how far?

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The LORD works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion for his children,
so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.
(Psalm 103:1-13, NRSV)

God has removed our sin from us.

He has forgiven us, and will continue to forgive us.

There is nothing we can do that can not be forgiven.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us!

As far as the east is from the west! I love this, because we just don’t really see how far that is. Mark Hall of Casting Crowns explains it in the teaching video for the song East to West.

You see if you look at the directions on the compass and then you start going north, at some point you will reach the north pole and then you will be going south. You can go south until you reach the south pole and then you will start going north again. There is only so far you can go north or south until you go the other direction. But if you go east, you will never start going west. Or if you go west you will never start going east. Unless you turn around and go the other direction!

God has removed your sins from you as far as the east is fromt he west! And He lost them in the sea of forgetfulness!

God’s forgivenenss is nothing we can comprehend. He loves you more then we can know.

As far as the east is from the west!

born of God

Love-One-AnotherBeloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12, NRSV)

If you love one another then you are born of God…

So who is the one another we are to love?

Just those in our congregation?

Just those in our denomination?

Just those in our wider understanding of the body of Christ?

Everyone that God has made (which would be everyone…)?

Whoever does not love does not know God.

So I would say we need to love everyone. But then how do we love them? With agape, or unconditional love? Or with tought love?

Do we judge them for what they do, but still love the person?

Jesus loved people where they were, forgiving their short comings, helping them up when others had knocked them down and sending them off to be new people.

How can we love others, the way Jesus loved us?

How can we show we are born of God?

 

Hospitality

This post is part of the June synchroblog that invited bloggers to write about “Hospitality”.

And I wondered what is hospitality?

Merriam Webster Online defines Hospitality as:

:  hospitable treatment, reception, or disposition

So hospitality has to do with being hospitable. But what does that mean?

Again Merriam Webster Online defines Hospitable as:

1 a :  given to generous and cordial reception of guests
b :  promising or suggesting generous and cordial welcome
     :  offering a pleasant or sustaining environment
2   :  readily receptive :  open to new ideas

So now I wonder if we as a church are hospitable?

Do we give a generous reception of our guests, or do we look out just for ourselves?

Do we welcome the stranger and the foreigner into our midst and accept them where they are.

Do we offer a pleasant and sustaining environment for those who are not a part of the inner circle or are different from us? Who may or may not agree with what we believe?

Are we receptive and open to new ideas? Not that we have to accept them and change to them, but are we open to seeing things from a different point of view than our own?

Jesus told us to be welcoming of the stranger and the foreigner. We are to look out for the down trodden and the orphans and the widows. We are to look to the needs of those who have no voice, or whose voice is ignored.

Are we doing this as a church, or are we simply being a club that looks out for the needs of its members and makes sure that the people who “join” are just like us and will not change us?

I think if we are truly going to say we are the body of Christ we have to be open and welcoming of the stranger, the orphan, the widow, the foreigner, the one who is not like us and maybe never will be. We have to be open to the ideas of others, not so that we are changed, but like Christ changed us, we can be in a relationship with the other, so that they might see Christ through us.

You see Christ ate with the stranger. Christ mingled with the whores. Christ fellowshiped with the tax collectors, and looked out for the ones the religious authorities were going to stone. He accepted them where they were and lived with them in a relationship. Not accepting their ways of lives, but also not shunning them for where they were. He found them and accepted them. And just like you and me raised them and us to a different place through His relationship and acceptance.

Christ was hospitable to us, giving us  a generous welcome when others would not let us in.

Christ was hospitably to us, giving us a pleasant and sustaining environment in which to grow in His love, rather than rules and conditions that have to be met.

If we are to be the body of Christ we need to welcome the stranger and the foreigner, not to grow the body of Christ, but to be like Christ in the world and to allow Him to shine through us!

So let us be open to the other, so that Christ may give them what He has already given us!

 

 

Other posts from June Syncroblog on Hospitality:

Carol Kuniholme – Violent Unwelcome. Holy Embrace.

Glen Hager – Aunt Berthie

Leah Sophia – welcoming one another

Mary – The Space of Hospitality

Jeremy Myers – Why I Let a “Murderer” Live in My House

Loveday Anyim – Is Christian Hospitality a Dead Way of Life?

Tony Ijeh – Is Hospitality Still a Vital Part of Christianity Today?

Clara Ogwuazor Mbamalu – Have we replaced Hospitality with Hostility?

nothing with out _______

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:1-7, NRSV)

Do you see you can do many things…

Speak in tongues of mortals and angels.

Have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge.

Have all faith to move mountains.

I can give away everything and hand over my body, but if I do it to boast then I’ve missed the mark.

You see anything is possible, but if not done for the right reason, it is just noise, or nothing, and a waste of time.

But if we love. and Love leads us to do these things, then we have all things through Him who gave us His love so that we can love.

