where I am going, you cannot come.  Did the disciples think that should not apply to them? What does Jesus mean by this statement, anyway? Indeed, there may be a holy of holies that only God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit can enter. I can only speculate, but Resurrection seems to be the only situation Jesus had to enter alone, where he even cried out, in Matthew 27:46, My God, My God why have you forsaken me quoting Psalm 22:1. Although, the author of that Psalm in verses 1 and 19 cries out to God, do not be far from me. Jesus knew what his mission was as did God. We as Christ-followers must realize that his mission, his aloneness on that cross, was the greatest gift of grace ever given and never has to be repeated. That truly was Amazing Grace.

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for the gift of grace that saved us giving us hope and enabling our love so we might 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.