Tuesday, May 30. 2023

           ¹⁹ Jesus said to the Jews, “I can guarantee this truth: The Son cannot do anything on his own. He can do only what he sees the Father doing. Indeed, the Son does exactly what the Father does. ²⁰ The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. The Father will show him even greater things to do than these things so that you will be amazed. ²¹ In the same way that the Father brings back the dead and gives them life, the Son gives life to anyone he chooses.

           ²² “The Father doesn’t judge anyone. He has entrusted judgment entirely to the Son ²³ so that everyone will honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴ I can guarantee this truth: Those who listen to what I say and believe in the one who sent me will have eternal life. They won’t be judged because they have already passed from death to life.

           ²⁵ “I can guarantee this truth: A time is coming (and is now here) when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who respond to it will live. ²⁶ The Father is the source of life, and he has enabled the Son to be the source of life too. ²⁷ “He has also given the Son authority to pass judgment because he is the Son of Man.  ²⁸ Don’t be surprised at what I’ve just said. A time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice, ²⁹ and they will come out of their tombs. Those who have done good will come back to life and live. But those who have done evil will come back to life and will be judged.

       A chip off the old block.  There is part of me that resents it and resists it; there is part of me that is so proud of it.  I can see my daddy in me.  Sometimes I hear his voice in the words I say or my phraseology.  Sometimes, I hear him and see him in the way I interact with others.  In many ways, I’m a chip off the old block.

       In the passage, Jesus says the same thing, “I’m a chip off the old block.  I am one and identical with My Daddy.”  What a bold statement to make in a culture where God’s Name, Yahweh, was not even spoken and to speak it was pure blasphemy.  Yet Jesus says: I can do what My Daddy does.  I can say what My Daddy says.  And both with the same results, life and vitality.

       Father God, am I so connected to You that my words and deeds point people to You, that they know who I am and whose I am because of the way I act?  I fear not.  Truly, that light is dim.  O that today, You would come alive in me so that others might see I belong to You.  Amen!

Monday, May 29, 2023

⁴ Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God. The Lord is the only God. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ⁶ Take to heart these words that I give you today. ⁷ Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re at home or away, when you lie down or get up. ⁸ Write them down, and tie them around your wrist, and wear them as headbands as a reminder. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

¹⁰ The Lord your God will bring you into the land and give it to you, as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This land will have large, prosperous cities that you didn’t build. ¹¹ Your houses will be filled with all kinds of things that you didn’t put there. You will have cisterns that you didn’t dig and vineyards and olive trees that you didn’t plant. After you have eaten all that you want, ¹² be careful that you don’t forget the Lord, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. ¹³ You must fear the Lord your God, serve him, and take your oaths only in his name. ¹⁴ Never worship any of the gods worshiped by the people around you. ¹⁵ If you do, the Lord your God will become very angry with you and will wipe you off the face of the earth, because the Lord your God, who is with you, is a God who does not tolerate rivals.

¹⁶ Never test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. ¹⁷ Be sure to obey the commands of the Lord your God and the regulations and laws he has given you. ¹⁸ Do what the Lord considers right and good. Then things will go well for you, and you will enter and take possession of that good land which the Lord promised to your ancestors with an oath. ¹⁹ You will see the Lord expel your enemies as he said he would.

²⁰ In the future your children will ask you, “What do these regulations, laws, and rules which the Lord our God commanded you mean to you?” ²¹ Tell them, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord used his mighty hand to bring us out of there. ²² Right before our eyes the Lord did miraculous signs and amazing things that were spectacular but terrible for Egypt, Pharaoh, and his whole family. ²³ The Lord led us out of there to bring us here and give us this land he promised to our ancestors with an oath. ²⁴ The Lord our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to fear him. These laws are for our own good as long as we live so that he will preserve our lives. It’s still true today. ²⁵ This is how we’ll have the Lord’s approval: If we faithfully obey all these laws in the presence of the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.” Deuteronomy 6:4 – 25

       Why do I do the things I do?  Why live my life – to the best of my ability and with His help – by the commands of God?  By nature, I don’t like being told what to do and when to do it.  In fact, when others – beginning with my parents and my parishioners – attempt to control me, to tell me what to do, I become a wild ass, bucking and braying.  So, why then is God’s word so precious to me?  Why do I see to follow it?

