Healing Rays of Righteousness

God’s Invitation to His Banquet Feast

The 1987 movie, “Babette’s Feast” is the story of a great French chef named Babette.  She lives anonymously among a sternly pious congregation in a Danish coastal village.  When Babette wins the French lottery, she decides to spend it all creating a magnificent meal for the villagers.

The French woman’s generosity and the guest’s acceptance of her invitation bring many surprises.  There is a dazzling array of exotic food and drink that displays Babette’s culinary art.  More importantly, the feast itself becomes the occasion for a restoration of relationships.  There is healing of broken dreams and forgiveness of old sins.  Human warmth and the abundance of rich, elegantly prepared food starts to melt the cold and barren stoicism of God-fearing people who are strangers to God’s hope and joy, and to one another.

The speaker in Isaiah 55:1-2 announces an invitation to a banquet feast much like Babette’s generosity, only much more so.  The prophetic word goes out to the despondent Jewish people living in exile in Babylon; “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without  money and without cost.  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.”

The psalmist had this in his mind and heart as a possible present reality when he wrote Psalm 23:5-6  – “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Lord forever.”

In Matthew 11:28, we hear an echo of these words in Jesus’ invitation – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” 

In each of these invitations, the call is universal, what is offered is free, and the result is of cravings being satisfied.  As Jesus promised in his sermon on the mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Mt. 5:6).

God’ love for us and His desire to be in relationship of love with us is so deep and so awesome that it is utterly amazing grace that is being offered us.  Why then are we so reluctant to come close to Him and enjoy the bountiful relationship He offers to all who hunger and thirst for a meaningful relationship.

We already know that in order to grow in our relationship with God, we cannot pursue our own interests seven days a week, 365 days a year.  We must take some significant time each week, each day, to deepen our love for God and to pursue his interests.

Unfortunately, many Christians have catered to a drop-in spirituality style of relating to God, which gives a heartless nod to God for a few quick devotional minutes and then are on their way, living and doing business as usual.  Oh, how God’s heart must ache when we, who claim to be His children, are so easily satisfied with just a little taste of upbeat worship here, a sip of Bible reading there, and nothing too deep and nothing that challenges our thinking, planning, or imagination. 

This “drop-in” habit may provide a momentary feeling of satisfaction, but if that is all we ever have time for in our lives with God, then it soon becomes a habit that will keep us from going deeper with God and drinking deeply from the well of life.  It is a habit that will freeze us in spiritual infancy, perpetually clutching our spiritual sippy cups.

I say God’s heart must ache and bleed for us, because He has a relationship in mind for us, His children, which is so much different.  He desires to have us come close to Him and experience a life that is far deeper, richer and more fulfilling and satisfying than what any quick fix could give us.  The Divine offer is made without price.  The only requirement is hunger and thirst, and a willingness to seek God.  The invitation is ours to accept or decline.

The challenge is placed directly before us in verse 2 – “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”  Indeed, Isaiah’s question should be hung as a banner over the entrance to our malls and our places of work.

The season of ADVENT is a time to reexamine our relationship with God and prepare to joyously celebrate His coming to us in Jesus.  It is a time to gather our thoughts, quiet our hearts, and renew our love affair with God.  May God help us to do so.

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – November 24, 2021

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley

Loving Others Identifies Christians

During a Chaplains luncheon meeting our leader introduced the devotional time with the reading of “The Crazy Quilt of Life” written by Barbara Battin in Women Psalms.  Yes, I shared this story before, but I share it again with you because it is such a beautiful description of what God intends every community of persons to be in our world, i.e., “a blanket of love.”

“In the pattern of God’s purpose we are stitched together in caring and community:  scraps of the lingering past, fragments broke from future’s dearest hopes; textures of disappointment and dreams, prints of pain and promise:  calico and corduroy, stripes, silks, and satins – all the colors of emotion and experience are sewn into a crazy quilt of life, patched together and transformed into a blanket of love… and our compassion comforts a cold and hurting world.”

Mother Teresa is quoted as saying, “I am a pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”

Whether we speak of being a love-writing pencil or part of a blanket of love, we are saying that God created us to be his means of loving the world.  And I thank God every day for those persons who do care about others and will go out of their way and take the time to enhance the life of another with love.  There simply is no greater reward of feeling worth and satisfaction than that given to those who care about others, respond with loving words, and works.

And if we do not grow weary in loving, we will be patched together with others who care and love; and together we will be transformed into a blanket of love, bringing comfort to the cold and hurting world.  The payoff is priceless, meaningful, and ever so satisfying.  In fact, such loving behavior has the promise of heavenly reward.

Furthermore, is not loving others to be our life mission?  Or have we closed our ears to God’s two greatest commands,  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Matthew 11:37-39). 

And in Luke 10, Jesus defines “neighbor” in the most inclusive terms possible, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan, where love crosses ethnic and religious boundaries. 

