Wednesday, October 27, 2021

The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour? [Followed by the Parable of the Good Samaritan] “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbour to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.” (Luke 10: 30 – 36, New Living Translation)

                 Our three-year-old grandson, Declan, is the personification of neighbourliness. He thinks nothing about chatting up anyone and everyone whom he encounters. His parents are not far off so it is safe for him to do so.

                He is getting to know his neighbours around their new home. Recently, he decided that he needed to get know the folk across the street. So, he dragged his dad along with him and introduced himself to his neighbour.  He is like that wherever he goes - on walks, shopping, in parks and playgrounds - making friends out of strangers and reaching out to others. It’s not particularly a Soble thing to do as we Sobles tend to be shy introverts and like our privacy. It may come more from my mother’s side as my dad was warm and friendly to all. Perhaps his traits have found a  home in Declan, not to leave out his gregarious Great-grandma Barb and his other grandad, Ellis.

                We have lived in this house for 16 years. We wave at our neighbours but I only know one by name. In fact, I know their dogs' names better than I know their names.

                In a very similar story to Luke’s version in Mark’s Gospel, it is Jesus who cites the two greatest commandments, the second being of equal importance to loving God: love your neighbour as yourself. In Luke's story, the lawyer gets the words right but misses the meaning. The man has religion but not the works of love to go along with his creeds and dogma. He wanted to test Jesus, to see if Jesus was living up to the lawyer’s legal standards and social codes.

                Who is my neighbour? Ha! Got him!

                Everyone knows the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Two highly esteemed, religious elites go out of their way to ignore and pass by a man who has been mugged and lying at the side of the road. But a Samaritan - and let us nor forget Jews looked down on Samaritans and would not associate with them – goes out of his way, not to avoid the man, but to tend to his wounds, put him up in a hospice and pay for his stay. That, too, is the personification of true neighbourliness.

 I doubt that such an idea would even cross the lawyer’s mind. It’s none of my business. Don’t get involved. Let somebody else do it. It’s beneath me. I haven’t got the time. I’m too busy.

 The Epistle of James sums up this type of all-religion-no action sort. “Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?”  (James 2:14, The Message Bible)

Love your neighbour as yourself. It means, on the one hand, to get rid of our prejudices, criticisms, judgments, assumptions and biases and, on the other hand, to be pro-active when we are needed and see that our neighbours, near or far, may need some help in some way. It is to be friendly at least, compassionate and caring at most.

It has been so easy to withdraw and seclude ourselves during this endless pandemic. But as life begins to open up, let us open up our neighbourliness to others. Stop. Look. Listen. Then find a way to reach out and become a neighbour to someone else.

“For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.” (Galatians 5:14, The Message Bible)

And a little child shall lead us. Thanks Declan. Yes, now go and do the same!

Dale

 Wednesday, October 20, 2021

“Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” (Hebrews 12” 1 -2, The Message Bible)

 

                “Keep On Churnin’ Till the Butter Comes Up”

                That’s the delightful title of a Blues song. Somebody could compile a modern book of Proverbs by just using titles from Blues songs.

    “Keep on churnin' and don't go slow
    Keep on churnin' everybody knows
    You got to keep on churnin'
    Or it just don't mean a thing.”

                Let us reflect on the art or skill of good perseverance. It is the ability to keep on keeping on. It is the refusal to quit. It is the capacity to work through the challenges and problems one encounters. It is the resolve to finish what one has started. It is the desire to do one’s best and give it one’s all. Perseverance is  the determination to strive for the best possible results for the present and the future.

                For believers it is also placing one’s total trust in God. It is the constant and persistent faithfulness to follow Jesus. It is the continual practice of living by the principles and values of Love which include mercy, forgiveness, patience, and self-control. Christian perseverance is the ability to reach for the goal of the upward calling of Christ upon our lives and never, ever, giving up on that goal.

                Perseverance is different than endurance, although, sometimes, enduring is required to be perseverant. But endurance can be a grit-your-teeth survival mode of living. It can be a hunkering down till the storms are over. It can be hiding under the covers for safety. Endurance can be a passive, reluctant resignation. Yes, the one who endures to the end will be saved but I think this adage speaks more to perseverance than mere endurance.

                Christian perseverance  leads us to strive for the holiness that is ours in Christ, we who are called to be his saints. It is a tall order. It can be and usually is challenging and often difficult. If it was all easy it wouldn’t be called perseverance. We need to persevere with confidence and assurance that God is with us.  We need to persevere with hope and joy that God is on our side. We need to persevere using our spiritual gifts and natural talents to make each and every day a better than the last one.

                “But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.” (James 1:25, The Message Bible)

    "Fryin' pan's goin' crazy on the stove

    A blue sky's growin' hazy in the cold

    If I'd quit now it'd surely be a sin
    I got to keep on churnin' till the end begins.

    Keep on churnin' it ain't no lie
    Keep on churnin' till the day we die
    We got to keep on churnin'
    Or it just don't mean a thing."

Dale

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good…” (Luke 18:19, New Living Translation)

                 Lord Dale Rodney Soble – has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

                Don’t laugh; I have the certificate to prove it. I am officially a registered landowner of a plot of land in Scotland. It was a cool, unique birthday gift from Susan. It is a clever way for the Scots to raise money to preserve their conservation areas. I even have pictures of the site from an aerial view. My certificate confers on me all the rights and privileges of a “true” Scottish Lord.

