You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
In his last words to his disciples, Jesus told them to expect a gift from his Father: the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of God. Jesus spoke about the Spirit as having a definable personality, characteristics, traits, functions. That’s one way Christians arrived at the notion of God as three distinct yet united persons. Jesus said, “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
Jesus suggests his teaching and training have been partial, limited. The Holy Spirit will teach everything, reinforcing all that Jesus spoke to them. He promises to leave his peace with them, a gift he would give again when he first saw them – perhaps in this very same room? – after he rose from the dead. He invites them to let go of the sorrow and anxiety that has gripped them, to let go of fear.
How might we do that? We need to receive this gift of peace in the spiritual part of our being and let it transform our natural selves. We cannot attain it with worldly strategies; it is not a gift to be taken, but received. Perhaps that is what Jesus meant by “I do not give to you as the world gives.”
How does the world give? Capriciously, inconsistently, often conditionally. The world rewards achievement and productivity, privilege and connections. God rewards humility and faithfulness, weakness as well as strength. Above all, God seems to give as a function of relationship, to honor a relationship that already exists, not to win us over.
We pretty much know how to play by the world’s rules, some of us more successfully than others. Lasting peace, peace that stays with us even in unpeaceful circumstances, is a fruit of running our lives on God’s operating system, learning to live by radical trust rather than by self-saving strategies. Is there a concern in your life right now that you might try to approach in God’s way rather than the world’s?
When my nephew was little, he heard someone say “God speed” to someone departing, and thought it meant moving at the speed of God. I like that. Learning to live on God-speed is a transition. We choose to put that relationship above all the others that claim our hearts, to offer everything we have – and receive far more in return.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Showing posts with label God's proimses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's proimses. Show all posts
6-19-23 - The Un-Prosperity Gospel
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Would you have gone on this mission if Jesus asked you? His words to his followers as he sends them out to proclaim the good news and heal the sick are full of warnings about unwelcoming communities, hostile audiences and even persecution. He says the challenges he encountered would also come to those who went forth in his name – master and disciple are equal in the sight of detractors:
“If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!”
It’s a wonder any of them went. Would facing danger for proclaiming Christ embolden us – or send us into hiding?
Some preachers build huge congregations and rake in loads of money promising prosperity and good fortune for those who put Jesus first – which often gets defined as making large donations to the pastor’s ministry. I sometimes wonder if they’re right; their churches sure seem blessed. Then I remember Jesus never promised anything but love and an odd kind of joy amidst adversity in this life, and an eternity of relationship in the next. And he promised his presence with us throughout, no matter what.
That is where I suggest we rest this week as we read through another challenging passage: by opening ourselves to Jesus’ presence. That is where all ministry in his name begins – being filled with his Spirit.
Today, let’s take a few minutes to sit quietly, offering thanks for the gifts of the week past, repentance for our failures to demonstrate love, and naming those things that worry us about the week to come. And then let’s pray, “Come, Lord Jesus” (an ancient formulation is “Maranatha!”). And wait. See how Jesus draws near, or what comes up in you as you sit in stillness.
The prosperity preachers are right about one thing: cultivating an expectation of blessing yields blessing. God’s “yes” comes in many forms, not only material wealth. As we are open to it, look for it, name it, we will experience it more often, and tell what we’ve experienced. And then, whether we’re in the midst of wolves or sleepy sheep, we can proclaim our good news, “The Life of God has come near to you!”
Would you have gone on this mission if Jesus asked you? His words to his followers as he sends them out to proclaim the good news and heal the sick are full of warnings about unwelcoming communities, hostile audiences and even persecution. He says the challenges he encountered would also come to those who went forth in his name – master and disciple are equal in the sight of detractors:
“If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!”
It’s a wonder any of them went. Would facing danger for proclaiming Christ embolden us – or send us into hiding?
Some preachers build huge congregations and rake in loads of money promising prosperity and good fortune for those who put Jesus first – which often gets defined as making large donations to the pastor’s ministry. I sometimes wonder if they’re right; their churches sure seem blessed. Then I remember Jesus never promised anything but love and an odd kind of joy amidst adversity in this life, and an eternity of relationship in the next. And he promised his presence with us throughout, no matter what.
That is where I suggest we rest this week as we read through another challenging passage: by opening ourselves to Jesus’ presence. That is where all ministry in his name begins – being filled with his Spirit.
Today, let’s take a few minutes to sit quietly, offering thanks for the gifts of the week past, repentance for our failures to demonstrate love, and naming those things that worry us about the week to come. And then let’s pray, “Come, Lord Jesus” (an ancient formulation is “Maranatha!”). And wait. See how Jesus draws near, or what comes up in you as you sit in stillness.
The prosperity preachers are right about one thing: cultivating an expectation of blessing yields blessing. God’s “yes” comes in many forms, not only material wealth. As we are open to it, look for it, name it, we will experience it more often, and tell what we’ve experienced. And then, whether we’re in the midst of wolves or sleepy sheep, we can proclaim our good news, “The Life of God has come near to you!”
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