June 6, 2010

James 2: 1-13 

  Love Your Neighbor...Show Mercy 

James

My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim that you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people more than others?

For instance, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in shabby clothes.  If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, "You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor' - well, doesn't this discrimination show that you are guided by wrong motives?

Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters.  Hasn't God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith?  Aren't they the ones who will inherit the kingdom God promised to those who love him?  And yet, you insult the poor man!  Isn't it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?  Aren't they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear?

Yes, indeed, it is good when you truly obey our Lord's royal command found in the Scriptures:  "Love you neighbor as yourself."  But if you pay special attention to the rich, you are committing a sin, for you are guilty of breaking that law.

And the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as the person who has broken all of God's laws.  For the same God who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder."  So if you murder someone, you have broken the entire law, even if you do not commit adultery.

So whenever you speak, or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law of love, the law that set you free.  For there will be no mercy for you if you have not been merciful to others.  But if you have been merciful, then God's mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you.     

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Thoughts...

Good morning.  Errr...good afternoon.  Please forgive the delays in getting this out to you.  The computer system and I have not been connecting well with each other this morning.  I have no control over most of this, but there is human error involved, I did get started later than usual this morning.  I sincerely apologize and pray you will accept my apology.

James is speaking to Christians in this book.  He is addressing prejudice.  He gives direction from the ten commandments reminding us to "Love your neighbor as yourself."  He does not tell us that we can only love Christians.  Nor is he telling us to only love our neighbor.  He also quotes, "Do not commit adultery;" and "Do not murder."  I will add that you can adulterate and murder the spirit within the body.

And then he tells us that whenever we speak or whatever we do, to remember that we will be judged by the law of love, the law that set us free.  What is the law of love?  It could be said that the following statement is the law of love:  "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul."  Jesus said in Matthew 7: 12:  "Do for others what you would like them to do for you.  This is a summary of all that is taught in the law and the prophets."  Isn't this a law of love?  I believe both will set us free.  Albeit in a little different way.  

Mercy.  "There will be no mercy for you if you have not been merciful to others.  But if you have been merciful, then God's mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you."  

Let's talk a moment about the new law in Arizona that allows for prejudice.  It allows any law enforcement officer to stop anyone who does not look like they are supposed to be here essentially.  It is racially prejudiced.  It is an abomination.  Many innocent citizens have been stopped and questioned.  Some with violence...verbally and physically....even when they are American citizens having lived here all their life.  And if they are not, should the EVER be treated like that?  NO...a resounding NO!!! 

I spoke with a friend who has dual citizenship from Mexico and America.  I was appalled to learn of the trauma that surrounds this new law.  The Mayor of Nogales, Mexico (per my friend via a newspaper article) is overwhelmed.  People that have lived in America all their lives are loading up what they can fit in a vehicle and crossing over to Mexico due to fear.  Sometimes in droves.  Children that have lived here and only known English will need to be integrated into all Spanish speaking school systems.  And this is only the tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

The economic stress of Mexico caused people to come to America to pursue their dreams.  Most have lived here all their lives.  And yet, their fear and their experience of disrespect and chastisement, reprisal and abuse, overrides their desire to stay where they are 'not wanted', where they may have lived in multimillion dollar homes or less, but in which the walls embraced family and love, security and stability.  They are leaving jobs with only weeks or a few years left of retirement because of the same.  They are going to a nation many never knew because they were birthed on American soil.  Many others came to survive....a war torn soil...to save their lives.  Someday I will share with you an article I wrote about how America stole a child from a Mexican woman under the guise of  'the law'.  She is not alone...it happens daily.  More abomination.

Let me state loudly with resolve and conviction:  you ARE wanted...you ARE loved.  You ARE appreciated...you ARE family.  Please do not go.          

Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "Remember, remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descendants from immigrants and revolutionists."

I do not know whether my family crossed over before Ellis Island was erected or after.  I have no idea if my citizenship is valid just because I was birthed here.  My relatives came mostly from Ireland and Germany.  Where did  yours come from?  Do you have papers from your family to insure they, or you, have a right to be here?  Oh, you say, 'Well I have a birth certificate to prove I was born here."  So?  So do many of the people that America is abusing under the new law.  You are naive to think otherwise.   And if they do not have American citizenship or documentation to show they can be here legally....does anyone have a right to turn away or HURT ANY child of God?  No one has that right.  It is not a right, it is an act of violence.

