Tag Archives: Wholeness

Prayer Answered

Living in the Spirit

September 8, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 116:1-9

I love the Lord, because he has heard
   my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
   therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me;
   the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
   I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
   ‘O Lord, I pray, save my life!‘ –Psalm 116:1-4

I am writing this the day after I found out an infant I had been praying for died. Having worked in a children’s hospital, when I heard the child’s diagnosis, the first thing that flashed through my mind was to let her go. She is not going to make it. I immediately felt wrong about even thinking that and, thus, have prayed for her, entrusting her in God’s care. I am indeed sorry she was not the first to beat this cancer. There will be a first someday, I pray.

I was reminded of a patient in the hospital where I worked with an equally negative outcome predicted. She was 13 years old, and when told there was nothing else medical science could do at the time except highly experimental treatments, she said to bring them on. She knew the treatments might not do any good but being a part of these tests may save someone else in the future. So she participated in trials until the doctors said no more, and she died. Eventually, the first patient survived that cancer through surgery and medication, and many others have since.

Jesus’s ministry on earth was encapsulated in three years where he briefly demonstrated that we were to do such things as feed the hungry, care for the sick, and welcome strangers. He not only spoke these words, but he also lived them—fed the five thousand on the hillside, healed many, including the child of the Syrophoenician woman. Jesus’ ministry was setting the example for our service to God to this day. He even prepared us for the reality that bad things happen to good people when he said it rains on the just and the unjust*.

A wise pastor preached a sermon on prayer that left a lasting impression on me. He said, God always answers prayer. The answer will either be yes or no. We may not understand God’s response when it breaks our hearts. It is only through faith that we can move forward, trusting that God’s Love will sustain us through the things we do not understand.

Prayer: Lord, today we asked a special blessing on all those caught in the throes of the things they do not understand. Grant them your Shalom. Amen.

*See Matthew 5:45

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 the Beatitudes

Living in the Spirit

September 4, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Mark 7:24-37

From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. –Mark 7:24-30

I love this scripture for an unusual reason. Jesus demonstrates that everyone can hold inappropriate opinions of others, and anyone can change once they see each person as a child of God. We never know everything about anyone. We do not know if someone has a toothache or just had a dispute with their child or is facing bankruptcy. Often, we misread people’s actions as being hostile toward us. While I think it is important to police our behavior to make sure we are not taking out our frustrations on someone else, we need to broaden our understanding of others by getting to know them better.

‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. –Matthew 5:38-42

This scripture from Matthew 5 is part of The Beatitudes. It might be interesting to try practicing the Beatitudes and see how our lives and our world improves.

Prayer: God of Justice and Mercy, help is to see your image within each person we meet along the 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.

Moving Mountains

Living in the Spirit

September 3, 2021

Scripture Reading:
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. –James :14-17

And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’ –Matthew 17:18-21

I am sure I have written about this before, but it is one of my greatest Aha moments, so forgive me for repeating myself. The first chapter of the Books of Acts is the equivalent of a modern church council meeting. I see it as the point at which the Disciples, recovering from the shock of the death and resurrection of Jesus, realized they had work to do. Having lost a member, Judas, they selected someone to take his place. The lot fell on Matthias. My Aha moment was what happened in chapter 2, the Holy Spirit arrived. Christ-followers are sent forth to move the mountains of brokenness, division, and injustice in the world—the moment the Disciples recognized that responsibility is when they realized that God was with them.

In times like these, we need to refresh our faith and get about the business of bringing wholeness, oneness, and justice to our world of woe. Fires are burning out of control on the USA’s west coast, while a hurricane of grand proportions ripped up through Louisiana, turned northeast, and devastated the east coast. In both instances, the descriptor I heard most was these calamities were made worse by climate change. Yet, climate change is the mountain we refuse to tackle because it is inconvenient to our lifestyles and our source of wealth.

The list is long, and the mountains are high. We faced a broken health care system while tackling a stubborn worldwide pandemic. One hundred and forty million USA residents live in poverty or are one health care crisis away from financial disaster. Terrorists are spawned from our out-of-balanced world. God is not a magic wand. God created us and equipped us to love one another and live in harmony. We did not get in this mess overnight and will not repair it quickly, but we have all we need to restore our souls and world.

Prayer: Heal our souls so that we answer your call to be movers of the mountains of brokenness, division, and injustice. 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.

