One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” – Acts 19:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 30, 2014): Acts 19

While many people around me seem to be mourning the demise of Christendom, I have to admit that I think it is about time for Christendom to finally die. By the term Christendom I mean the dominance of Christianity within a given culture. Christendom began when Constantine rose to power in Rome and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. But it has been suffering a slow and agonizing death in many areas over the past couple of centuries. Now it lives, at least in North America, in the small, isolated pockets we often refer to as the Bible Belts in our countries. But it is okay to let Christendom die. In fact, it is long past time.

The problem with the existence of Christendom is that it invites a form of spiritual abuse. People pretend to be Christians, and act out life as Christians solely because of the political power that proclaiming yourself to be a Christian brings. There are still places in the world where being a professing Christian is necessary if you want to advance yourself in your position. And the result is that people claim Christ who have never experienced him. People claim to be saved who have never known the love or grace of Jesus. Often they begin to really fool themselves, coming to the point where even they believe the lie that they are following Christ. As a result of Christendom, people begin to be socialized and politicized into the faith rather than basing their faith on an encounter with the person of Christ. Then the Christian message gets changed and warped. Often one of the evidences of this false gospel is a gospel that seems to be based on hate rather than love, or on power instead of service.

The Sons of Sceva saw the wonderful things that the Apostle Paul and other Christians were doing. And they saw the opportunity for power themselves and so they began to go around proclaiming that they moved with the power of, and in the name of, Jesus. The only problem was that they had no idea who Jesus was – the Sons of Sceva had never really been in search of true spirituality, only what they perceived as a kind of Spiritual power.

But the evil spirit that they were dealing with called their bluff. Jesus and Paul they knew, but the Sons of Sceva were no one, because the power of Christ was not found just in a name, but in a relationship. The Sons of Sceva had missed the relationship, and so they had no right to use the name. It is a warning that those who long for the return of Christendom need to heed. The beauty of the end of Christendom is that there is the possibility that if there is no advantage to being Christian, then maybe a more genuine version of the faith, built on a relationship with Jesus Christ, might emerge.

But then again, the Sons of Sceva prove that there will always be someone who finds it advantageous to pretend to have a relationship with Christ, rather than actually pursuing such a relationship.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. – 2 Thessalonians 3:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 29, 2014): 2 Thessalonians 3

A little while ago I had an interesting conversation with an old-timer over what he would call the “socialist state in North America.” In his words, when he was young “if you didn’t work, you didn’t eat!” It wasn’t the first time that I had heard the argument, although admittedly I think the current system with all of its problems is better than letting people starve, but at the same time I also understand the frustration. Every year as we get a little closer to the Christmas Season (Advent 2014 begins tomorrow) I begin the task of considering what can be done about those in need within my circle of influence. And inevitably the conversation hovers between those in need because of the negative circumstances in their lives (unavoidable job loss, serious illness and other things beyond human control) and those who are in need even though they have received much. but have mishandled the things that things that they have been given. (And usually my response is that it’s Christmas so let’s cut them some slack.) But usually, and this year is no different, the list of those in need is much longer than our ability to help.

Sometimes we forget that the Bible has something to say about our lives as a whole – and not just the spiritual part of our lives. And the early church was facing a serious problem. Specifically there was a group of people who were apparently too spiritual to work. The idea seemed to be that since Jesus was going to return soon anyways, there was no purpose in work. And so they travelled around from community to community expecting to be fed and supported by the Christian community. The result was that those who had means in the young church were spending so much on these Christian sojourners that they didn’t have enough to help out with the real needs of the people around them.

So Paul speaks to the issue. It is not that the church does not have a responsibility for those who are in need, but as Christians we have a responsibility to make the most of what we have. We need to be willing to work and to spend our time wisely (not be idle and disruptive because we have nothing else to do.) But we also need to learn to take care of our finances; to spend wisely so that we can be the ones who are able to help those in need rather than be the ones who need help. This is the teaching that Paul is stressing in this passage.

The reality is that we often seem to think that as long as we tithe – or less (one lady once told me that being a Christian was great, she put her two dollars a week into the offering plate and got to use the photocopier as much as she wanted – I am not sure that she understood the idea of biblical generosity) and then God is okay with us. But the reality is that we are to make the most of every opportunity, and the most of every resource that we have at our disposal. And in this way, the message of Jesus is spread throughout the world.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 19

Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. – 2 Thessalonians 1:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 28, 2014): 2 Thessalonians 1 & 2

Victor Hugo once wrote that “initiative is doing the right thing without being told.” If that is true, then it might be the initiative is even rarer than we think. I remember as a young man applying for positions and hearing leaders tell me that what they needed was a self-starter. I understood that, and I have always considered myself to be a self-starter, but I also remembering questioning that idea; after all a self-starter is really only half of the equation. What is needed is not just someone who will get to work without being told, but as Hugo said, we need them to be willing to do the right thing. And beyond that, we need them to be willing to the right thing, even when there is pressure from superiors to cut corners or do something that is clearly wrong.

But there is also another element to this concept. We have to have the ability to know what it is that is right, and in our current culture that is maybe even harder. We truly are easily led, and often it is tough to even know what is right. Even within the church, I am amazed at how often we struggle with this concept, often being led down dead end rabbit trails by people who convince us that this is the will of God (some recent conversations about whether God is a God of love, or a God of hate come immediately to mind.) Sometimes in our culture we are too interested in short sound bites rather than diving into the width, length and depth of the Biblical message.   

