Healing Rays of Righteousness

Hungering to Belong in Community

In her book, Bring Us Together, Marjorie Holmes writes this yearning prayer for community. “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.”

If you are old enough to remember the TV series, THE WALTONS, you may remember one of the programs in which a small black boy, named Josh, is in conversation with Jim-Bob and says, “You were born belonging. That must be a great feeling – to belong.”

God created every human being with the need to belong, to be accepted, included, loved, and cared for in communities with other human beings. More importantly, God commanded us to live together in communities of loving, within which all these human needs are provided.

When Jesus was asked “which is the greatest commandment in the Law he answered by saying, “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 then he added this, “And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39).

Most sadly, our present society’s emphasis on individualism has diminished any sense of need for community. Instead, much of our society’s advertisements and appeals are primarily focused on satisfying me and my desires. But why do we would-be Jesus followers so easily slip into this comfort zone when we know that such ungodly focus on individualism leads us away from God and his intention for every human being to live in communities of loving others.

Jesus clearly teaches that we must use the biblical language of “community” rather than the cultural language of “individualism.” And to experience the abundant life he promised us, we must use the language of “mutuality,” of caring for one another, providing for one another, and being accountable to one another. Jesus daily modeled this truth during his ministry on earth.

As part of their Pentecost baptism, the first Christian community caught this vision and became a fellowship of sacrificial love, sharing life at all levels of spiritual, social, and economic relationships. This included the sharing of shelter, clothing, food, and wealth. They “walked their talk,” publicly displaying their sincere and generous “I care for you” love for one another.

And their New Testament stories give evidence that they “lived and walked their gospel talk” with a public display of sincere and generous “I care for you” love. This display of loving others is what biblical scholars have named “the ministry of shared pilgrimage.” This priestly role fits well into Anabaptist theology and its belief in the priesthood of all believers.

Myron Augsburger, a highly regarded Mennonite theologian and pastor, who is deeply rooted in the Anabaptist tradition, defines this biblical understanding of “love in community” in his book, “The Robe of God.” In chapter 11, page 227, he writes, “In summary I highlight three things:

• First, love personalizes relationships rather than institutionalizing them. We are to look at people as ends in themselves and never as a means to some other end.
• Second, love energizes relationships rather than legalizing them. Jesus moves us beyond codes to compassion. As we care for people, we regard the law only as a means of treating others with justice and mercy.
• Third, love immortalizes relationships rather than temporalizing them. We have been called to always look beyond the need of the immediate, to share the quality and the extension of the eternal. We are not to make our decisions solely on the basis of the needs of the moment. With eternity in view, we share to invest in a life.”

Myron Augsburger’s definitions of love, help us to “walk our talk,” that is, to act out our Christian beliefs regarding community in the way we care and provide for others. It is about transforming our work and worship into the Christian ministry of offering “belonging” to all others in my family, work, and church relationships.

“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:8-9).

<><><><><>
Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – http://www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 01/28/26

Special Mid-Winter Sale

GOD’S GIFT OF CHRISTMAS LOVE

I love singing the many joyful, glorious hymns of Christmas. And “Joy to the world” is one of my favorite carols. It is also one of the most sung hymns during the Christmas season. Why? Possibly because its message and melody echo the angelic joy that Jesus’ birth brought into the world.

Isaac Watts put the angel’s message in poetry and George Frederick Handel set those words to music: 

Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King.

Let every heart prepare Him room, And heav’n and nature sing.

He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove,

The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love.

Yet today we live in difficult times of joyless darkness and despair, and many are longing to see the transforming presence of God in our world, church, and families. Many others feel threatened by the evils of wars, violence, and injustices. And many more feel powerless against corrupted authorities and selfish leadership, politically touting their lies and conspiracies theories.

And sadly, many of us are deeply troubled by witnessing the Christian church being deceived and swayed by political lies and religious conspiracies, causing disputes, divisions, and a blatant disregard for God and neighbors. And many are quietly and publicly crying out for God to come down and rescue us from this devilish darkness. Nevertheless, the angels song continues to ring out the good news. “The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King.  …He rules the world with truth and grace.”

