1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.
What does it mean to lay down your life for someone else? It might mean being willing to die for someone or for a cause you believe in.... that would certainly fit the criteria of what Jesus did. But perhaps it also is more subtle and more ordinary than that, as well.
Perhaps what is suggested in these two scriptures is that we are willing to 'go the distance' for one another. We are willing to support one another, rather than tear one another apart, for example. I have mentioned the Hunger Games before. The teen fight-to-the-death gladiator-style extravaganza in the popular book (now a movie) by Suzanne Collins. What if those kids had defied the expected norm and decided to go the distance, not for themselves or their district, but for one another? What if they all tried to SAVE one another, rather than kill one another?
I believe we all have opportunities to be life givers. We all have opportunities, big and small, to give all we are and all we have to the betterment of the world. Of course, we will all fail from time to time; we're only human. But look at the opportunities we have to give life abundantly every day.
Smile more.
Give more.
React with love and compassion.
We know that if we are to live like Christ, we must be willing to lay our whole lives down on the line for the God we believe in... and we must work continuously on our spiritual lives so that we might have the discipline to do that if required.... through community action, through civil protest, through speaking the truth in love. Sometime being a life giver is big and explosive.
But, not always...
I know some of the most life giving moments I have been a part of are the ones when someone does something completely unexpected that I needed at just the right time. A friend calls. An encouraging card arrives in the mail. A teenaged son gives me a hug and a smile. A play, movie, TV show or book moves me to 'good' tears. A bunny hops across the sidewalk. A dog licks my hand at church.
Life giving is all encompassing. It runs the spectrum from small and still to larger-than-life and dangerous. What life giving moments have come your way lately? What ways could you be a life giver to someone else?
Email me or click the comments link below.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Nourishment
Revelation 22:1-5
from Revelation 22... 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.
From Psalm 4...There are many who say, "O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O LORD!" You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine abound. I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety.
Sunday is Earth Day. Sunday is also Native American Ministry Sunday in the UMC. Both those events together made me realize that this week's topic should be about our relationship with all of creation and our Creator and the ways we have and have not been in right relationship.
I love the idea from Revelation that the new earth will have leaves of a tree that can heal the nations. Oh, if we could only see the power we have within ourselves and in God's created order to heal that which we have broken. If we could find those healing trees right now.
And the Psalmist speaks of gladness in our hearts more than when grain and wine abound... if we could seek that gladness in every stalk of grain and every grapevine.... and find the power within all of creation to nourish our souls and heal the brokenness we have created.
I actually love the idea of finding healing in nature and all of creation. I mean, we surely don't think that God only resides within the human heart, do we? Surely we know that God is in all of life.
Think for a minute about those rocks that contain glowing quartz and gems. Sometimes they must be cracked open and sometimes they must be polished and sanded, but they DO glow... why wouldn't we believe that is the outward and visible sign of the inward presence of God residing in them?
How about the northern lights? or lightning bugs? or electric eels? The spirit of God resides in all of created order. We all have potential to glow.... and therefore, we all have potential to heal. We all have the potential to nourish relationships and ways of living that lead to healing.
What can and should we do to heal the divisions our predecessors created with the Native peoples of this land? Our own town and church's namesake, Chief Niwot, after all, was killed in the gruesome massacre at Sand Creek....on the orders of a Methodist clergyman....
What can and should we do to nourish our lives and heal the brokenness we have created in our natural world? In our own lives? How can we seek redemption? Where do we find Christ's resurrection on the Earth and in God's creation?
Email me or comment below.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Commonwealth
Acts 4:32-35
This scripture has long been one of my favorites. I like it because it gets to the very essence of the Christian ethic (actually the ethic of most world religions)... care for and love one another. I also like it because it is subversive to our culture in modern America. If we read this scripture as a piece of legislation put forth by the Congress, many people would cry out "socialism" and theoretically that is correct.
The concept of putting all your resources into a community pool and taking out only what you need from it so that others who are needy can also pull from it is not a capitalist idea. But it is a beautiful one. What if we actually lived in a world where we didn't think that getting ahead was the best thing to do, but earning all we could so that we could help others was the best thing to do? Wow.
John Wesley has a quote attributed to him that I think fits here: "Gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can." Here is a link to a sermon John Wesley preached that addresses this entitled "The Use of Money".
Another great quote attributed to Wesley is: “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”
Both of these quotes embody the essence of the Acts text for today. If we are truly to follow in the footsteps of those who 'were of one heart and soul,' who 'claimed no private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common,' then we have to pool our resources, our time, our talents, our energies into spreading the message of Jesus. Not one of us can go it alone. We can't expect any one person in our congregation to be 'the one' who does 'the thing that needs doing.' We are all in it together.
And that includes developing a mindset surrounding financial outreach... giving of our resources to help those who won't be able, necessarily, to give to us financially in return. It includes developing a mindset of going out to make a difference in the world, but not for the purposes of getting more people in the seats on Sunday.