And it is amazing how hard doing thing the right thing really is. The Thessalonians seems to have impressed Paul because they were persisting in doing the right thing. In spite of all of the challenges that they were facing, they were steadfastly chasing after what was right and good. Their persistence and faith, in the face of a culture that wanted them to do anything other than what was right, was praiseworthy. And there commitment to chasing after the things of God was something that Paul wanted to make sure all of the other churches were aware of – in this area the Thessalonians were setting the example – they were actively taking the initiative by “doing the right thing without being told.”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. – 1 Thessalonians 5:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 27, 2014): 1 Thessalonians 5

St. Thomas Aquinas developed an idea that we have played with ever since his time – the idea of a “Just War.” According to Aquinas, war was sometimes necessary, but when it was necessary it had to be fought in a certain way. This basic idea has been developed further in the 750 years since Thomas Aquinas lived. But according to Thomas, the idea of a just war hinged on three concepts. First, for a war to be just it had to be fought with the proper authority. In other words, war must be declared. Sneak attacks are never just. And war is never taken up over a personal slight; it can only be fought on a national basis. Secondly, a just war must have a just cause. This is one of the areas where I think we struggle. Why is it that we go to war? During the days of the First Gulf War, the accusation made against the United States was that it only fought the war because of Kuwait’s oil. The war was based on national self-interest, the desire to make oil easily obtained by the West so that we didn’t have to pay more for it at the gas pump, or to heat our houses. If the situation that existed between Iraq and Kuwait had happened in the poorer areas of the world, the United State would never have gone to war. And if that is true, then the First Gulf War was an unjust conflict because it was based on national self-interest. But while the accusation existed, this was not the reason that was given for American (and others) involvement in the war. The reason that was given publically was the defence of human rights and the threat of Iraq to carry the war that they visited on Kuwait to the rest of the world. By definition, if this is true, then it would be a just cause because it would be a war that was not carried out for national self-interest, but for global harmony and human protection. But our problem is that we just don’t know what the true reasons for the war really were – and maybe war is too complex for us to ever really know. For Aquinas, the final hinge of the just war rested on the idea that a war, even in the midst of its violence, must be fought for peace. The purpose or intention of everyone involved must be that peace would somehow result from the conflict.

Since the days of Aquinas we have added ideas like proportionality and the limiting of civilian casualties, ideas that probably had no impact in a world that fought war with a sword and to whom weapons of mass destruction was a nightmare that couldn’t come true. But for Aquinas, there was at least the possibility of a just war. Critics have argued that our reality is that a just war has never been fought, that somehow it is an impossible concept for us to follow, but at least in theory, the idea of a just war exists.

Paul is really just stressing the idea of a just war in this passage. According to Paul, whether we are operating on an interpersonal level or on an international level, there are principles of peace to which we must adhere. And part of that idea is that we don’t pay back evil for evil. The popular idea of the Hatfield and McCoy feud was an unjust conflict because it was based on the idea of revenge. But Paul goes beyond the idea of just not returning evil for evil, but rather openly states that as Christians we are responsible to bring good to each other. If conflict was going to happen, our purpose throughout the conflict had to be to restore what is good – not to us – but to the one with whom we are in conflict.

It is probably one of the hardest things for us to do. I know, when people do something wrong to me, I want to give it back to them. The hardest thing in my life is to have someone wrong me, and in the middle of that pain to get down on my knees and ask God to pour out his blessing - on them. Yet this is exactly what Paul says that God is asking of us.

And this is the reason why living the Christian life just isn’t for wimps. It takes strength of character, and the power of God, to live this Christian life. We are being sent out on a daily basis, by God, to make this world a better place – and absolutely nothing else will suffice.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1 & 2

… you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. – 1 Corinthians 6:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 6, 2014): 1 Corinthians 6

In a world dominated by Barbie, we seem to be increasingly battling a war over our self-images. In a society where obesity reigns, Anorexia and Bulimia also seems to be on the rise. Most of us appear to be on one side or the other of the body weight spectrum, and fewer and fewer people are able to find the middle ground. Maybe an even more surprising development is the increase in frequency that the Anorexia and Bulimia specifically are making into the male population of our culture. But it isn’t that we just want to be too thin, or that we are too fat – our battle is being waged over our image of the way we want our bodies to look, an image that is becoming more and more unrealistic. Add to this the concept that we seem to be increasingly unable to see ourselves as we really are, and we quickly realize the depth of the problem, and our current inability to fix it.

The result is that we are living in a perfect world for anyone who wants to market diet aids (just count how many late night advertisements deal with diet products.) Those of us who are overweight, want to be thinner. Those of us who are of a more appropriate weight, still want to be thinner. And those of us who are already too thin, well, many of these people still believe in the core of the their being that life would be so much better if they were just a little thinner. We obsess over the idea of weight loss and believe that one day even we can look like – Barbie.

What we ignore is that there is a healthy weight – and it isn’t Barbie. But there is something else that we also miss. And that is that we have been purchased at a price. And the price was more precious than silver or gold, Jesus paid the price with his life. Paul applies this concept to the idea that we need to be careful with regard the activities that we participate in with our blood purchased bodies, which for Paul means running from any kind of sexual immorality. But the concept actually goes much deeper than just that. The reality is that our bodies, just the way that they are, deserve honor. We may not be perfect, but we are purchased. In true Christianity, there is no hatred of the body, but rather acceptance of our bodies which God has purchased at such a high price. In Christianity there should be no torturing of the body and no extreme asceticism (as some have practiced over the history of the faith.) There is no need to make the body pay for our sins. That price has already been paid.

