Imagine....

Imagine what it would be like if those who sing "They'll know we are Christians by our love..." on Sunday morning acted with love towards their fellow-men  the rest of the week, even those they disagree with or who live or look differently than they do.  Love does not dishonor others...

Imagine that those who say they have total faith in God left the political process alone, and trusted Him to choose our leaders, rather than ranting and raving about politics, supposedly in the name of Christ.   Love is not self-seeking; it is not easily angered.  Or imagine if they would stop yelling that we are a 'Christian nation' and would vote in a way that made us look like one; protecting those who are in need, caring for those who have less than we have, whether it be in material goods or in other ways that they need our care.

Imagine if we put our Love where our mouths are, and our tweets and messages and posts and words always reflected Christ's love in us.  If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

Imagine political ads that did not lie, did not brag, did not blast the opponent, but  doled out hope for the future.  Love keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

Imagine if we were committed to living the love of 1Corinthians 13 in the same manner that the great Olympic athletes are committed to their sport. Love always perseveres.

Imagine if we all lived in true non-violence, not allowing weapons of violence in our lives and home, whether in virtual or real form.  Love is always kind... love does not retaliate.

Imagine that our churches are as attentive and supportive of the people who walk through the doors, and who do not, as they are of their traditions.  For where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. But Love never fails.

What I see around me, and I am mostly surrounded by those who claim the Christian life, does not always reflect love. Sometimes, I just have to Imagine....

Flower Moon

I confess that I have been fretting and worrying lately. I have the quite wrong notion that I am able to control life by worrying about it, I think. Of course, I know better, but I often forget. Sometimes God reminds me in lovely ways that He is in charge. Tonight there was a full moon, the closest this year to the earth. The news called it a "Super Moon." The Algonquin name for the May full moon is the "flower moon,' and I prefer that name.

I went outside and photographed the moon from my yard, coming up over our old trees. It was as big as it could be, and feeling very close to the tippy-tops of my trees. It reminded me of the verse I learned as a child: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." (Genesis 8:22) It has always been one of my favorite verses, especially when I feel like life's events are spinning out of my control. It reminds me that Someone is in control, and that the moon will keep shining, as will the sun, and seasons will come and go without my having to program them or fret them into being.

The moon is lovely and bright here in Colorado. I'm sure if you look up, you will find that it is lovely and bright and that it will continue to shine where you are, as well.

Thank you, Lord, for this Flower Moon, and the for reminder it is of your control over our seasons and our world.

There but for God's grace...

In the past week there have been several tragedies in my community that I am indirectly concerned with. A young man was murdered, for an unknown reason, and he was a friend of my dear friend's son. So my friend's family is deeply grieved and mystified.

On last night's news I heard that a homeless man was found dead, having drowned in a culvert. He had been 'heavily inebriated.' I knew this man briefly. He came to my door one day, distraught and wanting me to make a phone call for him for help. I made the call, and sat with him on the porch, as we drank a cool drink of water together and waited for his help to arrive. He was a quiet, seemingly gentle man. He also seemed to be very intelligent, educated, but overwhelmed by life. He had family in the area, and seemed to be homeless by choice. Our conversation only lasted half an hour or a bit longer, but I felt a connection to him. I have also felt overwhelmed by life, and felt a 'there but for the grace of God go I' reaction. I have prayed for him since that day last summer. So it was a shock and a source of great sadness to hear the news of his death and the sad circumstances that surrounded it. He had expressed a determination to keep away from substance abuse when we visited, and the call he had me make was to someone who would help him keep that resolve.

In both of these situations, there is a sense of having failed. My friend expressed to me that her son, and her whole family, wondered if they had done something differently, would the young man who was murdered still be alive. And I wonder, with the death of the homeless man, should or could I have done more for him than just pray for him? I truly don't know the answer to those questions, but I do feel that we have an obligation, a commitment, to the people around us. Jesus taught us that in the parable of the good Samaritan.

At this point, we can just grieve for these two men. But maybe that grief will, at least for a time, cause us to be more attentive to the people around us, to really attend to them; to see them and hear them and to see if they have needs we can help meet; to try to understand why God put them in our path, and to discover if there is a purpose in our interactions with them. We can attempt to be God's servants in our relationships, not just with those we are close to, but with each person we come in contact with. Who knows where that would take us, or what it would require of us? But I am sure it is how God wants us to live.

Need a Hero?

 

Ferdinand, who chose the Better Way

Wherever I turn for heroes these days, I am confronted with glock-wielding, explosion-happy, blood-curdling violence. Why do we admire those who create more fear and promote a Might is Right dogma? The violent way is the easy way. The hard way, the narrow path Jesus encouraged us to take,  is always the way that leads to peace and to love of those around us.

In His life on earth, Jesus told the story of a Samaritan who helped a Jew. They should have been natural enemies, but the 'enemy' was treated with kindness and respect. I don't know what others take from that parable, but I take a way of behaving that would always promote a heroic action of love in dealing with our fellow men, no matter who they are or in what situation we find them.

