Luke 6:27-38
Active commitment on behalf of the other, when the other is an enemy who hates you is challenging.
But that is the test of our living of Agape Love. When we only commit to those who please us, care for us and benefit us we are living empire rules of quid pro quo and not the Kingdom values of unconditional love.
If you believe at all in Grace, then you must be gracious. If you believe at all in God's mercy for you, then you must be merciful to others, regardless of their merit or deserving, status or worthiness. If you want to receive mercy and Grace, you must be willing to be merciful and gracious with others.
It's good karma. The measure you give will be the measure you get back. While some regard this teaching as a reason to tithe in the hopes that their cosmic ATM machine will pay off, a priming of the supernatural spiritual pump, it clearly has nothing to do with that. The context here is around Forgiveness and Judgment.
If you judge others, you will be judged. If you refuse to forgive, you will not be forgiven. Elsewhere we read and have said the words, "forgive us our trespasses AS WE forgive those who trespass against us." "Do not judge" is an imperative - a command. What we give in forgiveness and/or in judgment we will receive, "A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap..."
What are we putting out in the world around us - in the world in which we live?
Whatever it is that we put out there creates that environment in which we must live.
If we want to live in a gracious, merciful place, we must put grace and mercy out there.
It ain't easy. It is much better for us and for all around us, however, when we live that out there.
Agape Love is difficult, especially because we've been taught our whole lives to live within empire values based on status, merit and quid pro quo interactions in society. Empire values are designed to benefit the few over the many and especially to divide some who believe themselves better than others from all the rest. It breeds division, poverty, injustice, oppression and usually violence. It causes people, families, communities and societies to be torn apart. Agape Love wipes out the false and divisive critera and demands equality, equitable treatment and gracious mercy in how we live with one another. It is a better way. It is THE WAY of Jesus.
Agape Love is sustainable. It promotes life because it promotes community - life together. It means that we would not more want harm to come to the other than we would want harm to come to ourselves. It means that all receive the best of the others around them because all are giving their best to one another, regardless of differences. Politically, economically, ecclesiastically and socially we have been conditioned for many years (especially since 1981) to embrace empire values in our nation, but the Good News of Jesus offered an alternative in a very similar context under the oppression of Rome. That alternative is still viable if we would only embrace it as OUR WAY. It is the only way for us to have a future as a people and a world.
To follow Jesus means that we live what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, as we have that witnessed in the Gospels. Jesus' Way means living Agape Love with one another, even when it's hard. It also calls us to the accountability and the hope that "the measure you give is the measure you will get back."
What do you want to receive from others? Put THAT out in the world around you for them. That alone sustains life, and alone is our salvation.
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Sunday, February 17, 2019
"When the glory comes, it'll be ours..."
Thank you, John Legend.
The author of Luke's Gospel gave me a tremendous gift. Rather than "spiritualize" and therefore obfuscate the transformation to come when God's Will IS done on earth as in heaven, the author of Luke/Acts put it plainly (6:17-26) in a vision of how God will turn around the injustices suffered under empire.
Being poor causes one to be poor in spirit. Not having what you need to sustain your life while seeing all around you the obscene wealth of others and how the 1% live their oppulent lifestyles multiplies one's lack of well-being. God says that the poor are blessed in the Kingdom and that it will be turned around. Those who are poor now will inherit the Kingdom and those who are wealthy now have already received all that they will. The redistribution will come and the systems that rewarded the ruthlessly greedy will be torn apart.
Make no mistake - those who are hungry now hunger and thirst for righteousness. Watching their children remain hungry, even starve while others in the world throw away food and hoard it until it rots leads one to cry out for righteousness to be restored in the world. Empire provides more for the already bloated and demands more of those who are already starving so that they may have it. God's will has no room for that, and in Luke Jesus promises that those hungry now will be filled and those who are full now will know the hunger they have suffered under empire.
