The Eyes of Christ

The eyes of Christ:
May they be mine.
And your's, as well.

For what we see is seen within.
What we see is seen of the heart.
It's the heart that sees, first of all.

And the heart can be soft and kind.
Or maybe not.
And what the heart is, is what the eye will see.

The eyes of Christ:
May they be yours.
And mine, as well.

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒅𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒅. ~ 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒘 9.36

Biblical Economics???

Sure, I know ... anyone can read the Bible and find what they want.

Yet, this morning's lectionary (October 5, 2017) caught my attention.

Paul the Apostle defends his work and offers a view of labor and wages that have wide implications for society, at least as I see it.

Paul writes (1 Corinthians 9.4-12):

Do we not have the right to our food and drink? Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostlesand the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk?

Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow inhope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop. If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too muchif we reap your material benefits? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?

Fair wages?

Adequate benefits?

Safety in the work place?

The right to organize?

Profit sharing?

God is concerned about the oxen, as Paul notes, and still more: God cares about the whole range of life, and those who work by the strength of their arm and the sweat of their brow ... which includes those on the shop floor and those who sit in front of a computer - all those who do not own the means of capital, but provide their own capital by labor.

Paul adds in his second letter (chapter 8.13-15) with regard to giving:

I do not mean that there should be relief for other sand pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundancemay be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written,

“The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little.”

There is always going to be owners and workers, those with much, and those with less ... and as I read Paul here, and consider the whole of the Sacred Text, it's the widening of the gap that concerns me, and it's the effort of a nation, a good government, and its people, who work to keep the gap viable for all - lest the spoils of the day go unreasonably to the few.

Some thoughts about Biblical Economics ... and how I read the Sacred Text.

If Religion Has to be Sold

No doubt, one can look at State Churches and find a dozen or so reasons to dislike their story.

Yet, one good thing about State Churches, one very good thing: they have to advertise ... they just were (yes, yes, yes; I know all about how they were used by the State, and all other things that our Protestant forebears rejected). But here's the point: they didn't advertise, they didn't try to sell, and is there not a kernel of truth here for us to ponder?

Here in America, sans State Churches, we have churches competing with one another, and if it's bad enough among mainline groups, it's out of hand with evangelicals.

From the get-go, whether it be the original Anabaptist Movement or today's evangelicalisms and megachurches, it's all about salesmanship, promises and outlandish promises, about health and healing, prosperity and personal development, salvation and eternity ... all trying to sell themselves to the public, all boasting that "my church is bigger, better and brighter than your church."

We know, frighteningly so, how self-centered most of us are, so any effort at "selling religion" will have to appeal to self-interest, which means religions has to be skewed away from God to the believer, from the power of obedience to God's love (deliverance from the self) to the poison of fulfilling one's desires.

As for preachers: with their odd evangelical hair styles, it's all about eye-candy ... with preachers strutting across the stage like bantam-weight roosters in heat ... supported by the latest tech and music.

No wonder so many evangelicals have gone for 45 - with his evangelical hair and his trophy-wife on arm, private jets and gold-plated everything. He speaks in soundbites that sound great and mean nothing.

If religion has to be sold, it immediately loses some of its value, and the more it's sold, the more it cheapens itself.

So, whatever might be wrong with the State Churches, they didn't have to sell themselves, and perhaps, in the long run, they're better off, then and now ... as Christendom changes and the church loses its place in history.

God will provide, I have no doubt ... the Spirit of God is irrepressible ... and is always at work.

And as long as the Spirit works, Christians don't have to advertise, and preachers don't have to strut, causing a sharp decline in hairspray sales and eye-liner products.

We just have to be faithful to the Gospel!

Prayer for My Soul

Prayer for my soul.


Oh, my soul, be mindful of what is good.
Smart about what isn't.


Vigilante for opportunities to do good.
And prepared to stand against what isn't.


To cry out from the mountain top: God is still God.
And to know that such a God has been killed by us.


How many times?
Hard to say.


Oh, my soul, don't kill God with hopelessness.
Let God live by keeping watch in the Garden.


By not falling asleep.
Oh, my soul, be mindful.


Walk with God to the place of trial.
Don't deny knowing God.


Walk the streets with God.
To the place called Skull.


In God's agony, a terrible reminder.
Of worldly powers to kill.


Oh, my soul, be alert.
Oh, my soul, be ready.


