God has been good.
Recently we have been attending the local Unitarian Universalist Church. Last Sunday's service was devoted to discussion about Christianity and I spoke. Being able to address the congregation was a wonderful experience, but what was truly amazing was the process of putting into words things that I had never said before. Here is what I said:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14
Faith is not a destination, it is a journey that changes me as I travel. I grew up in a church-going, Methodist family that prayed before meals, “God is great, God is good and we thank Him for our food. By his Hands we all are fed and we thank the Lord for our daily bread.” As a child, I learned that being a Christian means being grateful for God’s abundant bounty.
Today, it is more important is to honor what Jesus said in Matthew 22:35-40. He said that the greatest commandments were to, one “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…(and the second is) You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He wasn’t saying these are two separate commandments. The second one, to love your neighbor, is the expression of the first, to love God. Because just like me, all of us belong to God.
Looking back at the blessings I gave thanks for as a child, I have come to believe they were not rewards given so that I may have a comfortable life. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus explained all humanity is one big neighborhood and we are responsible for helping each other. The blessings I receive now are tools, loaned to me, based on my spiritual fitness, with the condition that they be used to love my neighbors so that they will know God loves them.
The Simple Prayer for Peace, often referred to as The Prayer of Saint Francis, offers excellent instructions for me:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.
As a child, Christianity was about receiving. As an adult, my faith is about passing on the precious gift that I have received both as gratitude to the ones that gave to me and as service to the ones that need it.
Enjoyed reading this. Thank you for sharing. 👍🏼
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