I love the story of the grandpa who found his grandson jumping up and down in his playpen, crying at the top of his voice. When Johnny saw Grandpa, he reached out his chubby little hands and said, “Out, Grandpa, out.”

Filled with love, Grandpa reached down to lift his grandson out of his predicament, but as he did, Johnny’s mom came into the room and said, “No, Johnny, you are being punished; you have to stay in your playpen.”

With undeterred love Grandpa’s heart and mind searched for a way to satisfy the child’s cry. His grandson’s tears reached deep into his heart. But mom’s firmness could not be taken lightly. It was then that love found a way. Grandpa could not take his grandson out of the playpen, so instead, he climbed into the playpen with the little boy.

That story vividly illustrates the grand love message of the Christmas story. From His eternal glorious heavens God looked down upon us and heard our crying for help and hope. And because God so greatly loved us, He left the glories of heaven and came down to earth, climbing into our world with us. Taking on human flesh, becoming fully one with us, God in Jesus, was born into our world to live in our midst. Oh, the wonders of his love!

The eternal significance of this love gift was so amazing that God rolled back the heavens to make space for the angelic choir to burst forth in song announcing the birth of Jesus, our Savior, Messiah, and Lord with singing “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14).

And in unwrapping God’s glorious gift of love, we discover God’s other gifts of joy, peace, and hope. The world-wide Christian church of Jesus followers still trembles in awe and wonder at the miracle of that glorious birth. God came down and, through the infant Jesus says to each one of us, “I dearly love you!”  

May God’s gift of Christmas love be daily enjoyed in your life and mine!

<><><><><> 

Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 12/24/25

ADVENT — EMMANUEL

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’

(which means “God with us”). (Mt. 1:23)

Beyond the lights and decorations there is a TRUTH that looms large during Christmas. And beyond the carols and festivities there is a FACT at the heart of our joy and delight. I pray that we all will first experience and then let it be known that the preeminent glorious TRUTH and FACT that we Christians celebrate during Advent/Christmas is the advent of the promised coming of “Immanuel” (God with us) into our world.

With so much focus on the birth of an adorable baby laying in a stable manger, we become blinded to the deeper, more glorious FACT that this baby child is God himself entering our darkened, hopeless world, clothed in human flesh. God chose to lay aside his glory, majesty, and power, to come down from heaven and experience for himself all the feelings and trauma of human birth, life, and death.  

But why would God go to this extreme emptying of himself to come into our fear-filled world of darkness and experience human life from birth to death? The Scriptures tell us that it is because he loves the world so greatly and longs for it to be filled with his gifts of light, love, joy, and peace. Yes, we joyfully sing the Christmas carols, but do we ever pause to hear and ponder their messages? To do so promises us a much better understanding and a deeper appreciation for the TRUTH and FACT that the “Christmas carols” musically proclaim.

I remember as a young teenager walking home from the neighbor’s house after darkness had settled across the field, railroad tracks, small stream, and meadow that separated our two houses. I remember how much less fearful I became after I was able to see the porch light of our house, and how relieved I was to have the darkness of the night give way to the bright lights of home.

I often think of this experience as an excellent description of the TRUTH and FACT of Advent and Christmas. God enters the darkness of our world and wherever his presence is believed and accepted, the “I am the light of the world” replaces the darkness and fear with his light and peace.

On one dark night a mother said to her fearful child as she put her into bed, “There is nothing to fear in the dark. And besides, the angels are near you.” And the child whimpered, “But, mommy, I don’t want angels. I want a skin face to be with me.”

In the opening verses of his gospel, John declares that in Jesus, God came to fearful humans with a skin face. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. …. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (Jn. 1:1-4, 14).