Don't forget to sing.
And don't forget to love the flowers.


Oh, my soul.

Life Is a Mystery

Life is a mystery.

That’s what it is.

Crazy, wild, mean.

Stomach-tumbling.

Churning.

Burning.

Does anyone really know what it is?

I don’t think so.

That’s why we have religion.

It tries to tame the wild beast.

Give it some meaning.

Point the way and say it’s ok.

Is that what Jesus did?

And so they killed him.

His meaning wasn’t their meaning.

They meant money and power.

Temples and tables.

Full of money and meanness.

Dead lambs and throat-slit bulls.

All for a price, of course.

That’s what they meant.

To tame the beast.

The wild mystery.

We call life.

They thought in terms of conquest.

Who’s in and who’s ought.

Who’s naughty and who’s nice.

Jesus tried to tame the beast.

With tiny words of kindness.

A welcome to little children.

And the lady at the well.

And Mary who wanted to be a disciple.

And sit at the feet of the Master.

There’ll be none of that, they said.

That’s not how the beast is tamed.

Our way or the highway.

Make your choice.

The crown of gold.

Or the cross of misery

So they tamed him.

And we’ve been scratching our heads ever since.

Their way, or his.

Their way is money and power and glory and war.

His way, hmmm … different.

Frightening is his way.

Terrible and true.

Unsure and not so safe.

How do we tame the beast?

Ride the mystery?

Talk to the storm?

We call life?

The crown of gold.

Or the cross of misery.

Today you’ll be with me in paradise.

Balderdash.

Or is it?

Can there be something here?

To tame the beast?

Ride the mystery?

Go to the source and drink?

Cool water …

On a hot day?

No Price Too Great

The tragedy of Harvey reminds all of us what it means to be a nation, a "more perfect union" of those who take care of one another in the moment of need.

I'm crushed as I see the photos pouring in from Texas ... the loss of homes, the loss of everything ... a monumental cleanup that will take months, and years.

Life, for many, with the loss of loved ones, will never be the same.

In moments such as this, I'm glad to be an American, because America is yet a nation with heart, with kindness and soul and tenderness.

These are values that must never be lost.

It's incumbent on all of us to preserve these virtues, to strive with all our might to keep the good, to give ear to our better angels, to pay attention to our best instincts.

Certainly, goodness and mercy are expensive, but there is no alternative.

We Americans pay our taxes with gratitude, we foot the bill and pay the price, to be a nation of goodness and mercy and hope, for all who are here.

We do these things for the betterment of life for all. I can't think of any other reason to be a nation that claims exceptionalism as its descriptor.

So, let us be exceptional:

In love and kindness, generosity and humility, in mercy and assistance, in sacrifice and tenderness.

This is our stellar legacy; let it also be our bright future.

And get out our checkbooks ... our sisters and brothers in Texas need our help, and that of our government, our collective good will to seek one another's welfare.

For these ends, for this purpose, this is no price too great.

Praying for the Dead

As an act of love, I started praying for the dead a good many years ago.

The idea was basic: I prayed for them in life, so why not continue to pray for them after their death?

It's a simple prayer - I say their name, and then say, "Jesus my LORD."

I'm more conscious of this these days, as a number of the The Dead now are included in my daily prayer journal ... their names added before their death ... and upon their death, I add a Celtic Cross or a Star of David by their name.

Do the dead need our prayers?

I don't think so.

But might they want them?

I believe so.

And I believe that God, in some kind of a gracious way, passes on these prayers to those we loved in life, and those we continue to love even after their death.

As to their status?

They are before God, bathed in glory and cleansed with God's light ... in other words, they are at peace, at rest, content and hopeful, as none can be in this anxious existence. Their hope is pure, and completely centered in God's goodness, a virtue we can only dimly see and partially experience.

And for what do they hope?

Well, as the spiritual puts it, "that great gettin' up morning" when all is made new! As for this, they no longer see through a mirror dimly, so their hope is pure and without anxiety.

And I believe that as the Spirit of God communicates our prayers to them, there is added to their joy our joy in loving them, and so their own joy continues to grow, because eternity is dynamic and ever-expanding, much like the universe, world without end.

So, if you've ever wondered about praying for someone dead, let your heart lead ... as in life, so now in their death, pass on your love, and let God filter it as only God can do, to pass on to your loved ones the kindness and life of your heart.