Let’s Connect – Week of May 31, 2020
Breathe…
Holy One, for all of the ways you speak to us –
in rushing wind…in dancing flames …in words we understand …and
in all that transcends language,
we give thanks.
Give us courage to speak your love,
everywhere we go, to everyone we meet.
Amen.
There are different spiritual
gifts but the same Spirit; and there are different ministries and the same
Lord; and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of
them in everyone. A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the
common good.
Breathe…
Musing
This week we are faced with two crises, one we have been living
with for 3 months and the other for centuries. One we want so desperately to
move beyond, the other we have grown accustomed to its ongoing, nagging presence.
One we are devising plans to address, the other we simply allow to continue.
One is the pandemic and our relaunching life together plans and the other is
racism and white privilege.
Breathe…
“A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the
common good.” In the NRSV it reads, “To each is given a manifestation of the
Spirit for the common good.” We are all blessed with different skills, gifts,
and graces for one purpose, the common good. What does the Lord require of us?
To do justice, love kindness and walking humbly with God. What are we commanded
to do by Jesus? Love one another. Why? For the common good. Racism and white
privilege are for the good of only some of us. An economy and society built
upon the need for one class or group of people to be deliberately kept from
reaching their fullest potential to benefit another is not the common good. One
more person of color killed by a police officer isn’t the problem, it’s the
symptom. The problem is our nation as it is now functioning is not for the
common good – it is for the good of only some.
Breathe…
The pandemic has shown us that our priorities are askew. Many who
have been classified as “essential workers” are people of color working as
janitors and in the food processing industry. They are the hospital cleaning
crews and the package sorters. Those who are told to work from home are the
ones with jobs that can be done from home with laptops and Wi-Fi. Remote
learning can be achieved by those with homes and adequate technology and a
parent their to assist. But who is it that struggles to work from home, to
remote learn? Often it is people of color. The death rate from Covid-19, the
children struggling to access remote learning, the adults who are putting
themselves and their families at risk are the ones least cared for by our
society. What is the common good if not caring for the least of these?
Breathe…
We are worried about when we can get back to worshipping together,
to having coffee hour, to singing our favorite hymns. We’re worried about how
much expense and effort it will be to clean our buildings. We are worried about
the loss of rental income from groups using our spaces. We’re worried about how
we can get our lives back to normal. But should we be worried about these
things? I think this is a great time to reassess priorities and wants and needs
and desires. This is a perfect time to evaluate what we think, what we feel is
important. Now is the best time to reflect on what it is we are called to be
and do as disciples of Jesus Christ and God’s faithful. Michael W. Smith
writes:
I'll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what you have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart.
What is there in your heart? What is deep within me, us? I hope
and pray it is a demonstration, a manifestation of the Spirit for the common
good.
Breathe…
Holy One,
We are not sure what it would be like
if the Holy Spirit blew through our churches again
as it did on the day of Pentecost.
However, we want to speak the language that you have given,
louder, and more clearly in our lives and church.
So we pray,
come Holy Spirit come,
pour out your fire of love upon us
to be the body of Christ
in a world that is often hurting, hungry, and cynical.
We want to bring the good news to the poor,
heal the broken-hearted,
preach deliverance to captives,
bring recovery of sight to the blind
and set at liberty all that are bruised.
As your disciples,
we pray for all who suffer, are poor,
despairing, burdened, blind and battered.
In your loving breeze,
we pray for health and wholeness for those who are physically ill,
For those suffering from Covid-19
for those who are mentally ailing,
for those who are money sick,
for those who are spiritually unwell.
We pray for the healing of your creation,
and the renewal of the face of the land.
We pray for those who are thirsty,
that they would drink from your fountain of living waters
and never thirst again.
Amen.
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