And we need to be careful of our dreams. Some Christians dream of the day when the body will be resurrected. For many, this resurrection body is going to be different; perfect. Our resurrection bodies will reflect everything that we dreamt that we could be. But sometimes I wonder if that is really true – and would we really be able to be satisfied even with our new, perfected bodies. Maybe rather than dreaming of our new perfect bodies, we should spend some time trying to understand why God placed such a high value on the bodies that we already have – and then take the time to understand what it means to honor God with our bodies.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 7

Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. – 1 Thessalonians 4:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 26, 2014): 1 Thessalonians 3 & 4

The latest round of G20 talks at the G20 Summit held in Australia has ended with an agreement on hundreds of steps that the leading economic countries on the planet need to take in order to create jobs on a global basis and to ensure an economy that continues to grow. But while the G20 concentrates on the economic realities, this G20 may be remembered more for an ecological agreement between the United Stated and China just before the summit began, and for a momentary conflict between the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a greeting session during the Summit. And there is actually a connection between these two isolated events – both are aimed at minimizing the human footprint that we leave on this planet. The whole of the ecological conversation is aimed at being able to be successful as the human race without using resources that cannot be replaced and without damaging the fragile ecosystem in which we all live. The ultimate target is to be able to come to the point where we are able to live our lives in such a way that we have neither used the irreplaceable resources of our planet nor have we damaged the environment in which we live.

The conflict between Harper and Putin was over the Russian presence in the Ukraine. Harper apparently greeted Putin with the instruction that Russia had to get out of the Ukraine. Putin’s rumored reply was that that was impossible since Russia is not in the Ukraine. Later Harper made this comment;

“We cannot have a major power in this day and age seize the sovereign territory of another country and simply move on as if nothing’s happened. My view is that that kind of action only whets the appetite which is why the world community has to respond strongly and I think it has” – Stephen Harper

At the core of Harper’s comment is the idea that we have to minimize the political imprint that the major powers have on the smaller and less powerful nations around them. It does not mean that we will not be influenced by those powers (as a Canadian I recognize the immense influence that both the United States and the United Kingdom have had on my tiny – at least with regard to population – nation), but it does mean that every nation from the United States to the smallest island nation in the South Pacific has the right to decide its own future except where that decision violates the sovereignty of another nation. Even as nations, we have the right to be all that we can be.

But that isn’t quite right either. It isn’t that we need to minimize our ecological, economic, or political footprints as we measure it in a negative way, but rather that we need to maximize our imprint in a positive way. It is too late to think in terms of not damaging our ecosystem, we have to start thinking in terms of ways that we can help it to heal. It is not that we just need the larger nations to stop having a negative impact on the neighboring countries, but rather that we need the major powers to help the smaller countries to maximize who they are – admittedly something that most nations fail at. Vladimir Putin’s human duty has never been to just get out of the Ukraine, it has been to do everything in his power to foster a positive relationship or a positive footprint between Russian and the Ukraine so that both Russia and the Ukraine excel in whatever it is that they decide to put their hearts and minds toward.

Paul writes to the Thessalonians that they have already learned the lesson from God on how to love each other. Paul is basically just saying that they have learned to maximize their positive footprint in the lives of other people with whom they are coming in contact. He is also boldly stating that this is not an option, it is the way that God has designed this world to live. And this just stresses the interconnectedness of all life. We were never intended to walk alone and no life should pass without leaving its mark. But what we do need to do is to work toward making sure that the mark that we leave is a positive footprint – and not a negative one. And the easiest way to do that, as people or as nations, is by falling in love with each other, and with the world in which we live.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5

For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you … 1 Thessalonians 1:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 25, 2014): 1 Thessalonians 1 & 2

One of my favorite historical people (the answer to the Party question – who in history would you like to sit down and have lunch with) is Gregory the Great, the late sixth (and early seventh century) pope. Admittedly, the answer to the party question is really a fairly long list of fascinating people; there are a lot of people in history that I would love to have a coffee (okay, in my case, a Diet Coke) and a talk with. Part of the attraction for me is that Gregory the Great seems to be one of the first to argue that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany just might have been the same person. It is a line of argument that has always intrigued me.

But I am also intrigued by the idea that he is a reluctant Pope. The Papacy is filled with men who have craved the power that went along with being elected as the Bishop of Rome and the successor of Saint Peter. And I question anyone who is foolish enough to want to advance up the ecclesiastical latter. The responsibility of any kind of priesthood or pastoral position is something that I am not sure that anyone should want to run into. We respond because God has called us, and we recognize the call.  So I question the integrity of people who desire that responsibility. But that would not seem to include Gregory. In fact, Gregory was a monk who had a lot of things to offer the church, but he was quite content in his monastic lifestyle. So taking church office was never something that he craved because it took him away from the quiet study that he enjoyed.

The story is told of the day that Gregory was elected to the Papacy. When Gregory heard the news, his reaction was to run into the forest and hide – believing that, maybe, if they couldn’t find him, they would give up and choose someone else. But, eventually, he was found and dragged back to Rome to take up his position as the new Pope. In spite of ill health, Gregory quickly proved that his election was exactly what the church needed. And while it was not the position that Gregory had desired, eventually he chose the papacy that had chosen him.

The concept in 1 Thessalonians that is described in this translation as “he had chosen you” is the idea of election. Election has been one of the most hotly debated issues in Christendom. For some of our brothers and sisters, election means that God has chosen some to be his children while at the same time rejecting others. For these people, the concept is so clear that there is no discussion over it. Some would even go as far as to declare that this is the real Christian position, and any other belief is pure heresy.

But others are offended by this idea of election. There is absolutely no doubt that the Bible teaches election, and that God chooses some people, and apparently not others. But they stress that there is nothing intended here beyond a mutual choice – God chooses all who dare to choose him. For these people, God desires everyone, but he is unwilling to have his soldiers go out and drag people back to him. He offers himself to all of us, and when we make the decision to choose him, he chooses us.

