love

Fire From Heaven

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 97; 145, Ezekiel 4:1-17, Hebrews 6:1-12, Luke 9:51-62

When a Samaritan town refused to receive Jesus, the disciples James and John asked, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”  Luke says Jesus rebuked them. They simply moved on to the next town.

Could “rebuked” have been an understatement? After Jesus had taught them about peace, love, and reserving judgment for God, what made a consuming fire seem like a reasonable option?

James and John were just being human: even a little authority and power seems like it’s there to be used. Since Jesus isn’t physically present today to stay our hands, it’s good we can’t summon heavenly fire at will. Yet here in the west, particularly in the United States, many Christians seem to make a habit of wielding power. We take the commandment to make disciples of all nations and twist it into coercion. Never did Jesus force anyone to follow him – or even to respect him. Rather, he let some potential followers know they might not be ready. Have someone to bury soon? Want to finish up a few things? Maybe this isn’t for you yet. This was neither coercion nor rejection, but a free choice. Jesus moved on his way, and they moved on theirs.

So why do many Christians today find it difficult, when someone rejects Christ, to move on? We boycott (which may seem like moving on, but is decidedly aggressive), legislate against, picket, and ban people who don’t share our values, then wonder why our ranks dwindle. Such behavior doesn’t just fail to win people to Christ; it distorts the message of the Gospel into something repellent. Jesus warned us we’d be rejected, but now we have the numbers and influence to reject, condemn, and oppress … and too many times we choose to.

As we enter the week before Pentecost, let’s remember the last fire God sent from heaven was the Holy Spirit. Its flame rested visibly on each disciple’s head, and made it possible for all to understand them. Let’s choose our flame more wisely than James and John. Or move on.

Comfort: You aren’t bound by the law of rejection, but freed by the law of love.

Challenge: When fellow Christians speak in terms of rejection, speak up for love.

Prayer: Lord, light a fire in my heart to spread your good news to all. Amen.

Discussion: What’s a memorable example you know of Christians responding in love when they could have chosen rejection?

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Loving Our Enemies

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 99; 147:1-11, Jeremiah 30:18-22, Colossians 1:24-2:7, Luke 6:27-38

When Christ tells us to love our enemies, the underlying assumption is that we will have enemies; none of us gets through life without a few. How are we to love them? As usual, Jesus doesn’t tell us how to feel but how to behave: “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” This sounds like the ultimate in selflessness, but we engage in these actions to transform ourselves and our relationships with the world.

Unless we are engaged in a war, calling someone an “enemy” can seem melodramatic. To put Christ’s words into action, we might define enemies as anyone we don’t feel like blessing, praying, or doing good for. Maybe our enemies are social – the people challenging us at work, school, or other social groups. Maybe they are political; few things set us at odds so quickly, even when we share common goals. Maybe our enemies are inherited through longstanding cultural grudges, and we don’t have any firsthand reason to clash. In all these cases, society teaches us to distrust, outmaneuver, or outright harm. Television reality shows turn strangers into enemies for entertainment. Our hearts can war even when our hands are at peace.

If we love our enemies only to change them, we are missing the point. While a move from enemy toward friend is great, harboring any purpose for love other than love itself will eventually frustrate and disappoint us – and short-circuit its power to change our own hearts. How should we pray for our enemies, if not to change them? Just like we pray for our loved ones. Such prayer may take immense effort when we have been wronged, but if we wait until we feel like praying for them, that day may never come. Kindness toward those who anger us isn’t hypocritical, it is a discipline crucial to re-shaping our hearts to better resemble Christ’s heart.

Loving those who love us is nothing to brag about, but loving those who despise us – while expecting nothing in return! – changes both our hearts and the world.

Comfort: Loving our enemies gets easier with practice.

Challenge: Pray for your enemies – and mean it.

Prayer: Teach me, Lord, to love my enemies as Christ loves me. Amen.

Discussion: As you go through life, do you find you have more or fewer enemies?

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The Bare Minimum Wages of Sin

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 143; 147:12-20, Ruth 2:14-23, 2 Corinthians 3:1-18, Matthew 5:27-37

Mosaic law instructed farmers not to harvest the outermost edges of their fields, nor to retrieve what was scattered during the harvest. The remnants were left for the poor and the immigrant. When Boaz instructed his field hands to let Ruth, a Moabite immigrant, glean among the sheaves they had reaped and to pull stalks for her from the bundles, he went beyond what was required. While his reasons were not entirely selfless, we can infer he was not the kind of person who held onto things just because he could.

