Thoughts and Prayers

 

Luke 11:1-13    Pentecost VII

 

Jesus teaches us HOW to pray.

It is concise.

It is focused.

It is supplicative.

It is relevant to daily life with God and Neighbor.

 When we address God, we recognize that God is Holy, set apart, even wholly other than are we.  We come humbly before God, recognizing who God is and that we ain't God.

We pray to God in supplication, humbling ourselves in communication with God.  We come to the source of life, of love, of joy, of peace and we ask.  We do not demand of God.  We ask God.

We recognize God’s Sovereignty, authority in our lives, even as we ask God to usher in God’s Kin-dom (on earth as it is in heaven), that we may live as God Wills it, completely obedient to God, as does the heavenly host.  We are praying that God’s Justice will prevail in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now, as it is in that part of God’s Kin-dom forever.  We are praying for justice to be done here, too, and that we will be people of justice, God’s justice on earth as in heaven, an equal justice for all people because God loves all people.  We are asking that we will submit to God's will so completely that we are living in alignment with God's Kin-dom here, as it is completely lived in heaven.  We recognize that God's Way is a better way for us and for all people, so we submit our lives to God's Will.  We are compelled to ACT on behalf of others in this part of the Kin-dom out of a sense of God's Justice.

We ask for our daily needs to be met, for enough.  It is daily bread, like the manna from heaven and like that sustenance which daily laborers rely upon for their families’ needs every day.  We are asking for enough upon which to live and thrive.  We are not asking for more than we need, for we trust the Lord in providing us with enough and we trust in “enough.”  We are asking to be satisfied also with enough so that we do not sin against others because we take more than we could ever need while they go without.  We are asking for the kind of faith in God that knows we will have enough because ALL have enough in the world around us, the kind of faith in God that drives us to live God's generosity with others, for the prayer is about giving US our daily needs and not ME only, all my desires.

We ask God to forgive our sins as we forgive everyone indebted to us.  Please God, if we do not forgive the debts of others, please do not forgive us.  As I want to be forgiven, please make me forgiving.  As you forgive my debts, please make me forgiving of others, and if I refuse to do so, then please do not forgive me.  Help me to value forgiveness itself as an act of Agape Love, both being forgiven and being forgiving.  For if I do not value both, I do not value my Lord and His forgiveness fully.  

We ask God not to bring us to the time of trial, or to be tempted (but to deliver us from evil).  We get ourselves into temptations quite adequately enough, and to be tested might mean that we are not ready.  We ask God that we be spared from that, and that God would act to preserve us from evil, not just evil done to us, but evil that we might do when we are tempted or tested.  Keep us from failing to keep from being evil in the world.  Help us to choose what is good and right, what is faithful to God with our Neighbors, Jesus, as you define our neighbors.  

It is, throughout, an US prayer for supplication.  It is not about ME alone with Jesus.  It is meant to be a prayer for the sake of ALL people and not just for some or for ME.  It is meant to change US, each of us and all of us together.  Prayer is meant to change US and how we live in this world.

And, of course, added later by the church – “For Thine is the Kin-dom and the Power and the Glory, forever.”  It is God’s.  God is sovereign.  We are good to remember that this is not OUR Kin-dom, but that God is Sovereign and it is God’s Will that matters.  We are good to remember that it is not about US having Power, but all about God’s Power to do good, because God is all about the good.  We are good to remember that this is not about OUR Glory, but God’s Glory, lived out it in how God’s children are edified in the world by those who claim to be faithful to God.

Jesus went on to teach about being persistent in our supplications before God.  That God will (eventually) listen and that we will get what we need when we need it.

Jesus then taught about how we should Ask, trusting that we will be given what we need, that we should seek answers and they will be found, and that we should knock and the door will be opened to us.

Jesus ended this lesson on pointing out that good earthly parents provide and protect their children, that earthly parents are imperfect but God is perfect and gives the Holy Spirit to guide us to what we need in Christ Jesus our Lord, the one who points to how to live faithfully in God’s Kin-dom.

 I believe that prayer changes things.  I do believe in that power of prayer.  I believe that God listens, and that we are changed in the communication, the recognition of Who God is and God’s Will, and in our agreement with God in how to live faithfully what Jesus has taught us to live in the world.  I believe in this prayer as a model for all other prayers.

