A Small World
Proverbs
6:16-19
There
are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
1 John 3:1-7
New International Version (NIV)
See
what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be
called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world
does not know us is that it did not know him. 2
Dear friends, now we are
children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But
we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is. 3 All
who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
4
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our
sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on
sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known
him.
7
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who
does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
The
summer just seems to be flying by doesn't it? Last weekend, we had
fun with the Vacation Bible school kids and Sun Valley Pres. Our
friends Wes and Laurie played, their band is now called Taking Refuge
and they're one of the groups that will play at S.W.A.G. School
supply giveaway event on Saturday Aug 18. That is at Telfer Pavilion
starting at noon.
Of course Martin and I were gone for the last half of June and 1st of July.. as you know we drove the truck of supplies, displays and AV equipment from the National Association office near Milwaukee to the annual meeting in San Diego. This was a Penske truck...16 feet long. Yeah it was big. To be clear, I did not drive it at all. Martin did all the driving...4619 miles!! Eleven states. from Wis, thru the Plains, New Mexico, AZ and southern Calif...across deserts and mountains, to San Diego CA., and home again. We saw incredible natural beauty and met wonderful people as we went along. Thank you all for your prayers for our travel. And for having us represent you all at the meeting.
One
of the things we are reminded of on our trips is that it is a small
world. We met folks from all over -- on the road and at the meeting.
And when we'd get to chatting, we all had something in common or some
kind of connection.
We
are all children of God aren't we! As our NT text tells us. As God's
children, we are to be in community, together with eachother and with
God. That is what John was saying as he wrote these letters,
Epistles. There were problems with false teachings that were causing
church friction. So John wrote to help correct the false teachings
and to remind his beloved flock of their calling to be in good
relationship with each other and to be good followers of Jesus. Good
followers of Jesus may slip up, but be careful to stay true to God's
word, and not do things that contribute to ill will and dissension.
Those are not of God, as our lesson from Proverbs spells out.
In
the book, Common Grace, which women's circle will be looking at,
author Anthony Robinson in a chapter on parenting, talks about love
that is accepting love, and transforming love. As he puts it,
accepting love affirms the child, and lets them be, and transforming
love seeks their well-being and prods their growth. I think in some
ways we do this in many relationships. Not just children. We may
affirm and let be, or we try to help someone change. But sometimes I
think we just want people to change..to be more the way we want..more
like us, presumably. That's human nature. But we..people of faith are
to be more like Christ. Jesus showed both kinds of love...accepting
and transforming...but mostly accepting. The people he spent time
with were "Sinners" and
tax collectors, and riff raff. And his accepting love transformed
them!! I think of the story of the rich young ruler, who had personal
wealth and had followed the commandments all his life, but went away
sad when Jesus urged him to give up his belongings. But "Jesus
looked at him and loved him"
That
profound accepting love -when we know it for ourselves-can be
transformative!! When we choose to be more accepting and respectful
of others, we are transformed. We will feel better about ourselves!!
And they will respond positively to that acceptance.
Dalai
Lama
“when
our intentions toward others are good, we find that any feelings of
anxiety or insecurity we may have are greatly reduced. We experience
a liberation from our habitual preoccupation with self and
paradoxically, this gives rise to strong feelings of confidence.”
In
other words, when we choose to be more accepting, and positive
towards others, our own negative feelings will be less and we will
feel better and more confident! Gosh, when we act in Godly ways, we
feel good! (go figure!)
One
way to do this is to be more aware of the presence of God in every
day life. That takes some intention and focus. This is one of the
reasons for having regular bible and prayer time-for doing morning
devotions, for example. And maybe to journal about your bible time.
To deliberately spend time with God helps us be aware of God at other
times. And in other people. And yes, it takes some practice to
remember that everyone is a child of God.
As
someone said, You are made in the image of God. And so is that other
jerk you're arguing with!
As
we told the vbs kids, God is with us always.
Choose to to focus on the presence of God..
.
A highlight of our trip, a very Godly morning, was seeing the sunrise over Grand Canyon. We stayed overnight in a hotel right in the National Park, and got up at 4:30am...
we
got to Yavapai (Yah VAH Pay) Point on the South Rim a bit before
sunrise... there were a few other people there, including another
couple about our age, and 2 ladies who were from someplace that's
mostly warm, they were wearing warm jackets and had a blanket over
them. Martin and walked around a bit, I was taking some pics and the
other couple and we chatted a bit and photographed each other with
the canyon in the background. Then I went to sit down, asking the
bundled up ladies if I may sit next to them, they nodded. And one
said yes. After a moment one of them said something about 'Frio”
which I remembered from years ago Spanish lessons, means cold. I said
si, frio, it;s cool and smiled. I asked where are you from, they
answered Roma! I was surprised!! and said Roma, Rome? Italy? Si, si
Roma, Italia!! I said WOW, welcome, welcome to US!! thank you
grazie!! where are you from? Wisconsin, here? Wisc..yes, si, here! :D
so
I offered to take pics of the 2 of them with their camera and phone
and then the sun was coming up. So we were all clickety-clicking
away. And one lady said “Bella” Bellissimo” and I said Si
Bella, Beautiful!! finally the sun was over the rim of the canyon and
our Italian friend said Buon Journo Sol!! I said Buon Journo Sol,
Good Morning Sun!! we all smiled and nodded and watched the sun rise
some more...it was a holy moment –for all of us!
We
were all there for the chance to experience the sunrise, the
beginning of a new day, at one of the most stunning examples of God's
creation. It was a holy moment, and more so because of being able to
connect with these other folks, especially the lovely women from
Roma. To say together Buon Journo Sol!! and then Arrivederci when it
was time to leave. I'm sure we all have differences, but none of
those mattered just then.
God's
presence is everywhere We were very cognizant of this that morning at
Grand Canyon. It's easier for many of us to perceive the Presence
when we are in nature.
But
God is in everyone also, and we can choose each day to seek out and
honor that presence. To give accepting love. Love that honors and is
from our Loving Lord. See what
great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God! And that is what we are!
Let's
Pray... Lord of all, help us to accept and love as You do, to see You
everyday and in everyone. Help us to bridge gaps in this small
world... filling those gaps with You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
