A List from Romans 12 (taken from the New Jerusalem Bible):
Never pride yourself on being better than you really are.
Think of yourself dispassionately.
When you give, you should give generously.
If you are put in charge, you must be conscientious.
If you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them.
Love without any pretense.
Avoid what is evil; stick to what is good.
Let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression.
Regard others as more important than yourself.
In the service of the Lord, work not half-heartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit.
Be joyful.
Persevere in hardship.
Keep praying regularly.
Share with any of God's holy people who are in need.
Look for opportunities to be hospitable.
Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them.
Rejoice with others when they rejoice.
Be sad with those in sorrow.
Give the same consideration to all.
Pay no regard to social standing.
Meet humble people on their own terms.
Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom.
Never pay back evil with evil.
To the utmost of your ability, be at peace with everyone.
Never try to get revenge.
If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink.
Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good.
These are some difficult things to live out, but some of the absolute most important. What if we were to really take these instructions from Paul seriously? It's not easy.
It feels so natural to hate our enemy, and to look for ways to protect ourselves and get revenge. It's natural to consider a person's social standing and make judgments and decisions based on it.
It's natural to become so absorbed in your own life that you don't notice when others are rejoicing or weeping. It's natural to want to pay back evil for evil. It's natural to desire power. It's natural to let our relationships strain, rather than to lay down our agenda, gather up humility, and seek peace and reconciliation.
Jesus Christ himself shows us that there are richer and better ways of doing life. When he prays, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven," he's praying for us, his followers, that we will be the hands and feet that bring hope and new life to the nations--not just a promise of life in heaven, but a new life now. Kingdom life. Selflessness. Goodness. Mercy. Love. Peace. Healing. Forgiveness. Reconciliation. Kingdom life is not just what we have to look forward to. It has come, and it is coming. Look around you; God is doing his work of reconciliation at this very moment. It's his passion. It's beautiful.
There are a few things that reading this Romans 12 passage made me think of. Yesterday, I read an article that re-inspired me to pray for the leaders of our nation. Sometimes I get lazy about it, because frankly, I just feel so disappointed in the choices they (and we the people) are making and I start to feel overwhelmed. What if we, the people and leaders of the U.S., actually took the things that Jesus taught seriously? What if our money and energy was spent "giving our enemy food when he is hungry; giving him something to drink when he is thirsty" rather than in defense of our (elusive) freedom? Rather than immediate retaliation against our "enemies" can we instead consider mastering evil with good? To be at peace with everyone, as much as we are able? I desire this for the leaders of our nation, but these things are grass root. They have to start at the most basic, individual level. Change happens from the bottom up, rather than from the top down.
Is being the most powerful and rich country in the world really a blessing from God? I once heard my professor explain that "to bless" someone means to put it in its proper place. We bless God. He blesses us. If we were truly in our proper place (where God desires us to be), then the fruits we would bear would be things like peace, love, patience, gentleness, goodness, kindness, self-control. Does that sound like the way we use our power in the world? I do think it's possible to be in our proper place and to have some sort of position of power. Hierarchy is natural and helpful. But love and protection of power at others' expense is not from God. If we really believed that we were blessed by God, we would be so humbled and thankful that we could not help but be a blessing to others (didn't God bless Israel so that they could be a blessing to the nations?). Pass it on. Not horde it for ourselves. And we would live in a way that thought of ourselves dispassionately.
Maybe you can already see the conclusion I'm coming to with this. I don't believe that we are a powerful nation because God has ordained it this way. I believe we are a powerful nation because this is the way our broken world works. If we have money, we have power. If we have power, we feel safe. Everyone wants to be the powerful nation. Power is passed around, and trades hands throughout time. It's what we do with the power that matters. Whoever holds power also holds great responsibility to those who do not hold power. It seems to me that Romans 12 gives us some great guidelines for our relationship to others, and much of it has to do with valuing and loving the other more than you value and love your own life.
It's my prayer that we, the people who profess Christ as our King, will allow his peace and love to reign in our hearts, so that the Kingdom of God on earth (what is beautifully described by Paul in Romans 12) would truly come.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Kingdom Life (Version 2)
From Romans 12:
Never pride yourself on being better than you really are.
Think of yourself dispassionately.
When you give, you should give generously.
If you are put in charge, you must be conscientious.
If you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them.
Love without any pretense.
Avoid what is evil; stick to what is good.
Let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression.
Regard others as more important than yourself.
In the service of the Lord, work not half-heartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit.
Be joyful.
Persevere in hardship.
Keep praying regularly.
Share with any of God's holy people who are in need.
Look for opportunities to be hospitable.
Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them.
Rejoice with others when they rejoice.
Be sad with those in sorrow.
Give the same consideration to all.
Pay no regard to social standing.
Meet humble people on their own terms.
Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom.
Never pay back evil with evil.
To the utmost of your ability, be at peace with everyone.
Never try to get revenge.
If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink.
Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good.
In my own life, I feel that these are some of the most difficult things to live out, but also some of the absolute most important. What if I were to truly take these instructions from Paul seriously? How would my life be different?
It feels so natural to hate those who hate us, doesn't it? And to look for ways to protect ourselves and get revenge. It feels natural to consider a person's social standing and make judgments and decisions based on it. It feels natural to become so absorbed in our own life that we don't notice when others are rejoicing or weeping. It feels natural to want to pay back evil for evil. It feels natural to desire power. It feels natural to let our relationships strain, rather than to lay down our agenda, gather up humility, and seek peace and reconciliation.
