Healing Rays of Righteousness

Bring Us Together

In her book, Bring Us Together, Marjorie Holmes prays, “Oh, God, we go through life so lonely, needing what other people can give us, yet ashamed to show that need. And other people go through life so lonely, hungering for what it would be such a joy for us to give. Dear God, please bring us together, the people who need each other, who can help each other, and would so enjoy each other.”

Is this not the prayer of the human heart, searching for the security, freedom, love, and joy that only life in community with others can provide? It is the continuing prayer of my heart, and I hope it is also your prayer. We do know that it is the prayer of Jesus’ heart, for he prayed “I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:22-23).

When I reflect on my younger years, I gratefully remember the many enriching experiences of community that I felt within my church and neighborhood. But today, such experiences of community have been diminished in our nation. This loss provides fertile soil for the seeds of distrust, disrespect, and disregard for others to grow, which in turn leads to multiple fears and much violence. “Dear God, please bring us together.”

One of the most contagious and deadly personality choices in Western culture is individualism, which diminishes the value or need for community. Individualism is the sinful characteristic of a human heart that is going away from God and his glorious intent for every human being. Not only does individualism blind a person toward seeing a godly perspective of life, but it also magnifies fears and increases isolation, and isolation breeds selfishness and greed.

The biblical record tells us that God purposefully created every human heart with the need to belong, that is, to be accepted, included, and cared for in community with other caring human beings. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, he answered by saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The first Christian community, following the Pentecost event, caught this vision and became a fellowship of sharing at all levels of life, spiritual, social, and economic, which included shelter, clothing, and food. We could say that they “walked their gospel talk” with a public display of loving others as themselves with a sincere and generous “I care for you” concern. Jesus made it clear in his teachings that obedience to the second greatest commandment would be the basic observable identity of his followers. “Dear God, please bring us together.”

The second commandment is also the most important value of personal freedom. And I am deeply troubled that many Americans, who call themselves Christian, have forgotten or willfully debunked the biblical concept of freedom which is a communal experience and not individualistic. The biblical idea of responsibility and concern for the other, be it family, co-worker, or neighbor is sadly divorced from their concept of personal freedom. And the consequences of this selfish right to freedom are evident all around us every day in various devilish ways.

The freedom we have as a follower of Jesus Christ, is not a lawless, irresponsible anarchy, but a trustworthy, self-disciplined, responsible freedom of loving and serving others. This was and is God’s intention and purpose in breathing his Spirit and physical life into us at our birth. This was Jesus’ intention and purpose in going to the cross for us. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”  And this is the Holy Spirit’s intention and purpose in taking up residence and abiding within us. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Yes, being a follower of Jesus is to experience an authentic, liberating freedom of living in community where love, joy, and peace; that is, where caring/sharing, thankfulness/generosity, and respect/security are equally experienced. Let us give serious thought to this as we celebrate our national freedom during the coming weeks. “Dear God, please bring us together.” Amen!

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Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – June 18, 2025

Reclaiming Respect for Human Dignity

In a culture of selfish individualism and gratification, respect for human dignity has been discarded as worthless baggage. When it comes to the communal need of affirming and protecting the dignity of others, our society has lost its heart and soul. And sadly, even those who claim to be Christian are finding it acceptable to cruelly “trash” those they do not like or disagree with.

Political conversations have deteriorated into sickening trash-talking about opponents and making the possibility of learning “truthful facts” about a person or situation is almost non-existent. Unfortunately, this childish and prejudiced name-calling has become the dark character of American culture in both our secular and religious arenas. Most distressing to me, is that such behavior is displayed and encouraged at the highest level of our current national government leaders. Shame, shame, shame!

You ask, why am I distressed and why does human dignity demand respect? Listen to what God says about human origin and dignity. Like when God is about to send Jeremiah as a prophet into a culture that had lost all reverence for human life. They were corrupting themselves with the most flagrant disregard for human dignity. To encourage and commission Jeremiah as his prophet, God says to him, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”  (Jeremiah 1:5) 

Our small, earthbound minds imagine our conception as only a biological event. But this verse forces us to rethink the deeper truths regarding the origin and dignity of human life. If God, as sovereign Creator, is present in the process of human conception, then we must accept the truth that the value of human life is wrapped in the wonderous glory of an eternal relationship with God.

The Psalmist knew this to be true and praises God, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14).

And there is more. Listen again to what God said to Jeremiah. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.”  I hear God saying that our conception and birth are not our real beginning of existence, nor will death be the end of our existence.

