Passover Shout Out
Greetings of peace and hope! Happy Passover to my Jewish friends. We are all tight together in the circle of life and I am eternally grateful for the Jewish people throughout history who have done so much to stand for justice and equality for everyone. As I write this line, I am thinking back to the interfaith dialogue’s I attended every year in seminary. I am thinking back on human history and I am thinking of my connection with Clergy-Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE). In this group welcome clergy and lady from our faith traditions United for purposes of justice bed for youth, and the immigrant, the imprisoned, the ethnic minority, etc. Thanks be to God for such connection, commitment and unity.
Warning of Persecution – Matthew 24:9-10
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,”
(Matthew 24:9-10 NIV).
This prediction almost immediately proved to be true. The nature of Biblical prophecies is that each usually has an immediate and a future fulfillment. They are also true to the nature of God as revealed in history. The prophet Daniel especially comes to mind especially since I chose the image of the lion, as women who especially endeared and persecution because of his God. We’ve seen it throughout history until this day. Jesus in most of his disciples were killed in hideous ways.
Lord grant us the strength, courage, faith and wisdom to stand strong when we are challenged to publicly Profess our love and faith in you no matter the cost. It may cost us reputation, employment, freedom or even our lives, but all of those gifts belong to you anyhow, and maybe be able to interest them back into your hands if they are demanded of us. Amen!
Warning to Be Ready & Stat Ready
This current crisis has made it blatantly apparent apparent that many of us were not ready for cOVID-19 or anything of its magnitude. We weren’t ready emotionally, because everyone panicked. We weren’t ready physically, maybe, because we didn’t have emergency kit and food supplies stocked up. And some of us are good even months into this thing without having to take any extraordinary shopping trips. It’s hard to know when we’re ready and we were unnecessarily fearful and panicked and that goes into the whole emotional readiness factor. Each of us need to evaluate regularly what our emotional, spiritual as well as physical readiness is.
I hope that you feel prepared and ready to finish coping with this epidemic, and I hope you have r you areemaining connected with God who is the source of our strength.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13 NIV).
No, don’t look at the time I post these blogs or you will come to the wrong conclusion regarding my timeliness and readiness. LOL! All of us run out of supplies or forget things we need at times, but God wants us to make sure that we are spiritually ready when he comes back. as we journey with Christ to the cross now, we are required to have open hearts and open minds, seek justice, love mercy and have faith. These things are what it means to be ready. And well the five who had enough oil refused to share with the five who didn’t out of fear or concern that they would not have enough, but that same fear not stop us here in today from doing everything we can to get others ready so that at the crucial point, everyone who wants to be ready will be ready.
Lord, help us be ready for your return and for you to take us to be with you at all times and every place. Amen.
Woe to the Blind Guide
These woes deal so much with hypocrisy, misleading teachings, pride and greed. For some reason, this segment is what jumped out at me. The section of scripture is called “Woe to blind guides” and it talks about how the teachers of the law and religious leaders have missed the point entirely in our misleading the people. They do things like worshiping the altar instead of the lamb, Jesus Christ, on the altar. Today, we might say worshiping the church building instead of the one who caused us to be church. We need to go deeper and deeply understand who it is we worship and why we worship in order that we do not lead astray the people.
“Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it” (Matthew 23:20-22).
First, there’s the issue with the swearing in any case, as we are told in Scripture that we should let our yes be yes and our no be no, and not swear, because we have no power to make anything happen or not happen, it is all by the power and grace of God. This also seems to be warning against idolatry and materialism, because Coveting and loving objects does most definitely distract us from worshiping God. In my own life, I see the current stage is being a time of pruning. It’s pretty painful! I hope you’re coping well. I hope at the end of this and even through this God is being praised and thanked, because God never makes a mistake or Misstep.
So, A Closing Blessing
Father God, help us stay ready, protect us from the temptation of greed and idolatry and shortsightedness, Help us endure until the end. We don’t understand your message or your timing, but we know that the world is in your hands and we ask that you grant us the faith in the insurance to walk in the truth as we run, walk, crawl and sometimes fall on the way to the cross with Jesus Christ. Amen!
Ministry With Christy Clark 