You see we are nothing without love.

hard to see

My child, keep your father’s commandment,
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
Bind them upon your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
(Proverbs 6:20-23, NRSV)

As I typed the title for this blog I heard Yoda speaking it.

Hard to see the future is.

Hind sight is 20/20. Which means if I knew then what I know now I would not have done that.

Children do not always see what their parents are doing. I know there were times in m youth when I wondered if my parents really knew what they were doing. I know my kids think that. And the answer is, no they really didn’t know, but they were doing the best they could. Just like me. I did not get an owners manual, (not like I would have read it any way) and there were no new parent classes. God blessed us, and here we are.

So we try to raise our children with the right skills and in the right way so they will grow to be wonderful functioning adults. And sometimes our children just don’t understand.

But always in motion is the future, and if we knew what was going to happen to you we would tell you how to handle it, which still wouldn’t be the right thing, because it is going to happen to you, the kid, and not us, so how we as your parent would react is not how you should react. But listen to your parents teaching and learn from them, because they have been there. And yes they messed it up, even if they won’t tell you, and sometimes they did ok, even when they say it was great.

For their teaching and wisdom is a lamp and a light to help you follow God, and really that is all we really want, for our children to have faith in God and to follow Him.

convicted…

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—this is the first commandment with a promise: “so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1-4, NRSV)

Ok when I read this one it hurt a little bit.

For those of you who don’t know, I am a father of 3 beautiful, smart girls.

They are the apples of my eye and I love each of them as much as they need to be loved for their own abilities and talents. No matter what happens or how old they get, all of them will be daddy’s little girl!

But I have a tendency to provoke them. And yes they get angry. And as each of them shows their beauty and wisdom in their own unique way, they always do that with their anger.

And had this pericope stopped at verse 3 I would have been fine, but verse 4 came along for the ride and now fathers are not supposed to provoke their children to anger.

Well all I can say is, I try. I am sorry. I am human and not a perfect father.

My only hope is that I have raised my daughters to know the Lord and to follow Him. I hope that they know that even when I make them mad, or they make me mad, I still love them and no matter what just like God loves me, I love them.

So children obey your parents and fathers do not provoke, but be a guide to your children, the world is hard enough without us causing our children more problems.

And girls (my girls) if you are reading this, daddy loves you and is so proud of the woman you are and are becoming. And always remember that no matter what happens you will always be, my little girl!

love

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:25-33, NRSV)

Husbands are to love their wives as Jesus loves the church!

If we love our wives we love ourselves, and by doing this we love her and the world as Jesus first loved us!

Love your wife as you do your own body.

Without blemish your love should be for her. Pray for the strength to be for your wife, what God is for you.

And allow the one flesh to be like the Trinity, 3 in one, you, your wife and Christ! a cord of 3 is never broken!

doing

and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:20-35, NRSV)

Who are Jesus’ mother and brothers and sisters?

There has been debate about this for a long time. Does Jesus have brothers and sisters from Mary?

Well that is not really a question for this reading. And Jesus Himself gives an answer to the question that does not answer the question.

Any one who does the will of my Father is my brother and sister and mother.

So if you are doing God’s will you are a brother or sister or mother of Christ!

And partly this is probably because after He had called the disciples to follow Him, His own family said He as crazy! Not only the religious authorities are against Him now, but also His family.

So do not be put off when doing the will of God is hard and people turn against you, because Jesus had to go against the authorities of the religious order of the day and His family!

Be doing the will of God, so you will counted as a part of the family of God, not the family that says He is crazy, but the family of co-inheritors!

 

for the sport of it

O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
There go the ships,
and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
These all look to you
to give them their food in due season;
when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.
(Psalm 104:24-30, NRSV)

I love this psalm because it paints a jovial picture of God.

He created the Leviathan for the sport of it. Because He could and for a laugh.

Everything that is on the earth and the earth itself was formed by God.

And God will renew all of it in His timing.

Let us be good stewards of His creation while we wait for Him.

discipleship

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?” The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.” (John 7:37-52, NRSV)

“Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” Asked Nicodemus.

Interesting question. Which they really didn’t answer. The pharisees answered with another question and comment.

They did not have an interest in discovering the truth about Jesus, they wanted Him gone.

He was leading people to a different understanding of what it means to follow God, and that was upsetting the apple cart if you will.

Nicodemus is the model disciple in John. While those called to follow Jesus fall away at His crucifixion, Nicodemus is there.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus under darkness at first. Seeking to know who Jesus is.

Then he speaks out a little more publicly, here in chapter 7, and the next time we see Nic in the gospel of John, he is helping take Jesus’ body off the cross.

From seeker, to speaking out in Jesus’ defense, to giving Him a proper burial. Nic goes from learner to learner, and continues to grow as one following Jesus.

If only we could be as bold as Nic was.