My Jesus is a pacifist. When those who would (and ultimately, did) do Him harm came to take him with force and violence, He reacted peacefully, even taking a sword from Peter, who wanted to react in the more common human way. Being the commander of an army of angels, He did not call on them to defend and protect Him, though He could have done so. Can you even imagine Jesus pulling a handgun from the folds of His robe in the Garden of Gethsemane, and saying, "Make my day!"?

So why, when we look for heroes, do we look to those who can carry the biggest weapons and blow the biggest holes in their enemies? Why do we not turn for our heroes to those who refused to return violence for the mistreatment they received? Why do we not lift up those who knew what Jesus meant when He said to 'turn the other cheek,' or to "love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you"? Why do those who can get so up in arms about abortion (which is something to get up in arms about) not get upset when those children are born, and raised in violence, and sent off to war to kill and be killed?

We need some heroes who will lead us and our children in the ways of peace. If we cannot learn to overlook our disagreements and differences, both in this country and in the world, and live with each other reacting and acting in loving and peaceful ways, we cannot help but continue on the path we are on; one that will lead  to a world none of us wish to see.

"Every war is both won and lost, and that loss is a pure high note of anguish, like a mother singing to an empty bed. No kind of bomb ever built will extinguish hatred." Barbara Kingsolver

Need a Hero? Go here to see who these are...

Note: I just looked back and see that many of my past posts are about peace. I don't think I will apologize for that, but I do have my reasons. I am still weaving the Peace tapestry commission. And also, I truly am concerned when all of the 'heroes' I see promoted, even in church situations, are those who have embraced violence in some way. How can I keep from begging us all to rethink our own actions and even whom we memorialize?

All we need is Love...... Love does not do harm to those around it.

Prince of Peace

Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of councel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord....

And the wolf will dwell with the Lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together,
And a little child will lead them...

They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.

from Isaiah 11

I am convinced that if all came to truly know the Prince of Peace, there would be peace on earth. If we learned to honor His teachings; to love our neighbors and our enemies, to do good and never evil to those whose lives we touch, then could we sleep in heavenly peace at this time of the year and all other times, as well.

This year, I continue to pray for Peace. Peace in the world of chaos and violence. Peace in our country, in our towns and our neighborhoods. Peace in our homes and families. And the Peace that passes our understanding to reign in all our hearts.

Merry Christmas. Thanks be to God for sending to earth the Prince of Peace.

Ho, ho, Holy giving....

Nicholas of Myra, who inspired our own tradition of Santa Claus, once learned of a family that was going to sell their three daughters into slavery to keep from starving. Stealthily, he took three bags of gold and threw them through the family's window to pay the ransom for the girls' freedom. This, and other secret gifts he gave the poor, are the basis for the gift-giving we do at this time each year. However, though there are still 1.2 million children trafficked each year in the global sex trade, we often choose to gift those who are in need of very little.

Look around you as you shop this season. Can you help any of those who could truly use your help? Even if you just make a secret pledge between yourself and God to not pass by a red bucket without putting something in it so your wealth can be put to work for others, that would be more in keeping with the true intent of the season than the shopping and giving we usually do. There are many places you can gift that will be of service to those in need if you are not comfortable gifting the needy directly. Let us be inspired by those who give Love for the right reasons this season, by those such as the original Nicolas, who gave because they love the true Giver. The man we see in the fake beard and the red suit is, after all, a very poor imitation of what the season and celebration is truly about.


"There is no improving the future without disturbing the present."
Catherine Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army

Blessed....

This is the completed lower border of the right side tapestry for the Nativity church commission I am working on. The elements in it are a bunch of grapes, the "Peace" banner, and a dove.

The bunch of grapes refers to our community, with Christ and with each other. Christ said He is the vine, and we are the branches. We are to bear fruit to stay alive. The fruits of the Spirit are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. Things to strive towards, and to check our lives for frequently. (Notice that I said we're to check our own lives for them, not everybody else's lives.) We are not on the branches alone, however, and these fruits need to be born in community with others. That is the tough part! The bunch of grapes doesn't have just one big juicy grape on it that is me. My grape must rub up against a whole bunch of other grapes!

The Peace banner is very important to me. I believe all followers of Christ are to be Peacemakers, because He is a Peacemaker. When asked about how to treat our enemies, He said to turn the other cheek, and to love our enemies. He did not say to go to war and bomb them. That is the difference between worldly 'wisdom' and spiritual wisdom. James says,

"... the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace." (James 3:17, 18)

Sounds a bit like the fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5, doesn't it? James 4 goes on to talk about where wars, fights, and murder come from. They do not come from the peaceful Spirit of God. I find it hard to swallow when a christian says things that show he or she is supportive of any war, just as I would find it hard to believe a true follower of the Peacemaker would be supportive of any form of murder. I have often heard military members praised for being willing to 'give their lives' for others and their country, but what goes unsaid is that they are also expected to be willing to take the lives of others for their country. As a Peacemaker, how can I support that?

I know I will be controversial in saying these things, in today's world. Christ was controversial when he said to love our enemies, too. But I am a pacifist because I am a follower of the One who came to show us how to live in Peace.

The final element on this border is the dove. It symbolizes both the dove of Peace, and the Spirit, who manifested as a dove when Christ was baptized.

"Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." Matthew 5:9

May your life be blessed.... May you live in Peace.