"Open my lips, oh Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise! Create in me a clean heart, oh Lord and renew a right spirit within me." Lines from the opening prayer of Morning Prayer for Individual Worship in Book of Common Prayer, taken from the lines of Psalm 51. How many mornings have I repeated these lines and how many times during the day do I think them- as opposed to how many times I have actually put them into practice?
Not nearly enough, as my inconsistency in writing this blog attests. I have been and remain one of those Christians who snarkily believe that my actions will reveal the light of the Holy Spirit in me, and that is enough. But is it? Is it enough to rely on works and actions, while good in their own right, or is it better to speak as well? Especially in these times of meanness, where venomous language rolls off the tongues of so many, and from every direction.
Jesus brought a message of peace, forgiveness, acceptance and transition. Transition is what redemption is all about in my estimation. Redemption means that there is no longer a place for anything approaching hate, or fear for that matter. Redemption means that what was there has been traded in for a better model, a different mode of thinking, seeing.
To me it means that conflict with the world is something I must put aside, and live freely in the light of God. It doesn't mean that conflict goes away, it means looking at it with new light. In that light there is nothing other than living in the happiness of every new day. I think John Lennon was trying to get to this idea in his much loved and reviled song "Imagine". Taken literally it sounds foolish. Taken to heart it makes perfect sense. Just like the Bible. Just like Jesus. Just like all of the people that we love to resent.
The world wasn't made for a chosen handful, it was made for everyone, with term limits on each life. Why waste life trying to control it for everyone else? Open my lips, oh Lord, create in me a clean heart and a right spirit. Teach me to live.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Monday, February 20, 2017
...and all these things....
Back around the beginning of winter, I lost my job. The reasons aren't really relevant for this page, but in about 15 minutes every bit of security, future planning, retirement, health security, prestige, everything I built my temporal life on at that moment was pulled away, leaving me with nothing but my will to continue and my faith.
This is a place I have never been before. In 30 plus years of work, I have never been terminated. The shock of this was incredible, and the temptation to panic has been lurking out there lake a shadow in the dark of a terrifying dream. But what of it in terms of my life and my faith?
I have been fortunate to have moral support from friends and family members. It becomes a real litmus test of sorts in that area, the "real" people are there in many ways. But they can only do so much. Like everything in life it always comes down to me and what I am doing right now. It also comes down to the way I think God works in my life and the purpose of his relationship to me, what is it really there for? Why does God exist for me?
Everything that I do now raises my consciousness on this question, everything I read and see has a message. Every relationship has meaning that I may not have seen before, and most importantly, the way I see myself is evolving. God is real, the power of the Holy Spirit is real.
Things have not been going well in the job search, as a matter of fact, it isn't really going at all. Experience counts to employers, but maybe not 32 years worth. My age is a problem in this respect, and I know that. But a job is not the only way to make it in this world. I am seeing that too. Yesterday I saw this, "I called on the LORD in my distress, the LORD answered by setting me free," Psalm 118, 5. I am free.
This is a place I have never been before. In 30 plus years of work, I have never been terminated. The shock of this was incredible, and the temptation to panic has been lurking out there lake a shadow in the dark of a terrifying dream. But what of it in terms of my life and my faith?
I have been fortunate to have moral support from friends and family members. It becomes a real litmus test of sorts in that area, the "real" people are there in many ways. But they can only do so much. Like everything in life it always comes down to me and what I am doing right now. It also comes down to the way I think God works in my life and the purpose of his relationship to me, what is it really there for? Why does God exist for me?
Everything that I do now raises my consciousness on this question, everything I read and see has a message. Every relationship has meaning that I may not have seen before, and most importantly, the way I see myself is evolving. God is real, the power of the Holy Spirit is real.
Things have not been going well in the job search, as a matter of fact, it isn't really going at all. Experience counts to employers, but maybe not 32 years worth. My age is a problem in this respect, and I know that. But a job is not the only way to make it in this world. I am seeing that too. Yesterday I saw this, "I called on the LORD in my distress, the LORD answered by setting me free," Psalm 118, 5. I am free.