Category Archives: Biblical Reflection

Watch Your Language

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Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Proverbs 4:24

There are six things that the Lord hates…haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord in a family. Proverbs 6:16-19

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Proverbs 10:11

It’s not the occasional swear word I worry about these days: it’s using words as weapons to harm those with different ideas, faiths, skin tones, and lovers. It’s the exaggeration and the lies designed to provoke. It’s the verbal violence aimed toward others that encourages and condones the move from reckless rhetoric to harmful physical action.

It’s tempting to answer angry and violent rhetoric with more of the same, to meet fire with fire, to win the day by yelling cruel words at those who yell at me. But ratcheting up the bitterness and anger won’t solve whatever the original issue was. It just divides neighbor from neighbor.

The damage hateful and violent speech creates is plain to see. It’s hard to take a moment, to stop the harmful words before they make it into print or speech. But it isn’t impossible. I don’t have to keep the cycle going. I can choose to hold my tongue until my thoughts and words show respect rather than disregard.

I’ve said the same prayer every morning when I awake for over a decade, written by Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow in the nineteenth century. It has been especially helpful for me – I hope it will be for you as well:

Prayer at the Beginning of the Day

O Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to rely upon thy holy will. In every hour of the day, reveal thy will to me. Bless my dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and with firm conviction that thy will governs all. In all my deeds and words guide my thoughts and feelings. In unforeseen events let me not forget that all are sent by thee. Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others. Give me strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day and all that it shall bring. Direct my will, teach me to pray, pray thou thyself in me. Amen.

[A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers, Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1991, p.20]

This is one in a series on Proverbs. For more information, click Proverbs above…

Money, Money, Money

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If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us wantonly ambush the innocent; like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the Pit. We shall find all kinds of costly things; we shall fill our houses with booty.

Throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse” – my child, do not walk in their way, and keep your foot from their paths; for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood. For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on; yet they lie in wait – to kill themselves! and set an ambush – for their own lives! Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. Proverbs 1:11-19

If we are willing to get rich at the expense of others, we value material gain over their very lives. Others become a means to our own financial ends, and we don’t bother to count the cost they bear – raided IRA’s, stolen identities, grossly underpaid labor. What do we care, as long as we get the life of luxury we want?

But there’s a high cost for such things. When we delude ourselves into thinking we can put a price (and a low one, at that) on the well-being of others, we cannot help but put a price on our own lives. The more our ill-gotten estate is worth, the lower our own value. Who we are becomes what we have taken from others, and we are diminished by the very gains we expected to elevate us. The free ride we steal may remain free, but its destination takes a heavy toll.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. I Timothy 6:10, NRSV

The Good Life

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In the proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

For Learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity;

to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young–

Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill,

to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles.

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:1-7, NRSV

Call it a beginner’s mind, a cognitive flexibility, a sense of proportion and justice. It isn’t about the accumulation of information or how rapidly and effectively such information can be processed and applied: it’s about what we know and how we know. It brings good things to the world we live in. It’s finding our footing on solid ground: we are God’s beloved creatures in this cosmos – and so are our neighbors, human or other. Wisdom is always keeping our feet firmly planted in that reality in our daily lives.

Proverbs is a collection of notes on what the good life is and how we can live it every day. It’s a collection of short pieces of advice and the praise of those who seek wisdom rather than material gain or fame for their own sake. It’s a primer in ethics, a doorway to living a worthy life. It’s our summer adventure.

And so we begin at the beginning, because all the advice that follows cannot be understood or put into true practice if we forget who we are: fragile, mortal, limited beings created by a God whose sheer presence and power would destroy us except for one precious truth – we are irrevocable and unimaginably loved. Or, in more biblical words:

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Quick note: Fear of the Lord isn’t fear of punishment or being ashamed of ourselves; fear of the Lord is the recognition that God has created us and all things. It’s awe that moves us to life and love, not terror that scares us to death and destruction…

This is one in a series. For more information, click “Proverbial” above.

You Get What You Get

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Now you are all the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way…I Corinthians 12:27-31, NRSV

Paul finishes this chapter with a couple of pointed remarks and questions spoken with an edge. Are ALL teachers/prophets/apostles? Do ALL work miracles? et cetera…

No, of course. No one gets all the gifts: no one gets none. No one gets a choice, either. You get what the Spirit hands you. Whatever it is, put it to use for the good of all and the revelation of God’s infinite love. Don’t waste time wishing for a different gift; there is a reason you and I got what we got – even if we don’t know what that reason might be. Isn’t it enough to be the only person in the entire history of the cosmos who has the your combination?

