Common good

4 There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; 5 and there are different ministries and the same Lord; 6 and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 7 A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. 8 A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit, 9 faith to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one Spirit, 10 performance of miracles to another, prophecy to another, the ability to tell spirits apart to another, different kinds of tongues[a] to another, and the interpretation of the tongues to another. 11 All these things are produced by the one and same Spirit who gives what he wants to each person. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11, CEB)

There are different spiritual gifts, but the same spirit. I have always believed that we all have a part to play in the cosmic plan of God’s kingdom. But recently have been reading articles and having conversations around the gifts we are given and the callings on our lives.

As Lutherans we believe we are a part of the Priesthood of all believers. And that we all have a calling. And sometimes we know what that calling is and sometimes we don’t and we can get hung up on figuring it out. Like it is the magic bullet that will make our life be what it needs to be.

But here is the thing. We all have gifts, and what if using the gifts we have to make our corner of the world brighter is really the calling we have? Meaning your vocation or calling isn’t something huge that will change the whole world all at once. We are all called and gifted to make our world brighter and more filled with love. Our world, and the 20 or something people we surround our selves with. Not something huge or even remotely impressive. Just normal, every day loving of those around us. For the common good.

Kind of like the butterfly effect. A butterfly flaps it wings in Hong Kong and there is a storm in New York. Ripples that go out and effect the world. Love ripples.

So love those around you and change the world, for the common good.

Love People. Love God.

Companion

26 “When the Companion comes, whom I will send from the Father—the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 You will testify too, because you have been with me from the beginning.
you will remember that I told you about them. “I didn’t say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I go away to the one who sent me. None of you ask me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Yet because I have said these things to you, you are filled with sorrow. 7 I assure you that it is better for you that I go away. If I don’t go away, the Companion won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will show the world it was wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment. 9 He will show the world it was wrong about sin because they don’t believe in me. 10 He will show the world it was wrong about righteousness because I’m going to the Father and you won’t see me anymore. 11 He will show the world it was wrong about judgment because this world’s ruler stands condemned. 12 “I have much more to say to you, but you can’t handle it now. 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine. That’s why I said that the Spirit takes what is mine and will proclaim it to you. (John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15, CEB)

What do you think when you hear companion?

Honestly I think of a Siberian Husky we had as a pet. Tika and I would have conversations and play hard. She was a wonderful part of our family. She was a companion. I remember when we brought our oldest daughter home from the hospital, we have a picture of Tika in the back of the car sniffing the car seat and seeing what was happening. She was so gentle and kind to our daughter. She was truly a loving spirit.

That is how I envision the Holy Spirit, as a traveler with us on the road of life. Someone who will help us and guide us with the right things to say and do, but also just there as a friend along the way.

Jesus said that the Spirit will guide us in all truth, and be a companion.

Let us travel with this companion and help the world see all truth.

Love People. Love God.

Living water

37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “All who are thirsty should come to me! 38  All who believe in me should drink! As the scriptures said concerning me, Rivers of living water will flow out from within him.” 39 Jesus said this concerning the Spirit. Those who believed in him would soon receive the Spirit, but they hadn’t experienced the Spirit yet since Jesus hadn’t yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39, CEB)

Rivers of living water will flow out from within him.

Living water is water that is moving, not stagnate. Stagnate water is dying and attracts mosquitoes.

Is your life flowing with living water or are you attracting mosquitoes?

Do you exude love in the way you live and shine grace and mercy on people you meet? Or does you life attract the things that make us want to run for brighter days?

You can have the living water flowing from you when you walk in the Spirit and allow God to guide your steps and your days.

Let the love you have been given flow through you to those you meet.

Love People. Love God.

Victory

50 This is what I’m saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s kingdom. Something that rots can’t inherit something that doesn’t decay. 51 Listen, I’m telling you a secret: All of us won’t die, but we will all be changed— 52 in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the final trumpet. The trumpet will blast, and the dead will be raised with bodies that won’t decay, and we will be changed. 53 It’s necessary for this rotting body to be clothed with what can’t decay, and for the body that is dying to be clothed in what can’t die. 54 And when the rotting body has been clothed in what can’t decay, and the dying body has been clothed in what can’t die, then this statement in scripture will happen: Death has been swallowed up by a victory. 55 Where is your victory, Death? Where is your sting, Death? (56 Death’s sting is sin, and the power of sin is the Law.) 57 Thanks be to God, who gives us this victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:50-57, CEB)

We will be changed in an instant and will be transformed from a being that will die, to a being that will live forever. And how does that happen?

