Good Neighbors Lk 16.19-31 Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen. Once upon a time… That’s basically how the gospel lesson begins today, clearly indicating that it […]
Good Neighbors
Lk 16.19-31
Rev. Dr. Durrell WatkinsLet us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen.
Once upon a time…
That’s basically how the gospel lesson begins today, clearly indicating that it is a parable.And in today’s parable, we see Lazarus winding up in the arms of Sarah and Abraham. Even when the world has no place for him, Lazarus still has a place in divine love. Being in the arms, the bosom, the embrace of the ancestors is an intimate image of love and acceptance.
If you feel lost, abandoned, discouraged, wounded, or afraid, the gospel message is that God’s love enfolds you and will never let you go.
Lazarus will never be rejected by God, but Lazarus should have never been abandoned by us, either.
Lazarus is the queer teen on the streets who was rejected by her family.
Lazarus is the trans woman of color brutally murdered for being who she is.Lazarus is the refugee.
Lazarus is the planet whose environment is attacked in the name of profit.Lazarus is the person who cannot find affordable, permanent housing.
Lazarus is the abused child, the neglected elder, the person working 2 jobs and still can’t afford medical care.Lazarus is loved by God and shouldn’t have to wait until the next experience of life for that love to be shown to him.
Any of us could be Lazarus under certain circumstances, and all of us can be a better neighbor to Lazarus.Suffering Lazarus winds up in the loving arms of the ancestors, while the greedy, cruel, selfish rich guy winds up alone and joyless in Hades. It is a parable, a fictional story meant to show us the difference in a life of love and a life of avarice, the difference between compassion and cruel indifference.
Don’t be thrown by the word “Hades” in the story. Hades has a complex history and we’d have to go back to multiple ancient cultures and mythologies to see how each contributed to the evolving Hell/Hades/Gehenna narrative, and even then, the afterlife pictures we usually conjure in our minds are more from the art and poetry of the middle ages than from scripture.
But in this case the rich man’s hell is his legacy, the mark he left on the world, how he’ll be remembered, how lives were impacted because he lived. He’s not in after life prison; he’s simply being remembered for being a jerk in life. That’s hell enough.
There is no literal hell, but people do have hellish experiences in life.
Have we responded to their hells with heavenly, healing love? That’s the question of today’s parable.The rich man isn’t being shamed for his beliefs, religious affiliation, gender identity, sexual orientation, or even for being successful.
He’s being remembered poorly because he was greedy, selfish, and unconcerned about the suffering of others.The author isn’t manipulating us with threats of afterlife hell; he’s challenging us to be kinder, more empathetic, and more generous here and now.
Neither the rich man character nor his experience of comeuppance are factual, but they do communicate a profound truth. If we don’t care about the person who has less privilege or more peril than we have, then we are not demonstrating the love that God is.
The founder of the Catholic Worker movement, Dorothy Day, said, “I only really love God as much as I love the person I love least.”
God is love. We can only be truly conscious of God’s presence when we are loving. The rich man didn’t let himself love. And so, he didn’t have a full experience of God which is love.
Heaven is the experience of God, and God is love. We experience God to the degree that we love.
I believe that the rich man could have been freed from his nightmare in an instant if he had simply let himself love, if he had said to himself, “I didn’t treat Lazarus, and all the Lazaruses fairly. I wish I had been kinder.” That alone, that affirmation of love and compassion would have freed him to experience the love that God is.
But instead, he clung to his privilege. He wants his family protected, no one else’s. He wants to treat Lazarus like a slave, demanding Lazarus to comfort him, though he never offered comfort to Lazarus. To the end and even beyond, the rich man cares only about himself and a few close to him. The story shows us how ugly that kind of life can be, and how isolating, and how tragic.
No one in the story even asks the rich man what he believes or what religious sect he belongs to; the only question is, why didn’t you care for the starving, homeless, sick person at your gate? Why didn’t the plight of others move you?
The only person ever in scripture said to be in a state of hell is this nameless character in a fictional story.
One nameless, fictional person mentioned exactly one time is the only person said to be in such a hell. That tells me it was never meant to be taken literally, and that religion really isn’t meant to be fire insurance.The imaginary nameless character in the imaginary hell isn’t meant to scare the hell out of us.
It is meant to show us that a lack of love is hell.
When we don’t love, we don’t let ourselves experience God, and that is hell. But that is corrected the minute we do love.Be good neighbors. Love your neighbor. Remember everyone is our neighbor. Care and share. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. We only really love God as much as we love the person we love least.
Let us show love to the housing insecure.
Let us show love to the food insecure.
Let us show love to the depressed.
Let us show love to the LGBTQ+ children of God.
Let us show love to the closeted and to those fearfully coming out.
Let us show love to the wounded planet.
Let us show love to Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Agnostics, Mambos, and Santeros.
Let us show love to refugees, to children, to the lonely, and to those seeking lifesaving medical care.Today’s gospel isn’t about afterlife suffering; it’s a call to reduce suffering in this life. And we can. And I declare in Jesus’ name, we will. This is the good news. Amen.
Dear God.
We experience and express you…
When we show and share love.
Love the world through us.
Amen.
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God’s Relentless Love Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins Psalm 23; Luke 15.1-7 Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen. God is good (all the time) All the time (God is good) God […]
God’s Relentless Love
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Psalm 23; Luke 15.1-7Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen.
God is good (all the time)
All the time (God is good)
God is good (all the time)
All the time (God is good)
God is good (all the time)
All the time (God is good)
Alleluia (Amen).Emily Dickinson wrote, “That love is all there is, is all we know of love.”
That love is all there is, is all we know of love.
God is love, and love is all there is.
So why is there so much hate, anger, fear, and ugliness in the world?
Where does evil come from and what can we do about it are questions philosophers, priests, and shamans have asked since the the dawn of consciousness. But I know this…
When I am loving, it feels good. It feels right. Love brings joy and peace and a sense of fulfillment.