Then comes Paul’s final advice: strive for the greater gifts. But what are these greater gifts? The chapter ends without revealing them. They could be anything, couldn’t they? Superhuman endurance in the face of evil; undeniable power of persuasion to inspire and lead others; the ability to heal with a touch (or a scalpel). Until Paul moves on to chapter thirteen and the big reveal:

Faith. Hope. Love.

Not a lot of superhero flash here, and no measuring stick to find our places in the pecking order of power.

Live in faith and faithfully. Remember that hope is stronger than any circumstance. Embrace the eternal nature of love.

It takes a lifetime to trust in the truth that every young life is born into and out of: love has no need to conquer a damn thing because it is the very fiber of God’s creation.

Pick the Right Pronoun

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But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. I Corinthians 12:24b-26, NRSV

Everyone within a community is connected, and each person is affected by the wellbeing or distress of another. This truth can be accepted, even celebrated. This truth can be rejected, even denied. This truth is still true: what affects one affects everyone else.

These days, too many want to disassociate rather than relate; rather than accept others as integral, others are wished away, even wished harm – as if the wellbeing of one isn’t tied to the wellbeing of all. The other is an it, turned into something of no value or consequence. This delusion damages the one labeled it, and it hollows out the one who labels.

There is no peace, no joy, no love in this. I-Thou is the truth, which leads to the larger, holy truth:

The correct pronoun is always We.

All About the Clothes…

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As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this.

I Cor. 12:20-24a, NRSV

Paul continues his faith community/body metaphor in interesting specifics. We clothe the parts of bodies we find less respectable – a truth and the reason we wear pants. But I wonder if Paul had a double meaning in here.

Are the members of the community who are well clothed, who are considered important and widely respected – are they the weaker members? Are the well known and well heeled (literally) in need of this attention more than others who don’t get it? Are the unnoticed and under-appreciated who see to the wellbeing of the community the stronger ones?

It’s a cheeky take on Paul’s words, but is it accurate? What do you think?

What would happen if…

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If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. I Corinthians 12:17-20, NRSV

What would happen if…

…everyone assumed that every single person in a community was vital to its health and ministry?

…no one wanted gifts they did not receive – and everyone valued the gifts they did?

…we trusted that the community had everything it needed to serve God and neighbor in love?

Would we finally know beyond a doubt how precious and holy each and every one of us is?

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Indeed, the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. I Cor12:14-16, NRSV

Paul isn’t speaking to the ones who value their gifts over the gifts of others here; he’s talking to the ones who think so little of their own gifts that they don’t feel they are part of the group, much less necessary members.

On my more judgmental days, it seems that the faith community is made up almost entirely of those who devalue others and those who devalue themselves. The whole community suffers because the many wonderful, holy gifts of the Spirit are hidden away for fear they aren’t acceptable. On my more clear-sighted days, it’s a different story. All it really takes is a nudge, a prayer, and a sense of humor to get someone to offer their gifts. Once that happens, others jump in.

It’s a lot like a party with a buffet: no one wants to be the first, but everyone gets in line as soon as someone is brave enough to grab a plate.

Bodily Functions

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Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ICor12:14, NRSV

Paul begins his comparison of the many parts of the body with the many different people who belong to the community of faith in this verse. It’s a simple enough statement, and an obvious truth. A body cannot function without many different parts, and each has an important task to keep the whole thing healthy and working.

I’d be happy if this verse were painted over the sanctuary doors, hung on the refrigerator in the church kitchen, or posted in the parking lot. I might be less inclined to discount others due to my inability to see and appreciate the vital work they do.

Drink Up

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For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. I Cor. 12:12-13, NRSV

When our preference for or expression of our faith leads us to devalue the preference or expression of another individual’s or group’s gifts, it becomes a problem. When we refuse to welcome those who are different, when we restrict our compassion and service to those who are like us, it becomes a problem. When we feel ourselves getting to that point, it’s time to take a step back, take a broader perspective, and look for the Spirit’s presence in the gifts we are so eager to disparage and throw away.

God the Spirit. Self. Neighbor. We aren’t who we are meant to be unless all three are together.