Election is really just the story of Gregory the Great. Election always takes two. The election of Gregory the Great to the Papacy was not complete, until Gregory decided, even reluctantly, to choose the Papacy. And God’s election of us is only complete when we decide that we choose – or elect - God. Election really is that simple – with God and with every other area of our lives.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3 & 4

For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. – Acts 18:28

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 24, 2014): Acts 18

I recently listened to a Jewish Rabbi as he expounded on the reasons why Jesus of Nazareth could not be the Messiah. Admittedly, from a Christian point of view his argument was unconvincing. But at the tail end of the discussion he made an emotional comment which I think sums up the problem of Jewish acceptance of Jesus better than any of the Rabbi’s more reasoned theological arguments. The truth is that to believe that Jesus was the Messiah means an end not just to Judaism, but to Jewish culture as well. The Rabbi pointed with his finger at this comment and added “and that I just can’t accept.”

We have to understand that this is a very real problem that bars Jewish acceptance of Jesus as Messiah. And I believe that it is also an unintended barrier. But I have to admit that what the Rabbi says is very true. As Jews accept that Jesus is the Messiah and they seem to begin to slowly lose their Jewish heritage. Maybe it starts with a change of names for their children. Instead of choosing Jewish names they begin to be influenced by names used by Christians, even if it is as small a move as calling their sons Paul instead of Saul. And whether we want to admit it or not, it is the emotional aspect of all of our arguments that move us. In recent years it seems that the use of apologetics in Christianity (the idea of proving from the Scriptures or from the view point of Philosophy, or Science, or Law that God is real and that Jesus is indeed the Messiah) has produced less and less tangible results. This is partially because of some of the really warped attempts at apologetics that have been presented to the viewing public. (The banana analogy where it is argued that the banana is evidence of a Godly design comes immediately to mind. The argument is that the banana is easy to hold with the hand, it comes with its own biodegradable covering, fits the shape of the mouth and has its own tab, like a pop can that allows easy access to the fruit inside, and so therefore the banana must be seen as proof of the existence of God. But the argument is ludicrous and it seems that the only ones who actually accepted the argument of the banana as being proof of God were gullible Christians.) But we also need to understand that as a race we are moved more by emotion than we sometimes want to admit.

So Apollos argued vigorously from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. For the Jews that he was arguing with, this would have been an emotional argument. The emotions of the Jews at the time were deeply wrapped up with the Hebrew Bible; there is absolutely no way that two Jews could have a dispassionate discussion over the Scripture. The Hebrew Bible was, and is, and emotional hot button for the Jews – much more than it is for Christians, although I sincerely wish that that wasn’t true. Add to this the idea that the Messiah had been waited for, and that this era had produced a spike in Messianic anticipation, and the emotional aspect of Apollos argument could only be enhanced. As far as Apollos, and many other Jewish Christians in the first century – maybe especially the converted Pharisees, were concerned, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah was a deeply emotional argument – and so Apollos argument had a chance to take root. Apollos apologetics would have been much different from modern day attempts simply because of that emotion.

As far as my Jewish friend was concerned, I wish I could have delivered to him this message. As Christians, we have no desire to be part of the cultural collapse of Israel. In fact, even many of us would argue that Israel continues to be the chosen people of God. And as the chosen people, Israel has a responsibility to carry the message of God to the rest of the world. As Christians, all we want to do is assist Israel in that task. As the children of Abraham by faith, we want to stand beside our Jewish brothers and proclaim the truth of God and the reality that Jesus of Nazareth truly was the Messiah. And it is through that Messiah that the love of God for all of creation, a love that has existed in the Scripture from the beginning of Genesis, is made a tangible reality for all of the peoples of the world. Instead of Christianity being the great cultural replacement, I believe it needs to be the great cultural unifier – so that all people of all races and of all languages and of all cultures can find fulfillment and can live up to all that God has created them to be.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1 & 2

‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ – Acts 17:28

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 23, 2014): Acts 17

Epimenides of Knossos was a Greek poet who lived in the 7^th or 6^th century B.C.E. We are not positive if Epimenides even really lived. If he did, then he is a person about whom  a legend has grown up. The real Epimenides was a poet and a philosopher, but the legendary Epimenides is said to have been a shepherd who was caring for his father’s sheep on the Island of Crete when he stumbled into a cave that was sacred to the Greek god Zeus. As a result, Epimenides fell asleep in the cave. The legend says that his nap in the cave lasted for fifty-seven years and when he finally did wake up, he had been given the gift of prophecy. And after this point, Epimenides’ poetry seemed to be centered on the idea of an immortal Zeus even though some of his contemporaries seem to have begun to doubt that Zeus was still alive.  

Aratus of Soli was another Greek who lived about 300 years after Epimenides. While Aratus was also a poet, he also appears to have pursued a career in medicine (in fact, this was most likely his profession) as well as having dabbled in grammar and philosophy. Aratus shared Epimenides love for poetry and his belief in an immortal Zeus, but it would seem very little else. Except that both poets are quoted by Paul of Tarsus in Athens almost 400 years after Aratas. At the time Paul was talking to the Athenians about Jesus of Nazareth.

“For in him we live and move and have our being” was written by the sleepy Epimenides. In arguing for the eternal Zeus against other Cretan philosophers who seemed to be arguing that the Greek god was dead, Epimenides wrote –

They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,
Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.
But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,
For in you we live and move and have our being.

                                                            (Minos, Epimenides)

One can almost understand why Paul read the words of Epimenides and thought of Jesus. This was almost something the Paul could have written about Jesus (except for the line about Cretans being liars.) Epimenides words about Zeus echoed the truth that Paul knew about Jesus. So it was an easy leap in Paul’s mind to jump from Zeus to Jesus as he read Epimenides poem.

Paul’s quote “we are his offspring” was a quote from the good Doctor Aratus of Soli. And again, Aratus, like Epimenides, is actually speaking about Zeus in his poem.     

Let us begin with Zeus, whom we mortals never leave unspoken.
For every street, every market-place is full of Zeus.
Even the sea and the harbor are full of this deity.
Everywhere everyone is indebted to Zeus.
For we are indeed his offspring ...