Let us pray…

Mary chose the better part. Will we?

 

Luke 10:38-42   Pentecost VI

 

Jesus showed great openness and respect toward women.  They provided for Him along the way, but Jesus shows interest in them as disciples, sharing the Good News with them, talking with them, healing them, including them and making them examples of faithfulness for His other disciples.

 Here, Jesus is at the home of Martha.  It was common for Jesus and His disciples to stay in people’s homes, eat their food and bless them with the Good News, healing and wholeness.  Martha’s sister, Mary, sat at Jesus’ feet as a disciple.  She was learning the Good News of the Kin-dom.  Martha was distracted from the Good News by many tasks in her home, and complained to Jesus that Mary was not upholding the social mores of household tasks assigned to women as Martha was, but was sitting at Jesus’ feet as a disciple.  Jesus gently rebuked her and pointed out that there is only ONE most important thing – the Good News of the Kin-dom of God.  Mary had chosen wisely the better part, and it would not fail her.

 It seems to me that men have done great harm to women over the centuries.  Failing to see their equality of gifts and perspectives, treating them as objects for male pleasure, reducing them to subservience in life and holding them down, back and out by not giving equal consideration, respect or pay continues on in this part of the history of humanity.  I was raised to be one of those men, and I confess that it took me far too long to realize the errors of that way.

 It also seems to me that women have sometimes bought into their own subservience, and that when some women are empowered others work to pull them back down to a less equal role.  Even women who rise in the ranks of formerly male-dominated fields such as business and politics look with some contempt on other women who work toward equality and equitable recognition and renumeration, along with equal rights.  They even work against other women getting equal and civil rights, equality of respect and pay.  And there are some who falsely believe themselves superior because of their race, ethnicity or culture of origin.  They have learned that well from the purveyors of bigotry. 

 The church that bears Jesus’ name has done a disservice to women for generations as well.  Refusing to ordain, relegating women to auxiliary functions, using their hands and hearts for service while ignoring their minds and leadership qualities, the church has ignored the very people who have been more faithful than the men who disregard them in the church.  The church did not learn that from Jesus.

 Rabbi Jesus did not disregard or disrespect women.  He broke Sabbath and rabbinical laws to engage with women, taught and healed them, raised them as examples of faithfulness and called them to discipleship.  And women were there for Him.  They hosted Him, followed Him, helped Him and did not abandon Him when all the other disciples did.  Women were then the first witnesses of His resurrection, because they went to serve Him out of loving devotion, even after His death. 

 Mary had chosen the better part.  She belonged as a disciple among disciples.  There was need of only one thing, and Mary recognized that.  It will never be taken away from her or any women (or men) who make the Good News of Jesus their priority in life.  Jesus in Luke makes Mary an example for other women who would be His disciples, no less than the men.

 When will we learn the Agape Love of Jesus and commit it to how we live our lives in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now?  When will we actively commit our lives to the well-being of those especially vulnerable in our society, as women and children have always been, and work to bring Shalom to all people, equally?  When?  Are WE at the feet of Jesus, learning His Good News of Agape Love, or are we distracted by many other things?

"Go and do likewise."

Luke 10:25-37 is the lectionary Gospel text for Pentecost V.

Sometimes the meaning of a word is just its meaning, and it is consistently used to mean the same thing.  The Gospel writers used very specific words often to convey the message of Jesus.  agaph is a word that is used very often, in fact, most often regarding love in the Gospels.  The word means love, but a specific love that is distinct from the other three Koine words used for love.  agaph is not a feeling.  It is active commitment, committed action.  It is not about receiving in any way, but is rather all about the object, the other.  It has in its definition an element of self-sacrifice and it is unconditional by nature.  It is intended to be given freely to strangers and enemies, and especially to those who are most vulnerable among us.  It is a command of Jesus, perhaps you could say “THE Command of Jesus.” 