The tears of God's children come because they mourn the losses they have suffered of dignity, equality, justice and hope. Those who have had it all stripped away weep because they are stuck in their current state as those who have put them in it laugh and smugly go through life. But those laughing now under empire's insidious inequities will later weep for all that they have lost, but more- for the deficits in their souls that led them to believe they were entitled to be privileged above others who are children of God.
The marginalized, scapegoated, disenfranchised who are recipients of ethnocentrism, classism, racism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, religiophobia and nationalism are loved by God and will receive from the Kingdom of God the restoration of their respect and equality. They will have equitable treatment in the Kingdom as it comes. Those who are privileged now for no real reason, but are given merit only for what they look like, who they love, what faith they practice or where they were born or what they were born into, and who promote and promulgate the arbitrary distinctions that benefit themselves over others will be counted among the reprobates of the past.
Yes, PLEASE!
Enough of this insanity that divides!
Turn it around, Lord! In fact, turn it on its head!
Re-distribute the wealth so that all have enough!
End the hatreds that insanely hurt many of your children!
Reverse the elitist norms that have been created to benefit the unscrupulous, ruthless few over the rest of the world!
THY KINGDOM COME. THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN.
PLEASE!
NOW!
How can I help?
Pastor Jamie
The author of Luke's Gospel gave me a tremendous gift. Rather than "spiritualize" and therefore obfuscate the transformation to come when God's Will IS done on earth as in heaven, the author of Luke/Acts put it plainly (6:17-26) in a vision of how God will turn around the injustices suffered under empire.
Being poor causes one to be poor in spirit. Not having what you need to sustain your life while seeing all around you the obscene wealth of others and how the 1% live their oppulent lifestyles multiplies one's lack of well-being. God says that the poor are blessed in the Kingdom and that it will be turned around. Those who are poor now will inherit the Kingdom and those who are wealthy now have already received all that they will. The redistribution will come and the systems that rewarded the ruthlessly greedy will be torn apart.
Make no mistake - those who are hungry now hunger and thirst for righteousness. Watching their children remain hungry, even starve while others in the world throw away food and hoard it until it rots leads one to cry out for righteousness to be restored in the world. Empire provides more for the already bloated and demands more of those who are already starving so that they may have it. God's will has no room for that, and in Luke Jesus promises that those hungry now will be filled and those who are full now will know the hunger they have suffered under empire.
The tears of God's children come because they mourn the losses they have suffered of dignity, equality, justice and hope. Those who have had it all stripped away weep because they are stuck in their current state as those who have put them in it laugh and smugly go through life. But those laughing now under empire's insidious inequities will later weep for all that they have lost, but more- for the deficits in their souls that led them to believe they were entitled to be privileged above others who are children of God.
The marginalized, scapegoated, disenfranchised who are recipients of ethnocentrism, classism, racism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, religiophobia and nationalism are loved by God and will receive from the Kingdom of God the restoration of their respect and equality. They will have equitable treatment in the Kingdom as it comes. Those who are privileged now for no real reason, but are given merit only for what they look like, who they love, what faith they practice or where they were born or what they were born into, and who promote and promulgate the arbitrary distinctions that benefit themselves over others will be counted among the reprobates of the past.
Yes, PLEASE!
Enough of this insanity that divides!
Turn it around, Lord! In fact, turn it on its head!
Re-distribute the wealth so that all have enough!
End the hatreds that insanely hurt many of your children!
Reverse the elitist norms that have been created to benefit the unscrupulous, ruthless few over the rest of the world!
THY KINGDOM COME. THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN.
PLEASE!
NOW!
How can I help?
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, February 10, 2019
With Whom and For What will YOU Stand?
It takes effort.
It's ok to have feelings around things, events, conditions, injustices or tragedies, but of what good is that if a person does nothing through which to make a positive effect?
It takes effort.
But if we are going to make effort to affect positive change, we must be clear regarding our identification with and commitment for those involved.
So, with whom and for what will you stand?
