What Really Matters

 

This week’s scriptures talk a lot about money and about where our ultimate care and safety lie. 1 Timothy 6 reminds us that what matters is to have our basic needs met. Wealth is not a basic need and can deceive us into thinking it is what the “Good Life” is really about. As verse 10 warns: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.”

Jesus takes it further in the Gospel reading, telling the story of a poor man named Lazarus who sat outside the doors of a rich man’s home. Lazarus begged for even scraps of food but received none. When he died, the angels carried Lazarus to heaven. When the rich man died he…well, he wound up in a whole other place. Seeing Lazarus by Abraham’s side, he called up and asked Abraham to send Lazarus down to give him a sip of water because he was tormented by flames. Abraham said that the chasm between the two was now too great. The rich man asked if Abraham would send Lazarus to warn his brothers of the fate that might await them. Abraham responded, “They already have Moses and the prophets, what more do they need?”

I believe we are given all we need to live a good and faithful life through the scriptures. Jesus lays out a teaching to show us a way to live more deeply in love with God and others. There are those in our life who live in such a way that the truth of the Gospel’s claims is confirmed. Are we willing to be faithful to Jesus’ teaching? Are we willing to order our lives so that—no matter our wealth or poverty, health or disease—we will make Love our highest aim and our greatest commitment? Are we willing to order our lives so that this Love will connect us to others in profound ways?

Love compels us to share all we have with others. Love sees those the world overlooks. Love responds to the needs around us. Love is active. Love creates connections, bridges, and relationships that build beloved community.

May you allow Love to open your eyes, your heart, and your hands so that you can see those around you, listen to their voices, and share the love of Christ in tangible, life-changing ways. In this way, may you find your life enriched in ways money alone cannot provide.

To Move Through Our Adversities

I love to read. As a bishop, I am finding myself with little time to read as much as I like, so summer travels always include a pile of books. This summer, one book I read was by “Brighter By The Day: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams” by Robin Roberts, the co-anchor of Good Morning America. It is a wonderful devotional book, grounded in Roberts’ faith as a Christian. Roberts has been quoted as crediting her parents with instilling in her the “"three 'D's: Discipline, Determination, and 'De Lord.'

In the book, Roberts is honest not only about her triumphs but also her failures and adversities, including serious life-threatening medical diagnoses: “We may not fully understand why catastrophe has befallen us, and that’s okay. Our job isn’t to comprehend it. It’s to redeem it for good.”

That line jumped out at me. I don’t believe God inflicts horrible things on us. I don’t believe God sends fire or flood or famine or disease. A loving God wouldn’t try or treat us in that way. Being a human and walking and growing in the world leaves us open personal and natural disasters, disease, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

To focus on trying to understand “Why did this happen to me” can tie us in knots and leave us frustrated, depressed, and disempowered. Instead, where do we find God companioning us through the catastrophe? Who is walking with us as we move through grief? Who is cheering us on as we take another step towards sobriety? How is God offering us sustenance as we face the brokenness of our lives?

The God who rose Jesus from the dead makes plain to us that this is the God who truly makes all things new again. Not even the crushing blow of death can prevent God’s love from bursting from whatever tomb catastrophe has tried to bury us in. Ours is not to ask “Why did this happen to me?” Instead, turning from whatever may have befallen us, how do we move through it to the other side? How do we find the healing path? How do we integrate what we have experienced to make us even more than we were before, increase our capacity for compassion, enrich us for deeper empathy, and help us be more tender with others who are going through their own hard times?

May you find comfort and hope from these words from the Psalms: “Weeping may endure for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

The Servanthood of a Queen

 This week the world joined the United Kingdom in mourning as Queen Elizabeth died. There have been so many anecdotes about her life over the past several days, but what has stood out for me has been the way her faith shaped her life and leadership.

In her coronation speech, the Queen made a request to all those listening: “I want to ask you all, whatever your religion may be, to pray for me on that day, to pray that God may give me wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises I shall be making, and that I may faithfully serve Him and you, all the days of my life.”

She was crowned Queen at the age of 25. As the weight of the crown was placed on her head, she was well aware that the weight of servanthood was also being placed upon her. For the rest of her life, her purpose was to serve.

As I think about this, I realize that in her life we have a clear example of discipleship: when we follow Christ, we shift the focus of our lives from self and instead seek to better the lives around us through the love of God found in Christ Jesus. We might not live in a castle (or many castles) or be a head of state, but each of us possesses within us the mark of Divine Love bestowed upon us by our Creator. Each of us has a unique purpose and mission that no one else possesses. Queen Elizabeth was clear about hers, and it guided her every single day. How about you?

“Billions of people now follow Christ’s teaching and find in him the guiding light for their lives. I am one of them because Christ’s example helps me see the value in doing small things with great love.”—Queen Elizabeth