In fact, Jesus clearly commands and defines our loving others as being equal to the way He loves us.  “A new command I give you:  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn. 13:34-35).

While here on this earth, Jesus spoke and acted with genuine love for all people in all situations.  He lived His life as a servant leader who deeply loved others and acted in their behalf.  And the above verses would tell us that He expects and commands His followers to do the same. Jesus’ deepest desire is to live his life and mission in and through us, and so He empowers us to do so by His indwelling and transforming Spirit.   

If we are disciple-followers of Christ, we are called to live in a love that looks and acts like his love.  Jesus told the disciples, “As I have loved you, so you should love one another” (Jn.13:34).  John wrote, “Love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 Jn. 4:7).  And in verse sixteen, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”

Christians who are rooted in Anabaptist understandings of Scripture, believe that the New Testament scriptures teach that our Christian faith is to be made visible in Jesus-like acts of compassionate love and material generosity.  We believe Christian faith is more than just worship and verbal commitment to the Lordship of Jesus on a Sunday morning.  It is also the living performance of that worship and commitment in every conversation and activity of life during the entire week.

Myron Augsburger, a prominent Mennonite author and minister, writes, “One of the greater means of fulfilling the mission of Christ is simply to be present in society as people who walk with Jesus.” (The Robe of God, Herald Press, 2004).

Whether we speak of being a “love-writing pencil” or part of a “blanket of love” we are saying that God created us to be his means of loving the world.  Let us be it today, tomorrow and every day after that.  “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.  Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”  (Jason Upton).

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – November 17, 2021

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley

Loving God – Distracted or Devoted

In my Christian faith journey, I was taught from Sunday school thru seminary on how to do things for the Lord, i.e., how to serve God and others, how to minister, how to pastor, and how to be a good chaplain.  But what I needed most was encouragement to eagerly foster a  passionate love relationship with Jesus Christ.

Henry T. Blackaby writes, “God is far more interested in a love relationship with you then He is in what you can do for Him.” (Experiencing God).

One of the hazards of maturing in the Christian faith is that we tend to lose some of the wonder and awe that attracted us to Jesus Christ.  We begin to believe that we have arrived and that we have figured it all out.  The mystery and awesomeness of our redemption gradually slips away and soon the passionate love for Christ is gone. 

Wesley Duewel writes,  “It is not enough to be evangelical in faith and heart;  we must be utterly possessed by Christ, utterly impassioned by his love and grace….” (Ablaze For God).

The story of Mary and Martha, recorded in Luke 10, calls us back to that childlike wonder and passionate love for Jesus Christ as our Savior, Redeemer, and Sovereign Lord.

Shortly after Jesus and his disciples arrived at the home of Martha and Mary, Jesus is engaged in conversation with his disciples.  And as the story unfolds, Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet intently listening, while Martha is distracted by all the food preparation needed to ensure her guests would be comfortable and fed. 

As she is scurrying about to get food on the table, Martha becomes upset that her sister, Mary, is not helping her with the meal preparations.  Being obviously upset, Martha marches into the room where Jesus was and asks, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?  Tell her to help me!”

Many of us can identify with Martha and feel sympathetically toward Martha.  We argue that someone had to prepare the meal.  And so, Martha’s irritation and her spontaneous outburst is understandable to us.  And Martha believed her complaint was entirely in order and she fully expected Jesus to support her.

However, Jesus did not.  On the contrary, he used Martha’s complaint as an opportunity to help her better understand herself.  “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.”   

Paul Tillich states that “…the words Jesus speaks to Martha belong to the most famous of all the words in the Bible.”

Jesus turned the occasion into a teaching opportunity for Martha and for us, how to rightly love and serve God while living in a world of multiple distractions like ours.  In our efforts to serve God rightly, we will get pulled in many different directions by the good distractions within and around us. Martha was distracted in giving priority to the concerns of hospitality rather than relationship.

Martha chose to do things for Jesus. Martha was so busy being gracious and polite and a good host that she had no time to be in a listening relationship with the Lord.    

How often are we guilty of allowing the same misguided priorities cause us to worry and be upset?  Yes, we may say that all our time, life, money is the Lord’s,  but then become distracted by busying ourselves with doing good works.  We too easily forget that God’s first and greater desire is for our full attention toward fostering a love relationship. 

This is the priority Mary chose when she decided to sit at the feet of her Savior, Lord, and beloved Friend and listen to him speak.  Jesus said this was the one thing needed and that Mary had made the better choice and it would not be taken away from her. 

Mary chose devotion over distractions.   She chose intimacy with Jesus over the expectations of her culture and her family.  Mary had a passion for the Lord and that made all the difference in her life.  And it will do the same for you and me even in today’s world.

Pedro Arrupe, SJ, a Spanish Basque Jesuit priest, wrote, “ Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.  What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.  It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.  Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – November 10, 2021

www.geigler13.workpress.com

Ray M. Geigley