With regard to economic injustice and the disparities in income and opportunity it represents, with whom will you stand? Will you stand for those who have the most and work to hold onto much more than they need and obtain even more, or with those who are left with little or nothing, and certainly not enough in order to live well or pursue their hopes and dreams?
With regard to racial injustice and the inequities suffered by our sisters and brothers of other than majority of power ethnicities, with whom will you stand? Will you stand for everyone living free of acts of hatred, discrimination and systemic prejudice or will you stand for those who have and want to have the freedom to act on their bigotries?
With regard to injustices to women in the world and the holding down, back and out, even the violence against and legislative oppression of women regarding their ability to make choices for themselves and get equal employment and pay for equal work, with whom will you stand? Will you stand with those who believe misogyny is normative and therefore perfectly fine, or with those who recognize that injustice against them affects all of us?
With regard to the intolerance of those who practice non-Christian faiths or no faith, with whom will you stand? Will you stand for those who believe all should be coerced into practicing one faith or recognizing only one faith as the only legitimate faith, even legislating that in our land, or with those whose spiritual unity in difference is not only not intolerant but is rather celebratory of different faith and non-faith expressions?
With regard to the right of a person to love who they love and have equal rights as loving adults in our society, with whom will you stand? Will you stand with those who are "straight and narrow" regarding loving norms and practices or with those who understand and accept that though they do not understand another's orientation, yet still that orientation is normal and valid for them?
I KNOW you have an opinion on these issues and the people they represent.
I KNOW you do!
I would suggest that your words and actions reflect with whom you stand in the world. I would further suggest that your silence reflects that as well.
Standing is acting on behalf of people who reflect a perspective and commitment.
Speaking, writing, demonstrating is action on behalf of other people and oneself, whether for a whole ideology or one issue.
Sitting has a message of its own. Silence speaks volumes about the person sitting within it.
Not standing or speaking and not addressing actively the issues or those affected by them is an action
reflecting one's commitment or lack of commitment to others around her/him/them.
The Jesus of the Gospels took sides. Jesus, according to the Gospel writers, stood with those most vulnerable, the downtrodden and powerless. Jesus stood up to the elite, the powerful, the ruthlessly wealthy and intolerant of empire. Jesus applied Agape Love to the world - active commitment on behalf of the well-being of the other, even stranger or enemy and especially the most vulnerable.
Do you stand with Jesus and for those who Jesus loves? Do you stand for their well-being?
If not with Jesus and for Agape Love, with whom DO you stand and for what?
Pastor Jamie
It's ok to have feelings around things, events, conditions, injustices or tragedies, but of what good is that if a person does nothing through which to make a positive effect?
It takes effort.
But if we are going to make effort to affect positive change, we must be clear regarding our identification with and commitment for those involved.
So, with whom and for what will you stand?
With regard to economic injustice and the disparities in income and opportunity it represents, with whom will you stand? Will you stand for those who have the most and work to hold onto much more than they need and obtain even more, or with those who are left with little or nothing, and certainly not enough in order to live well or pursue their hopes and dreams?
With regard to racial injustice and the inequities suffered by our sisters and brothers of other than majority of power ethnicities, with whom will you stand? Will you stand for everyone living free of acts of hatred, discrimination and systemic prejudice or will you stand for those who have and want to have the freedom to act on their bigotries?
With regard to injustices to women in the world and the holding down, back and out, even the violence against and legislative oppression of women regarding their ability to make choices for themselves and get equal employment and pay for equal work, with whom will you stand? Will you stand with those who believe misogyny is normative and therefore perfectly fine, or with those who recognize that injustice against them affects all of us?
With regard to the intolerance of those who practice non-Christian faiths or no faith, with whom will you stand? Will you stand for those who believe all should be coerced into practicing one faith or recognizing only one faith as the only legitimate faith, even legislating that in our land, or with those whose spiritual unity in difference is not only not intolerant but is rather celebratory of different faith and non-faith expressions?
