Where is your faith?
I didn’t make it to church but, being a part of such an organized church, the weekly readings are easily found online. So, I’m taking a stab sharing my own understanding of the day’s readings. Usually, the readings are harder to put together into one message. This week, providence came in the form of various issues with family and friends. I thank God for the ability to connect and focus on the solution MOST, if not all, of the time.
I didn’t make it to church but, being a part of such an organized church, the weekly readings are easily found online. So, I’m taking a stab sharing my own understanding of the day’s readings. Usually, the readings are harder to put together into one message. This week, providence came in the form of various issues with family and friends. I thank God for the ability to connect and focus on the solution MOST, if not all, of the time.
So let’s start with the prophet Isaiah. In chapter 50 the church’s
focus is not forgetting that God is there all the time to help, encourage and
protect us from ALL things. But, sometimes, we forget. And, reading the WHOLE
chapter (Because that’s how WE role), we see that Isaiah was REALLY discussing us
turning our backs on God. God has never
left us. We leave God. We forget that God is with us in the dark as well as
in the light. If we want to receive those blessings from verses 5-9, all we
have to do is remember and not turn our back on God because God won’t turn his back
on us.
Moving on to James Chapter 2, we all know the verses about faith
without works being dead. But let’s get into the details of the work. I work
with a lot of different charities and community groups. The main hindrances are
politics, egos and cliques. So while we all are focused on work, work, work to
prove our faith, there is also a warning against the very divisiveness that
will kill any good work. Treat
Everyone The Same. Don’t have your favorites. Don’t choose political
parties. Don’t make allegiances to cliques or classes, because THOSE things
will become bigger than the work and turn a positive into a negative.
My high school alumni
are battling that right now. In order to work, some people want to consider
class, age, social status, friendships, egos before just getting to work. So
much so, a lot of the workers have been turned off despite the overwhelming
need and urgency at my high school now.
I remember my faith so I respond with work. I work with everyone. I
avoid cliques. I just WORK! I remember that the work is more important than any
petty differences among my alumni. My faith in God and the success of my school
means that I KNOW my work will not be in vain. I know that the real work will
not be stopped. With a strong faith in God and my community, I remember that
God in with me no matter how troublesome the problems within my alumni seem. So
I work. And, with God, we will win.
And now, the gospel according to Mark… In Chapter
8, after Jesus feeds 4,000, he warns his disciples about eating of the
Pharisees and Herod and they misinterpret that to mean real food. It’s the
spiritual food he is talking about. They may have begun with good intentions
but are now poisoned with rhetoric, politics, egos, and traditions of
divisiveness. If only the disciples were able to hold onto that message… Then, after Jesus heals a blind man, he tells them of
his coming death and Peter tries to rebuke him. After all Jesus has done to
teach and prove his powers, including instilling his disciples with similar
powers, Peter and the rest of the disciples still held onto selfish (corporal)
beliefs and responded incorrectly. Death is not the end for Christ and true
Christians. It’s just a process. But, because we still hold on to so much of
this world (almost to the point of turning our backs on God’s world), we are
still afraid of death. We still try to avoid losing all the things we can’t
take with us.
So often, even in the midst of God, in the middle of doing Godly work,
while the sun is the brightest, we bring the shade of worldly ways and lose our
focus on God. We see it in politics, we see it in our churches, and we see it
at home. We see people choose their own egos and turn their backs on God. We
see people dismiss each other when they could be collaborating for the common
good. We see people choosing failure over cooperation. And sometimes, we do it
ourselves.
Jesus came and went.
Although he will come again, he’s not coming to lead us, but to see how well we
have led ourselves. Dr. King, El Shabazz, Gandhi, and Presidents Lincoln and
Kennedy are gone. They will Not
return! But, like Jesus, they left us with instructions to lead ourselves. The
work is not hard anymore. The focus is. Stay focused on God and not all the
reasons to quit. We say we believe in victory but get discouraged when the
other team shows up.
We must have faith in our work! We must also work our
faith. We say we believe in this or that. We say out God is almighty. Prove it!
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