Emma Lazarus wrote a poem in 1883 that was mounted on the Statue of Liberty after her demise.  It mocks and chastises those countries who have not cared for their citizens and caused them to need to leave whether for economic reasons, survival, abuse, or neglect.  And it offers an open invitation, from those in America to all others from foreign soils and shores, that says 'welcome....we embrace you.'  It reads in its entirety:     

The New Colossus

As you consider all of this, ask yourselves how welcoming and embracing are you?  I want to say, there is a problem with people coming over the border.  People are dying trying to do so.  Dying to reach loved ones, peace, safety, security.  They are reaching out to a civilized country to say help.  Unfortunately, who we were as a nation is not who we are based on our actions.  And I need to say that this law was not enacted by any vote of the people by the people and is certainly not for the people of anywhere.  This law was signed into action by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.  Many, apparently, in the legal structure of the state supported her.  I believe she chose this route because she knew in her heart it would not make vote....that the citizens of Arizona would have rallied a war on it, like they are doing in the aftermath.  Like all of America and those in the world should do.  The world needs to step up and take notice.  She is also cutting budgets right and left, shutting down schools and programs in schools.  She is forcing our children to learn the basics and not culture, sports, or anything that is not a structural brain wash.  She is eliminating teaching positions despite seniority or tenure, and forcing teachers to apply all over again.  The teachers that taught America's children regardless of race, color, creed, or religion.  The 'huddled masses yearning to breathe free'.

I am appalled by Jan Brewers actions.  I do not normally step up and make a political statement.  But the people she is hurting are God's children.  All of us are God's children.  I worship with others, pray with others, cry, laugh, and embrace others in the name of God.  God did not EVER tell us to not love everyone.  He told us indeed to love everyone and love them as ourselves.  I call the people around me brothers and sisters.  I don't label them as American or Mexican, African or Irish, or any other nationality.  I call many of them friend.  And although all may not be Christian, God did not differentiate. 

Everyone is offered the gift of salvation.  Everyone is offered the opportunity to get to heaven.  Everyone can receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  You know, scripture says "you will know them [Christians] by their works".  Have you received Jesus Christ into your heart?  Have you thanked him for his love by showing him by your actions that you are grateful for all he has done for you?  Have you said to him, "What can I do for you today to help you and your chlidren of the world?"  Do you know that regardless of age, all in the world are his children?  Will you pray to help the situation in Arizona?  Will you rise up as one voice with others to show that you know who God is, and, in gratitude, speak out against this atrocity that seeks to kill, steal, and destroy?

Please....don't just be angered.  God gave you your voice.  You must use it to help stop this violent action.  There are many ways to do this.  Ask God and he will tell you what he needs you to do to help Mexico and America.  Can you provide shelter to those returning to home soil?  Can you emotionally support those afraid and hurting?  Can you find a way to relieve economic stress?  Can you picket and write letters to the Governor of Arizona?  Can you contact the Mayor in Nogales to ask how you can help, or in your city, seek ways to help the families returning to integrate back in easily?  Can you teach Spanish as a second language?  Can you speak out in churches against this outrage?  Can you go to the city streets to bring people to church to help them find God or reunite with him for solace?  I hope this helps you consider how God may be calling you. 

In the text of the Bible, we are given many directives on how to best live and love.  Remember to "love your neighbor as yourself" whether that is your spouse, your parent, your child, your beautician or barber, cashier or car pulling in next to yours, the stranger on the street passing by, the seagull flying past, the kitten giving birth, the trees in the ground or the breeze blowing by.  We are all made by the ever living ever loving Father God Almighty.   You honor him when you honor everyone else in the universe.  Honor him today.  Pray earnestly, and, be healed ! of any prejudice you may have this day and forever...and more.          