       First, the commands given in love.  God gave the Law out of love, not restriction, not punishment, but “for our own good” (v. 24).  Second, my obedience is my love.  Because I love Him, I seek to live according to His will and His standards (v. 5).  And third, my obedience is my gratitude.  Moses describes the mighty acts of God on our behalf, rescuing us from slavery in Egypt and bringing us into a promised land.  Indeed, redeeming me from slavery to sin and death and bringing me into a promised covenant with Himself through Jesus Christ and His suffering, death, and resurrection.  O God, make me thankful – not in words alone, but – my thoughts and my actions.  Amen!

Saturday, May 27, 2023 

           ^1-3 Paul, commissioned by the will of God as a messenger of Jesus Christ, and Sosthenes, a Christian brother, to the church of God at Corinth – to those whom Christ has made holy, who are called to be God’s men and women, to all true believers in Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours – grace and peace be to you from God the Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ!

           ^4-9 I am always thankful to God for what the gift of his grace in Jesus Christ has meant to you – how, as the Christian message has become established among you, he has enriched your whole lives, from the words on your lips to the understanding in your hearts. And you have been eager to receive his gifts during this time of waiting for his final appearance. He will keep you steadfast in the faith to the end, so that when his day comes you need fear no condemnation. God is utterly dependable, and it is he who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

           ^10-12 Now I do beg you, my brothers, by all that Christ means to you, to speak with one voice, and not allow yourselves to be split up into parties. All together you should be achieving a unity in thought and judgment. For I know, from what some of Chloe’s people have told me that you are each making different claims – “I am one of Paul’s men,” says one; “I am one of Apollos’,” says another; or “I am one of Cephas’”; while someone else says, “I owe my faith to Christ alone.” ¹³ What are you saying? Is there more than one Christ? Was it Paul who died on the cross for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?       1 Corinthians 13:1 – 13

       He has enriched your whole lives!  It seems fewer and fewer feel a need for an enriched life.  Or if they feel the need, they choose to satisfy it in all the wrong ways.  God enriched the Corinthian’s lives by the gift of His grace.  Their lives were transformed from the way they spoke to the way they thought (and I assume the way they behaved).

       When I was first converted, there was a drastic and dramatic change.  I stopped cussing (the way I speak); I disciplined myself to “think of these things” rather than things of the flesh; and I stopped drinking immediately, cold turkey.  Drastic change, enriched by God’s grace.  Yet, I find that time has bewitched me.  I have slipped through a complete lack of spiritual discipline.  I have fallen into old habits, welcomed them gladly with open arms.  I need to have my life enriched anew by His grace, to change again the way I think, speak, and behave.  O God, there are rooms in my house where you haven’t been welcome, rooms locked off to You, rooms that protect old habits that I know You wouldn’t like.  By Your grace, enrich those areas of my life as I surrender them to You, opening myself anew to the work of Your Holy Spirit.  Amen!

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

           ²¹ “I will show my greatness among the nations. All the nations will see how I will turn my power against them to punish them. ²² From that day on, the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. ²³ Then the nations will know that the people of Israel went into captivity because they did wrong and rebelled against me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies. They were killed in battle. ²⁴ I paid them back for their uncleanness and their sins, and I hid my face from them.

