Guess what? Yes, it is Thursday — and the weather today has been a delight! With it being Thursday, it seems a fitting time to remember that we gathered round the table this last Sunday to connect, to pray, to sincerely seek to hear from God together. And last Sunday we did just that — gathered, introduced ourselves, and prayed before checking-in.
And our check-in was a multi-week homework assignment, to be like Christ, to imitate Christ. The check-in was honest. This was hard. We are not Christ. And even if we maybe were “Christ-like” we hear our thoughts rather loudly so….it was a little discouraging. Yet, the frustration with trying to be like Christ (or trying to be perfect like Christ) reminded us too that God is not finished with us, that we are works in progress — and that can be an encouragement along the way too. There also was a bit of a reminder as to why exactly we even try to be like Christ (which stemmed from thinking about why Christ came — why God found it necessary to have flesh on and be with us!) — it is not so that we become perfect, so that we can be proud….it is so ALL can be in relationship with God. Christ came to reconcile the world to God — that’s the point, not perfection for the sake of perfection, not rule-followers for the sake of following rules, but relationship with the God who gives each of us life. We try to imitate Christ so that we don’t get in the way of God loving on ALL the folks around us. We try to imitate Christ so that others know how beloved they are of God. We try to imitate Christ because in imitating Christ we grow into more loving people — people who can see the wounds of the world & be part of the love that will bring healing!
So the homework — the LIFEwork continues, as God promises it will — we continue to seek God above all and to be like Christ all the days of our life!
But we did turn to scripture, to Romans 12:9-10:
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Again we heard the voice of Paul. Some asked questions of if this is for fellow believers & Christians, or if this is for those who are not (believers). I asked — what do you think? Is there a difference? Who did Christ come for? (ALL). And even here we have to think about the homework that follows us, this idea to be like Christ. BUT, what does that mean; what does that look like; and what can help us? This section of Romans is labeled in the New Revised Standard Version translation of the Bible, as “Marks of the True Christian.” We are going to slow down and go through these scriptures for a few weeks seeing what God might be inviting us to do/learn/understand in order to be (more) like Christ.
The next step in this study is the homework stemming from Romans 12:9-10. It has 2 parts:
- 1st: Outdo someone in showing honor (to someone else) this week. (Or if you prefer, outdo someone in offering sincere love to someone this week!)
- 2nd: Read or listen to sources/places outside of scripture that encourage you to live what scripture is saying.
Some things before signing off….the genuine love we are to show is from our core, from the inside — it is sincere — sometimes perhaps we might have to “fake it” until we “make it” asking God to change our heart along the way. Also, I shared 3 quotes — which are example of sources outside of scripture that might encourage us they were:
- Aretha Franklin: We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It’s our basic human right.
- Finale of Les Miserables: To love one another is to see the face of God.
- Mr. Rogers: As human beings our job is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has — or ever will have — something inside that is unique to all time. It’s our job to help discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.
In Christ ~
Rev. Sabrina Slater