You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Jesus certainly paints a frightening picture of the end times in the portion of Luke’s gospel we hear next Sunday. Perhaps his mood was colored by what was coming next for him – betrayal, arrest, trial, torture and execution, suffering the full range of human capacity for cruelty. But the apocalypse he foretells is one all of his followers would face. Whether that prophecy was realized in persecutions wrought by the Romans, or whether it is a cosmic cataclysm still to come, he urged them to stay alert and prayerful: "Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
The end of the world has come many a time upon people and families and communities and nations. It comes in natural disasters and in man-made horrors like war and famine. Gazan, Ukrainian, Sudanese, Haitian people, to name just a few, have been enduring it for far too long. Is there a final “end” for which we are to be ready at all times?
The early Christians thought so. They took Jesus’ words at face value and thought his return would be imminent. This assumption led some to religious rigor, and others to licentiousness – if the world is going to end any minute, why bother with rules? As weeks turned to years and then to decades, Christians realized they needed to focus on living in the now, releasing the power and joy that are our inheritance as beloved of God. So Paul, writing to the church in Thessalonika (in a passage appointed for Sunday), says: "May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints."
This is another way to prepare ourselves to “stand before the Son of Man” – to learn to love more wholly, to train our hearts in the ways of holiness, to practice repentance and forgiveness, and excel in showing love and hospitality when it is challenging to do so.
We don’t have to wait for the end of the world to stand before Jesus, though one day, we’re told, this present reality will end and we will face him as judge. If we turn our hearts toward that relationship in the here and now, the “then and later” will become something to anticipate, not to fear, no matter how traumatically it occurs.
Practice in your prayer today. Stand before Jesus and say, “Make me ready. Make me ready for your life in and around me.” I believe he will answer that prayer in amazing and wondrous ways.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
11-28-24 - Gratitude and Joy
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
I once asked a wise person how to cultivate joy. And he said, “Joy grows out of gratitude." So I’ve made an effort to foster an attitude of gratitude, as they say; to lead with thankfulness for what is, before I focus on what’s missing. Here are a few Thanksgiving Day thankfulnesses:
I am so grateful for this Water Daily community of readers, listeners, thinkers, commentators and pray-ers. I don’t know exactly how many or who reads or hears this on any given day, but some readers drop a note often enough to give me a sense that this is a conversation, even if I’m doing most of the talking.
And I am grateful for the opportunity to write (or often, eleven years in, re-write) this thing every day. Some days, I know exactly what I’m supposed to say and it comes flowing forth. The best days are when I didn’t know, and the Holy Spirit surprises me. Unsurprisingly, those are often the best posts and receive the most feedback. No matter what the process, it gives me a chance to engage with the gospel text for Sunday, and allows creativity to flow from parts of my consciousness that don’t always get the air time they should.
And I am grateful that these words help some preachers to connect with the passage in fresh ways, and some congregants to better appreciate the sermons they hear on Sunday. God is so all over this whole process, it makes me smile just to think of the space we’re giving the Spirit to play!
I wish the Americans among us a respite from the fear and division that has so gripped our land, a blessed and restful and delicious Thanksgiving weekend with loved ones; and all of you a time of grateful enjoyment of your own sweet self, and the Spirit of God.
That Passeth All Understanding
An awe so quiet
I don't know when it began.
A gratitude
had begun
to sing in me.
Was there
some moment
dividing
song from no song?
When does dewfall begin?
When does night
fold its arms over our hearts
to cherish them?
When is daybreak?
Denise Levertov, Oblique Prayers, New Directions, New York, 1984, p. 85
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
I once asked a wise person how to cultivate joy. And he said, “Joy grows out of gratitude." So I’ve made an effort to foster an attitude of gratitude, as they say; to lead with thankfulness for what is, before I focus on what’s missing. Here are a few Thanksgiving Day thankfulnesses:
I am so grateful for this Water Daily community of readers, listeners, thinkers, commentators and pray-ers. I don’t know exactly how many or who reads or hears this on any given day, but some readers drop a note often enough to give me a sense that this is a conversation, even if I’m doing most of the talking.
And I am grateful for the opportunity to write (or often, eleven years in, re-write) this thing every day. Some days, I know exactly what I’m supposed to say and it comes flowing forth. The best days are when I didn’t know, and the Holy Spirit surprises me. Unsurprisingly, those are often the best posts and receive the most feedback. No matter what the process, it gives me a chance to engage with the gospel text for Sunday, and allows creativity to flow from parts of my consciousness that don’t always get the air time they should.
And I am grateful that these words help some preachers to connect with the passage in fresh ways, and some congregants to better appreciate the sermons they hear on Sunday. God is so all over this whole process, it makes me smile just to think of the space we’re giving the Spirit to play!