Christmas is God’s answer to the darkness of our failures and fears. And so, when you hear or sing the joyous music of Christmas, listen carefully to the messages of God’s love for you, and open your heart to feel his “Immanuel” presence with you. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”

<><><><><> 

Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 12/17/25

ADVENT CELEBRATES HOPE

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

(Romans 15:13, NIV).

Advent celebrates God’s gift of HOPE being born into our world of dark hopelessness and giving us LIGHT. Advent also celebrates God’s coming into our world of deadly evil and giving us LIFE. “The Lord Almighty” is the God of hope. And a life without God is a life without hope!

Hope is a magnet that draws and empowers us forward to new ways of thinking and seeing. In times of despair and trouble, hope is vision of possibilities for our future and destiny. Hope is energy which gets out of bed in the morning and shapes our activities for the day. And hope is that which keeps love alive. When hope diminishes, love dies!

Advent is the yearly proclamation of this hope to all people living in darkness and despair. And Christmas is the joyous proclamation that this God of hope is in our world right now, at this very moment in time.

Hope is the reason for the season of Advent. And we, the people of hope are to be the messengers of this hope, proclaiming the good news that “To Us A Child of Hope Is Born.”

The prophet, Isaiah, dreamed of a day when God would come down and turn his people away from the darkness of evil and hopelessness. Isaiah waited with eager anticipation for God’s advent into the world to redeem, save, set free, and lift his people out of the pit of despair.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. … For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”  (Isa. 9:2, 6-7).

And with those words, hope is reignited. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.” (Isa. 60:1,2).

The good news is that Isaiah’s “Immanuel” hope is now reality. The King of Glory has come. We celebrate his advent as glorious, hope-filled light into our dark and dangerous world. Truly, “The Word become flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).

That is what Christmas celebrates! It is more than just a remembrance of an event that happened more than two thousand years ago. Christmas is the celebration that God, the glorious “I AM” is now in our world, establishing his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Amen!

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king;

let every heart prepare him room, and heav’n and nature sing.”

<><><><> 

Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 12/04/25

Special Christmas Discount Sale

*******

Special Discount Sale

Christmas Gift-Giving

*******

During the past several years I have blogged mid-week meditations on WordPress.com, with prayer that my writing would encourage the readers toward experiencing God’s healing rays of love, joy, and peace in their life. During the past year I selected fifty-eight of these meditations and published them in a book titled, “Healing Rays of Righteousness”

The book sells for $17.00 per copy, plus $3.00 mailing costs.

HOWEVER >>>

Because I wish to bless you as you bless others, family, friends, co-workers, or neighbors, with a gifting of my devotional meditations, I am offering the following discounted sale price for a limited time.

 If you order three or more copies, the price is $12.00 per copy, plus mailing costs.

And if you order six copies, I will include a free seventh copy.

Send order with check to Ray Geigley, 403 Benjamin Drive, Chambersburg, PA 17201

Email – “geigler13 @comcast.net”

May God graciously bless your today! – Ray M. Geigley

Excerpted from the INTRODUCTION

After retiring from active ministry, I was encouraged to write a weekly meditation as a continuing ministry. Needing to choose a title for my writings, and with deep appreciation for my name and its mission, I searched for a scriptural verse that would possibly link my name with my purpose for writing and best define the focus of my writing ministry. That is when I surprisingly re-discovered Malachi 4:2. With this reference to the sun of righteousness rising with healing in its rays, I readily thought of the rising morning sun, promising healing light, warmth, and hope. With that thought, I quickly realized that this promised healing hope was what had shaped and motivated my ministry as a pastor and chaplain for the past 58 years. Thus, I chose the title, “Healing Rays of Righteousness” for my weekly meditations.

GOD’S GIFT OF TWO LAMPS

(I too late discovered that during my efforts to condense a much longer message, I mistakenly edited out an important paragraph regarding “hope.”  The following is the corrected version.)

There is nothing beautiful about death. It marks the end of a love relationship with another that we enjoyed on this earth. And in the days, months, and years that follow, we are very vulnerable to painful feelings and actions that we would not otherwise experience.