           ²⁵ “So this is what the Almighty Lord says: Now I will bring back Jacob’s captives and have compassion for the whole nation of Israel. I will stand up for my holy name. ²⁶ When they live safely in a land where no one will frighten them, they will forget their shame and all the unfaithful things they have done against me. ²⁷ I will bring them back from the other nations and gather them from the countries of their enemies. Many nations will see that I am holy. ²⁸ Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God. I sent them into captivity among the nations, and I brought them back again to their land. I left none of them behind. ²⁹ I will no longer hide my face from them, because I will pour out my Spirit on the nation of Israel, declares the Almighty Lord.”                   Ezekiel 39:21 – 29

       I will bring them back … I will pour out my Spirit!  There comes a time when I must face the exile caused by my sin.  There are examples of willful sin in my life, times when I know the Truth yet choose disobedience.  The barrier this causes in my life is undeniable.  Like Adam and Eve, I run from God, hiding among the ruins of my life, thinking God does not see or hear or know.  But He does … and … He comes to me.  Again and Again, I hear His voice calling, “Tucker, Tucker, where are you?  You’ve missed our time together.”  I know the shepherding of God, the care, the protection, the calling.  I then realize God is in control; His gentle whisper that calls to me assures me that He is God, King of the Universe.  I must align myself to Him; I must rejoice in His possession of me.  I must repent.

       Like the Prodigal, repentance brings me home.  Home to a place of abundance.  Home to a place of safety.  Home to a place of feasting.  Home where my Daddy waits.  Then, with great rejoicing, all that He has is mine.  He baptizes me, cleanses me and empowers me.  He engulfs me in His Spirit; the Spirit is on me and in me and all around me.  And I realize, perhaps as never before, HE IS GOD.  Lord, pour Your Spirit upon me today and bring me to my knees, helping me to know You are God.  Amen!

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

because light makes everything easy to see. That’s why it says: “Wake up, sleeper! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” ¹⁵ So then, be very careful how you live. Don’t live like foolish people but like wise people. ¹⁶ Make the most of your opportunities because these are evil days. ¹⁷ So don’t be foolish but understand what the Lord wants. ¹⁸ Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to wild living. Instead, be filled with the Spirit ¹⁹ by reciting psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs for your own good. Sing and make music to the Lord with your hearts. ²⁰ Always thank God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹ Place yourselves under each other’s authority out of respect for Christ.                                                                                                 Ephesians 5:14 – 21

       Be filled with the Spirit!  Here, Paul contrasts being filled with the Spirit with being filled with spirits, wine.  On the Day of Pentecost, the people of Jerusalem thought the Disciples were drunk because of their behavior; Peter had to inform them that they weren’t drunk on wine but filled with the Holy Spirit.  But here, Paul gives several insights into the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  People filled with the Spirit recite Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; people at the bar are known to break out in song too.  Spirit filled people are grateful for everything; people at the bar are often filled with complaints about their lives.  Spirit-filled people submit to each other; people at the bar often break out into brawls. Interesting.

       Within me, God has implanted the tiny seed of His Kingdom, a foretaste of Heaven, the Holy Spirit.  Yet, do people see it?  Know it?  I would love to be confused with those who are drunk like at Pentecost; I would love for others to see Christ, the Spirit of Christ, in me.  I’m afraid what they see is less Christian and more bar-ish!  O God, fill me again this day!  Let the river of your Spirit bubble up within me today that I may know and that others might see.  Amen!

Monday, May 22, 2023

           ^17-19 This is my instruction, then, which I give you from God. Do not live any longer as the Gentiles live. For they live blindfold in a world of illusion and cut off from the life of God through ignorance and insensitiveness. They have stifled their consciences and then surrendered themselves to sensuality, practicing any form of impurity which lust can suggest.

           ^20-24 But you have learned nothing like that from Christ, if you have really heard his voice and understood the truth that he has taught you. No, what you learned was to fling off the dirty clothes of the old way of living, which were rotted through and through with lust’s illusions, and, with yourselves mentally and spiritually re-made, to put on the clean fresh clothes of the new life which was made by God’s design for righteousness and the holiness which is no illusion.