I wish the Americans among us a respite from the fear and division that has so gripped our land, a blessed and restful and delicious Thanksgiving weekend with loved ones; and all of you a time of grateful enjoyment of your own sweet self, and the Spirit of God.
That Passeth All Understanding
An awe so quiet
I don't know when it began.
A gratitude
had begun
to sing in me.
Was there
some moment
dividing
song from no song?
When does dewfall begin?
When does night
fold its arms over our hearts
to cherish them?
When is daybreak?
Denise Levertov, Oblique Prayers, New Directions, New York, 1984, p. 85
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
11-27-24 - En Garde!
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
En garde! That’s about the sum total of what I know about the sport – or is it the art? – of fencing. "En garde!" is what I think of when I read Jesus’ warning to his disciples: “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.”
If ever there were an apt warning for the day before Thanksgiving, this is it. Don’t be caught unawares… the turkey needs brining, the silver needs polishing, the oil needs changing, or was that the baby? Yep. Stress, thy name is the Day Before Thanksgiving. Whether you’re hosting or traveling, there seems to be a to-do list – especially if you have two x chromosomes… And yet, here is Jesus: “Do not let your hearts be weighed down by dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life.” (Save those for Thanksgiving Day!)
This, of course, is an instruction for life, not just for a Wednesday in November. It invites us to live in a state of preparedness such as we develop during times of crisis, like, perhaps, the kind we’ve are enduring globally. How might we cultivate a state of "en garde-ed-ness" without kicking up those nasty, free-radical stress chemicals? How can we be at peace, serene, and also alert?
The stylized movements of fencing may have something to teach us. “En garde” is the instruction given when two players face off; it begins the match (bout? I’ve already spent more time on fencing terms than I meant to.) It invites the combatants to assume a defensive posture, but one that distributes their balance in such a way that they can thrust and parry, light on their feet.
As followers of Christ, we are to be alert and on our guard against the trials that test our faith and the temptations sent our way by the enemy. Yet we are to hold that defense lightly, remembering that it is not we who do battle, but Christ who fights for us, with us. Our posture of readiness and balance is one that allows us to pivot nimbly to whatever comes at us, and to yield to God’s power coming through us.
Balance implies an equilibrium between rest and movement, thought and action, receiving and giving. What if we made it our spiritual goal this Advent to find this balance, to be on guard but without fear, ready at all times to fight for justice and faithfulness with love and mercy, wielding “l’epee d’Esprit,” the sword of the Spirit, in the name of peace?
When do you feel most relaxed? Think about how might you cultivate that feeling more of the time, even during stress. How better to prepare for the advent of the Prince of Peace.
If you’re stressed out today, try it now. En garde!
Now relax.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
En garde! That’s about the sum total of what I know about the sport – or is it the art? – of fencing. "En garde!" is what I think of when I read Jesus’ warning to his disciples: “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.”
If ever there were an apt warning for the day before Thanksgiving, this is it. Don’t be caught unawares… the turkey needs brining, the silver needs polishing, the oil needs changing, or was that the baby? Yep. Stress, thy name is the Day Before Thanksgiving. Whether you’re hosting or traveling, there seems to be a to-do list – especially if you have two x chromosomes… And yet, here is Jesus: “Do not let your hearts be weighed down by dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life.” (Save those for Thanksgiving Day!)
This, of course, is an instruction for life, not just for a Wednesday in November. It invites us to live in a state of preparedness such as we develop during times of crisis, like, perhaps, the kind we’ve are enduring globally. How might we cultivate a state of "en garde-ed-ness" without kicking up those nasty, free-radical stress chemicals? How can we be at peace, serene, and also alert?
The stylized movements of fencing may have something to teach us. “En garde” is the instruction given when two players face off; it begins the match (bout? I’ve already spent more time on fencing terms than I meant to.) It invites the combatants to assume a defensive posture, but one that distributes their balance in such a way that they can thrust and parry, light on their feet.
As followers of Christ, we are to be alert and on our guard against the trials that test our faith and the temptations sent our way by the enemy. Yet we are to hold that defense lightly, remembering that it is not we who do battle, but Christ who fights for us, with us. Our posture of readiness and balance is one that allows us to pivot nimbly to whatever comes at us, and to yield to God’s power coming through us.
Balance implies an equilibrium between rest and movement, thought and action, receiving and giving. What if we made it our spiritual goal this Advent to find this balance, to be on guard but without fear, ready at all times to fight for justice and faithfulness with love and mercy, wielding “l’epee d’Esprit,” the sword of the Spirit, in the name of peace?
When do you feel most relaxed? Think about how might you cultivate that feeling more of the time, even during stress. How better to prepare for the advent of the Prince of Peace.