It is for such uncertain, painful journeys that the Apostle Paul encourages us to lean into God, whom he names as “…the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4),

And so, I share with you a bit of the Godly comfort I discovered as I searched the scriptures for help in finding my way through the darkness of grief following the sudden cardiac death of our twenty-three-year-old son. During that searching journey through the Scriptures, I discovered that God comforts us by offering us two wonderful lamps of “memories” and of “hope.”  

The light from the “lamp of “memories” leads us back through the mists of the past to the many happy scenes and delightful experiences that we enjoyed with our loved one. And when a life has been lived constructively for God, family, and neighbor, this lamp of memories provides us comforting light and healing for our bereavement journey.         

I now know that one of the most priceless gifts God gives us through the life of another person is the precious memories they have given us. These treasured memories are ours to keep, to hold, and to cherish, a treasure that no one can rob from us. These memories should never be buried or locked away and forgotten, because they are gifted to us for us to forever keep alive our enjoyment and respect for their relationship with us.

The writer of Proverbs suggested this when he wrote, “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing,” (Pr. 10:7a). This ability to re-visit and enjoy these memories means that we never need to do as is often said, “pay your last respects” to a loved one who has died.

The other lamp that God gives us is thelamp of “hope.” The light of this lamp encourages and leads us forward through the uncertain and sometimes difficult mists of each tomorrow.

The painful experience of bereavement grief will most likely cause us to cry out, “Where is God?” even as I did. It was then that I discovered the healing comfort that many of the Psalms offer us. Such as in Psalms 42 we hear the writer questioning God’s absence, and three times he questions himself, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” And three times he answers himself with the best reassuring and healing answer, “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”  

It was on the night before his crucifixion that our Lord Jesus gathered with his disciples in an upper room somewhere in Jerusalem.  And as the evening progress, Jesus began to talk to them very intimately about his approaching death and departure from them. He knew that his remaining time to be with them was rapidly coming to an end.

He also knew that his disciples were very troubled and so he comforted them with this promise, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, trust also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John14:1-6).

With these few words of encouragement, Jesus himself promised them the eternal hope we all long to experience. This hope is God’s lamp of comfort and reassurance that lights our journey to the Father’s house, our eternal home.

And so, I remind all of us who grieve the death of loved ones, that with the lamp of memories and the lamp of hope, our “God of all comfort” offers us healing and hope, that is, healing for our bereavement pain and hope for our future.

And to all I say, lean into God’s love for you!

<><><><><> 

Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness”– www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 11/05/25

GOD’S GIFT OF TWO LAMPS

There is nothing beautiful about death. It marks the end of a love relationship with another that we enjoyed on this earth. And in the days, months, and years that follow, we are very vulnerable to painful feelings and actions that we would not otherwise experience.

It is for such uncertain, painful journeys that the Apostle Paul encourages us to lean into God, whom he names as “…the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4),

And so, I share with you a bit of the Godly comfort I discovered as I searched the scriptures for help in finding my way through the darkness of grief following the sudden cardiac death of our twenty-three-year-old son. During that searching journey through the Scriptures, I discovered that God comforts us by offering us two wonderful lamps of “memories” and of “hope.”  

The light from the “lamp of “memories” leads us back through the mists of the past to the many happy scenes and delightful experiences that we enjoyed with our loved one. And when a life has been lived constructively for God, family, and neighbor, this lamp of memories provides us comforting light and healing for our bereavement journey.         

I now know that one of the most priceless gifts God gives us through the life of another person is the precious memories they have given us. These treasured memories are ours to keep, to hold, and to cherish, a treasure that no one can rob from us. These memories should never be buried or locked away and forgotten, because they are gifted to us for us to forever keep alive our enjoyment and respect for their relationship with us.

The writer of Proverbs suggested this when he wrote, “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing,” (Pr. 10:7a). This ability to re-visit and enjoy these memories means that we never need to do as is often said, “pay your last respects” to a loved one who has died.