When I express or demonstrate or even contemplate love, the world for those moments makes sense and I am occupying my rightful place in the universe.When I am unloving…when I am enraged, or afraid, or bitter…no matter how justified I feel in nursing those thoughts and emotions, I do not feel “right.” Only love feels right.
I believe that is because love is all there is in truth, and when I am temporality out of truth, or unaware of truth, or in opposition to truth, then I feel conflicted because I am at odds with reality itself.
God is ultimate reality.
God is love.
Love is all there is.
So, when we are loving, we are expressing God.
When we are unloving, we are denying God, and to deny what is really real will make us out of sorts.The religious life, the spiritual path is meant to constantly remind us that we are one with infinite Love.
We are loved by God because God is love and all love can do is love.
God can only give what God is…oranges will never give grape juice….an orange must express its truth, so an orange gives orange juice.God is love. God must express God’s truth, so God loves. God must express what God is.
That’s what Jesus is showing us today.
First of all – Jesus is socializing with people that others labeled as sinners. They were tax collectors and they were called sinners because they were often dishonest. They were in service of an empire that conquered and exploited people, and they often got rich in that service, sometimes by padding their own nests…over charging and pocketing the difference.
Tax collectors were hated.
But Jesus found ways to love those who others hated.
Jesus accepted his unity with God, and God is love, so Jesus knew it was his job to show love, especially to those who were unloved.Jesus tried to explain the relentless love of God with a parable. He imagines a shepherd who is in charge of 100 sheep.
One wanders away.
But the Shepherd will not lose a single lamb. Not one. And so the shepherd is relentless in finding the lamb that wandered off.God will not, cannot lose a single soul. God’s love is relentless.
Maybe church or society or family has labeled this person or that as lost or sinful, but God loves that person and will never let them go.God is love, and
that love is all there is, is all we know of love.Now, Jesus does add that heaven rejoices when a sinner repents. Remember, the people called sinners in the story, and throughout the gospels, are tax collectors, and their great sin was dishonesty. They cheated people. If they were to give up their dishonesty, if they would live in the power of truth, that would make heaven happy. There would be rejoicing.
This isn’t telling people to convert from one religion to another, or to hate themselves, or to feel guilty or ashamed. It’s telling people to come out into the light and joy of truth.
When a lesbian or gay man comes out of the closet and starts living their truth openly, heaven rejoices.
When a transgender or non-binary or gender queer person speaks their truth and lives their authentic life, heaven rejoices.
When allies of queer people stand up for their LGBTQ+ loved ones and share the truth of their love for God’s Rainbow people, heaven rejoices.
When people are honest about their questions and doubts, heaven rejoices.
When people face their self-destructive habits and say, “I am powerless over this problem but I believe there is a power that can restore me to sanity”, heaven rejoices.
When we speak our truth and live in the authenticity of who we are, heaven rejoices.
That’s what it means for a sinner to repent and heaven to rejoice…it means there is holy power in living our truth.
And one truth that I want us all to embrace is this: God is love…all-inclusive, unconditional, everlasting, omnipresent love.
A god who is omnipresent love will never lose you or forget you or abandon you. God’s love will never let you go.
Bigotry, injustice, economics, disease, war, accidents, disaster…nothing can separate us from God’s love. We can tap into comfort and hope and empowerment at any time because we are surrounded by and filled with an everlasting love.
How can learn to trust that? By saying it over and over. The psalmist shows us today the power of affirmations, of reminding ourselves of God’s goodness and God’s nearness.
The LORD is my shepherd (a shepherd who will never let me wander off, who will never give up on me, who refuses to lose me); there is nothing I lack.
God restores my strength.
God guides me along the right path…
Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side…
Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life.
I will dwell in the house of the LORD…Say it until you feel it.
Feel it until you believe it.
Believe it until you know it.(Repeat)
God is love.
I am one with God.
God’s love cannot let me go.There’s not a spot where God is not.
I am God’s miracle and not God’s mistake.
The past is past and the future has infinite possibilities.
There is good for me and I ought to have it.God is my shepherd.
God restores my strength.
Only goodness and love will pursue me.
I will always dwell in God’s presence.And this is the good news. Amen.
Divine Love is all-inclusive,
Unconditional,
Everlasting,
And omnipresent.
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Amen.
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Strategic Spirituality Rev. Anne Atwell
Strategic Spirituality
Rev. Anne Atwell
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Children of God Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins John 1.1-5, 14 Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen. I say, “God is good.” You say, “All the time.” I say, “All the […]
Children of God
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
John 1.1-5, 14Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen.
I say, “God is good.”
You say, “All the time.”
I say, “All the time.”
You say, “God is good.)
After we do that three times, I’ll say, “alleluia.
And you will answer, “Amen.”
Okay?God is good (all the time)
All the time (God is good)
God is good (all the time)
All the time (God is good)
God is good (all the time)
All the time (God is good)
Alleluia! (Amen).Wouldn’t it be exciting if we believed God was truly good, and also, always present. What difficulty or obstacle could ever steal our joy if we believed there was an infinite goodness that was everywhere present, including right wherever we happen to be?
The gospel tells us today that God dwells among us, that the divine Idea for the universe and all that is in it was with God always and that divine Idea continues to express through all that is, including us.
The wisdom literature we find in the book of Proverbs tells us that Wisdom, or we could still say the divine Idea, is available to us and always has been.
We often think of Jesus as being the chid of God, but Franciscan spirituality suggests that creation itself is the first incarnation of God. All life is the divine Self made visible. All life is the child of God, part of God, coming from God and carrying something of God.
God is all-in-all expressing through all.
God is source and substance.
God is not a being, but Being itself, the ground of all being.In other words, God is omnipresence.
There’s not a spot where God is not.If God is omnipresent it means God is the one presence, the only real presence, and that means that all that is must be in and part of that presence. You and I, then, are part of God. Of course we have sacred value.
Why is this important?
Because we will welcome refugees if we see them as children of God, part of God, expressions of God.We will never accept hunger for anyone if every person is an expression of God.
We will never let anyone be humiliated or dehumanized or abused because of their gender identity or sexual orientation if we see them as incarnations of God.