                                                                                (Phaenomena, Aratus)

While the Epimenides quote probably brought Paul’s mind straight to Jesus, Aratus’ poem probably reminded him of his Jewish upbringing and the idea that God is everywhere and that we are indeed indebted to him. He also would have understood the idea that “we are his offspring.” After all, Israel had always considered itself to be the children of God.

So Paul spoke these words that were written about Zeus, to prove his point about Jesus and his Jewish God. And I am convinced that the story of God comes out in many ways in our lives, and that even our culture is not silent on the issue. And I am sometimes amazed at the ways our culture speaks the truth of God. It was a reality that Paul seemed to understand intimately; he did not hesitate to speak the words borne out of his culture that he felt applied to the truth of the God that he served.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 18

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. – Galatians 6:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 22, 2014): Galatians 6

Apparently growing an apple tree from seed will not result in the kind of Apple that the seed emerged from. If you want to grow Red Delicious Apples, don’t bother taking a seed from a Red Delicious Apple and placing into the ground, because even though Apple trees are relatively easy to grow, you are just as likely to get a Crab Apple as you are to get a Red Delicious – in fact, according to some the Crab Apple is much more likely to emerge. Instead of planting from seed, Apple trees are usually grown by a grafting an above ground plant into a more generic rootstock. The resulting tree has the size and hardiness that is appropriate to the rootstock, and a fruit that is characteristic of the above ground grafted part of the plant.

Because of this unique property with apples (and a few other fruit trees) it makes them the only examples that violate the principle of what a man reaps, he sows. Oh, you will still get an apple tree from seed, but it just won’t be like the apple that gave you the seed.

But for the rest of the world, the seed that is planted governs the product that comes out of the ground. It is a principle that has allowed farmers to govern what it is that is harvested at the end of the growing season ever since we learned that we could farm the land rather than just being hunters and gatherers of what naturally comes out of the ground. I have never met a farmer that just wanted to plant a mystery seed and be surprised at harvest time. Each seed is carefully chosen, and the things that are done to care for the resultant plant depends on the identity of the seed that is chosen. And this isn’t a recent phenomenon. We have known it for a long time.

So it is a wonder that we haven’t figured out that the same principle applies to our own lives. Often it seems that we set goals, but we are totally unwilling to plant the seeds and care for the resultant trees that will carry us toward those goals. We want to be rich, but we are unwilling to sacrifice and delay gratification (two things that are essential to growing wealth.) We want to be educated, but don’t want to study. We want to be successful, but we refuse to be disciplined. At every step of the way we seem to want to sabotage our progress toward our very own goals.

And Paul wants to remind us that this principal holds for our spiritual lives as well. But taken with the rest of Galatians, this comment that God will not be mocked reveals something unexpected. Considering that this letter is written to a group of people who had rejected the grace of Jesus in favor of a works righteousness, this comment might lead us beyond the obvious interpretation that if we sow bad we will get bad and if we sow good we will get good, to the idea that if we sow grace we will receive grace, but if we insist on judging others on the basis of works righteousness, then we will also be judged according to the works that we do. And in the end if we are judged by our works, we lose.

It is time that we learned to give grace, and chase after grace – it is time for grace to be the fabric on which we build our lives, because in the end, it is grace that all of us will one day need to receive.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 17

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. – Galatians 5:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 21, 2014): Galatians 5

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation, which in theory freed the slaves in the rebel southern States, was a directive of the President and a move that was made under the special war powers that had been given to the President. It was not a law passed by Congress or a declaration that the Congress had any say in. The Proclamation was very clearly a directive of Abraham Lincoln, and Abraham Lincoln alone. It has been said that the Emancipation Proclamation did not set a single slave free, and to a point that assertion is correct (although there are records of celebrations in various parts of the South as the slaves were told that the president had issued the Proclamation on their behalf.) The Proclamation made absolutely no attempt to compensate slave owners for the loss of their slaves, it did not outlaw slavery (there were still areas in the United States under Union control where owning a slave continued to be legal), and it made no offer of citizenship to the former slaves. What the Proclamation did was add the eradication of slavery to the reuniting of the United States as the major goals of the war.

Paul reminds the Galatians that they had been set free. Their Emancipation Proclamation had been signed, but the problem is that the Galatians had been extremely reluctant to accept their new found status. But unlike the Proclamation signed by Lincoln, the only one that could hold Galatians back from accepting their freedom was the Galatians themselves. The Proclamation of God that had been spoken over them ending the slavery of the law – no matter what it was the Judaizers were trying to tell them. Instead, the Galatians had thrown the Proclamation away and walked straight back into the exact slavery that Jesus had freed them from. It is a trap that the Christian Church has been falling into ever since.

D. L. Moody illustrated this tendency to not accept the freedom of Christ by telling a story about an old former slave woman in the South following the American Civil War. Now is I free, or been I not? When I go to my old master he says I ain’t free, and when I go to my own people they say I is, and I don’t know whether I’m free or not. Some people told me that Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation, but master says he didn’t; he didn’t have any right to. It was exactly on this point that the Galatians were confused. Paul stresses that Jesus Christ had already given them the “Emancipation Proclamation,” and that it was a declaration that Jesus had every right to proclaim. But their former master kept telling them they were still slaves to a legal relationship with their God. They were continuing to live in bondage not because their slavery was a reality in the world in which they lived, but rather because they had allowed their former masters to continue to deceive them.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 6

As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. – Galatians 4:13-14

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 20, 2014): Galatians 4



The best extant picture of

Franklin D. Roosevelt in a wheelchair.