The other lamp that God gives us is thelamp of “hope.” The light of this lamp daily encourages leads us forward through the uncertain and sometimes difficult mists of each tomorrow.

The painful experience of bereavement grief will most likely cause us to cry out, “Where is God?” even as I did. And then I discovered the healing comfort that many of the Psalms offer us. In Psalms 42 we hear the writer questioning God’s absence, and three times he questions himself, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” And three times he answers himself with the best reassuring and healing answer, “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”  

Sometimes we may question whether or not God even thinks or cares about us, just as the psalmist did in Psalm 8:3-4, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” But then I am comforted as the psalmist answers his own question in Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  So, whether it is stars or sobs – God knows and God cares!

And so, I remind all of us who grieve the death of loved ones, that with the lamp of memories and the lamp of hope, our “God of all comfort” offers us healing and hope, that is, healing for our bereavement pain and hope for our future.

And to all I say, lean into God’s love for you!

<><><><><> 

Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness”– www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 11/05/25

LIFE CHANGED, NOT ENDED

The death of someone we have loved awakens the question, “After death, what happens to the person I knew and loved?” And as our own physical body ages with increasing weaknesses and disabilities, the question may taunt our Christian faith with fearful uncertainties.

In his letter to the Corinthian Christians, the apostle Paul describes the pilgrimage that we call life with its changes occurring throughout life as metamorphosis. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18). The statement translated “are being transformed” is literally a form of the word “metamorphosis” in the Greek language.

To watch the mysterious unfolding of life as an ugly, clumsy, wiggly, caterpillar becomes a beautiful, graceful butterfly is fascinating. We call this life change “metamorphosis,” which is transformation of one type of life into another. And it is one of nature’s prime exhibits of the life change we humans will experience at our moment of death. Our ultimate metamorphosis occurs the moment we meet Christ. Like the freed monarch butterfly, our spirits will be released into the most beautiful life of God’s kingdom.

Then in chapter 5, Paul describes death as moving from an earthly tent to an eternal house. Paul made and sold tents, so he knew what he was talking about. A tent is a fragile, temporary shelter, whereas a home is much more stable and permanent. And so, when the Apostle Paul reflected upon his life’s struggles and the prospect of death, his mind focused on the familiar tent. And so, about death, Paul says, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” (2 Cor. 5:1). Thus, for Paul, death is about leaving the tent and going home.

I find it consoling to discover that all of Paul’s writings about death are permeated with the idea that for the Christian, death is not the end, but the key to a new, changed life of dwelling with God. He writes, “For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” (2 Cor. 5:4).

We tend to think that in death, life is swallowed up by deterioration and decay, but Paul states the opposite, “what is mortal” (limited & dying) is “swallowed up by life” (grand & eternal).

Neither did Paul believe that death was the place of extinction, or that in death we become some disembodied spirit floating around in eternity. Rather, he believed that in death God gives us a new body and that we will be able to love and serve God better than we can now.

And so, Paul assures us that the difference which death makes is not between being and not-being, but rather, it is the difference between living in a tent or living in a house. It is the difference between being away from home or being at home. Most importantly, it is the difference between being separated from the God or dwelling with God in his kingdom.

Earlier in his first letter to the Corinthian Christians, Paul is remembering Isaiah’s prophetic vison of a new heaven and new earth (Isaiah 65:17-25) and encourages his readers with this summary regarding what awaits beyond our moment of death. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9).

My above thoughts barely uncover the magnificent, reassuring, comforting words of Jesus himself as he prepared his disciples for his own death and home-going. Read them often!

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. (John 14:1-4).

Think of breathing new air, and finding it celestial air;

Of feeling invigorated, and finding it immortality;

Of passing from storm and tempest into perfect calm;

O awakening and knowing I am HOME!        

{Author unknown)

<><><><><> 

Ray M. Geigley – “Healing Rays of Righteousness”– www.geigler13.wordpress.com – 10/30/25