We would do everything we possibly could to prevent bombs from being dropped on children of God.
What if the word of God, the divine Idea, is made flesh, that is, is made manifest in, through, and as the physical world?
What if John’s gospel is more than adulation of Jesus, but a call to see a gleam of divine light in every life and also a call to respond with love to that light in every person?And if we believed that WE were expressions of the divine, that we were lighthouses beaming divine grace into the world, that we were the dwellings of God…then we would seek to be generous, welcoming, comforting, forgiving…we would wish for everyone to have all that joy and good fortune we have ever enjoyed, and we would work tirelessly for justice for all.
If we knew ourselves to be children of God, we would want to demonstrate divine qualities…mercy, hope, compassion, grace.God the angry punisher hasn’t made the world a better place God the rule maker and enforcer hasn’t made the world a better place.
God the tribal deity who prefers one group over all others hasn’t made the world a better place.
God the warrior who takes sides in conflicts hasn’t made the world a better place.
Trying to ignore God, deny God, or portray God as absent hasn’t made the world a better place.The God who is Good News for the world is an omnipresence who cannot exclude, abandon, or condemn anyone.
And once we believe in such a God we know ourselves to be part of this God, and so we seek to be more godlike, which is more loving; and the omnipresent God must be with and within all others, and so we must treat all people with dignity and respect and fairness. Regardless of political or religious or cultural labels, we would see all people as children of God and then act accordingly.
Rabindranath Tagore taught, “Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lives at the heart of creation.”
If God is love, and God is omnipresent, then Love is omnipresent. Love is everywhere and part of everything. To love, then, is the best way to honor and express God.
If you are sick today, you are not alone. There is a love that is embracing you and will never let you go.
If you are heartbroken right now, trust that there is a love that feels your every tear and is waiting with you for joy to return.
If you are struggling, know that there is a love within you that is cheering for you every minute of every day.
If you’ve made a big mistake, or dozens of them, there is a love that sees your innate goodness. Even if you haven’t always expressed it, the love that is God knows the goodness within you…the godness within you.
If the storms of life have you anxious, know that there is a love that the storms will never chase away, a love that will still be with you long after the storms have passed.
God is love, and there’s not a spot where God is not. You are from God, part of God, filled with God’s qualities; you are God’s chid. You are God’s miracle and not God’s mistake.
Are you willing to know God as all good, only good, and everywhere fully present? If so, then peace, hope, and joy are available right now to bless your life.
God is good (all the time).
All the time (God is good).
Alleluia! (Amen).
And this is the good news. Amen.I am forever part of the one All.
I am a beloved child of God.
This fills me with gratitude & joy.
And so it is!
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It’s Always Time for a Miracle Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins Luke 13.10-17 Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen. Dt. 5 tells us that rest and prayer are important for our […]
It’s Always Time for a Miracle
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Luke 13.10-17Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen.
Dt. 5 tells us that rest and prayer are important for our mental, spiritual, and even physical well-moving.
Dt. 22 tells us that when we see a need, we ought to do what we can about it.
One truth doesn’t negate the other.
Sabbath rest, a day of worship, prayer, relaxation, focusing on spirit rather than just on making money or completing tasks is important, but its important because it contributes to the wellbeing of human lives. It should never be the reason we ignore people in pain.Dt. 5 says take care of yourself.
Dt. 22 says help others.
It’s both/and spirituality rather than either/or religion.In the gospel lesson today, we see Jesus helping a woman on the Sabbath. She was hurting. She was weighed down with pain, burdened by grief, bent over with despair. For 18 years she had been looking down, feeling down, and Jesus lifted her up.
The religious gatekeepers used religion to control and restrict.
But the spirituality of Jesus says there’s not a spot where God is not.
The spirituality of Jesus says there’s not a place beyond God’s grace.
The spirituality of Jesus says there’s not a time that not’s sublime.
NOW is the point of power.Religion often says you can’t; but spirituality says that all things are possible.
Religion has said that you are broken; but healthy spirituality says you are God’s miracle and not God’s mistake!Religion said Jesus shouldn’t care for this woman on the Sabbath. Healing is work, and you can’t work on a day of rest. But Jesus knows that rest is for our health, and so helping this woman reclaim her life is the actual purpose of the Sabbath.
Religionists wanted to use religion to tell Jesus what he could not do; but Jesus thought spirituality was meant to heal, empower, uplift.
Religion is too often weaponized to keep people from experiencing hope or joy, but love of God should lead to love of neighbor, and love of neighbor is how best to show love for God.
Jesus saw a neighbor in need of love, and he loved her. That’s worship.
Fear of religious condemnation could have silenced him, but he chose love. He chose love over fear, and that’s a miracle.
When and where love is needed is when and where it ought to be shared. It’s always time for a miracle.“There appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.”
This story resonates with me very strongly. My mother had difficulty conceiving and carrying children to term. Her doctor gave her medication to help her carry a child to term. The medicine was known to cause certain problems. I was born with spinal birth defects, possibly the result of that medication.
Prayer, pain killers, muscle relaxers, massage, chiropractic, a walking cane, even injections are all well known to me. In the last few years I have developed recurring bouts of super painful sciatica. I always recover, and in between flareups I live an active, happy life.
Every time I can’t stand up straight, or need a cane to walk, or need 15 minutes to exit my bed…I think of this story.My grandmother had osteoporosis. My mother earlier this year fractured a couple of vertebrae. Back pain…my own and others, has been part of my life all my life. But I don’t think this story is about medical issues. For medical issues, see medical professionals. Of course, pray also. I aways say, Say a prayer and take a pill, if one doesn’t work the other will.
But the gospel story doesn’t say this woman was born with back troubles, and it doesn’t say she sustained an injury. The story says, “She had a spirit” that kept her from holding her head up high.
How did Jesus help her with the spirit, the attitude, the outlook, the feelings that caused her to be bowed low? He did three things:
He saw her.
He called to her.
He extended a healing touch.In other words,
He noticed her.
He spoke to her.