How can a single word encapsulate all that meaning?  It is in its usage that we come to understand what Jesus commands in the living of agaph in the world.  There are many passages in the Gospels that collectively define the action of living agaph. This passage from Luke (see also Matthew 22:31-46 and Mark 12:28-34) offers Jesus’ reiteration of the Torah in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 as common knowledge among the people of God’s expectation on love and life.  When the Gospel writer shares a challenge for definition on who Neighbor is, Jesus answers with the story of the Good Samaritan.  The fellow Israelite priest and Levite failed to live the law of God with one who was one of them.  It was the Samaritan, at best a rival and most commonly considered an enemy, and certainly a stranger who was the example of faithfulness to the extremely vulnerable person in front of him.

He had compassion.  He went out of his way to help the stranger/enemy.  He went the extra mile, even to self-sacrifice to do so.  He did not do the least he could, but rather came back to offer more.  He showed mercy to one who was a stranger and perhaps enemy in his vulnerable state.  Jesus made the Samaritan the example of faithfulness for Israelites in the story.  Jesus told His followers, “Go and do likewise.” 

THIS is the meaning of agaph. THIS is what is commanded by Jesus in order for us to be faithful to God.  It is not thoughts and prayers.  It is not conditional.  It is not only done when it is convenient or does not mean any sacrifice for us.  The agaph that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us is active commitment/committed action on the behalf of the other, even stranger or enemy, and especially the most vulnerable among us. 

It is our command.  If we want the world to be a better place, and if we want to be faithful to Jesus, THIS is our command.  If everyone were to live by this agaph code of Jesus, the world would be transformed.  Life would be sustainable for all, because if all give selflessly, all receive equally.  It is Jesus’ command.  THIS is God’s Kingdom come and God’s Will being done on earth as it is in heaven.  THIS is the center of the Good News of Jesus.  Regardless of a person being one of “us” or being “worthy” or being a “Christian” or anything else, if a person in front of us is in need we are to do likewise.  It is not about us, but about them.  It IS about us being faithful to Jesus.  It IS about us living as Neighbor out of faithfulness to God.  But this living of agaph is about us transforming the world by loving the other, actively and unconditionally, even when it means some sacrifice on our behalf. 

The word is defined in its lived context in the Gospels.  WE are defined in whether or not we live what we are commanded by one we call LORD.  The Samaritan lived active commitment/took committed action on behalf of the other who was stranger and enemy, and who was vulnerable in front of him. 

Do you hear Him?  Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.”

We must do what it takes.

 

Luke 10:1-20 is the Gospel Lectionary text for Pentecost IV.

 

The Message and Movement of Agape Love has got to be put out there.  The false teachings of who Jesus is and what Jesus is about permeate our society.  American Civil Religion has all but swallowed up Christianity in our nation.  What the Temple Cult leaders did to God’s Will and God’s Word in the First Century was much the same.  They turned it into a tool for manipulation of God’s people in order that they might gain more power, wealth and status.  They abused people with their power and stirred up hatreds in order that they might have more of it.  They used their positions of leadership to line their own pockets and keep influence with empire’s elite.  They represented empire instead of God.

 

Today’s evangelicals in America have been doing the same thing since 1981, when they got into bed with the political “right.”  As America has become empire in the world, the right-wing church leaders have twisted even the Gospel to make it reflect the values of empire and have twisted the idea of Jesus in the minds of many to support their false claims of “superiority”, entitlement and privilege.  So, Jesus sends us out.

 

And when we go out, we are to recognize that it is dangerous.  They will stop at nothing to silence the real Gospel of Agape Love, because it does not serve them and their purposes.  They will dismiss and then confront, ignore and then attack.  When we go out with a message and ideology of love for the other, we are sheep among wolves, for they are well practiced at their ruthless pursuit of more for themselves. 

 

We go out into homes.  Most of the churches have been institutionalized to represent empire on one level or another.  They exhibit the values of greed, lust for power and desire for status that is empire ideology, and they aim their hatreds at others in order to scapegoat them for any lack of them having what they want.  We go with just ourselves.  We give the Good News of Jesus upon which the world relies for a return to sanity, and we receive having our needs met.  Our value necessarily must counter the values of empire.  We must embody the generosity, sharing of power and value for equal value of all people that is the Good News of Agape Love.  We must not be hateful.  We must confront evil, name it and expose it, but we must proclaim Shalom to those who we meet, for it is the Way of Shalom which is the Way of Jesus.