When Jesus spoke about temptations like adultery, he said “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus understood the difference between being tempted and surrendering to temptation. His larger message was that we shouldn’t be a people who skirt the technical boundaries of what is legal, regardless of whether it is right (a lusty look but not a touch), but a people who cultivate hearts that see others as more than an extension of our own needs and desires.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul described the law of Moses as written on stone, and the law of Christ as written on the heart. He called the first the law of death, and the second the law of life. A law carved in stone for everyone to read allows us to settle for the minimum amount of effort because then we’ve met our requirements. It encourages us to figure out exactly what we can get away with before earning punishment. Under a law of stone, we can trade our conscience and sense of ethics for a checklist.

The world tells us to make claim on all that we legally can, to think of justice as the greatest retribution we can legally extract, and to see others as competitors. This is the law of stone and death. The law of heart and life doesn’t leave the poor and alien scrounging at the edge of our fields because we are obligated to, but welcomes them to the table out of love.

Comfort: The law of love brings life.

Challenge: Loving your neighbor as Christ commands requires you to use your head and heart. Ask whether you are doing what is required, or what is loving.

Prayer: God of Life, teach me to read and obey what you have written on my heart. Amen.

Discussion: Many unethical actions are technically legal. Are there any that particularly bother you?

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We should be committed!

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 54; 146, Ruth 1:15-22, 2 Corinthians 1:12-22, Matthew 5:13-20

If today’s passage from Ruth sounds familiar, you may have heard it during a wedding ceremony. Ruth’s pledge of fidelity to Naomi is so moving, many select this scripture to reflect the commitment intended in marriage. The relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is very different from that between spouses, yet this scripture touches on something common to both.

Ruth has no legal or cultural obligations to her mother-in-law. Why would she choose not only to stay with the destitute Naomi, but to promise “Where you die, I will die?” In any relationship, there are three parties: the first person, the second person, and the relationship itself. Ruth, like a spouse would, commits herself not only to Naomi, but to the relationship between them. This may seem like a subtle distinction, but a relationship has needs distinct from the needs of either party. Absent an effort by both parties to meet those needs, the relationship will not survive. We all know couples who love each other but can’t make the relationship work, or friends who, despite best intentions, drift away over time. We describe such people as “growing apart,” but these words frequently mask an inability or unwillingness to nurture a relationship.

We can only commit to other people – whether through a marriage, a friendship, a faith community, etc. – when we recognize and honor that a relationship exists to serve not only our individual needs, but a greater purpose. When we don’t, we hold commitments lightly and break them easily. But when we do, we grow into the challenges and joys that are part of surrendering to something greater than ourselves. Sometimes this looks like foolishness to the world, but we know better in our hearts.

Through his letters to the church at Corinth (and other places) Paul is constantly telling the faithful their role in God’s larger realm transcends individual desires. A large part of Christ’s message is about being in right – and true – relationship with each other. Making a commitment to Christ means recognizing the needs of relationship do not extinguish but transform the desires of the individual.

Comfort: Being part of something larger helps us grow as people.

Challenge: Meditate on your relationships. Which require more or deeper commitment?

Prayer: Loving God, teach me to fill the space between me and other people with love. Amen.

Discussion: What are the common needs of platonic and romantic relationships?

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What Counts

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 56; 149, Isaiah 66:1-6, 1 Timothy 6:(1-5) 6-21, Mark 12:35-44

“It’s the thought that counts.”

If someone selects what they think is the perfect gift, but we don’t care for it, that’s probably true. On the other hand, if someone spends a month intending to visit us in our sick bed but never shows up … not so much.

Christians are taught actions do not save us, but we are also taught we must think the right things – namely that accepting Christ as our savior is the only way to salvation. However, we are far more comfortable with rules than abstract ideas so we often reduce that acceptance to a set of “correct” words, pronouncements, and expressions. This creates a paradox: we are freed from the law of actions by reinventing it as a law of belief. The danger is that adhering to this new law becomes just as meaningless if it bounces off our tongues without ever piercing our hearts.

Regarding its religious practices and sacrifices, Isaiah told the nation of Israel:

Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a human being;
whoever sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck.

The Lord was angry because the people of Israel made their prescribed sacrifices and said the required prayers, but practiced no compassion for the widows, orphans, and outcasts among them. Is hiding an unloving heart behind a law of actions substantially different from hiding one behind a law of religiously correct thought and speech?

When a poor widow dropped two all-but-worthless coins into the temple treasury, Jesus told his disciples hers was the greatest gift, because others had “contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had.” Our own abundance may be measured in more ways than finances. It may also be measured in privilege, freedom, comfort, etc. If we believe the “right” things, but give only from abundance, have we really embraced all the implications of accepting the sacrificial love of Christ? True acceptance motivates us to acts of compassion and sacrifice not because we must, but because loving Christ is more than a thought.

