Tag Archives: Wholness

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Lent

March 29, 2022

Scripture Reading:
Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord,
   who makes a way in the sea,
   a path in the mighty waters,
who brings out chariot and horse,
   army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
   they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
Do not remember the former things,
  or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
   now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
   and rivers in the desert.
The wild animals will honor me,
   the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
   rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
   the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.

Change is constant. I copy and paste the scriptures I used in these posts, italicize them, and quote the source below. My computer notes grammatical and spelling errors, but I do not make corrections indicated for my quotes. I do not know the rule regarding changing the grammar in quotes, so I just do not change them. Mostly, they put commas where we no longer use them and recommend taking commas out when our rules indicate they are needed. These are usually trivial corrections but a comma in the wrong place can make a world of difference.

My sister and I were talking about etiquette changes that have occurred over time. When we were children, family members never held bridal or baby showers for a relative. It is common now. The men always passed through a buffet line first. Now children who need help filling their plates go first. I must admit I always still feel a little strange letting go of the old ways even when they make more sense.

In the Psalm above God instructs us in doing a new thing through God, letting God’s way guide ours. And that requires faith that God will provide for us in our times of need.

Prayer: Thank you Lord, for guiding us through the newness of 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.

Rust Removal

Living in the Spirit

May 26, 2021

Scripture Reading: Psalm 29

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
   the God of glory thunders,
   the Lord, over mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
   the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
   the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
   and Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
   the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. –Psalm 29:3-8

How do we visualize God in our minds? Do we personify God, seeing the image of a human perhaps sitting on a throne? Do we perceive God’s presence with no visual identity? Is God’s image in your mind’s eye that of a loving father or an angry ruler or both or something else? Read through the quote from Psalm 29 above and consider how the Psalmist identified the voice of God. Most of us live in areas that are threatened at some time each year with floods, tornados, hurricanes, fires, or volcanos. These forces are fully capable of destroying everything around them. Yesterday, I saw pictures of the damage hurricanes did during the last year in Honduras. The homes were splintered wood on the ground peppered here and there with a bedframe or broken table. Worse yet, their crops were ruined—their source of livelihood gone in a split second. The story was about a young man trekking to North American in search of work to feed his family. He was turned back at the Mexican border.

I do not think the Psalmist writes to scare us. The poem highlights that God is more powerful than all the frightening experiences of life. We most often forget that truth when our lives are going well, and we begin to focus our attention on what Paul would call the flesh or the enticements of the world. That results in our getting rusty in our relationship with God–that is no place to be.

During 2020, we were thrown into multiple experiences of turmoil. We are now trying to deal with the challenges of pandemics and societal realities like racism and poverty we do not want to admit exists. Before we can refocus our priorities on the ways of God, we have a lot of rust we need to remove. The wonderful thing about an all-powerful God is God is stronger than any rust we may have developed that separates us from God. Getting rid of it may be painful as we have grown rather attached to it. God promises that God’s love can make all things new, if we follow God’s wisdom.

Prayer: Lord, remove the rust from our faith and bring us to wholeness in your 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.

What Angers God?

Advent

December 18, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
   you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
   before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
   and come to save us!

Restore us, O God;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.

O Lord God of hosts,
   how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?

You have fed them with the bread of tears,
   and given them tears to drink in full measure.
You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
   our enemies laugh among themselves.

Restore us, O God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved. –Psalm 80:1-7

What prayers make God angry? I do not remember who said it but after the Oklahoma City bombing someone said, God was the first to cry after that terrible event. I knew immediately how right that person was. I do not think I have every seriously considered what prayers make God angry or even that God gets angry at our prayers but surely if God weeps at our disasters, he gets angry at our, what?

  • Demonstrating through our prayers our love for other gods over God. While this sometimes causes God to be dubbed as a jealous god, I rather think it is sad anger God experiences when we pray for something that is clearly bad for us.
  • The Psalms is full of prayers asking God to smit our enemies. That makes me think it is better for us to call on God to deal with enemies than to do it ourselves. God wants us to love our enemies even do good to them*. God may get angry if we do not do our part.
  • Blindness to truth evident in our prayers perhaps is a source of anger to God. God’s people are notorious for sticking our heads in the sand avoiding obvious things that harm God’s children and total creation.

What would you add to this list?

Prayer: Restore us, O God;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved. Amen

*See Luke 6:27-36

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.

Unbind Us, and Let Us Go

Lent
April 4, 2017

Scripture Reading: John 11:1-45

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’ –John 11:38-44

Was Jesus’ primary purpose in coming to earth to unbind us, and let us go now? It is often said upon the death of a person who has suffered grave illness or severe disability, God has freed them of their pain or disability. The Robe was the first movie I remember seeing. It is the fictional story of the Roman who won Jesus’ robe at his crucifixion.  The Roman is haunted by the robe and travels through the Christian world trying to be freed from its powers. In one scene, he comes upon a beautiful young woman playing a harp, although she could not walk because her legs were crippled. The young woman is at peace and joyously proclaims her faith in Jesus Christ. The Centurion challenges her that Jesus did not heal her for she was still crippled. To which she replied that he healed her of her bitterness and self-pity.

Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom of God is at hand. He does not see the world as others see it. Present at the creation, he knows the potential of the world and all that is in it, including we humans. His is a now and future Kingdom of which we are called as partners to bring it into full fruition. We see evil all around and grow discouraged from its power. John’s gospel does not let us get away with shaking in our boots. Jesus Christ not only unbound Lazarus to return him to his calling, he unbinds us still today if we open ourselves to following in his footstep.

Each day let us lay before God those things that are holding us back from being fully the persons God created us to be and open ourselves to God’s healing mercies as God unbinds us and sets us free.

Prayer: God thank you for your continuous presence with us. Fill the gaps in our lives that limit our responses, clean the filters in our minds that limit our love. Amen.

*See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Robe_(film)

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.