           ²⁵ Finish, then, with lying and tell your neighbor the truth. For we are not separate units but intimately related to each other in Christ. ^26-27 If you are angry, be sure that it is not out of wounded pride or bad temper. Never go to bed angry – don’t give the devil that sort of foothold.²⁸ If you used to be a thief you must not only give up stealing, but you must learn to make an honest living, so that you may be able to give to those in need.  ²⁹ Let there be no more foul language, but good words instead – words suitable for the occasion, which God can use to help other people.

           ³⁰ Never hurt the Holy Spirit. He is, remember, the personal pledge of your eventual full redemption. ^31-32 Let there be no more resentment, no more anger or temper, no more violent self-assertiveness, no more slander and no more malicious remarks; be kind to each other, be understanding. Be as ready to forgive others as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.                               Ephesians 4:17 – 32

       The spiritual life is a new kind of life.  Having thrown away the rags of the old life and being clothed in “Fresh Clothes”, everything I do – especially in relation to others – must result.  The old patterns of resentment, anger, self-assertiveness, slander, and malicious talk must be thrown out with the old filthy rags.  What must come now is kindness, empathy, and forgiveness.

       I remember the day my Order of Saint Luke Habit arrived.  I couldn’t wait to try it on, to wear it, to represent OSL within my congregation.  I felt different; I wanted to act different, to be different.  And to some extent, even in my weakness, I have been.  I remember the day I surrendered to Christ, the day I surrendered my filthy rags and put on Christ.  I felt different; I wanted to act different, to be different.  And to some extent, I have been, but God’s work in me is not complete.  There is too much of the old self left.  O God, help me to live in Your Spirit today, to be different, to act different, and to point others to You.  Amen!

Saturday, May 20, 2023

       From Paul, Silas, and Timothy – To the people of the church in Thessalonica, who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be yours. ² We always thank God for you all and always mention you in our prayers. ³ For we remember before our God and Father how you put your faith into practice, how your love made you work so hard, and how your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ is firm. ⁴ Our friends, we know that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own. ⁵ For we brought the Good News to you, not with words only, but also with power and the Holy Spirit, and with complete conviction of its truth. You know how we lived when we were with you; it was for your own good. ⁶ You imitated us and the Lord; and even though you suffered much, you received the message with the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. ⁷ So you became an example to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ For not only did the message about the Lord go out from you throughout Macedonia and Achaia, but the news about your faith in God has gone everywhere. There is nothing, then, that we need to say. ⁹ All those people speak about how you received us when we visited you, and how you turned away from idols to God, to serve the true and living God ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son to come from heaven – his Son Jesus, whom he raised from death and who rescues us from God’s anger that is coming.   1 Thessalonians 1:1 – 10                                                                       

       They need to be part of the family.  1/3 of the world is outside the reach of the Gospel.  1/3 of the world has never heard about the Lord Jesus, who loved them enough to die for their salvation.  1/3 of the world has much to offer our family, the Christian family, in culture, tradition, hymnody, and insight.  Our family is much poorer because we’re missing 1/3 of the world.  In Blakely, Georgia, one of the loops in the Bible Belt, that same scenario is lived out.  Though they’ve heard, though they know about, they don’t know Him.  They don’t know His love and thus, cannot adequately return it.  The same was true in Thessalonica before Paul and His team arrived.  Thessalonica was pre-Christian, living in ignorance of God and His love, but through the ministry of Paul and others, they came to believe!  And the message of God’s work in them spread and encouraged others.  Today, God is working, doing a new thing, in parts of the world.  O God, do it here!  Do it here in Blakely, Georgia where we have a hint of religion without a loving relationship.  Do it here … in me … that the world may know I am Yours!  Amen!

Friday, May 19, 2023

       From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, sent to proclaim the promised life which we have in union with Christ Jesus – ² To Timothy, my dear son: May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.

       ³ I give thanks to God, whom I serve with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did. I thank him as I remember you always in my prayers, night and day. ⁴ I remember your tears, and I want to see you very much, so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵ I remember the sincere faith you have, the kind of faith that your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice also had. I am sure that you have it also. ⁶ For this reason I remind you to keep alive the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. ⁷ For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control.