Comfort: Christ invites us to relationship, not religion.

Challenge: Examine where you have abundance. Could you give until you feel the pinch?

Prayer: I seek to love as Christ loves, to share the abundance of his grace. Amen.

Discussion: What do you think about but never seem to get around to?

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Our Neighbors, Our Selves

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loveyourneighbor

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 130; 148, Isaiah 65:17-25, 1 Tim. 5:(1-16) 17-22 (23-25), Mark 12:28–34

When the Jewish scribes asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment, he replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” He also volunteered the second most important: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The scribes hadn’t asked him for the top two, so he probably felt strongly about how we love our neighbors. We should note that in this statement is an implicit assumption that we do indeed love ourselves. As Christians, we are not always comfortable expressing a healthy love of self.

When we proclaim “I love my neighbor!” most people approve that sentiment. If we proclaim just as boldly “I love myself!” we can expect considerably less enthusiasm. If God wants us to love our neighbors extravagantly, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, doesn’t logic say God wants us to love ourselves just as extravagantly? God loves us as much as he loves our neighbors. Should we do less?

Sadly, overt love of self is often dismissed as pride. We are allowed to celebrate the gifts and talents of others, but expected to be unnecessarily demure about our own. Why wouldn’t we celebrate the gifts and talents our Creator has bestowed upon us? We don’t want to boast or elevate ourselves above others, but neither do we want to engage in self-talk that tells us we are less worthy, less beautiful, or less loved in our creator’s eyes than is anyone else. Quite the opposite: if we are to love others as God commands, we must understand what it is to be loved.

Sometimes loving ourselves means being honest about our own shortcomings, but in a way that builds us up rather than tears us down. For instance, if we need to improve our health we don’t do it by telling ourselves how terrible we are, but by recognizing our bodies are divine gifts that deserve the proper care and maintenance. Loving ourselves means unashamedly appreciating the gifts we have, and doing our best to honor and tend them.

Comfort: God wants us to love ourselves, because God loves us.

Challenge: Make a list of qualities you like about yourself.

Prayer: God of Strength, thank you for all my gifts. Amen.

Discussion: Are you able to accept compliments with grace?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group , visit comfortandchallenge.tumblr.com, or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

In the Light

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 19; 150, Isaiah 62:6-12, 1 John 2:3-11, John 8:12-19

In his first epistle, John tells us any believer who hates another believer is no believer at all. We can claim to walk in the light of Christ, but if we hate a brother or sister we are still in the darkness. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” True commitment to Christ leaves us unwilling to hate our fellow believers, no matter how strongly we may disagree with them (and we can disagree plenty).

It’s possible to say we’re following Christ, and maybe to believe that, without it actually being true. Let’s think of the light of Christ like a bonfire on the beach. We can remain within its direct light where we can feel its heat, see clearly by it, and easily reach those who would share it with us. Or we can dispassionately observe it from a little further down the beach or farther out at sea. From a distance, we see the bonfire and believe it exists; we can study it through a telescope to describe it and theorize about it and analyze it; maybe we use it as a rough guide to navigate … but it has no real impact on our lives. Even if we can hear the songs and laughter of those gathered around the bonfire, and smell the food being roasted on it, we don’t actually share the light, warmth, and proximity they do.

Successfully staying within the bonfire’s influence requires cooperation among those gathered. For example, we can all agree not to throw gasoline on it, but we may disagree on what species of wood is most fragrant. Some of us may be choking on smoke while others breathe easily (and obliviously), but the wind will always change. We may argue and develop resentments over these differences, but it’s not our business to push people out or storm off ourselves. Christ tends this fire; he will make sure all who stay within its glow are cared for.

Comfort: When you walk in the light, hate burns away.

Challenge: Try thinking of the light as a communal gathering, not a solo walk.

Prayer: God of light and love, I will seek to follow in Christ’s footsteps. Amen.

Discussion: Sometimes we throw something on a bonfire and experience unintended and unfortunate consequences. Have you ever unintentionally caused strife in your faith community?

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A Love/Hate Relationship

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 123; 146, Joel 2:3-11, Revelation 19:1-10, Luke 14:25-35

Today’s word from Luke is a tough one. A large crowd was following Jesus, and he turned to them and said:

Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple […] None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

If he was trying to thin the crowd, that probably worked. Not only is it daunting … it’s confusing. This is the same Jesus who tells us to love our enemies – our enemies – telling us to hate our loved ones. Who is going to sign up for that?

Fortunately, we have plenty of examples where Jesus used exaggeration to make a point, so we can take a step back to get some perspective. If we are going to claim to be disciples – that is, students and followers – of Christ, every other priority must place a distant second; a matchstick behind a bonfire; a puddle beside the ocean.

