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Posts Tagged ‘love’

Mere Mortals

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

That’s me still: acting like a mere mortal. Basic. Common. Plain. Simple. I’m working on the complicated stuff, but truth is truth and I’m still displaying mere mortal signs: jealousy and quarreling to name two.

I Corinthians 3:3
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men [and women]?

Are there really people out there who don’t quarrel and behave jealously? Are they able to let go of what they want and allow the other person to have it? Are they able to let go of control? Are they able to state their opinion without an attitude, without demand, without guile? Can they trust unequivocally? Can they rejoice with those who have more, deserved or undeserved?

What is the opposite of a mere mortal? I assume it’s a saint? I’ve always had trouble with that label. Peppered throughout the New Testament, it’s a way of referring to the devoted and the believers. It’s more than just being “nice” or “kind” or “good.” A saint is a position of holiness. Some denominations set aside the “really” good ones and put their stories through all kinds of tests and research to qualify them, canonize them, and then broadcast them. And yet, Paul seems to use the word more blithely: believers as saints, followers as saints, beloved as saints, dead believers as saints.

It’s easier to find evidence that I’m a mere mortal than it is to find evidence that I’m a saint. Maybe today, eh? Maybe today I can declare it my “saint’s day.”

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Deep Things of God

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

How do we know? Isn’t it highly presumptuous to imagine I can actually know the deeper things of God? The answer: I can’t know, except in one regard, the mystery of a Redeemer given for humankind . . . given for me.

I Corinthians 2:10
” . . . but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

So many mysteries in our world: some live while others die; some are weak while others are strong; some are rich while others are poor; and some are sensitized to the Spirit while others are not.

Why did it all make sense to me back in 1979? Why did words/ideas from the Bible suddenly jump out to me that day and speak to my inner being? I stepped over the line from unbelief to belief. At first it made no sense and the next day it did. My inner eye was opened. My mind was reset. My spirit found connection.

That place is the first step toward the deep things of God. That was my first mystery revealed. I couldn’t answer any of those other questions for anyone else. I only knew that moment was real for me. I encountered a real God: a real Spirit.

Where is reality? For my work, I just read a book that received the 2009 Printz Award for distinction in young adult literature called Going Bovine by Libba Bray. It’s not a particularly easy book to read nor is it particularly spiritual. But there is a current of thought through it about the world within. The boy is quite ill with Creuzfeld Jakob’s disease (Mad Cow disease) and is confined to a hospital bed and mostly unconscious. During that time, he lives through a great adventure, a quest. Was it real?

And so it is with the deep things of God. These things are also real and beyond our three dimensional understanding of time and space. We must let go to know. We must let go to live that bigger life within.

That which is redeemed is within.

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Unity Isn’t Uniformity

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Unity, like love, requires consciousness and choice. We will never always agree. Like the old cliche of “pick your battles” with one’s kids, the same is true for the body of Christ. Not every disagreement requires the drawing up of sides and the raising of battle flags. I suppose a better word for unity is compromise or even love.

I Corinthians 1:10b
. . . that there be no dissensions or factions or divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your common understanding and in your opinions and judgments.

I would say my closest friend is Kathy. We have known each other almost 40 years (age hint). Historically, I have been the conservative one and she the more liberal one. We don’t agree on everything by a long shot, but we know each other and we trust each other and as a result, we respect each other. And so, yes, we are in unity. We don’t live close by and we don’t talk every day, but when we do connect, it’s meaningful. We share deeply and we share honestly. When we disagree, we speak it, but we know that no disagreement is powerful enough to divide our hearts. We anticipate growing old together, 21st century Golden Girls.

But every relationship is not so easy. There are people who have put me under the microscope and nothing I say or do seems right to them. I am suspect and therefore, I am a challenge. There are people, I’m sorry to say, to whom I have done the same thing. My expectation is that they will behave badly and when they do, I am not surprised. Who knows if they behave well, I’m not looking for that. In neither of these cases is unity possible. Even though there is no outright hostility and on the surface everything seems fine, the inner turmoil is fraught with misery.

We will never be all the same. It’s not the way our creative God works. Everything in nature is about uniqueness. It is putting uniqueness together that makes a new “whole.” We each bring our special something to the table.

I can remember when Mike and I used to attend pitch-in suppers at our old church in Atlanta. Most of the cooks brought fried chicken, southern-style green beans, cole slaw, and mashed potatoes. I brought hummus and tabouli. I don’t need to tell you what was barely touched. It’s not that it wasn’t good, but it was outside the box for a church supper, at least back then. Most people wouldn’t even try it.

Each person’s personality has a little tabouli or baba ghanoush in it. Unity comes from tasting … trying … accepting … loving.

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Just Waiting

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Waiting for the second coming is really no different than waiting for answered prayer. They both require faith and an active participation in the waiting process.

I Corinthians 1:5, 7
For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge . . . Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

Like the servant who has grown lazy because the Master has tarried and therefore, the servant chooses to act dishonorably, so could our situation be if we are not faithful [Matthew 24:50].

Waiting is not easy.

So often, we use the length of the waiting period as an excuse for all kinds of bad choices and bad behavior. I know how angry I become when I’m waiting for someone. I keep checking my watch and with each minute beyond the expected time, I become more and more aggravated. And why? Because it’s all about me. I’ve made the delay a direct affront on me and my so-called precious time. (And yet, I myself run late on a regular basis — and unfortunately, it’s for the same reason: it’s all about me! What I am doing in the moment has become more important than arriving on time. That’s inexcusable really and as I write it, I am embarrassed.)