While vacationing in Canada in 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted Polio. The disease left him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. It was a diagnoses that Roosevelt refused to accept. The problem was that Roosevelt had political ambitions, and he was sure that these ambitions could not be realized if he was in a wheelchair. And so Roosevelt hid the illness while he searched for a cure. Photographers were forbidden to take picture of Roosevelt in his weakened condition - a possibility only in a world before the development of the paparazzi. As a result of the prohibition, there are only two known photographs of Roosevelt in a wheelchair. Normally he was photographed either behind a desk or standing with the help of a son or an aide. The President, and especially a President with war on the horizon, could not be allowed to look weak. In fact, they must not look weak.  

The idea that Illness automatically means weakness is not a new idea. In fact, in some cultures it is even worse than that. Illness can be considered to be due to evil in the person’s life. And one of those cultures, despite passages in the Bible that actually state the reverse, is Judaism.

Paul says that the only reason he had come to preach the gospel in Galatia was because he was ill. We have no idea what the illness was, and as some experts have recognized, it is hard enough to diagnose a living sick person, let alone one who has been dead for over nineteen hundred years. But we do have some educated guesses. And one of the best guesses is that Paul was suffering from a form of malaria. The disease would have incapacitated the Apostle because the pain would have been intense. And so Paul found a place to rest and recuperate; a place where he could simply get better.

But while he was there he couldn’t help but share the gospel with the Galatians. It would have been easy for the Galatians to understand that Paul was evil and was being punished by the gods for preaching a false religion. But they didn’t do that. Instead the Galatians welcomed Paul, and treated him as if he was an angel of God. Even though he was not at his best, and even though his illness was inconvenient to the Galatians, they had still honored him.

And for all of this, Paul was grateful. Paul had recovered from his illness, whatever it was, at least in part, because of the hospitality of the Galatians. And this made Paul’s concern for the Galatians even deeper. In fact, this may have been the real reason behind the letter. The Galatians had done great works in Paul’s presence, but that was not enough. They needed to return to a salvation built around faith instead of one built around their works. Paul hoped that they would be willing to return to the faith that they had exhibited when Paul laid in their midst helpless to do – anything.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 5

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? – Galatians 3:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 19, 2014): Galatians 3

A recent online article outlined ten things that you should never say to your boss. The list was compiled from the things that ten bosses admitted that they didn’t like to hear. H. Kim Bottomly, the president of Wellesley College, a private women’s liberal-arts college just west of Boston which boasts alumni such as Hillary Rodham Clinton and Madeleine Albright, said that she didn’t want to know that something can’t be done. In her estimation, that was just taking the easy way out. The reality is that most small business owners know all too well that there are often ways around what seems to be impossible, and success in business is often dependant on finding out how to do what seems impossible. Sarah Fincke, the director of recruiting for SoulCycle would seem to agree. Fincke also had an item on the list advising employees to erase the words “I don’t know” from their vocabulary unless, of course, it is followed up by the words “but I will find out.” Admitting ignorance with no desire to learn is dangerous – and just another way of taking the easy way out. (Personally, I would argue that the reverse is also very dangerous, believing or pretending that you are an expert in something, because that also stops the learning process.)

As the “Letter to the Galatians” continues, Paul continues to press himself on the offense. And his question is this – exactly how did you become a part of the Christian community in the first place. They seemed to expect others to have to work their way into the community, but did they think for a moment that they had deserved admission into community when they were invited in – or maybe they were admitted into community simply because they had believed in what they had seen and heard. In Paul’s mind, if the Galatians are being honest with themselves, they would have to admit that they did not deserve admission into the Christian community – and yet they became members anyway just because they had believed.

This arrogance continues to show its face throughout the Christian Church. We seem to want to raise the expectations of people outside of our communities before we will all them to join with us. I was recently asked by a man what it would take to join the church that I pastor. And I have to admit that I am on a bit of a journey in this area myself. So I handed the gentleman a simple statement of our beliefs and told him that if he wanted to join, he could do so the next week. After all, Paul seemed to believe that all it took was a desire to believe. The man, as of this writing, has not chosen to join with us yet – maybe he was hoping for more hoops to jump.

The traditional method of joining for the church seems to have been, behave, believe and then we might allow you to belong. Others have argued that we have this in reverse – what is needed is an ability to belong, before we come to belief, and then finally God will deal with the behavior. And I have to admit that this latter method is closer to what I believe and want to practice. But Paul might shorten the list down to just two steps, collapsing the elements of believing and desiring to belong into one step – after all, why would you want to belong if you had not at least started down the road to belief? But the idea of behaving would most definitely come at a later time.

But the Galatians, like a major portion of the contemporary church, wanted to see the behavior before they would allow people into the community. They had believed a lie – and Paul was at a loss to explain how that had ever been allowed to happen within the churches of Galatia.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 4

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 18, 2014): Galatians 2

I am broken. Oh, I try not to be, I pretend that things are well, but the reality is that they are not. I have hurts that have built up over a lifetime of living, decisions that I have made that I wish I had not made – or at least that I had decided to do something else in a different direction. Specifically, I have admitted that I am a little more like the Apostle Peter than I really want to be – too often it seems that my mouth is in full gear while my brain is still in neutral. I would much rather emulate John, or Paul, but I don’t – I am Peter. I guess I should take comfort in the fact that Peter had such an important role among the Jesus’ first disciples.

But none of this effort, this trying not to be, has changed the essential core fact – I am broken. And the more that I come into contact with people and the more that people walk into my office so that they can share their stories, the more I realize that I am not alone. In fact, I want to make the assertion that in some way we are all broken, we all have pains that we don’t want anyone else to know about, and I suspect that even those who come and share their pains and hurts with me are hiding something else just under the surface, the secret that has become a monster under the bed that they just can’t bear to let anyone else know about. This is the essential human condition. It is a condition that we have convinced ourselves that no one else has to bear, it is our punishment – and our punishment alone.