With regard to the right of a person to love who they love and have equal rights as loving adults in our society, with whom will you stand? Will you stand with those who are "straight and narrow" regarding loving norms and practices or with those who understand and accept that though they do not understand another's orientation, yet still that orientation is normal and valid for them?
I KNOW you have an opinion on these issues and the people they represent.
I KNOW you do!
I would suggest that your words and actions reflect with whom you stand in the world. I would further suggest that your silence reflects that as well.
Standing is acting on behalf of people who reflect a perspective and commitment.
Speaking, writing, demonstrating is action on behalf of other people and oneself, whether for a whole ideology or one issue.
Sitting has a message of its own. Silence speaks volumes about the person sitting within it.
Not standing or speaking and not addressing actively the issues or those affected by them is an action
reflecting one's commitment or lack of commitment to others around her/him/them.
The Jesus of the Gospels took sides. Jesus, according to the Gospel writers, stood with those most vulnerable, the downtrodden and powerless. Jesus stood up to the elite, the powerful, the ruthlessly wealthy and intolerant of empire. Jesus applied Agape Love to the world - active commitment on behalf of the well-being of the other, even stranger or enemy and especially the most vulnerable.
Do you stand with Jesus and for those who Jesus loves? Do you stand for their well-being?
If not with Jesus and for Agape Love, with whom DO you stand and for what?
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Faith is Love in Action
Faith requires action. We act on our faith. In what do you believe and trust? What is the source of your well-being? What provides your standard for living your life? Within what do you "live and move and have (your) being"?
My faith is in Jesus and His Good News as a better way in which to live in THIS PART of God's Kingdom, here and now. I believe it is God's Will for humanity. I believe living Jesus' taught, commanded and modeled Agape Love is that Good News because it transforms lives and the life of community and ultimately humanity.
Agape Love is active commitment/committed action on behalf of the OTHER, even stranger or enemy (see Luke 10:25-37) and especially the most vulnerable (see Matthew 25:31-46). It is not about feeling, but about DOING. Jesus, fulfiller of the Law and Prophets commands us to live this love for God in active unconditional, self-sacrificing love for Neighbor. We will live Agape Love in the world around us if we believe in Jesus and His Way of Agape Love and trust that it is God's Will for us.
Prayer changes us. It acknowledges our relationship with the one who is immanent but transcendant. It holds us accountable in that relationship and with our neighbors. It transforms our hearts and leads us to actively live Agape Love in the world around us. Prayer is action.
Worship changes us. It centers us in the things of God with our neighbors. It informs, inspires and illuminates our faith. It compels us to go out and live Agape Love in the world around us (if it is true worship). Worship is action.
Study changes us. When it is focused on what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us in the Good News, the Word calls, compels and challenges us to lay down those things that have kept us from living in Jesus' Way (thinking, attitudes, prejudices, practices) so that we may live differently in the world around us.
Stewardship is the action of using what God has provided us in Agape Loving ways - our time, our abilities and our possessions selflessly used to exhibit Agape Love and change lives around us in the world.
Agape Love is our Faith in action.
Faith is Agape Love in action.
We will never live in Jesus' Way in the world around us if we do not believe that it is God's Will or trust that it is a better way for us and for those in the world around us.
If we believe that Jesus' is the fulfiller of the Law and Prophets and that Jesus' Good News is a better way for us to live, then we will trust that living that way will benefit ourselves and those around us in the world because it will provide for all Shalom (well-being, completeness, wholeness) and thus peace in the world. Believing that requires that we actively live the Agape Love that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled as we have that in Jesus' Good News for the world, the Gospel witnesses.
It is not about the HAVING of Agape Love, but to the LIVING of Agape Love that we must commit as people of faith in Jesus. Having faith means living it in Agape Love, which is not a feeling but action in commitment to God and Neighbor.
Through the living of Agape Love in Faith lives are transformed. The life of the individual, the lives of those around them, life in community and ultimately life as humanity.
You are putting something out in the world around you. Is it an expression Agape Love?