So, my first correction must be a personal one. Part of my “waiting” for Christ needs to be other-focused. Some people refer to this as “my witness,” which means my behavior should reflect and edify my Leader, my Boss, my Lord, and my God. We are asked to do this in the business world all the time. When we are out in public, we represent our companies or other organizations. Is this any different? It’s part of the “rules of engagement” that we agree to when we enter into relationships.

Whether it’s a marriage or a family, a neighborhood or a company, a church or a club, we reflect the make-up of that group by our behaviors and style.

Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

This is the key to waiting. So simple.

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Working Hard

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

What does this look like . . . working hard “in the Lord?” I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday. I’m thinking the essence lies in the word sacrifice – a sacrifice of time and energy.

Romans 16:12
Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

Truthfully, there isn’t much we can “give” to God since everything we have is gift from God already. Except for time. Granted, time is also part of God’s creation, and yet, we have free will in our use of time. It cannot be repaid and it cannot be controlled. Time marches on. Time is the qualifier to all of our lives. Time is our ultimate measuring stick.

How do I use my time?

To work hard within the constraints of the time given to me is, according to Paul, worthy of acknowledgment. The time I give to the things of God has more value than the time I give to anything else.

To work hard in the Lord then means I use my time for God. There are no surprises here: prayer (in all of its forms); helping the poor, widows & orphans; practicing koinonia with other believers; sharing our story (our witness); studying; teaching; and loving the unlovely.

Working hard in the Lord is not setting up church programs or retreats, cooking and serving a ladies’ luncheon, practicing skits, or building a building.

Instead, working hard is going against the easy way. Working hard is the way of the seed in soil or the caterpillar in its chrysalis. Working hard is transformation.

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Accept What Is

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Opposites. Either I judge others quickly, forgetting I am equally fallen; or, I wash over reality because I want everything to be smooth sailing. (Don’t rock the boat.) Both ways are problematic and reflect denial.

Romans 15:7
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Paul writes that we must accept one another but the acceptance must be based on truth. It’s not about accepting someone as we “wish” he or she might be (eventually) but accepting what is really there. That’s not particularly easy if the person is difficult.

I confess, I withhold a lot of my acceptance of others based on their behaviors. I accept them “up to a point,” but not really. And yet, Christ accepted me right where I was 30 years ago: alcoholic, drug-dependent, crass, slovenly, and immoral. Jesus did not wait until I got my act together or became approachable. I was book smart but Bible naive. I didn’t know I needed a savior. I didn’t believe I needed anyone.

The stories of Jesus show his ability to accept others over and over again. It’s one of the reasons the Pharisees and “teachers of the law” chastised him: eating and drinking with sinners. Jesus allowed himself to touch, listen, and understand others who were immersed in sin but was confident in the Spirit of the Father within to keep him centered and whole. Jesus knew Himself.

Historically, I have been a bit of a chameleon and unconscious mimic. When I lived in the South for a few years, I developed a pretty strong southern accent, just by sheer exposure. When my kids bring home slang from school, I find myself incorporating it into my daily language without effort. I am too much like a sponge.

One of my favorite illustrations of this phenomenon was years ago when I had my first real “day job” in an advertising agency accounting pool back in Chicago. Thirty women sat in rows of desks with calculators and piles of paper. Initially, I was the oddball, the hippie in my colorful clothes and wire-rimmed glasses who mocked those girls for talking every day about their dinners the night before and what they watched on television. A year later, I had become one with them. I was talking recipes, husbands, television soaps, and vacations. I had acclimated and conformed to the daily norm. It was a type of acceptance, but not the one that Jesus proposes.

It’s not about fitting in. It’s about being strong in heart.

Accepting others comes from within. Accepting others, based on truth, requires an honest assessment of oneself first, then others. Accepting others is a kindness, a type of love. Accepting others is inclusive. Accepting others gives permission for that person to simply “be.” Accepting others allows for differences.

Today, I know, I will be challenged to accept others. Keep me centered in order to be fully present in the reality of others. Keep my heart open and yet fully infused with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God.

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Freedom in Faith

Posted in Feast Days and Holy Days, Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 28, 2010| 2 Comments »

What is allowed: much more than I used to believe. My faith in God has grown exponentially and with that expansion, so has the umbrella of God’s grace grown in like manner.

Romans 14:22a, 23b
Your personal convictions [on such matters]–exercise [them] as in God’s presence. . . For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin [whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful]. [Amplified]

This passage is full of personal freedom as long as faith is the foundation. Too many Christians have browbeaten one another into believing in a very small and narrow God who is watching and waiting for the followers to step out of line. I don’t think so anymore.

In my last Bible Study class, one of the participants said her family calls these rules the “makey-uppies” and I agree with her 100 percent. Like the Pharisees of old, many start making up additional interpretations of the law to keep the road as narrow as possible. Perhaps the scriptures about the way being narrow [Matthew 7:13-14] have caused believers to create a tiny, tiny door for faith. And as they squeeze through, they pat themselves on the back for being so narrow.

Here’s a better picture: the narrow way is more like the Tardis from the stories of Doctor Who. On the outside, his vehicle looks quite small, only as big as a British style phone booth, but once inside, it’s expansive and full of rooms and possibilities. This is the way of Jesus.

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