Do we become just spirit?

Do we have a body?

Is it the same as we have now?

Where will we be?

If you can show me the answers to these questions in the scripture I would love to see them. But I wonder do these questions really matter?

I mean they matter to us now because we want to know the answers, but do they really matter?

What really matters is the first thing I said, and quoted from Paul, “All of us won’t die, but we will all be changed— 52 in an instant, in the blink of an eye”

We have victory over death! We will not die, but live forever.

Love People. Love God.

What’s your nature…

a rotting body is put into the ground, but what is raised won’t ever decay. 43 It’s degraded when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised in glory. It’s weak when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised in power. 44 It’s a physical body when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised as a spiritual body. If there’s a physical body, there’s also a spiritual body. 45 So it is also written, The first human, Adam, became a living person, and the last Adam became a spirit that gives life. 46 But the physical body comes first, not the spiritual one—the spiritual body comes afterward. 47 The first human was from the earth made from dust; the second human is from heaven. 48 The nature of the person made of dust is shared by people who are made of dust, and the nature of the heavenly person is shared by heavenly people. 49 We will look like the heavenly person in the same way as we have looked like the person made from dust. (1 Corinthians 15:42b-49, CEB)

This passage is one of the passages that makes people think our bodies are not going with us when we are in the fulfillment of God’s kingdom. Because the first Adam is made of dust and is physical and the second Adam is made of Spirit and is spiritual. That is why the Spirit comes after the physical body. And according to this you can have a physical body and not have the spirit.

But if you have the spirit, you are a part of the second Adam and are going to be in the heavenly realm.

So what is your nature? Is it physical or spiritual? How can you know?

But at the very end there, Paul says we will look like the heavenly person in the same way we have looked like the person made from dust. We will be both physical and spiritual. We will have both natures. We will be in and not of.

So show your spiritual side by going into the world to show light in the place that need it, to share love as you go and make the world a brighter place.

Love People. Love God.

What did he mean?

16 Soon you won’t be able to see me; soon after that, you will see me.” 17 Some of Jesus’ disciples said to each other, “What does he mean: ‘Soon you won’t see me, and soon after that you will see me’ and ‘Because I’m going to the Father’? 18 What does he mean by ‘soon’? We don’t understand what he’s talking about.” 19 Jesus knew they wanted to ask him, so he said, “Are you trying to find out from each other what I meant when I said, ‘Soon you won’t see me, and soon after that you will see me’? 20 I assure you that you will cry and lament, and the world will be happy. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman gives birth, she has pain because her time has come. But when the child is born, she no longer remembers her distress because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 In the same way, you have sorrow now; but I will see you again, and you will be overjoyed. No one takes away your joy. 23 In that day, you won’t ask me anything. I assure you that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Up to now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive so that your joy will be complete. (John 16:16-24, CEB)

I love this passage, because Jesus says, “soon you won’t be able to see me; soon after that, you will see me.” And the disciples are like what does he mean? What is soon? Where is he going? What does all of this mean?

And Jesus, of course, hears or knows what they are talking about and explains again and in crystal clear Jesus form. So no one still understands what Jesus is talking about.

You will cry and the world will rejoice! You will be sorrowful, but that sorrow will become joy.

He didn’t plainly say what was happening, that he was going to he arrested, beaten, put on trial, and killed, and then 3 days later come back to life and then go back to be with the Father. He didn’t say this plainly because they wouldn’t have believed it. I say this because I wouldn’t have believed it. Even after it happened the disciples questioned it.

People still question it today. It is hard to believe. But isn’t that what faith is, believing what we can’t believe?

So stop worrying about figuring out what Jesus meant by everything we have written down that he “said.” Because all you have to do is have faith that the promises are true, not understand everything completely now.

Love People. Love God.

United States of Grace

United States of Grace – A Memoir of Homelessness, Addiction, Incarceration and Hope by Lenny Duncan.

This is a must-read book for anyone who claims to be a disciple of Jesus and a lover of God.

I was waiting for this book ever since I read Dear Church. I was ready when this book arrived for me to read. But I wasn’t. Lenny pulled back the veil and ushered us into the most intimate parts of his life. Lenny showed us the young abused man who set out on his own, and the father who was reunited with his daughter. He showed us the drug addict and sex worker just trying to make their way in life. He reveals why he loves this country and gives everyone us of us every reason to hate it. We are taken to the heights of being covered by God’s grace and to the depths of almost being lynched.

I was not ready for the roller coaster ride that the United States of Grace is. I was not ready to feel the depth of love, and hatred that I felt as I read about Lenny’s life. Lenny bore his soul and let us peak into who he is and why.