Basically, we are all still in Junior High trying to be one of the cool kids. But there is so much holding us back. And the one thing that we don’t know, and that would ease our pain if we could only bring ourselves to believe it, is that even the cool kids believe that they are somehow standing on the outside looking in; knowing for certain that even if they are accepted as part of the popular crowd now, there are still secrets, monsters hiding in the closet that if anyone found out about would ensure their banishment from what is cool for the rest of their lives.

So Paul writes “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” In this pivotal verse much of what holds Pauline theology together is clearly stated. And the biggest message from Paul is simply this – it is not my personal identity that has been saved. My personal identity is what I have to be saved from. It was a message that even the Apostles had to come to understand – I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. I am being remade day by day – rebuilt moment by moment - into what God had always intended me to be. Oh, it is not, as some seem to believe, that once we are in Christ we all become carbon copies of the same individual. God has still gifted us in many areas, but in those areas we are also becoming more and more like Christ.

One comment that I heard when I was teen and has stuck with me through the years is simply this – I may be the only Bible that those who meet with me today will have read. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to go and be “Jesus with skin on” to a world that needs him (and it never needed me as much as it needs him). And all of this is possible because of this one simple truth - I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Yes, I am broken – but then again I am also crucified, and God is rebuilding me into who he needs me to be

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 3

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel … - Galatians 1:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 17, 2014): Galatians 1

Following the American midterm elections earlier this month, President Obama was quick to point at himself and take the blame for the defeat. In an interview taped for the CBS television show “Face the Nation,” Obama said “It’s not enough to just build a better mousetrap. People don’t automatically come beating to your door. We’ve got to sell it. We’ve got to reach out to the other side and, where possible, persuade.” Republicans might wonder at the President’s characterization of his policies as a better mousetrap. It seems that that has been the core of the problem – as much as the Democrats had been trying to the sell their programs throughout the past six years, the Republicans just haven’t been in a buying mood. And maybe as a result, neither have the American people. And inferior mistakes like the problems with the rollout of Obamacare have not helped Obama’s attempts to sell the “better mousetrap.”

It is probably just the cynic in me that listens to Obama’s words and hears the accusation “we gave you something better, but you just weren’t smart enough to realize what wonderful things we have done for you.” But if Obama wasn’t really saying that (and I still think that is exactly what he was saying), there is no doubt that that was exactly what Paul was saying as he opens up the letter that he is writing to the churches in Galatia. The apostle seems genuinely astonished at the apostasy that is taking place within the Galatian Churches. And it is not just that the Galatians are turning away from the faith, but how quickly they are turning away from the faith.

From the information that Paul gives us in the rest of the letter, it would seem that the apostasy of the Galatians was a very specific one – the apostasy was toward an increased Jewish legalism within the Christian Church. We are not sure how close the writing of “The Letter to the Galatians” was to the proceedings of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), but it would seem that a group of Judaizers (most likely Jewish Pharisees who had converted to the Christian faith) had succeeded in doing away with advances of the Council and reversing the Christian faith making it once again simply a sect of Judaism. The Judaizers argument was that to be a Christian, a person, even if he wasn’t a Jew, must keep all of the law of the Jewish faith – and this was exactly what James and the Jerusalem Council had decided was not necessary for any of the Gentile converts.

And Paul simply cannot believe that the Galatians are willing to trade what he had fought for with the Disciples in Jerusalem for an inferior faith based on a legalistic sacrificial system. The sacrifice of Jesus has resulted in a faith version of a “better mousetrap,” but apparently the Galatians weren’t buying. But Paul doesn’t hesitate to point his finger at the Galatians. If they aren’t buying, it isn’t because he wasn’t doing a good enough job at selling – in this case, the blame totally belonged to the Galatians

On a side note, Galatians is the only letter of Paul’s that does not begin with a note of thankfulness for the church that is receiving the letter. Evidently Paul is too frustrated with the Galatians to bother with the pleasantries. He starts off by driving his complaint home.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 2

During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” – Acts 16:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 16, 2014): Acts 16

Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, his father was a church official and his grandfather was a priest in the Roman church. But when Patrick was just sixteen, a group of Irish Raiders came to his home and kidnapped Patrick. For the next six years, Patrick worked as a slave in Ireland. Patrick had not been a strong believer in God, despite his upbringing, when he was taken from his home. But over the next few years, the young man would spend a lot of his time alone out in the field with the sheep. The experience led him to revaluate his faith and renew his relationship with his God.

After spending six years in captivity, Patrick had a dream. In the dream he was told that if he would go to the coast he would find a ship that could take him home. The next day, Patrick left for the coast and found a British ship passing by the place where he was. He was able to get the attention of the captain and to negotiate his way on board. Finally, Patrick was heading for home.

When Patrick arrived home, he began to prepare to follow in the steps of his grandfather and he entered the priesthood. But then Patrick had another dream. Patrick records the vision this way.

I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: "The Voice of the Irish". As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.

Later Patrick would call this moment his Macedonian call moment.

Paul’s Macedonian call, this moment where he saw this man from Macedonia who came to him in a dream and begging the Apostle to come to Macedonia, has been a powerful image in the history of Christianity. Patrick’s vision of a man from Ireland is heavily influence by Paul’s Macedonian Call. Martin Luther King, Jr. also believed that his civil rights activity was also his Macedonian Call. In his letter from Birmingham Jail, King tells his fellow clergyman why it is that he must continue to press for civil rights for all people – and why even his imprisonment cannot be allowed to stop him.

I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

And I have personally known ministers and church leaders who have experienced a very similar call on their lives. One friend tells the story of sitting in a hotel room with another church leader waiting for him as the two had planned on going out for supper together. But in the hotel room my friend said that he found that he just couldn’t move as he experienced his own Macedonian Call.

