Being Right or Being Human?

“… one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:34-37

Being right is easy. We have a lot of lawyers in our church, so some of you probably live with people whose job is to be right. For a Lawyer in Jesus day, Jesus probably appeared to be an easy opponent. He flouted the rules quite often, eating with outcasts, touching the unclean, healing on the sabbath and being friends with all kinds of outsiders.

His conversation partners in this scene were sure they were going to get him when they asked him, “Which law is the greatest?” If he came down on one side of some issues, he would anger their opponents (who would come after him). If the angered them, well, they could take care of getting him thrown in jail or executed.

What a surprise, then, that his answer defeats them by actually quoting the same scriptures they are claiming to live by. In fact, in Leviticus it actually appears right after the 10 commandments- “You must not take revenge or hold a grudge against any of your people; instead, you must love your neighbor as yourself…” (19:18). In their move to show Jesus just how unlawful he  was, they are convicted by their own laws. They forget to be human beings in their desire to be right.  

When I hear people  say that  we are a “nation of laws," I think of this scene. We are  a nation  governed and kept in order and in (mostly) good standing by laws, for sure, but we are much more. We are a nation of people striving to become fully- human beings . Our laws, when they are at their best, empower and enable us to love other people more fully and (as a result) be more fully human ourselves. Anything else is counter to God’s ultimate purposes for us, if we pay any attention to what Jesus (and Leviticus 19:18) says.

What would it look like if we, as a community and nation, sought to obey the law upon which Jesus says hang “all the law and the prophets?” Whatever your politics, I am sure you will agree that our world would be radically different (and probably better) wouldn’t it? Open room in your imagination to think about this world, rather than one in which we are always “right.” Jesus reminds us that being “right” often has little to do with loving God and other people or being the fully human, blessed creations God made us to be. 

Tim

Trial and Error and Repentance

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:19-23

Being human is all about trial and error, isn’t it? I mean, we know that many things are not worth trying because they are too dangerous or that they usually will lead to bad things happening to us. (In the south, such things are often proceeded by “hey ya’ll, watch!”). We try stuff, and sometimes it hurts us or other people or God’s world. We need to “repent” sometimes, because we make mistakes. Making mistakes and learning from them is how we grow up. Making the same mistakes, over and over, is no way to lead a life. Repentance, then, is a gift.

How this is extra good for us, then, is that “repenting” can be about (as the Greek word for it- “metanoia” – suggests) simply changing directions, or trying something else. Sure, it is healthy sometimes to feel remorse, or even guilt, but even those things are meant to push towards something better for ourselves and others. Repentance is about much more than feeling bad.

God’s kindness and compassion extends to us as individuals, so we ought to show compassion towards ourselves when we repent. One of the reasons the world can be so lousy sometimes, I believe, is because we are terrible at the last half of the great commandment (“love your neighbor as you love yourself.”) Many of us have problems loving our neighbors precisely because we have a hard time loving ourselves.

Maybe, then, repentance is the ultimate act of self-love? Maybe the stupid things we do separate us from our love for fellow humans, God, and ourselves? If God is not beating us up when we make mistakes, it follows that we should take it easy on ourselves, too! Repenting is not about feeling bad or moving away from “the seven deadlies,” -it is about trying something else with God’s help and living into a new path. After all, Jesus promises us that when we do repent, God’s kingdom is near!

Tim

Pray About Everything

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians  4:4

“In everything by prayer and supplication give thanks, because it will help you not be as anxious,” might be a good way of rephrasing Paul’s instruction to his friends in Phillipi. If I were to ask many of you when you prayed, it would probably be limited to meal times and/or bedtime. I pray then. At bedtime I think of 10 people and pray for them. At mealtimes, if it is just me or I am eating out somewhere, I pray, “God bless it and put it to work.” I don’t like long dinnertime prayers.

If you stop and think about it, eating certainly is a time when we should always give thanks. Each meal is a miracle. The food got grown via an infinite number of biological processes beyond most of our comprehension. The food got picked or slaughtered (if you are into the whole meat eating thing), preserved without getting damaged or spoiled, lovingly prepared in a way you like, and served to you in a safe, cool, comfy spot. So many good things happened so you could have the chance to eat your cheeseburger, so the least you can do is say, “Thank you!” to God.

Paul says to pray in everything, though. We should tell God what we want (supplication). We are to share openly and honestly with God our goofiest and deepest desires. Praying in everything connects with the reality that we can communicate with God in ways that reach far beyond what pops in our conscious minds. “Everything” prayer moves beyond our limited view of life and our narrow view of reality.

Anxiety is a complicated thing, I know. I will not say that prayer cures anxiety or even treats it.There is nothing too small, too petty, too goofy or juvenile for God’s healing grace found in prayer. Even so, if you are anxious, make sure that a part of your self-care is also sharing your anxiety with another person around the same time you pray about it. At the very least, my experience has been that prayer leads me to finding a new path or new way of living with, (and sometimes leaving behind)

Whatever you do, dear ones, pray in all things because, after all, God is with us in all things.

Darkness Doesn't Extinguish This Light

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.The Word was with God in the beginning. Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people. The light shines in the darkness,and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light. John 1: 1-5 CEB

So much surfaced for us all when we read the news about Las Vegas and later watched the footage. Some of us found ourselves newly anxious about being in crowds or more suspicious of strangers out in public. Some  may be having nightmares and feeling depressed and reasonably frightened. All of these responses are a function of the fact that we are, in fact, human beings.

I have no answers for why some folks store up guns and then use them on innocent people in acts of random violence. The best I can do, if you want to be all cosmic, is muse upon the fact that “the world is a broken place.” You don’t need any reminder of that, though. Scroll through your news feed on any day and you can find evidence for that aplenty.

Even so, as people of faith we believe and live as if evil, even in a display as powerful as what happened Sunday, cannot ever stop good.We are a witness to this  truth about the Gospel of Christ. Countless acts of love and light are happening in each moment as we live together in the aftermath. Goodness will continue to grow (and will never stop!) 

Goodness will continue to put evil in its place when we start talking with one another about  about guns and their place our lculture We have to truly begin to see the other- the enemy- the pain the neck person – the person who might even hate us- as a brother or sister. We have to have serious, difficult, family talks about our addiction to violence and our deeply-held belief that it ever really works for anything. 

If we are people of this light, we are challenged to begin acting as if we believe what John told us. We can live as children of this light- even as we weep and continue to ask, "Why?"