And he reached out to her.
And when he did these things, she was uplifted. She stood tall. She held her head up. She was renewed.There are people today who are hurting.
They are having trouble holding their heads up.
They are ashamed.
They are afraid.
They are lonely.
They are exhausted.
They are bereaved.
They need a miracle. They need to have their fears healed by love.
What can we do?We can notice them.
We can speak to them.
We can reach out to them.If they are hungry,
If they are housing insecure,
If they struggle with depression,
If they lack access to medical care,
If they are lonely,
If they have been abandoned by faith, family, or friends, If they are targeted because of their heritage, If they are having their civil rights threatened, If they are demonized or dehumanized, If they are bullied because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, If their very bodies are used as political and ideological battle grounds, If their existence is used to fuel political hatred or religious rejection…They need a miracle, and we can offer that miracle by simply standing on the side of love.
We can see them.
We can speak words of hope and care to them.
We can reach out to them.There is a world of people bowed down with suffering, and religion is often used to perpetuate their suffering. Thank God for “a different kind of church.”
Like Jesus, let us counter religious abuse with spiritual liberation, and let us offer the love that will help lift people’s spirits and allow them to hold their heads up high.
This is the gospel message, which is to say, this is the good news. Amen.
God heal our fears.
God heal our deepest wounds.
May we be uplifted.
And may we uplift others.
Alleluia!
Amen.
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Learning What to Look For Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins Luke 12.54-56 Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen. Strange gospel reading today. ”When you see clouds, you know rain is coming; […]
Learning What to Look For
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Luke 12.54-56Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen.
Strange gospel reading today.
”When you see clouds, you know rain is coming; and when there is a south wind you can expect warm weather. Why can’t you read the signs of the of socio-political climate?”As odd as that is as a sacred reading, it’s stranger still if we back up a bit.
Luke 12.49 – Jesus says, “I came to bring fire to the world.”
12.51 – “Do you think I have come to bring peace?
12.52 – “from now on communities and families ill have a lot of conflict.”
12.54 – 56 – “you can read the weather, why can’t you tell what’s going on in the world?”But this is the gospel. It’s supposed to be good news.
What’s this talk about fire and conflict and a finger wag for not being aware of what’s happening around us?The news realy is good, though it does come with a call to action. The good news is that when we do good we make a difference. But yes, we have stuff to do. We must see what needs healing, and offer love as a medicine to bring the healing. We must learn what to look for, and how to respond to what we find.
Luke imagines Jesus saying that he came to bring fire; and a living faith will fire us up.
The fires of biblical myths provide guidance, like when the children of Israel followed a pillar of fire by day, or they prove resilience like when three young men survive a fiery furnace in the book of Daniel.
Fire can symbolize the divine presence as when Moses heard from God in a burning bush, and fire can cleanse, consume, and purify negativity, as when the apostle Paul shook off into a fire a viper that had fastened itself to his hand on Malta.
Fire is also empowerment as tongues of flame danced in the air at Pentecost.When Jesus says he wants to bring fire, he’s saying he wants to bring healing, joy, dedication, resilience, wisdom, renewal.
And when he says he’s not here for peace…remember when the passage is written. The Roman Empire prided itself on its Pax Romana…the Roman Peace.
Rome’s peace wasn’t about harmony, goodwill, and justice. Rome’s peace was domination, intimidation, a lack of resistance because people were too afraid to make their voices heard. Luke’s Jesus says he’s not here for that kind of so-called peace.
Jesus is here to proclaim the kin-dom of God.
The non-kingdom.
The anti-empire.
A world where peace and justice and goodwill and compassion are valued and promoted. Such a vision doesn’t accept violence, and doesn’t allow oppression and injustice to go unchallenged.
God’s kin-dom is at odds with, in conflict with systems of oppression.Jesus isn’t here to embrace the Pax Romana, but to show that its so-called peace is really just privilege for a few at the expense of the many.
To call that out will likely rock the boat, step on some toes. And it’s what Jesus did.Luke’s Jesus is saying, “I came to fire you up for the kin-dom of God, which stands as a clear alternative to the domination of empire, and resistance to empire can prove to be contentious.” But it’s needed.
Being healers in the world requires us to see what needs healing, and it requires that we stand up for the marginalized, that we care for the broken hearted, that we work for justice, that we affirm the sacred value of all people, that we welcome the stranger, and that we speak out when there is cruelty and oppression.
You can see when rain is coming, why can’t you see that? (says Jesus).The gospel lesson isn’t so strange after all, and it is good news. It’s telling us to look for goodness, and to express goodness in our hurting, fearful, hate wounded world.
If we will resist oppression, affirm the dignity and sacred value of all people, welcome the stranger, love the unloved, care about the hurting, challenge domination and oppression when we see it…then we can be healers in the world, we can help the world be better, we can usher in the kin-dom of God…the non-kingdom, the anti-empire, the realm of compassion, hope, and goodwill. It is a call to action, and when we answer it, it changes the world.
We are trying to answer the call…to look for and share goodness.
The Prophet Jeremiah reminds us today that divine goodness fills the earth…and we are the earth’s stewards. It’s up to us to see and share the goodness throughout the world.With every bag of groceries we give,
with every support group that meets,
with every prayer said,
with every referral to a service agency, with every outcry against racism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia, with every prophetic or pastoral proclamation, with every dollar raised for ministry, with every dollar shared justice work or AIDS services, with every artistic performance that brings people together to celebrate life and joy, with every cathartic tear and every belly laugh, with every hug and smile, with every celebration of same-gender love, non-binary gender expression, and interreligious relationships, with every effort made to bless the orphan, the bereaved, the exile, the refugee, the unfairly imprisoned, the abused, the neglected, the forgotten, with every affirmation of omnipresent goodness, with every declaration of the all-inclusive, unconditional, everlasting love of God, with every sermon that says you are God’s miracle and not God’s mistake…
we are showing ourselves to be a different kind of church, an expression of the kin-dom of God, a healing light for the world.And this is the good news. Amen.