And some would argue that the image of the Macedonian Call is powerful precisely because so many Christian leaders seem to have experienced it. A call to go and minister that is clear and unmistakable – and one that the person cannot ignore. The only response that seems appropriate to a Macedonian Call is to simply say “yes, Lord, I will go.”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 1

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. – Acts 15:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 15, 2014): Acts 15

I continue to come into contact with people intent on a sharp exclusion model for the Christian faith. They continue to raise barriers that are intended to keep people out of the faith. And when anyone suggests that the walls that are being built are too high, or too thick, the accusation is that those who would make such suggestions are not really Christian. It doesn’t seem to matter what the issue is, and often it seems that if there is no ready issue then one can be quickly invented, but the purpose is always the same – to keep Christianity and Christians operating within very narrow boundaries. And anyone who opposes these barriers often finds themselves ejected. Letters are written and complaints are lodged. According to the exclusion model of Christianity, the integrity (often meaning the rules of the church) must be maintained and the faith protected if it is to honor God.

But the truth is that Christianity has never been based on exclusion. And the height of the Christian inclusion is found in this passage. So James talks about his “judgment.” As the head of the church it seems that he has made the decision. He has not leaned on councils, he is not willing to share the “blame” with the other disciples – this is his decision and his judgment. It is a decision that evidently James had reached with the support of the Holy Spirit; but it was not a legislative act.

It also need to be noted that despite the many Greek verbs that carry the idea of commanding, here and in the verses that follow absolutely none of them are used. At best, James seems to be making a suggestion. Maybe he simply realized that a command often brings an equally strong response – and because of the nature of this suggestion, standing as it does against some of the laws of Moses, it was likely to bring out all of the legalists to stand united against James’ assertion.

So what we have is this “grand suggestion,” a suggestion that was not immediately embraced by the early church. Even Peter, who was intimately involved with the events that led up to this decision, struggled for a period of time in trying to understand it. It took more than just James decree and more than just the experiences of Peter; it took the one who became the early church’s theologian in order to make the suggestion of James a reality. That would have to wait for the ministry journeys of Paul.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 16

Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. James 5:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 14, 2014): James 4 & 5

Election Day in the United States may have brought defeat to a number of Democratic Party hopefuls, but in a move that all of those defeated Democrats may have supported, it also brought a voter mandated increase in the minimum wage for several areas of the country. Minimum wage hikes were approved for Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. And the city of San Francisco also approved a minimum wage hike. But the hikes also highlighted a vast difference within the country. For instance, Arkansas residents voted to raise the minimum wage to a lofty $8.50/hr., but the San Francisco hike of the minimum wage was to $15/hr. – tying the city with Seattle for the highest minimum wage in the United States.

Of course, the hikes are only the first move in what will undoubtedly be a complicated economic dance. The unfortunate next step is up to local businesses who may decide that they simply cannot afford to keep all of their employees if they are to pay them at the new rate. After the release of workers, there will be the frustration and hurt as both businesses and workers try to adjust to the new work environment.

Often we seem to think that such things as minimum wages have nothing to do with our faith. But James would disagree. Maybe because if his relationship with his half-brother, Jesus, James knew that Christianity had to be concerned with more than the just the spiritual lives of the people. The truth was that what was spiritual was intricately connected with the physical. It was the reason why Jesus had gone about healing and taking care of the physical problems of the people that he came in contact with. And it was the reason that the poor and the hurting and the sick ran to be with Jesus. All of this meant that taking advantage of workers simply could not be written off as an economically good idea; it was just a morally irresponsible one.

The reality is that we are supposed to be concerned about the wages of the poor, and to take advantage of them is a sin against God. God, and all those who serve him, are concerned about the justice issues of our society which includes the care of the poor. Whether or not there is a law mandating a certain wage, there is a moral obligation to take care of people and to endeavor to give a wage that reflects what they are worth.  And to not do that means that we have a real spiritual problem.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 15

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. – James 3:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 13, 2014): James 3

Chaerephon, a Greek best known for being a close friend of Socrates, once asked his friend if he was the wisest man in the world. Socrates denied the assertion of his friend and apparently spent some time trying to prove the reverse. So Chaerephon decided to take the question to a higher power and ask it to the Oracle of Delphi, a title given to any priestess who ministered in the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. It was believed that the Oracle of Delphi spoke with the wisdom of the God Apollo, and the wise must recognize the wise. So Chaerephon asked the Oracle the question – Is there anyone who is wiser than Socrates? The answer of the Oracle was that that there was no one who was wiser than Socrates of those who walk among men. When Chaerephon took the news of the Oracle to his friend Socrates, Socrates is rumored to have responded once again to the assertion of his friend by saying that “the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” If Socrates was wise, then that wisdom was not found in the things that he knew, but rather in the secure knowledge of what he did not know. The quote is a one of a number of seemingly paradoxical teachings of Socrates. How can you be wise if you know nothing?

Yet James would seem to agree with the Greek Philosopher. According to James, part of the essential character of wisdom is humility. No one who goes out and seeks to prove that he is wise, can ever be considered to be truly wise. Any contentiousness or arrogance, or any tendency to consider yourself as a person of high quality, is an infallible sign that you continue to be lacking of an essential part of what it means to be wise. It might be that true wisdom can only be exhibited by people who do not realize that they are indeed wise.

But wisdom is also apparently a deed. In chasing after the wisdom of the Oracle of Delphi, Chaerephon seemed to believe that wisdom was a state of knowing. He found wisdom in the teachings of his friend Socrates, and in the words spoken by the Oracle, but James would seem to understand that wisdom also has something to do with the actions that we take. Whenever we chase after justice for others, whenever we are caring for the rights of the poor, and whenever we carry the concerns of the powerless, then we are about the activity of wisdom.

In a world where political wisdom seems to concentrate on the favors we can do for the powerful, and which lacks any kind of humility as politicians insist on proving that they are wise, maybe we need to listen a little more to the protestations of Socrates – and the assertions of James.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: James 4 & 5