If we truly do become as these apostles did in Acts, giving of our whole selves and all that we have, then the blessings we receive in return, in whatever ways we choose to count them, will fill our cups to overflowing. And perhaps even our seats and our plates will overflow, too....
What are your thoughts surrounding this scripture and how it might 'live itself out' in current times? Email me or comment below.
This scripture has long been one of my favorites. I like it because it gets to the very essence of the Christian ethic (actually the ethic of most world religions)... care for and love one another. I also like it because it is subversive to our culture in modern America. If we read this scripture as a piece of legislation put forth by the Congress, many people would cry out "socialism" and theoretically that is correct.
The concept of putting all your resources into a community pool and taking out only what you need from it so that others who are needy can also pull from it is not a capitalist idea. But it is a beautiful one. What if we actually lived in a world where we didn't think that getting ahead was the best thing to do, but earning all we could so that we could help others was the best thing to do? Wow.
John Wesley has a quote attributed to him that I think fits here: "Gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can." Here is a link to a sermon John Wesley preached that addresses this entitled "The Use of Money".
Another great quote attributed to Wesley is: “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”
Both of these quotes embody the essence of the Acts text for today. If we are truly to follow in the footsteps of those who 'were of one heart and soul,' who 'claimed no private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common,' then we have to pool our resources, our time, our talents, our energies into spreading the message of Jesus. Not one of us can go it alone. We can't expect any one person in our congregation to be 'the one' who does 'the thing that needs doing.' We are all in it together.
And that includes developing a mindset surrounding financial outreach... giving of our resources to help those who won't be able, necessarily, to give to us financially in return. It includes developing a mindset of going out to make a difference in the world, but not for the purposes of getting more people in the seats on Sunday.
If we truly do become as these apostles did in Acts, giving of our whole selves and all that we have, then the blessings we receive in return, in whatever ways we choose to count them, will fill our cups to overflowing. And perhaps even our seats and our plates will overflow, too....
What are your thoughts surrounding this scripture and how it might 'live itself out' in current times? Email me or comment below.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The End.... Once Upon A Time
(NOTE: This blog is on a new site, through blogger.com. My old site, through Apple's MobileMe will be disappearing in June when iCloud eradicates MobileMe. Please continue to link to Give Me A (Left) Hand at this site.)
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Paul is speaking to the Corinthians about what I call the "resurrection legacy" in this text. He mentions all the people who have received the call, experienced the Resurrected Christ, and become apostles for Christ. Those who experienced resurrection in the days, months, and years post -Crucifixion and felt led to take the gospel to the ends of the earth
And so we find ourselves in that place this day. As people who call ourselves Christian, who come to church during Holy Week and on Easter Sunday, we have an obligation to be a part of the "resurrection legacy," too. What we do to move beyond the Resurrection Moments of our lives to spread the message of good news is a big deal.
We can't just come, sing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today,"eat some breakfast casserole, find an Easter egg, eat some candy and go home. Not as redeemed believers. Not as people who believe in the Way of Jesus. We must continue the story. We must become the legacy.
So, in some ways, the story of Jesus does end in the way of all stories. The crucifixion occurs. The tomb is sealed shut. The End.
But then, it begins again. With all those who saw Christ, in the breaking of bread, or the eating of supper on the seashore, or the touching of his wounds, those who saw this Christ and believed in the power of God. And that story continues even today, with Jesus entering all our lives in our own resurrection moments... we are creating a new story. And so we begin, "Once upon a time..."
What is your role in continuing the resurrection legacy? What part do you play in spreading the good news now, today?
Email me or comment below.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Paul is speaking to the Corinthians about what I call the "resurrection legacy" in this text. He mentions all the people who have received the call, experienced the Resurrected Christ, and become apostles for Christ. Those who experienced resurrection in the days, months, and years post -Crucifixion and felt led to take the gospel to the ends of the earth
And so we find ourselves in that place this day. As people who call ourselves Christian, who come to church during Holy Week and on Easter Sunday, we have an obligation to be a part of the "resurrection legacy," too. What we do to move beyond the Resurrection Moments of our lives to spread the message of good news is a big deal.
We can't just come, sing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today,"eat some breakfast casserole, find an Easter egg, eat some candy and go home. Not as redeemed believers. Not as people who believe in the Way of Jesus. We must continue the story. We must become the legacy.
So, in some ways, the story of Jesus does end in the way of all stories. The crucifixion occurs. The tomb is sealed shut. The End.
But then, it begins again. With all those who saw Christ, in the breaking of bread, or the eating of supper on the seashore, or the touching of his wounds, those who saw this Christ and believed in the power of God. And that story continues even today, with Jesus entering all our lives in our own resurrection moments... we are creating a new story. And so we begin, "Once upon a time..."
What is your role in continuing the resurrection legacy? What part do you play in spreading the good news now, today?
Email me or comment below.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)