Today I will look for goodness everywhere.
I will look for goodness within myself.
I will express goodness.
I am a healer in the world.
Thanks be to God
Amen.
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Faith Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins Hebrews 11 Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. I have heard […]
Faith
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Hebrews 11Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
I have heard so much bad theology based on that line.
I had a friend who sold Cadillacs in the 80s in the Southwest. In my friend’s town there was a famous preacher who used to tell people that they should spend money as if they had it even if the bank account was empty. Their faith would provide the needed funds. Especially, the preacher added, if they tithed to his ministry. So, give a real check to his ministry, then write a faith check to someone else, andGod would magically cover all the transactions. My friend said faith checks were bouncing all over Tulsa and many a Cadillac was repossessed because the finance company didn’t care about faith checks as much as actual, legal tender.Now, you and I both know that churches need money to do ministry and I want you to give generously, consistently, and joyfully as a spiritual practice and because you believe in the work of this church. But I don’t promise you anything other than good work and possibly a good feeling for your contributions. I believe most tithers feel blessed, but stewardship isn’t a cosmic lottery. Give for the love of giving, and for the hope of a Cadillac.
Faith isn’t magic.
Faith isn’t uncritical acceptance of dogma.
Faith is, very simply, trust.But the anonymous writer of the epistle to a Hebrew community is specifically referring to trust in a divine presence.
That’s it. The writer is asking us to trust that there’s not a spot where God is not.
The writer is asking us to trust that God is all-inclusive, unconditional, everlasting love, a love that will not and cannot let us go.The writer is not promising us Cadillacs or wish fulfillment. The writer is trying to assure us that no matter what happens, in good times and bad times, God is with us as a loving presence.
When things look terrible, faith tells us that the unseen God is real and is with us and isn’t leaving us alone with our disappointments and hurts.
Faith is the evidence that God is with us, not matter what is happening in our lives.
The writer brings up heroes from various legends and myths of the religious tradition. He interprets and applies them awkwardly, but what he is pointing out is that the heroes of sacred story were all on journeys. They faced the unknown, they faced difficulties and disappointments, some of them had grand visions that were not realized in their lifetimes, but they were faithful because they trusted that God was with them on the journey and would be forever. And where God is, joy is always possible.
We can’t control every situation in life.
We can influence many of them, we can choose how we respond to them, and we can trust that there will be joy on the journey, and that the journey is leading us forward into realms of infinite possibilities.
Don’t write a faith check, but trust that no matter what the bank balance says, God is with you to give you peace, hope, and joy. And with those gifs, you can probably build up that bank balance.Now I am not telling you to not hope or work for any good thing in life. Pray for opportunities, pray for wisdom, pray for guidance, pray for resilience, pray for peace, pray for joy…apply for the job, work to improve your credit, start the diet, take the class, try the medicine…nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Hope, try, pray, work, wait..and perhaps blessings will result. But faith isn’t what made the blessings show up…faith is what reminded you that you were God’s beloved child no matter what happened.Faith is the trust that whether or not things go my way, ultimately, all is well.
Such trust often frees us up to achieve what we desire…but hope, work, good timing, random chance all work together to make the good things happen…Faith is the trust that until the good things happen and even if they do not, I am part of God, loved by God, forever in God’s presence and therefore, all is well.
No matter what the doctor tells you, no matter what the financial advisor says, no matter what things look like, I will hope with and for you that things improve. But if they do not, it is not because you lacked faith. No, on the contrary, you can have faith that says God is good, I am one with God and therefore I am good, no matter what occurs in the realm of experience.
I used to have a friend who respond to every disappointment with the phrase, “Praise the Lord anyway.” That’s faith. When it goes my way and when it doesn’t, I will find something to be thankful for, some reason to rejoice.Multiple times, I have prayed with people who were too sick to live but too afraid to die. They thought God was angry with them, that God would reject them. I have prayed with them and spoken with them trying to be a witness to the trustworthiness of God. And when they finally trusted that God’s love included them without condition of any kind, I have seen them make a peaceful transition.
A few times, its been the parents or grandparents of a gay or lesbian or transgender person who was afraid to die. They weren’t afraid for themselves, but they didn’t want to go because they were afraid that their Queer loved one would be rejected by God, and they didn’t want to leave them. And more than once those dear loved ones have come to trust the goodness of God and have said, “I am ready to go now, because I now know that God will not reject my child.”
With Elsie MacKay we can trust that we are one with God, and therefore peace and love and joyful living are possible. We are one with the goodness of God and we can trust that goodness at all times.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that trust in divine goodness is evidence that goodness exists.
But the writer of a letter to a group in Ephesus makes it even clearer.
That writer tells us in Ephesians 4.6 that there is “one God of all who is over all and through all and in all.”
God for, with, and in you. How could you ever be lost or separated from an omnipresent God?And Ephesians 2.8 tells us, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God…”
Salvation is wholeness, or liberation, or well-being. You have been liberated, made whole…you are alright. This is God’s gift of grace.
By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is God’s gift.That verse has been used to suggest that if you have enough faith, that God would be okay with you…but that’s not grace; that’s an exchange. That’s commerce.
No, by grace (something freely given) you have been made whole and wonderful and delightful and worthy of God’s goodness, through God’s faith in you.
God trusts us to be how God ministers to the world.
God trusts us to be conduits through which divine love might flow.
God’s faith in us wasn’t something we earned, it was a free gift, grace.
We are the face and hands of God, we are God’s love in action because God trusts us with the task.
We are made from God, by God, and we are filled with God…and so it is that we are God’s miracle and not God’s mistake.We are saved from needless fear by God’s gracious trust in us to be God’s body in this world. A God who so trusts us, can be trusted by us.
Trust in God’s goodness is evidence of our own. That’s the message of Hebrews 11.
People entrusted with the very goodness of God can heal the world. This is the reality of my faith, and this is the good news. Amen.God for me,
God with me,
God in me,
I trust in your goodness.
I Am abundantly blessed.
Alleluia!
Amen.