           ⁸ Do not be ashamed, then, of witnessing for our Lord; neither be ashamed of me, a prisoner for Christ’s sake. Instead, take your part in suffering for the Good News, as God gives you the strength for it. ⁹ He saved us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. He gave us this grace by means of Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, ¹⁰ but now it has been revealed to us through the coming of our Savior, Christ Jesus. He has ended the power of death and through the gospel has revealed immortal life.

           ¹¹ God has appointed me as an apostle and teacher to proclaim the Good News, ¹² and it is for this reason that I suffer these things. But I am still full of confidence, because I know whom I have trusted, and I am sure that he is able to keep safe until that Day what he has entrusted to me. ¹³ Hold firmly to the true words that I taught you, as the example for you to follow, and remain in the faith and love that are ours in union with Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Through the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, keep the good things that have been entrusted to you.                 2 Timothy 1:1 – 14 

       In his letter to Timothy, Paul uses family imagery.  First, to describe the passing down of the Christian faith from Eunice to Lois to Timothy, but then, to describe his relationship with Timothy.  Timothy is Paul’s Son.  The church is a family, united in and with Christ.  Families have troubles; families get into spats; but families are …, well, families are families, bound by something more than the individual members, something that, at times, cannot be identified but it’s there and it’s real.  There present and real thing in the Christian family is faith and love.  Love binds us together with Christ and with one another, not our love, but Christ’s love in us and through us.  As we live in Christ, walking by faith, we are family!

Thursday, May 18, 2023

       Keep on loving one another as Christians. ² Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it. ³ Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them. Remember those who are suffering, as though you were suffering as they are. ⁴ Marriage is to be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other. God will judge those who are immoral and those who commit adultery. ⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.” ⁶ Let us be bold, then, and say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”

       ⁷ Remember your former leaders, who spoke God’s message to you. Think back on how they lived and died and imitate their faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. ⁹ Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you from the right way. It is good to receive inner strength from God’s grace, and not by obeying rules about foods; those who obey these rules have not been helped by them. ¹⁰ The priests who serve in the Jewish place of worship have no right to eat any of the sacrifice on our altar. ¹¹ The Jewish high priest brings the blood of the animals into the Most Holy Place to offer it as a sacrifice for sins; but the bodies of the animals are burned outside the camp. ¹² For this reason Jesus also died outside the city, in order to purify the people from sin with his own blood. ¹³ Let us, then, go to him outside the camp and share his shame. ¹⁴ For there is no permanent city for us here on earth; we are looking for the city which is to come. ¹⁵ Let us, then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord. ¹⁶ Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God.

           ¹⁷ Obey your leaders and follow their orders. They watch over your souls without resting, since they must give to God an account of their service. If you obey them, they will do their work gladly; if not, they will do it with sadness, and that would be of no help to you. ¹⁸ Keep on praying for us. We are sure we have a clear conscience, because we want to do the right thing at all times. ¹⁹ And I beg you even more earnestly to pray that God will send me back to you soon.

           ^20-21 God has raised from death our Lord Jesus, who is the Great Shepherd of the sheep as the result of his blood, by which the eternal covenant is sealed. May the God of peace provide you with every good thing you need in order to do his will, and may he, through Jesus Christ, do in us what pleases him. And to Christ be the glory forever and ever! Amen. ²² I beg you, my friends, to listen patiently to this message of encouragement; for this letter I have written you is not very long. ²³ I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been let out of prison. If he comes soon enough, I will have him with me when I see you.

           ²⁴ Give our greetings to all your leaders and to all God’s people. The believers from Italy send you their greetings. ²⁵ May God’s grace be with you all.     Hebrews 13:1 – 25

       By God’s grace, all of humanity shares planet earth.  We were all created by Him – those who believe and those who do not.  Any given moment finds each of us at various stages in life – sometimes celebrating and sometimes mourning, sometimes struggling and sometimes strutting; this we have in common.  The tie that binds us together though is more than just the common experiences of life.  Instead, it is the way we respond to each other as we go through these common experiences.  When we celebrate with those who celebrate, a bond is built.  When we grieve with those who are grieving, a bond is built.  When we pray with those who struggle, a bond is built.  When we give thanks with those who have succeeded, a bond is built.  It is the “with one anothers” that really matter.  If I see a neighbor struggling and keep my distance, no bond of brotherhood or friendship exists.  So, O God, help me to be incarnational that I might be a part of that big family You are building upon the earth, a family that ever glorifies You.  Amen!

