Claude King's blog

I have always been drawn to the hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." The three verses that are written in it provide a rich source of what God supplies to us if we are willing and ready to open ourselves up to a deep and long-standing connection with Jesus, as part of the triune God.

Here is the first verse:

The world around us is both full of evidence of the joyous triumphs over the hardships of the past two-plus years, as well as the evidence of the desperate need to heal the gaping wound that continues to fester in our social structures and institutions.

We have suffered much loss of life due to the pandemic and suffer from an increasingly divisive social and political climate. And even though we are looking in the face of economic uncertainty, we can see that God has enabled many flowers to open in the desert times of life.

I know that in Christianity, and amongst the people who call themselves believers in God, it is frowned upon to love anyone or anything more than God, including somebody that God created for us to love. Because we remember Mark 28b-30 NRSV, "Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'"

How are you feeling about your life? Have you found yourself on a path in your faith journey that you felt was going along fine only to have a set of difficult circumstances come in and devastate you, someone you love, or someone close to you?

When we are faced with harsh circumstances we may question whether we are living the way God wants us to live and wrongly believe that the harsh circumstances are evidence that God is not happy with us. We may falsely believe that bad things happen to bad people, and good things happen to good people.

What is the best thing that you have read in the Bible? Was it "God is love?" (1 John 4:16) or "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble?" (Psalm 46:1), or my personal favorite, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new?" (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Most of us are determined to speak, and or act when we deeply care for a person, group, ideology, or about our faith. That kind of determination can lead us into very uncomfortable and difficult circumstances as we defend, support, persuade, or put into practice advocating for a person, group, our world view, or as we embody our faith.

What do you think of when you think about your faith? What do you think of when you think about your father or father figure? These two questions have different foundations that we will pull from to answer, however, they have some interesting connective tissue that they share.

There is an illness in our society that is clearly evident. Its symptoms center around a serious lack of healthy love flowing through it, and I have named that condition anemic love. "Anemia is a condition in which you lack enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to your body's tissues." (Mayo Clinic) We lack a healthy amount of God's love flowing through the cells that make up the fabric of our society.

The life we live is not easily understood. There are many situations that we find ourselves in that we feel are too much to handle. Either they have pushed us into relationships, whether personal or work-related, that are too stressful and complex for us to deal with, or too emotionally charged to stay balanced for any length of time. Or there are events in our lives that are unexpected like the loss of employment, lack of employment, financial instability, serious illnesses or deaths and we are unprepared or unable to manage the consequences that result after they happen.

"Why do you look for the living among the dead?" That is one of the most striking questions that is written in the Bible found in Luke 24:5. It was asked by two angelic beings of a very frightened Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women who came in search for their teacher, friend, and spiritual guide Jesus after his crucifixion, death, and entombment. Please read Luke 24:1-12.