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Our Divine Source Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins Luke 11.1-13 Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen. Jesus’ disciples say to Jesus, “Teach us to pray like John does for his disciples.” […]
Our Divine Source
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Luke 11.1-13Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen.
Jesus’ disciples say to Jesus, “Teach us to pray like John does for his disciples.” These are religious people. They have been praying their whole lives. But they want to pray like Jesus. His prayers suggest an intimacy with God, and a trust that good things are meant to happen. They want to pray like that!
Now, all of the apostles suffered, as did Jesus. Jesus was crucified, as were several of his apostles. One was flayed to death, two were beaten to death, one was beheaded…so, clearly praying like Jesus doesn’t mean getting everything you want or never facing difficulties.
But in spite of difficulties, Jesus’ prayers seemed to remind him that God was always near, and that God’s love was dependable.
Jesus’ prayers did bless people, and make them feel whole and hopeful. Teach us to pray like that, Lord!
We want our prayers to make us know that there’s not a spot where God is not.
We want our prayers to help us go to peace instead of to pieces.
We want our prayers to make others feel better and live happier. Teach us to pray like that, Lord.So Jesus gave them a sample prayer.
He suggested thinking of God as a loving, gracious, generous friend or caregiver. Jesus used the word “Abba” (a parental figure), but any name that makes you feel safe and loved will do. I like Big Mama God, and that’s in the ballpark of Abba.After knowing God to be loving and nurturing, affirm God as good, goodness itself. Hallowed is your name. You are holy, All Good.
And then, Jesus said, affirm God’s nearness. Your dominion will come, it is coming, it is here within us.
Once you’ve recognized God as loving, good, and present, now ask God to help you meet today’s needs. Give us our daily bread.
And then ask God for spiritual, inner healing. Ask God to help clean up the inside, because when the inside is good, the outside will seem a lot better. When you squeeze an orange, what comes out? Orange juice. What’s inside is what comes out. Nothing else can.
So forgive us our mistakes, our pettiness, our bitterness, our selfishness, our lack of concern for the oppression and suffering of others….forgive, heal the inside so that what we express can be more beautiful.And, of course, part of what needs healing are the grudges we have nursed and rehearsed over the years. So forgive us, and help us forgive others.
And finally, save us from the time of trial. Save us from giving up too soon. Save us from fear. We know that the way over problems is through them…so don’t leave us in our messes, help us move through them. Save us from our dramas, don’t let us get stuck in them.
That’s the Lord’s prayer, the prayer Jesus taught, the model he gave.
God is present and is good, is able to help us live one day at a time with peace and joy, offers inner healing, and gives us the grace to know that hell is something we go through, not to.
Acknowledge God’s loving presence and infinite goodness.
Ask God for grace to live this day well.
Ask God for inner healing because if the inside is good, then only good will come from us. And that healing may mean some forgiveness work on our part.
And we’re going to step in it sometimes, so when that happens, trust God to help you move through it to better days.
That’s how to pray like Jesus.Now, what can we know for certain that we will receive from praying like that?
Jesus says if your neighbor needs a cup of flower, you’d probably help them out. Even if it wasn’t terribly convenient.
And if your kid wanted a snack, you’d give them an apple or a banana or juice box, not a rock.
You want to be kind and generous. Those are divine impulses. Your ability and desire to be good, even sometimes, is a witness to the infinite goodness of God.My first night ever in a gay bar in the mid80s was a magical night. I was surrounded by gay folks. All together, all having a good time together. Men and women, all ages…some out, many not…just together being who God made us each to be. It was glorious. Now I call it any given afternoon on Wilton Drive, but that first time…I had found the Promised Land.
Our revelry that awesome night was interrupted by a shrill voice from the front door, “Girls! Get out here quick. Mary has driven her car into the ditch!” Mary by the way was a man known generally as Rick.
There was a sodomy law on the books. Preachers were saying AIDS was divine punishment against gays. Gays weren’t allowed in the military. If teachers were discovered to be gay they would be fired no questions asked. So, calling family or even AAA for help to rescue your car from Studio Homo on the edge of town really wasn’t an option. The kindness of strangers was the best hope.
40 queer folk ran out into the gravel covered parking lot to find a car leaning at a 45 degree angle in a 4 foot ditch. 40 people, at the time outlaws in our state and mostly strangers to one another surrounded that thankfully small car in the dark of night, and on three (1-2-3) hoisted it into the air and back down on level ground. One short, corpulent fellow shouted with glee, “I’ve never felt so butch!”
That was a god moment. That was love, kindness, and compassion in expression. Jesus says if 40 strangers can rush to save the day (or night as it happened), just know that is only a fraction of God’s willingness to lend a hand in your moment of need.
In fact, wasn’t it divine grace in, through, and as those parking lot good Samaritans that helped a soul in need that night?Leave us not in the ditch of despair, but help us feel utterly fabulous again! That’s the Lord’s Prayer in action.
So ask, seek, knock. God hears. And God will respond.
And what will God give us? She hasn’t given me the mega millions hook up yet, and she hasn’t rigged elections for my various candidates, and God hasn’t showed me the effortless diet that you go one once and its results last forever…but God, according to Luke’s Jesus, has given me and all of us a promise.If you can give your neighbor a cup of flour, or your kid a tasty snack, or a careless driver a boost out of a ditch, how much more will God give the holy Spirit to those who ask?!
The Spirit! God in us. God expressing…that’s what prayer guarantees, a deeper experience of God which often leads to other amazing blessings, but nothing could be greater than communion with our divine source!
God will help us experience God as life, love, wisdom, power and presence. God will give us peace, and hope, and the conviction that we are each God’s miracle and not God’s mistake. And, after all, isn’t that what Jesus had that made his followers say, “Lord, Teach us to pray like you do”?
Praying like Jesus reminds us that God is here as love to help us make the most of this day, to heal our inner wounds, and to help us move through the challenges of life. And as we turn to God in prayer, we can be sure that God is able, willing, and ready to give us unlimited experiences of peace, hope, and joy. And this is the good news. Amen.