Discipleship has a cost. In a predominantly Christian culture, the need to pay that cost may feel far less urgent than in Jesus’s time, or in other cultures. If we want to, we can live our lives in almost exclusively Christian circles. But there’s a difference between following Christ and following Christians. Christ came for the sick, not the well, so to follow him we must often travel outside our safe spaces. Many fellow Christians aren’t going to want you to go. They may discourage you out of concern for your safety, or possibly because they don’t want to be reminded they aren’t paid up. And when that’s the case, we may have to leave them behind.

Whatever the cost, following Christ means following truth and love. We are called to shed the people and things that keep us from taking that journey. At the end, we won’t need the things, and we will come full circle to love the people again in a better way.

Comfort: Wherever Christ leads you, he will be there with you.

Challenge: Make a list of things you need to let go of to better follow Christ. Which one can you let go of this month?

Prayer: Merciful God, grant me the strength to be a true and faithful disciple of Christ. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever felt relief from letting go of something – a relationship, a possession, a feeling? If so, what was it?

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Love and Forgiveness

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 103; 150, Zephaniah 1:1-6, 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13, Matthew 18:21-35

Love and forgiveness are intertwined throughout the Gospel, and can’t be untangled. Both find their ultimate source in God: we love because we are loved, and we forgive because we have been forgiven. If we aren’t doing both, we are doing neither. Without both, all our other efforts are wasted. Paul told the Corinthian church:

If I speak in the tongues of mortals a nd 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.

In a response to a question about how often we need to forgive someone, Jesus told a parable about a slave who was forgiven a large amount of debt by his master, but refused to forgive a debt that was only one hundredth of that amount. The master was angered by this lack of mercy, and demanded both punishment and repayment of the entire original debt.

Through Christ, God forgives us everything. Ev-er-y-thing. What we are asked to forgive others in return is a mere fraction. When in the Lord’s Prayer we pray “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” we might want to remember both this parable and Paul’s teaching. If I have all faith, but do not have forgiveness … what do I have? I have nothing.

When we struggle to forgive, are we really struggling to believe we are forgiven? And when we struggle to love, is it because we can’t comprehend how much we are loved? Unlike money or time, love and forgiveness are in never-ending supply. There’s no reason to hoard them out of fear. God isn’t going to run out before we get our share. No matter how much love and forgiveness we give away, God promises to replenish our hearts with more.

Comfort: You are loved. You are forgiven.

Challenge: What offenses do you find difficult to forgive? Think about what they say about you.

Prayer: Holy God, forgive me my debts as I forgive my debtors. Amen.

Discussion: Has anyone ever had trouble forgiving you? Why do you think that is?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Good Samaritan

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 143; 147:12-20, Micah 5:1-4, 10-15, Revelation 9:1-12, Luke 10:25-37

The parable of the Good Samaritan is so famous, a category of laws has been named after it. It actually began with a lawyer who tested Jesus by asking how to achieve eternal life. Since one of the criteria was loving your neighbor as yourself, the lawyer tried to justify himself by asking: “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus then told the familiar story: a man is left for dead by thieves; a priest and a Levite (his people) pass him by; a Samaritan man bandages him up, takes him to an inn, and pays for his care. The now-familiar twist in this story is that Samaritans were bitter enemies of the Jews, but when Jesus asked who had been a good neighbor, the lawyer was forced to admit: “The one who showed him mercy.”

He must hot have been a great lawyer, because he let Jesus off the hook without an answer to the question. He asked: “Who is my neighbor?” and Jesus told him a story about being a good neighbor, then followed it up with: “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus skillfully redirected the lawyer away from the wrong question … and toward the right answer. The man was really asking: “What’s the minimum number of people I need to love?” Instead of listing criteria he could exploit to exclude people, Jesus gave him a parable which taught him he needed to worry less about defining who his neighbors were, and more about redefining himself as a neighbor to all.

Are we showing neighborly mercy? Here’s a hint: if we show it only to people we feel have earned it, the answer is “No.” We can ask what people deserve, why we are being unfairly burdened, or how much is enough, but Jesus may not bother with our questions. He cares more that we listen to his answers. He wants us to redefine ourselves by those answers – to be a neighbor even when we are also an enemy. Merciful love is not a prize to be won; it is a grateful response to a God who loved us first.

Comfort: You don’t have to earn God’s love.

Challenge: People shouldn’t have to earn your love.

Prayer: Merciful and loving God,  may my heart, my words, and my deeds be a reflection of the infinite love you have shown me. Amen.

Discussion: Has someone you consider an enemy/rival ever surprised you with an act of kindness?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!