Let Us Pray

Dear heavenly Father God, Jesus and Holy Spirit.  Please forgive me of my sins, especially for those times that I have been prejudiced against anyone.  Help me to honor your gifts of life, be they humans, animals, vegetables or minerals, etc.  By the nature of being human, I know I have sinned and fallen short of your glory.  Please restore me to newness in you, that I may perfectly love you and yours, and, in doing so, worthily magnify your holy name.  I hang my head in shame.  But I lift my eyes to you...above the hills.  You are from where my help comes.  Thank you.  Help me to do all that I can, even if it is only through prayer, so as to keep you focused on the issues at hand in the world of hurting creatures, to do all that I can, as I can, when I can.  I am reminded, Lord, of a poem I keep on my refrigerator.  It was written by Edward Everette Hale and he said, "I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  What I can do, I ought to do.  And what I ought to do, by God's grace I will do."  So God, please give me your grace, that I can do a mighty work for you.  I am also reminded of your word from scripture where it says, "If we love one another, God dwells in us and his love is perfect in us." from 1 John 4:12.  God, please dwell within me...I do not seek to be perfect, but I seek that your love is perfected in me.  Let me fully love those who cross my path.  Only then will I know you are truly in me and I am in you.  I love you, Lord.  But I know that those words are meaningless, if I don't have love and show love for my brother or sister, Christian or not, 2 legged humans or 4 legged fuzzies, or winged, or not, or with leaves or flowered...even the rocks have breath.   Thank you for showing me all this today and giving me a new conviction of purpose as I am called by you to go forth.  May we be a strong voice...a mighty voice....nations wide.  Amen.      

Let Us Sing*

Lord, You Have My Heart

And I will search for Yours

Jesus, take my life and lead me on

Lord, You have my heart

And I will search for Yours

Let me be to You a sacrifice

And I will praise You, Lord

And I will sing of love come down

And as You show Your face

We'll see Your glory here.            

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More love.... 

  Benediction...Blessing

Let us hear from Paul as he prays:  

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now glory be to God!  By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.  May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages.  Amen.  Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT         

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Scroll down to read Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving...'The Unforced Rythms of Grace'.

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Definition of a Christian:  Anyone who believes in God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Regardless of church name or religious affiliation.  

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If you feel that the Church of the Holy Spirit has inspired or helped you, we'd like you to prayerfully consider tithing regulary to us or gifting us, so that we can further the work and carry out the will of the Father as proclaimed in Matthew 28:16 NLT

 to

 "Go and make disciples out of all the nations

baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.  And be sure of this:

I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

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  Our Current Cause

It is time to reach into the community and the world around you to see wherein lies the greatest need.  As you choose to focus on these areas, do so with a servant's heart.  Whether the need is for children, adults, or animals, or any cause in between that will help those in need, ask God how you can best serve his needs, what path you must take, and how long you should persevere.  Sometimes we are to be in the lives of others merely as stepping stones.  Sometimes we are to touch those lives forever.  Whatever journey you are called to take, whatever team you will be a member of, know this:  God is with you always...even til the end of time.  He loves you, is grateful for you, and will help you along life's way, especially if you are helping others along theirs, persevering with a servant's heart. 

Please accept my sincerest thanks....and God's....and may God richly bless you!   

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    One last thing....

 Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving

'The Unforced Rythms of Grace'

"Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer:  "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.  You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people.  Yes, Father, that's the way you like to work."

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly.  "The Father has given me all these things to do and say.  This is a unique Father - Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge.  No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does.  But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen."

"Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  I'll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn how to live freely and lightly.

   Matthew 11:  25-30

  The Message

And the people said,

"Amen."

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I now write most prayers in the position of ' I ' (first person) because most people are sitting at their computer alone, not in groups, and it allows those reading and praying to personalize the prayer as coming from them going to God.  Variations may appear on holidays when families may wish to use the prayer provided.

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*Lord, You Have My Heart  Music and lyrics, by Martin Smith c 1992 Kingsway's Thankyou Music (PRS).  All rights in the Western Hemisphere adminstered by EMI Christian Music Publishing p 1998 Furious? Records / Sparrow Records.  Delirious?  appears courtesy of Furious? Records / Sparrow Records 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.  All rights reserved.

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