 

If we are rejected, we simply let them know that the Kingdom has come near and we leave, not taking anything from them with us.  For the ideology of empire has twisted minds and hearts so much that to stay and debate is a waste of time.  Some will get the Way of Jesus in Agape Love toward Shalom for All People, and some just will not.

 

Jesus talked about how intolerable it will be for those who reject His Way.  Using a literary method as old as Isaiah, Jesus rebukes those areas in which the empire ideology is so well engrained that no one will repent (change their thinking and thus their direction).

 

It worked then.  The seventy rejoiced at the results.  People were hungry to hear the Good News of Jesus and they responded to it.  Jesus had to warn his followers not to get caught up in their own glory, however, as that reflects the very empire ideology that the Good News counters.

 

It could work again.  I believe that.  If we stay with what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled, and resist empire’s ideology and ways by showing people Jesus’ Way, some will get it.  I believe that this is the only hope for the church that bears the name of Jesus, that we offer current generations an alternative to empire’s ideology, rather than a reflection of it.  If we are followers of Jesus, we will live what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now.  And it could transform the world, one person, one house, one community at a time.  It worked for the seventy.  It worked in the First Century through the Apostles.  It must be done in the 21^st Century in order for the world to survive.  Empire must fall, and the values of empire must die.  We have seen the injustice, despair and destruction it has caused.  Only Jesus’ Good News of Agape Love toward Shalom for All People can save and sustain us.

What is your priority?

 Based on Luke 9:51-62, the lectionary text for Sunday, June 26 - Pentecost III.

Rabbi Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem.  He knew His mission.  It was to challenge empire and its values of Greed, lust for Power and desire for Status.  It was to challenge hatreds.  It was to challenge the seat of corrupt Political, Economic, Military and Spiritual power and control.  It was to gather people who would demonstrate in front of and caricature the powerful of Rome.  It was to cleanse the Temple of the corrupt, greedy practices of false teachers.  It was to offer the ultimate sacrifice in the name of Agape Love as an example of what it means to be faithful to God and Neighbor.

I would submit that that is the mission of anyone who would profess to follow Rabbi Jesus.  Giving up personal comfort and gain, re-defining family and staying laser focused on the mission of living Agape Love in the face of empire and its values takes constant, consistent commitment and focus.  Having other priorities renders that mission irrelevant.  The world has had enough of the values of empire.  The divisions, despair, desolation, destruction and death caused by the living of empire values is quite apparent in the world in which we live.  The Way of Rabbi Jesus, the Way of Agape Love in the world is the only real, sustainable way for us to exist and hope to exist in the future.

What is your priority?  Is it your personal comfort and security?  Is it keeping the normative social mores of our time in order to fit in or "get along?"  Is it to get everything you can for yourself, your own and those just like you?  Is it to have power and control over others so that you can manipulate or exploit them, or even destroy their lives in hatred?  Is it to appear to be better than everyone else and reap the benefits of some false sense of your superiority that others are duped into believing?  Is your priority in life to promote the ways of empire and benefit from them at the expense of others in the world around you?  Or is it to transform the world around you in the living of Agape Love, to transform individual lives and communities by living an example of self-less, other-centered, communally responsible commitment that benefits all, equally?

One way leads to more of the same inequity, inequality, inhumanity, incivility, insanity, injury and destruction.  The other leads to sustainable life, unity, joy and peace.

What is your priority?  What will you put out in the world around you, the world in which you must live with the rest of us?  Will it lead to destruction or transformation?

Is it all about the swine?

 

Luke 8:26-39 is the lectionary Gospel text for Pentecost II on Sunday, June 19.

 

Jesus went to a largely non-Jewish region.  A man, marginalized by society because of his behavior, even being shackled and chained, met Jesus there.  The demons within him called Jesus out, and after giving Jesus their name, begged Jesus not to send them back to their confinement under God’s control.  They instead wanted to go into a herd of swine after being cast out of the man.  Jesus allowed it, and they ran the herd into the water and were drowned.  Jesus restored the man.  The man could now return to his life and life in the community.  It was a great spiritual victory.

But the swineherds told the people of the city, and they came out to find the man restored to his sanity.  It scared them.  They asked Jesus to leave.