Sin-sick Soul

Living in the Spirit

August 29, 2021

Scripture Reading:

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’ For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.‘ –Mark 7: 14-15, 21-23

Humans have struggled since the beginning of time with self-understand and self-awareness. Jesus is quoted as telling us in John 3:6, What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Early humans quickly learned that if eating certain plants made them sick and could kill them. The Deuteronomic food laws most likely were developed from such observations. The Bible is full of references regarding how vital salt was in food preservation etc. We learned the lesson so well that we now watch our salt intake, so we do not intake too much of a good thing. Such warnings are designed to care for what the Bible refers to as the flesh. We need to care for our bodies if we continue to do the work God has called us to do.

Our work on God’s behalf is, however, designed to address the spiritual aspects of life. The scripture above gives us a long list of examples of the things which defile us. We do not use the word, defile, much in our world today. It comes from the Greek word, koinoó, and means ceremonially defile, by treating what is sacred as common or ordinary*. Most of the behaviors listed we now call sin, that which separates us from God.  In a spiritual sense, such actions are like eating plants that make us sick or kill us—giving us sin-sick souls, as the song describes.

There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead

to heal the sinsick soul**.

The song was written to answer the question Jeremiah raised: Is there no balm in Giliead?

Is there no balm in Gilead?
   Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people
   not been restored? –Jeremiah 8:22

Of course, the answer is yes, there is a balm for sin, and yes, there is a physician who can and will restore all to wholeness. His name is Jesus, the Christ. But, unfortunately, we, humans, want to make everything more intricate and more complicated than Jesus set forth for us. Humans want to know the limits of how much we must love to meet the minimum requirement. Jesus places no boundaries on love.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for seeking in all the wrong places answers to the problems we face in this world. Infuse us with your love so that we might love one another. Amen

*https://biblehub.com/greek/2840.htm
**http://www.pateys.nf.ca/cgi-bin/lyrics.pl?hymnnumber=747

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.

Being Doers of the Word

Living in the Spirit

August 27, 2021

Scripture Reading:
James 1:17-27

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, ongoing away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. –James 1:22-27

The great thing about God is God created each of us with diverse skills and talents. These many attributes allow us to complement each other’s gifts as doers of the word resulting in wholeness, oneness, and justice for all God’s children. Diversity is sometimes messy. It requires us to love one another enough to recognize, enable, and celebrate our varied ways of serving God. Micah’s instruction, perhaps admonition, provides good guidance.  

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God? –Micah 6:8

I do not think one can intentionally be humble. Humility is a state of being that exists when one is truly at home with being the person God created them to be while fully appreciating the role of others in God’s scheme of life.

Prayer: Help us look for and appreciate the gifts of all people as we work together doing your word.  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.

Lights Removing the Shadows

Living in the Spirit

August 26, 2021

Scripture Reading:
James 1:17-27

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfilment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. –James 1:17-21

The scripture above is the only one I could find in the NRSV version of the Bible that calls God the Father of lights. Genesis tells us that God was the creator of light. The book of John describes and emphasizes Jesus as the Light of the World. God’s lights allow for no shadows—no gray areas.

We often find ourselves hiding in the shadows of our world. We do not want to acknowledge what we see but do not want to see. Isaiah 6:9 records God instructing Isiah to ‘Go and say to this people:

“Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.” Matthew 13 reports Jesus quoting Isaiah’s message and then saying to his disciples,  But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

Perhaps it is human nature to hide in the shadows. However, in times like we live in today, we must not only see what God is calling us to see, but we must also respond as conduits of God’s light to the world.

Prayer: Help us, O Lord, let our light shine as a reflection of your light. 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.

Mirroring Christ

Living in the Spirit

August 25, 2021

Scripture Reading: Psalm 15
O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
   Who may dwell on your holy hill?
Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,
   and speak the truth from their heart;
who do not slander with their tongue,
   and do no evil to their friends,
   nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;
in whose eyes the wicked are despised,
   but who honor those who fear the Lord;
who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
who do not lend money at interest,
   and do not take a bribe against the innocent.
Those who do these things shall never be moved.

There is only one Kingdom of God. While we have many understandings of God’s Kingdom, in the final analysis, all of God’s followers will be there together. I wonder why we do not invest more time and energy in learning to live together now in God’s Shalom?

The above Psalm is attributed to David. He outlines what God expects of us. Few of us can claim to walk blamelessly. I fear truth has lost its luster as we no longer know what to believe or who to believe.  Slander is commonplace. And the love of money still holds precedence in our world.