Omnipresent, divine Love,
Help us to heal our world.
Minister to our every need.
Forgive our mistakes,
And help us be more forgiving.
Do not leave us in our fears,
But bring us through and out of them.
Amen.
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Seeking to Live & Love like Jesus Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins Luke 10 Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen. 722 years before the common era, the Assyrian empire conquered Samaria […]
Seeking to Live & Love like Jesus
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Luke 10Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen.
722 years before the common era, the Assyrian empire conquered Samaria and relocated most of its Jewish inhabitants, but the Assyrians let some of the Jewish farmers stay in Samaria, and those farmers’ families started marrying settlers from Mesopotamia and Syria.
Later, when the Jewish people who had been scattered and exiled by various empires were allowed to return to their homeland, the Samaritans were still there, but in the time of separation, the Samaritans had been regarded by the exiles as renegades. They are not part of us, the returning exiles decided.
In the book Ezra, the Samaritans offer to help rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, but the heads of the Jewish families said, “Thanks but no thanks.”
Tensions between the groups got worse over the years. In the year 108 BCE, Jewish forces destroyed the Samaritan Temple.
A century later, some Samaritans desecrated the Jewish temple by scattering bones throughout the sanctuary.Samaritans and Jews had separate holy sites.
Both Samaritans and Jewish sects believed themselves to be the faithful inheritors of God’s precepts. “We are God’s people and they are not,” both sides insisted.Religion, politics, culture, misunderstandings, prejudice…they all conspired to keep these people not only apart, but deeply suspicious of one another.
The hatred of Samaritans by Jewish Palestinians and the hatred of Jews by Samaritans was fierce and ugly. The ethnocentric, xenophobic fear and hatred of the other was toxic. Each side hated the other for their religion, politics, and ethnic heritage. I’m so glad we don’t see anything so ugly today.
Samaritans and Jews were bitter enemies, even though geographically they were neighbors, even though less than a millennium earlier they were the same nation, the same people, the same community…but now, they see one another as monsters and they treat one another monstrously.
So it was jaw dropping when Luke’s Jesus spun a yarn about a GOOD Samaritan. John’s gospel shows Jesus interacting with a Samaritan woman in ways that affirmed the Samaritan woman’s dignity, but Luke has Jesus telling a story about a heroic Samaritan.
When a religious leader asks Jesus in Luke 10 what he needs to do to have a significant life, a life that will reverberate throughout the ages, Jesus says, “What does the Torah say?”
The religious guy quotes Deuteronomy and Leviticus saying love God and love your neighbor. Easy peezy lemon squeezy.
Jesus says, “then do that.”But the religious guy…Religious people often want to use religion to figure out how they don’t have to be kind or generous or even decent to someone else. This religious dude is no different. He says, “Fine. Love God and love my neighbor; but who exactly is my neighbor?”
What he’s really asking is, “Who is so different from me that I can treat them like dirt?”And Jesus says: Once upon a time a man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and he got mugged and left for dead. Religious folk walked right by him. They probably had bible verses at the ready as to why it was okay for them to ignore this man’s suffering. When AIDS first showed up among us, Fundamentalists has verses to prove it was God’s wrath on display, instead of, you know, showing concern for people who were terrified, sick, and dying.
Religious folk walked right by the man on the ground, offering him not so much as a “God bless you.”
But then came a Samaritan, who saw someone in need and tried to respond with compassion to that need. He offered first aid and paid for the man to have a room and some food so he could heal. He didn’t give religious arguments as to why the victim deserved his plight or didn’t deserve kindness…he just saw a man in desperate need and he did what he could.Jesus then asked, “who was a neighbor to the victim?” And the religious guy answered, “The one who wasn’t a jerk. The one who gave a damn.” And Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.”
The Samaritan saw someone he would have been taught to call an enemy, but he was in trouble, and the Samaritan responded to the need rather than to the bigotry he had inherited. He acted like a child of God reaching out to another child of God. He let goodness and compassion rather than religious legalism and cultural differences be his guide. And Jesus says, “Be like the Samaritan.”
How we treat people who need access to medical care, people who have their rights denied or threatened, people whose physical safety is at risk, people who flee hellish situations to seek refuge in hopefully friendlier places…How neighborly we choose to be shows our commitment to the way of Christ more than any creed ever could.
A rabbi was once traveling and saw a monastery. He was out in the boonies and he hadn’t seen any hotels. He thought he’d see if he could secure lodging at the monastery for the night. The monks welcomed him, of course, and gave him dinner and a room. The rabbi asked what life at the monastery was like. The Abbot said, “We’ve seen better days. There’s only six of us left in the order. No one comes to our masses but us, no one comes here for retreat, and we haven’t had anyone join the order in years.“ The rabbi said, “I’m sorry to hear that but I very much appreciate your hospitality. You were certainly a godsend to me.”
The rabbi went to bed and the next morning after a delicious breakfast he took his leave. As he was going, he said non-chalantly, “Oh, by the way, one of you is the messiah. Bye!” And he left.
The monks were abuzz with excitement. Could it be? Could one of them be the messiah for real?
But wait. He forgot to tell us which one of us is the messiah. And now he’s gone. Oh snap!A year later, the rabbi was in the area again. He stopped at the monastery, not out of desperation this time, but to visit the friends he had made. It was different this time. There were families having picnics on the grounds, individuals praying in the various chapels, and he counted at least 13 monks. The abbot greeted him with a big hug but the rabbi couldn’t wait to ask, “this place seems so different; what’ve you done?”
The abbot said, “we have people on retreat here almost every week. People come daily just to pray. We doing weddings here pretty often now. We offer spiritual direction to people in the community. And people come to mass, not just on Sundays but during the week, too! We’ve picked up new brothers. The place has come alive since you were here.”
“I see, I see” the rabbi said. “But how?”
The abbot said, “You told us that one of us was the messiah, but you didn’t tell us who. So we started treating each other as if it could be any one of us. We became happier, less afraid, and more loving, and then people started showing up to experience some of that.”Religion’s job isn’t to make us hate ourselves or anyone else. Religion should encourage us to treat everyone as a child of God. When we do that, we can change the world, or at least our part of it.