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

           ¹ From Paul, a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy – To our friend and fellow worker Philemon, ² and the church that meets in your house, and our sister Apphia, and our fellow soldier Archippus: ³ May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

           ⁴ Brother Philemon, every time I pray, I mention you and give thanks to my God. ⁵ For I hear of your love for all of God’s people and the faith you have in the Lord Jesus. ⁶ My prayer is that our fellowship with you as believers will bring about a deeper understanding of every blessing which we have in our life in union with Christ. ⁷ Your love, dear brother, has brought me great joy and much encouragement! You have cheered the hearts of all of God’s people.

           ⁸ For this reason I could be bold enough, as your brother in Christ, to order you to do what should be done. ⁹ But because I love you, I make a request instead. I do this even though I am Paul, the ambassador of Christ Jesus, and at present also a prisoner for his sake. ¹⁰ So I make a request to you on behalf of Onesimus, who is my own son in Christ; for while in prison I have become his spiritual father. ¹¹ At one time he was of no use to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me. ¹² I am sending him back to you now, and with him goes my heart. ¹³ I would like to keep him here with me, while I am in prison for the gospel’s sake, so that he could help me in your place. ¹⁴ However, I do not want to force you to help me; rather, I would like for you to do it of your own free will. So I will not do anything unless you agree.

           ¹⁵ It may be that Onesimus was away from you for a short time so that you might have him back for all time. ¹⁶ And now he is not just a slave, but much more than a slave: he is a dear brother in Christ. How much he means to me! And how much more he will mean to you, both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord! ¹⁷ So, if you think of me as your partner, welcome him back just as you would welcome me. ¹⁸ If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to my account. ¹⁹ Here, I will write this with my own hand: I, Paul, will pay you back (I should not have to remind you, of course, that you owe your very self to me.) ²⁰ So, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord’s sake; as a brother in Christ, cheer me up! ²¹ I am sure, as I write this, that you will do what I ask—in fact I know that you will do even more. ²² At the same time, get a room ready for me, because I hope that God will answer the prayers of all of you and give me back to you. ²³ Epaphras, who is in prison with me for the sake of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings, ²⁴ and so do my co-workers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. ²⁵ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.                                                                                                                            Philemon 1 – 25

       That great Christmas hymn, O Holy Night, has a line that says: “Chains shall He break for the slave is my brother, and in His Name all oppression shall cease.”  This is Paul’s ultimate message to Philemon; Onesimus is truly Philemon’s brother, humanly and spiritually; thus, he must be received as such.  

       American society is dealing with the hangover of past racism and those who just won’t let it go.  First, there are those who just keep hanging onto it; they refuse to see the person before them as a brother or sister regardless of their nationality or the color of their skin.  There is still racism in America.  But then, there is also the hangover.  While some try to move on and move beyond our nation’s past sins, we are tied to an anchor by those who profit from not letting go.  Our politicians would rather keep us divided by skin color than to acknowledge that we are really one race.  Some benefit socially and economically by such divisions.  

       And then, there is the man in the mirror.  That’s the one I’m worried about.  I proclaim that I am not racist; yet, I have stereotypes.  I have friends of other nationalities and skin colors; yet, they are usually “like me.”  When will I learn?  When will I grow beyond this plain that I’ve been resting on for 58 years?  O God, help me live as though the Onesimuses of this world ARE my brother and sister, receiving them and living with them as equals in Your family.  Amen!

God is truly “no respecter of persons.”  He makes it “shine on the just and the unjust.”