1 Peter 2:9 describes Christ-followers as being readily recognizable by our actions.

 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We need to remember that every action we take when we proclaim our alliance to Christ is perceived by others as reflections of Christ. Therefore, we must be very sure when we look at ourselves; we see Christ in our words and deeds.

Prayer: Clear our vision, O Lord, so that we see you in our behavior. 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.

The Search for Wholeness

Living in the Spirit

August 24, 2021

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9

So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you. You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’ For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?

But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—

I wonder if Moses ever dreamed that the laws he introduced to the Israelites could be interpreted in many ways. Indeed, progress over time has required a new understanding of the fundamentals of original rules. I remember reading somewhere, sorry I cannot document it, that in the strictest interpretation of work on the Sabbath, producing light and heat before electricity constituted work and therefore could not be done on the Sabbath. When electricity became available, it was necessary to determine if flipping a switch was work. Beyond progress, humans tend to bend laws to their desires and not their needs. We often do not recognize what we need because we focus so much on what we want.

Jesus came along centuries later and attempted to help us understand that ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’ (Mark 2:27–28) In our hectic world today, God is probably shocked when we take the time to withdraw from the clutter of our lives to be still and know that God is God. (See Psalm 46:10)

I just finished reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, the story of how Abraham Lincoln dealt with his intentionally selected diverse cabinet. It is an excellent book, by the way. I read it at an interesting time in our history where every move of the president and other leaders is scrutinized, criticized, and polled. The same thing was happening during the Civil War. The only difference was it took longer to spread the news via printed newspapers and telegraphed information. Truth than as now was bent to support differing political advantage.

The Deuteronomic warning above is apt: to take care and watch yourselves closely so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life. Jesus set as the foundation of the law to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves as the overriding rules.  

We need to remember that the Pharisees who led the charge against Jesus that led to his crucifixion felt sure they acted according to the law as they perceived it. Some would respond that Jesus had to die for our sins because they were so egregious. I cannot help wondering had we followed his way from the start, would not that have ushered in the Kingdom of God right then?

Prayer: Create in us clean hearts, O God, and put a new and right spirit within us. (See Psalm 51:10) 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.

The Importance of Hope

Living in the Spirit

August 23, 2021

Scripture Reading: Song of Solomon 2:8-13  
The voice of my beloved!
   Look, he comes,
leaping upon the mountains,
   bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle
   or a young stag.
Look, there he stands
   behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows,
   looking through the lattice.

My beloved speaks and says to me:
‘Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away;

for now the winter is past,
   the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
   the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtle-dove
   is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,

   and the vines are in blossom;
   they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away.

While reading this scripture, I was reminded of the works of Victor Frankl, a survivor of Auschwitz who taught us how to find the meaning of life drawn from his experience in the very depths of desperation.  He longed for the end of the winter in which he found himself. Two of his thoughts particularly struck me as relevant for a people striving to deal with loving our neighbors as we love ourselves amid a pandemic that does not discriminate who it attacks.

Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.

We face nothing as atrocious as the Holocaust. Yet, we serve the same God that Frankl and many others turned to from the hell of the camps. We can learn from their knowledge and recognize that our calling is to be responsible and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Prayer: 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.

Life is Difficult

Living in the Spirit

August 20, 2021

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 6:10-20

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak. –Ephesians 6:18-20

In these times of social media, discerning when to respond and when to keep silent, when to forward and when to let something lay fallow, and when to initiate is difficult. Although I innocently posted a correction I thought was a typo, I was blasted for being out of touch with reality. Part of the problem is the wide variety of people with whom I share comments. Groups help, but I surely do not want to ever step on anyone’s feelings. I also read some of the comments others have received and am appalled at the malice in some responses. Of course, there is always the choice of not following any social media, but I think we are called to be in the world and not of the world.

The scripture above, written in the first century BCE, seems tailor-made for our world today. Keeping in sync with the Spirit is always a good idea, including using the Spirit as a sounding board to help guide our information exchanges. While we may feel alone, we are never alone. Not only is the Spirit with us, but also all of God’s saints are with us, those striving to stay in line with the Spirit that we know and ones we do not know. We are called to persevere with them. Prayers for our faith leaders are always appropriate.

This quote is applicable.

“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” ― M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth

Prayer: Lord, teach me to love like Jesus, understand your expectations of us, and guide us in carrying them out. 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.