                Mind you, the plot of land is about 5 feet by 5 feet. It isn’t quite big enough for my Scottish castle but I am not allowed to build on it anyway. Nevertheless, I am now Lord of the Manor, but I shall remain ever humble.   

                But it’s hard to be modest. Family legend is that we are descendants of King Alfred on my mother’s side. (In fact, Susan has traced possible genealogy back to Alfred’s mother-in-law.) On my father’s side we have stubborn Prussian pride.  Now I am a Scottish Lord. What more can I say? Why is our 14 year old dog, Charlie, rolling his eyes? I demand a little respect. “Little” is about as much as I will get from him - as long as I feed him.

                Jesus is exemplar in his humility and modesty. He could have grasped for power as the Christ, the Messiah. He could have demanded that people worship him as the new Jewish King. He could have insisted that people lavish their praise, their respect and their adulation over him. He could have commanded obedience and allegiance. But here in our text from Luke, he shies away from even the simple recognition of being “good”. If not Jesus; then who has been or ever will be good?

                Jesus defined leadership and for that matter, goodness, in radically different ways than we might.  “But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.” (Matthew 19:30, NLT)

                When the rich young ruler came to Jesus for advice, he wasn’t prepared for the instructions which  Jesus gave him, thinking perhaps that he was rich and powerful and very religious, to boot. Instead, Jesus said to him: “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21, NLT) In the parable of the man who proudly built bigger and better barns to store all his wealth, it was meaningless in the mortal end. “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” (Luke 12:21, NLT)

                Jesus has taught us that there is no room for superiority for his followers, based on his own model of service and compassion. “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant…” (Matthew 20:26 NLT) So many of Jesus’ parables emphasize servanthood, not elitism, not superiority over others, not pride of position or possessions.

Real  leadership is the warm, moist towel wiping tired, dirty feet. It is not the arrogant voice of the pharisaic, religious know-it-all but it is expressed in the tender voices of those who serve Jesus in soup kitchens, shelters, food banks and the like. Goodness and leadership are not a contradiction of each other but complementary. “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning…” (Luke 12:35, NLT)

                All this makes my little plot of land In Scotland even smaller; puts my lordship into proper perspective. “If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.”  (John 12:26, The Message Bible)

                But dang it – Lord Dale Rodney Soble has a nice ring to it! Sigh!

 Dale

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

“God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s.” (1 John 4: 16 -18, The Message Bible)

                 A Baptist colleague who writes a semi-regular column for the local weekly newspaper opined in his last week’s, post-election article that we need a God-centred governance. “A God-centred view of everything from economics, the environment and social needs of the day would result in radically different realities than the ones proposed by any of the major political parties.”

                It is a noble sentiment. I don’t disagree with it.

                But it begs the question in my mind whose God should be at the centre of our political systems?

                Never mind, for the moment, the atheists, agnostics and secularists who don’t want any god of any sorts anywhere near their institutions. I am asking whose God among all the types of believers, religions and faith groups  should be at the heart and soul of our governments?

                I am pretty sure the Taliban are imposing their version of a God-centred government. No thank you. That’s a god full of cruelty, violence, murder and hatred of one’s enemies.

                Even if we limit ourselves to some sort of Christian version, the question remains.  The very conservative, religious right wing of the church would welcome a God- centred government.  But this version of God seems very narrow-minded, judgmental, punitive and restrictive.  I do not feel very warmly towards such a god as they portray.

                Neither am I totally comfortable with the so-called progressive Christian version of God. This God sometimes comes across as too demure, too passive, too grandfatherly, too ethereal.

                My version?  You probably wouldn’t be happy with that God either. Jesus and I sit around and drink whisky and smoke cigars, chewing the fat and arguing theology and life.

                Scriptures, always the Christian’s sole/soul source for understanding the mind of God are not as helpful as we might think or hope. The God of the Bible is complex, multi-dimensional, multi-faceted, and frankly, sometimes, down-right moody.

                The common denominator in all these varied ideas of God is that they are very human-influenced. It has been said that humankind has created god in our own image and there is truth in that.

                But that doesn’t mean we give up on the question what it means to have a God-centred governance.

                God is love. This is a very poignant, specific, political statement.  Chapters 3  and 4 of the First Letter of John clearly and unambiguously outline the kind of society, culture and political policies of God’s Love which should  and needs to abide in our world. If we respect the truth that God is Love, then “love has run of the house”.

Decisions, policies, actions,  choices, behaviour become centred in the Love of God working in our lives and in our world. None of us would go wrong if we practiced the Love that Jesus Christ embodied.  It would re-define justice, poverty, business ethics, political morality, and confront evil and hatred and prejudice and the like with a clear alternative to all that is contrary and in opposition to that Love.

                But even that depth of Love depends on us, sons of Adam, daughters of Eve, who quickly ruined the Garden of Eden, to embody and articulate and live out that Love each and every day. God can’t do it for us; we must love as we are loved.

                “The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.” (1 John 4:21, The Message)

Dale