Claude King's blog

Trust and Obey is the name of a hymn that is familiar to some, but its lyrics ring so true about our experience as believers and followers of God. When you have chance, search for the lyrics and then listen to it. The refrain, or the hook as some people call it, goes like this, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."

What keeps us properly focused during Advent 2020? I say that it should be the understanding of what God wants us to be living up to and living into as we work and wait until Christ’s return. Our work is both spiritual as well as action-oriented. Our wait is about serving while we are preparing for Jesus’ second arrival.

There is a saying that has been around for a while. It says, “We climb to glory on the down escalator.” As we continue the journey into the second week of the Advent study called “Down to Earth”, we have been considering what humility is and what it means to us during this time of a global health crisis, domestic social and political conflict, and deep economic hardships.

The most familiar sayings and stories often prove to be difficult to find the full depth of their meaning because, as some may know, familiarity breeds contempt. "Extensive knowledge of or close association with someone or something leads to a loss of respect for them or it." (Oxford Dictionary). Though I will never have actual contempt for the word of God, I have heard or read the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats since childhood, which is this Sunday's Bible reading from Matthew 15:31-46.

How much of a risk taker are you? If your measure of risk taking were calculated on something like a 10-point Richter type scale where would you fall? Would you say that you are on the lower end of risk taking, producing more of a little rumble between 1 to 3 or in the moderate section where your risk taking might cause a definite unsettling quake between 4 and 6? Are you a go all out risk taker, causing an earth shattering and potentially devastating reaction from those around you between 7 and 10?

How are you regarding patience and focus? Are you able to be patient and stay focused on a major life’s goal or dream that you set out to achieve? Has your desire to see a dream or goal completed quickly ever become an obstacle, especially when it comes to persevering through some difficult hardships that you had to fight through? Have you ever been greatly distracted on your way to attaining your dream or goal because it took longer to realize than you thought it should and you did not have enough patience and single-mindedness to stay with it until it was accomplished?

Sunday is All Saints Day. A saint is defined as "a person who is officially recognized by the Christian church as being very holy because of the way he or she lived: a person who is very good, kind, or patient."(Merriam-Webster Dictionary) We may know of someone who exemplifies the qualities of a saint as defined here. However, this definition is not the final word on what a saintly person should be.

Who owns the world we live in? We know that we are stewards of God’s creation. So, if God placed us over it as its caretakers, how do we manage God’s creation when others, who do not recognize God as the owner of all creation, regularly misuse and abuse it? If fellow stewards, who wish to gain power over other stewards by manipulating the words of those who are trying do the best job they can as caretakers, what are we to say or do to counter act their evil schemes?

Normally, when people read a story about good and evil they seek to assign blame to those who are the evil characters by pointing out their various evil deeds, words, and even the types of people who are in the group that are described as the bad ones.