And this is the good news. Amen.
Divine Love,
Heal our mental wounds,
Our physical wounds,
The wounds of our society,
The wounds of our nation,
The wounds of our world.
Amen.
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Working for the Good of All Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins Galatians 6.2-10 Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen. The Apostle Paul’s letter to a Galatian community is only 6 chapters […]
Working for the Good of All
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Galatians 6.2-10Let us dwell together in peace, let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression; and now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen.
The Apostle Paul’s letter to a Galatian community is only 6 chapters long, and we heard from the final chapter this morning. The letter talks very frankly about anatomy. Paul had created a controversy in his circle by declaring himself the apostle to the uncircumcised. What? Who talks like that? The Apostle Paul.
Paul has recently gone to meet with a council of church leaders in Jerusalem headed by James, the brother of Jesus. The council members tend to agree with James that followers of Jesus should be or become Jewish, and for men, that will require circumcision.
Paul disagrees with them. So, he says Jewish members of the movement should honor their Jewish heritage and observe the traditions, but gentiles who want to follow the Jesus way shouldn’t have to observe every Jewish tradition, such as circumcision. He discerns that if men have to have elective surgery on their nether regions to join the movement, that’s going to be a deal breaker for a lot of guys.
Now, notice, religious people are arguing over people’s bodies. What should people do with their bodies? What should they not do with their bodies? Who is in charge of their bodies, specifically, their genitalia? Oh thank God we are so far beyond that today!
When Paul goes to Jerusalem he takes Barnabas and Titus for moral support, and he brags in Galatians 2 that even though Titus is an uncircumcised Greek, the council didn’t insist he be circumcised. And if Titus gets a pass, why require it of anyone?
Paul says also in chapter 2 that he thinks of Peter as the apostle to the circumcised and himself as the apostle to the uncircumcised.
Paul values his religious traditions, he just doesn’t think all of them have to be imposed on people from beyond his religious background who want to follow Jesus. Why set up a lot of roadblocks?
In chapter 4 Paul reminds the Galatians of the story of Abraham having a child with his slave, Hagar, and another child with his wife, Sarah.
Now, Paul doesn’t seem to realize that slavery is evil, or that Hagar was abused when she was forced by Abraham to have his child (a son whom he abandons when his wife finally conceives).
When people use the Bible to condemn women’s autonomy over their bodies, or transgender expression, or same-gender love and attraction, they seem to forget about Abraham having slaves, forcing one of them to be a surrogate mother for his wife (whom he earlier sold to a regional potentate and then reclaimed). And that’s before he attempted to murder the son that he didn’t abandon. It is ridiculous to use the Bible to condemn people. But I digress.
Paul uses the story of Abraham and Hagar and Sarah an allegory. He says those trapped in legalism and condemnation and religious rigidity are children of bondage, Hagar. But those who freely, joyously follow Jesus without all the fetters of legalism are children of freedom, of Sarah.
And then in chapter 5 Paul tells the Galatians, “For freedom Christ has set you free.”
Reject bondage (I’m not talking about your social life, that’s your business). Reject religious bondage, and embrace spiritual freedom.
And in verse 14 he says, “The whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
The people who use tradition and dogma to control, condemn, and exclude are missing the whole point. For freedom Christ has set us free, and instead of straining at gnats, just love yourself and loves others as much as you love yourself and you’ll be in good shape.
In verse 22 of chapter 5, Paul says, “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such,” Paul says, “there is no law.”
You are not being faithful when you toss the Queer kid out of the house, or when you ignore the violence toward transgender people, or when you demonize desperate asylum seekers, or engage in Isalmaphobia…that isn’t faithful, it’s cruel, but the law of Christ is love of neighbor…welcome, compassion, kindness and there is no faithful reason to withhold compassion to the hurting or endangered, whoever they might be.
Paul says in chapter 6 as we heard today, “Bear one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Paul isn’t seeking doctrinal purity or compliance with tradition, he’s focusing on the law of Christ whose burden is easy and whose yoke is light. And what is the law of Christ?
Paul says it’s to bear one another’s burdens.
He says it’s to love your neighbor as yourself.
He later wrote to a house church in Rome, “…the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” The law is to LOVE.
His frenemy James said, “If you fulfill the divine law, which is ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well.”
Jesus quoted the Torah when he said the greatest of all commandments were to love God and neighbor, and he told a story about people that you condemn or hate might be the best neighbors of all.
And of course we read in 1 John 4.16, “God is love and whoever lives in love lives in God and God lives in them.”Legalism is usually just an excuse to beat up people, figuratively, and sometimes literally. But the law of Christ is love, compassion, kindness, justice, generosity. Bear someone’s burden and thus fulfill the law of Christ.
Paul tells us, “Let us not grow weary in doing good.” Indeed, he exhorts us, “Work for the good of all…especially your friends, but not just your friends.” Work for the good of all.
If someone tells us that they are afraid to come out,
or they are having doubts about God,
or they are marrying outside their faith,
or they are struggling with an addiction,
or they are battling depression,
or they are burdened by profound grief…they are not asking us for a bible verse, a lecture, or an opinion. They are asking us to hear them, to love them, to sit with them. They are giving us an opportunity to share their burden, not to add to it with our own bigotry and baggage.People’s pain is not an opportunity to defend our beliefs;
their pain is an opportunity to help them bear their burdens.“If the church were Christian,” a wise Quaker pastor tells us, “gracious behavior would be more important than right belief.”
If the church were truly following Jesus and his kin-dom of God message, we would bear the burdens of others rather than trying to add to them, we would love our neighbor while realizing all of God’s children are our neighbors; if the Church were following Jesus, it would work for the good of all.
And this church will; and this is the good news. Amen.
Dear God, as a disciple of Jesus I pray,
bless me to be a blessing.
Give me joy and peace,
And for the sake of your love,
give me the grace to share those gifts.
Alleluia!
Amen.
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