I saw grace in a way I have never seen as a Lutheran Pastor and saw God in a new and exciting way that will forever change the course of my life.

This book will change your understanding of grace, and help you see just how immense the love of God is. as Lenny said, ” I can look back and see that it was God’s grace completely unmerited and frankly unwanted entering my life in the way an invading force of mercy often does; it is overwhelming and all-encompassing.”

Get this book.

Left you behind

From Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I’m sent to bring about the faith of God’s chosen people and a knowledge of the truth that agrees with godliness. 2 Their faith and this knowledge are based on the hope of eternal life that God, who doesn’t lie, promised before time began. 3 God revealed his message at the appropriate time through preaching, and I was trusted with preaching this message by the command of God our savior. 4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior. 5 The reason I left you behind in Crete was to organize whatever needs to be done and to appoint elders in each city, as I told you. 6 Elders should be without fault. They should be faithful to their spouse, and have faithful children who can’t be accused of self-indulgence or rebelliousness. 7 This is because supervisors should be without fault as God’s managers: they shouldn’t be stubborn, irritable, addicted to alcohol, a bully, or greedy. 8 Instead, they should show hospitality, love what is good, and be reasonable, ethical, godly, and self-controlled. 9 They must pay attention to the reliable message as it has been taught to them so that they can encourage people with healthy instruction and refute those who speak against it. (Titus 1:1-9, CEB)

Have you ever felt like someone taught you something and seemed to not finish the teaching process but then they were gone?

That is how I imagine Titus from the statement in verse 5. “The reason I left you behind in Crete was to organize whatever needs to be done and to appoint elders in each city, as I told you.” I imagine Titus being upset that Paul left him and went about business somewhere else. Titus had been traveling with and learning from Paul and now Paul just up and leaves him.

“Am I not good enough for this?”

“What did I do wrong?”

“Did I really mess it up that bad?”

When in reality Paul was saying you are ready to fly on your own. It was the push out of the nest to make Titus fly. Sometimes we misinterpret what others mean by their actions. When that happens, ask.

And know at some point we all have to fly, and you might falter at the beginning, but have confidence and you will soar!

Love People. Love God.

Who are you thankful for?

3 I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. 4 I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. 5 I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. 6 I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus. 7 I have good reason to think this way about all of you because I keep you in my heart. You are all my partners in God’s grace, both during my time in prison and in the defense and support of the gospel. 8 God is my witness that I feel affection for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. 9 This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. 10 I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. 11 I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God. (Philippians 1:3-11, CEB)

Who are you thankful for in your life? And how do you show that you are thankful?

There are many people who are a part of my life that I do not see every day. And yet when I stop and spend time with God, I think about them and thank God for allowing them to be a part of my life. So many times we get hung up on all the bad things in our lives if we just stop and think about all of the wonderful people God has surrounded us with we can be thankful for the rich blessings God has given us.

And wouldn’t it make the world a better place if we all prayed for all of those who were a part of life everyday? And if we all prayed Paul’s pray, “This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight.” How much brighter would the world be?

Pray for all people especially those who blessed you, so they might be a blessing to others.

Love People. Love God.

Prayer

6 “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 This is because I gave them the words that you gave me, and they received them. They truly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 “I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. 10 Everything that is mine is yours and everything that is yours is mine; I have been glorified in them. 11 I’m no longer in the world, but they are in the world, even as I’m coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them in your name, the name you gave me, that they will be one just as we are one. 12 When I was with them, I watched over them in your name, the name you gave to me, and I kept them safe. None of them were lost, except the one who was destined for destruction, so that scripture would be fulfilled. 13 Now I’m coming to you and I say these things while I’m in the world so that they can share completely in my joy. 14 I gave your word to them and the world hated them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t belong to this world. 15 I’m not asking that you take them out of this world but that you keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t belong to this world. 17 Make them holy in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 I made myself holy on their behalf so that they also would be made holy in the truth. (John 17:6-19, CEB)

This is part of Jesus’ high priestly prayer from John where he prays for himself, the disciples, and then for those who will believe. This is the section on the disciples.

Jesus thanks God for the disciples and asks that God protect them.

You see we are in and not of this world, so the world will not understand us. Yet we need to share the love we have with the world.

Sometimes we are called to stand against the things of this world and we will not be accepted, yet we must always stand in love, knowing that God has sent us to share love.

So be bold and live in the world sharing the love God has shared with you, knowing that God goes with you.

Love People. Love God.