Wow! What a wondrous thought to ponder and live by. Before the day and moment of our being conceived, God knew us and dignified us by calling us into existence. God names you and me in his mind and dignifies each of us with a special purpose, plan, and destiny.

Before our mothers lovingly cradled us in their arms, God wrapped his greater arms around us and held us close, instilling in each of us a life-purpose uniquely designed for us. That truth is awesome, and the wondrous thought infuses me with God’s glorious and eternal dignity.

The psalmist acknowledges this truth in his praise to God, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!”  (Ps. 139:16-17).

But even though we believe this truth regarding God’s dignifying us with purpose and destiny, many who call themselves Christian find it difficult to believe that he did the same for every human being on this earth. Yes, I repeat, what God did in bringing you and me into existence, he did for every human being on this earth.

It is imperative that we let this truth permeate into the deepest recesses of our mind and heart. Otherwise, it becomes easy to debate and decide about others based on their usefulness to us, or whether we feel comfortable in their presence.

It is true that many people do not live up to the dignity God instilled in them at their birth. Many do not live up to God’s purpose, plan, and potential. There are many reasons for such failure, but the saddest is when it is because they did not receive the affirmation, dignity and respect needed to experience and grow into wholesome personhood. Shame, shame, shame!

Yes, I am convinced that our communities, nation, and world would be amazingly transformed if the Christian community made sincere efforts to reclaim God’s gifting of human dignity for all, regardless of their race, religion, politics, or nationality. May God help us to do so!

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Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 6/11/25

GIFTED PEOPLE AND CHURCH

This past Sunday we acknowledged and celebrated the high school and college graduates in our church. It was a joyful and important event of congratulations and affirmations of their individual giftings. And it reminded me of the apostle Paul’s words to the Corinthian church regarding giftedness.

“Gifted”is a marvelous word, and “giftedness” was an important concept to Paul and the early church. However, Paul’s understanding of “giftedness” is quite different from that of modern educational theory, which separates out from the mainstream those students who demonstrate greater intelligence as “gifted” persons.

The heart of Paul’s message to the Corinthian church is in his first letter, chapter 12, verses four to seven, when he writes that the Holy Spirit gives differing gifts to everyone, and to each person in the church. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (NIV).Nobody is left out! The Holy Spirit is working in everyonefor the common good.

I believe that God does not merely tolerate diversity but deeply values and loves it. Look at his numerous creative works around you on earth and in space. I am also convinced that God’s idea of unity is not the marshaled unity of a marching army, but rather the musical unity of a 100-member orchestra where each singer and player contribute a different tone or note in beautiful harmony with the whole.

However, gifts must be developed. That is our responsibility. We should not waste energy comparing ourselves unfavorably or better than others. Our task is to develop our particular gifts for use in God’s service for the common good. And yes, it takes all the gifts of everyone, finely tuned and working together, to correctly understand and accomplish God’s grand work in our community and world. Each one of us is gifted with greatness for serving others good, not for pursuing status above others.

Followers of Jesus are each given gifts that are to be developed and used in the context of community. And being Christian, we celebrate our differences. While we are not the same, each one of us is important to the whole. We need each other. There is no such thing as “going it alone” in the church. There is no such thing as “just Jesus and me” in the biblical view of church. We complement each other, challenge each other, comfort each other, and communicate with each other. What affects one member of the church is felt by all members. We are family, that is, the family of God.

One of the important meanings of “Holy Communion” is that we gather around the Lord’s Supper acknowledging that we are uniquely created and gifted individuals that have been united as one family of siblings into the household of God by the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Communion means “to experience another” – “to have a close union with another.” Communion celebrates Christ’s living presence with us in community. God, speaking to us through Scripture, repeatedly calls us out of separateness and into community, out of proud independence and into humble interdependence.

Charles Osgood tells the story of two elderly ladies who lived in the same skilled nursing facility. Each had suffered a stroke. Margaret’s stroke had left her left side paralyzed, while Ruth’s stroke had damaged her right side.

This was a sad and unfortunate experience for both women because they both had been accomplished pianists. Both women had given up hope of ever playing the piano again – that is, until the Activities Director of the nursing facility encouraged them to play solo pieces together with Margaret playing with her right hand and Ruth playing with her left hand.

What a wonderful picture of the Christian church working together in unity and common purpose. No one person can do it alone. The journey through life is too difficult and too precarious to attempt “going it alone.” Be assured, we “desperately” need each other.

God has made us for community and gifted us uniquely for the common good. Let us celebrate our oneness, our unity, our communion in Jesus Christ as we partake of the bread and cup Jesus offers us, and as we congratulate and appreciate each other’s giftings. May it be so!

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Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 6/04/25