If you claim to be a person of faith in Jesus, are you putting what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us out in the world around you as we have that witnessed in the Gospels?
I somewhat agree with James and the idea that "faith, if it has no works is dead." I believe that faith in Jesus without actions of Agape Love is no faith at all.
Agape Love is Faith in Action.
Faith in Jesus is Agape Love in Action.
We are human beings. Be fully human. Live fully with the other humans around you as an act of Faith out of Agape Love for God.
We are spiritual beings. Be fully spiritual. Apply your faith in God to how you live Agape Love in the world around you.
As people of faith in Jesus, our way of being in the world is the active commitment to the well-being of the other, even stranger and enemy and especially the most vulnerable.
Act accordingly.
Striving with you,
Pastor Jamie
My faith is in Jesus and His Good News as a better way in which to live in THIS PART of God's Kingdom, here and now. I believe it is God's Will for humanity. I believe living Jesus' taught, commanded and modeled Agape Love is that Good News because it transforms lives and the life of community and ultimately humanity.
Agape Love is active commitment/committed action on behalf of the OTHER, even stranger or enemy (see Luke 10:25-37) and especially the most vulnerable (see Matthew 25:31-46). It is not about feeling, but about DOING. Jesus, fulfiller of the Law and Prophets commands us to live this love for God in active unconditional, self-sacrificing love for Neighbor. We will live Agape Love in the world around us if we believe in Jesus and His Way of Agape Love and trust that it is God's Will for us.
Prayer changes us. It acknowledges our relationship with the one who is immanent but transcendant. It holds us accountable in that relationship and with our neighbors. It transforms our hearts and leads us to actively live Agape Love in the world around us. Prayer is action.
Worship changes us. It centers us in the things of God with our neighbors. It informs, inspires and illuminates our faith. It compels us to go out and live Agape Love in the world around us (if it is true worship). Worship is action.
Study changes us. When it is focused on what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us in the Good News, the Word calls, compels and challenges us to lay down those things that have kept us from living in Jesus' Way (thinking, attitudes, prejudices, practices) so that we may live differently in the world around us.
Stewardship is the action of using what God has provided us in Agape Loving ways - our time, our abilities and our possessions selflessly used to exhibit Agape Love and change lives around us in the world.
Agape Love is our Faith in action.
Faith is Agape Love in action.
We will never live in Jesus' Way in the world around us if we do not believe that it is God's Will or trust that it is a better way for us and for those in the world around us.
If we believe that Jesus' is the fulfiller of the Law and Prophets and that Jesus' Good News is a better way for us to live, then we will trust that living that way will benefit ourselves and those around us in the world because it will provide for all Shalom (well-being, completeness, wholeness) and thus peace in the world. Believing that requires that we actively live the Agape Love that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled as we have that in Jesus' Good News for the world, the Gospel witnesses.
It is not about the HAVING of Agape Love, but to the LIVING of Agape Love that we must commit as people of faith in Jesus. Having faith means living it in Agape Love, which is not a feeling but action in commitment to God and Neighbor.
Through the living of Agape Love in Faith lives are transformed. The life of the individual, the lives of those around them, life in community and ultimately life as humanity.
You are putting something out in the world around you. Is it an expression Agape Love?
If you claim to be a person of faith in Jesus, are you putting what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us out in the world around you as we have that witnessed in the Gospels?
I somewhat agree with James and the idea that "faith, if it has no works is dead." I believe that faith in Jesus without actions of Agape Love is no faith at all.
Agape Love is Faith in Action.
Faith in Jesus is Agape Love in Action.
We are human beings. Be fully human. Live fully with the other humans around you as an act of Faith out of Agape Love for God.
We are spiritual beings. Be fully spiritual. Apply your faith in God to how you live Agape Love in the world around you.
As people of faith in Jesus, our way of being in the world is the active commitment to the well-being of the other, even stranger and enemy and especially the most vulnerable.
Act accordingly.
Striving with you,
Pastor Jamie
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