Last fall in our chapel services we went through a phrase from The Lord's Prayer each week. Since then, I have been struck by many parts of the prayer, one of them being "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven." In my experience, this prayer has been avoided because we haven't been quite sure what to do with the phrase--hasn't the kingdom already come? Why should we continue praying that prayer? It seems to me that yes, the kingdom has come and exists in the hearts of his followers (Luke 17), but also that through his followers, the kingdom continues to come. The will of God is to make all things right; to reconcile all things to himself; to bring all things together through the redemptive work of Christ. This is as it is in heaven. When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray that the Kingdom of God would come, and God's will would be done on earth as in heaven, I believe that he's teaching them to look for ways to continue bringing the Kingdom of God right here on earth. They would be the hands and feet that would help usher in new hope and healing and new life to the people around them. And this was not just a promise of new life in heaven, but new life in that moment. Kingdom life. Selflessness. Goodness. Mercy. Love. Peace. Healing. Forgiveness. Reconciliation. Patience. If we are not careful, we can over-spiritualize the Kingdom existing in our hearts, while people around us are hungry, angry, addicted, lonely, afraid. But as Christians, we must remember that the Kingdom continues to come in very tangible, familiar ways, and Jesus calls us to be a part of it all. Kingdom life is not just what we have to look forward to. It has come, and it is coming. Look around you; God is doing his work of reconciliation and restoration at this very moment. It's his passion. It's beautiful.
The things Paul describes in Romans 12 are not natural for us. But I get chills as I imagine my life transformed by the spirit of Christ, being able to think of myself dispassionately; to give food and drink to the person who desires to harm me; to come outside of myself and rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep; to persevere in hardship; to give generously; to love with no agenda; to eagerly desire peace.
As people who profess Christ as our King, I pray that we can allow his peace and love to reign in our hearts so that the Kingdom of God on earth (as is so beautifully described in Romans 12) would truly come.
Never pride yourself on being better than you really are.
Think of yourself dispassionately.
When you give, you should give generously.
If you are put in charge, you must be conscientious.
If you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them.
Love without any pretense.
Avoid what is evil; stick to what is good.
Let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression.
Regard others as more important than yourself.
In the service of the Lord, work not half-heartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit.
Be joyful.
Persevere in hardship.
Keep praying regularly.
Share with any of God's holy people who are in need.
Look for opportunities to be hospitable.
Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them.
Rejoice with others when they rejoice.
Be sad with those in sorrow.
Give the same consideration to all.
Pay no regard to social standing.
Meet humble people on their own terms.
Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom.
Never pay back evil with evil.
To the utmost of your ability, be at peace with everyone.
Never try to get revenge.
If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink.
Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good.
In my own life, I feel that these are some of the most difficult things to live out, but also some of the absolute most important. What if I were to truly take these instructions from Paul seriously? How would my life be different?
It feels so natural to hate those who hate us, doesn't it? And to look for ways to protect ourselves and get revenge. It feels natural to consider a person's social standing and make judgments and decisions based on it. It feels natural to become so absorbed in our own life that we don't notice when others are rejoicing or weeping. It feels natural to want to pay back evil for evil. It feels natural to desire power. It feels natural to let our relationships strain, rather than to lay down our agenda, gather up humility, and seek peace and reconciliation.
Last fall in our chapel services we went through a phrase from The Lord's Prayer each week. Since then, I have been struck by many parts of the prayer, one of them being "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven." In my experience, this prayer has been avoided because we haven't been quite sure what to do with the phrase--hasn't the kingdom already come? Why should we continue praying that prayer? It seems to me that yes, the kingdom has come and exists in the hearts of his followers (Luke 17), but also that through his followers, the kingdom continues to come. The will of God is to make all things right; to reconcile all things to himself; to bring all things together through the redemptive work of Christ. This is as it is in heaven. When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray that the Kingdom of God would come, and God's will would be done on earth as in heaven, I believe that he's teaching them to look for ways to continue bringing the Kingdom of God right here on earth. They would be the hands and feet that would help usher in new hope and healing and new life to the people around them. And this was not just a promise of new life in heaven, but new life in that moment. Kingdom life. Selflessness. Goodness. Mercy. Love. Peace. Healing. Forgiveness. Reconciliation. Patience. If we are not careful, we can over-spiritualize the Kingdom existing in our hearts, while people around us are hungry, angry, addicted, lonely, afraid. But as Christians, we must remember that the Kingdom continues to come in very tangible, familiar ways, and Jesus calls us to be a part of it all. Kingdom life is not just what we have to look forward to. It has come, and it is coming. Look around you; God is doing his work of reconciliation and restoration at this very moment. It's his passion. It's beautiful.
The things Paul describes in Romans 12 are not natural for us. But I get chills as I imagine my life transformed by the spirit of Christ, being able to think of myself dispassionately; to give food and drink to the person who desires to harm me; to come outside of myself and rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep; to persevere in hardship; to give generously; to love with no agenda; to eagerly desire peace.
As people who profess Christ as our King, I pray that we can allow his peace and love to reign in our hearts so that the Kingdom of God on earth (as is so beautifully described in Romans 12) would truly come.
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