Jesus took the time to engage the demoniac, to diagnose the issue, to consider a solution and to work a care plan for the sake of restoring the man to his life in community.  It was unsettling to some in the community, perhaps because of the cost.

We dare not disturb the status quo, even to bring healing to individuals.  People are scared when they see things that seem to work against their limited imaginations regarding how things work in the world, because they have bought into those things deemed normative in how society works.  Those with mental health issues need to be shunned and marginalized, because there is “nothing we can do about them.”  Those whose behaviors scare us need to be removed from being among us because we do not understand them, nor are we interested in getting to understand them.  That’s just the way it is and needs to be.  You start finding out what the underlying problems are, and the cost could be too great!  You start restoring people to their lives and it could make things uncomfortable or complicated or less profitable for the rest of us.  We can’t have that.

There is a cost to restoring people to Shalom in their lives.  It takes time, energy, effort in learning new ways, and it costs money.  Sending mental healthcare practitioners on calls for disturbances with the police, or instead of them, is much more time consuming and complicated than using brute force and then locking up the "perpetrators" in for-profit prisons or killing them when they respond badly.  It is also more costly of money.  It may mean less money for military-style equipment for those charged with protecting and serving all citizens equally.  Some in communities are calling for such measures because they value human life.  Others in communities are opposing them because they value the status quo and are not willing to pay the cost to restore lives. 

Some are more concerned with restoring people’s lives.

Others are only concerned for the swine.

Jesus taught, commanded and modeled the living of agaph in the world.  Greed, lust for power over others and desire for status above others, along with the hatreds they produce, are directly opposed to the living of agaph in the world.

Are you more concerned about living agaph and thus restoring others’ lives because you are following Jesus, or are you more concerned with the swine?

Truth will be declared to you

John 16:12-15 is the Gospel Lectionary text for Trinity Sunday, June 12.

The Spirit of Truth will come and declare all things true, taking what is Jesus' Way and declaring it to us.

Has the Spirit of Truth been seeing what is going on in this Post-Truth, Alternative facts era of ours?  Does the Spirit of Truth see whole TV and Radio networks spreading misinformation and disinformation purposefully in the world?  Does the Spirit of Truth see organized groups of computer hackers and social media influencers purposefully sharing what is false to further their causes of hateful ignorance with the masses?  Does the Spirit of Truth see a whole political party being hi-jacked to spin and twist any semblance of truth to suit their manipulative and exploitative goals?  

Oh, Spirit of Truth, where are you?

Well, it seems to me that the Spirit of Truth is the ultimate influencer.  The Spirit of Truth whispers in our hearts and minds, gives us a nudge and sometimes uses a board across our backsides to confront us with the truth.  The receptors are the problem.  The transmitters are the problem.  

The receptors have turned off their frequencies centered in empathy and compassion, integrity and active commitment to others.  The receptors have been influenced by Empire's propaganda machine and have turned inward, to look only to their own desires.  The receptors in communities, in business, in politics and in church have bought into the idolatries of the age - self.  The receptors filter everything they receive from the Spirit of Truth with, "Does it get me more money, power or status?"  The receptors have been tuned out or turned off from receiving the message of the Spirit of Truth.

The transmitters are too weak sometimes and are full of static at others.  The transmitters are too afraid to share the message of the Spirit of Truth, because it may put them at odds with their "constituents" or friends or family or the public, whose adoration they crave on social media and elsewhere.  The transmitters put out a message that is not the Truth of Jesus' Way, but a jumbled-up mess of messages about Empire and Jesus, to the degree that the Truth of Jesus is lost in its relevance to the Truth.  The transmitters take what is declared by the Spirit of Truth and confound the listeners with their own, mixed messages about wealth, power and status.  The transmitters transmit messages that are not in the Spirit of Truth.

The Spirit of Truth is listening and watching, present and powerful.  Those who desire to know what the Spirit of Truth declares - the truth of Jesus' Way of Agape Love, tune out the other noise and receive it clearly.  Those who desire to transform the world with Jesus' Way of Agape Love broadcast it clearly, with a powerful signal to many around them.  Those who desire to know the Truth of Jesus' Way of Agape Love and transform the world with it are the conduits through which Jesus' Good News is shared, even though others do not transmit that or receive it.  

Are you tuned in?  What are you transmitting out into the world around you?