If you’re stressed out today, try it now. En garde!
Now relax.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
11-26-24 - Reading the Leaves
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Living in a four-season climate offers an ever-unfolding lesson in cycles of life, birth and faith, death and resurrection. Autumn took its time in my southern Maryland setting; only now are the leaves beginning to drop, but watching the cycle teaches me again about letting things fall away, letting things die. When the cold winds come, and the barren landscape hides all the life teeming below ground, I am reminded that there is more than meets the eye. And when things thaw in springtime, that life becomes manifest above the surface, “first the blade, then the ear and then, in time, the full corn.” (Mark 4:28), teaching me yet again about the indomitability of growth.
Jesus was a student of the seasons too: Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”
The “things” Jesus’ followers were to look for were astral signs, turbulence in the seas, and human distress. Hmmm… there is pretty much always something to see if you’re looking in those places. And there is always reason to think the signs we see are indications of an unfolding cataclysm. Famines, floods, earthquakes, fascism… aren’t we really in for it now? Maybe – but I suspect things may have looked a lot worse in the 14th century.
What if we looked for more subtle signs that the realm of God is near? Outbreaks of generosity, life-affirming discourse, spiritual revival, an increase in the numbers of people worldwide claiming the name of Christ and living in continuity with his life and the values of that kingdom he proclaimed? Now there’s a sign I’d love to see.
I’ve always been puzzled by this passage, because Jesus had already proclaimed that the Kingdom of God had drawn near, was in fact made real and present in himself. His miracles simply demonstrated that Kingdom life, and his stories and teachings explained Kingdom values. Yes, there will be a cosmic ending, but if we spend our time reading the tea leaves for when that is coming, we will miss all the signs of God-Life around us now. We might even be diverted from being a sign of God-Life for someone else.
Advent invites us to be watchful and aware, to seek the Christ who came, who is present with us now through his Holy Spirit, who will come again at the end of the ages. Let’s not be so busy looking for signs we miss Jesus right in front of us.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
Living in a four-season climate offers an ever-unfolding lesson in cycles of life, birth and faith, death and resurrection. Autumn took its time in my southern Maryland setting; only now are the leaves beginning to drop, but watching the cycle teaches me again about letting things fall away, letting things die. When the cold winds come, and the barren landscape hides all the life teeming below ground, I am reminded that there is more than meets the eye. And when things thaw in springtime, that life becomes manifest above the surface, “first the blade, then the ear and then, in time, the full corn.” (Mark 4:28), teaching me yet again about the indomitability of growth.
Jesus was a student of the seasons too: Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”
The “things” Jesus’ followers were to look for were astral signs, turbulence in the seas, and human distress. Hmmm… there is pretty much always something to see if you’re looking in those places. And there is always reason to think the signs we see are indications of an unfolding cataclysm. Famines, floods, earthquakes, fascism… aren’t we really in for it now? Maybe – but I suspect things may have looked a lot worse in the 14th century.
What if we looked for more subtle signs that the realm of God is near? Outbreaks of generosity, life-affirming discourse, spiritual revival, an increase in the numbers of people worldwide claiming the name of Christ and living in continuity with his life and the values of that kingdom he proclaimed? Now there’s a sign I’d love to see.
I’ve always been puzzled by this passage, because Jesus had already proclaimed that the Kingdom of God had drawn near, was in fact made real and present in himself. His miracles simply demonstrated that Kingdom life, and his stories and teachings explained Kingdom values. Yes, there will be a cosmic ending, but if we spend our time reading the tea leaves for when that is coming, we will miss all the signs of God-Life around us now. We might even be diverted from being a sign of God-Life for someone else.
Advent invites us to be watchful and aware, to seek the Christ who came, who is present with us now through his Holy Spirit, who will come again at the end of the ages. Let’s not be so busy looking for signs we miss Jesus right in front of us.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
11-25-24 - Climate Change
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
We’re talking about the end of the world; must be Advent. The end of the world, Jesus suggests, will not sneak up on us, tiptoeing in quietly: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken."
Nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves; sounds like the latest headlines – and decades of warnings from environmental scientists. For those who track the melting of ice caps and the rising of seas, the increasing ferocity of storms and fragility of food production, also sound the alarm about the conflicts the resultant scarcity will unleash among humans. What are we doing to each other, and to the planet we call home, with its wondrous diversity of creatures and abundant food supply?
Will the end of this world, when it comes, be man-made or God-ordained? Are we to work to save God’s creation or hasten its implosion? I’m still betting on the former – I don’t believe God is inviting us to help destroy the earth, but to build God’s reign in the here and now, bringing about a just and merciful creation built on the promises of God. In that sense, we are all to be about the business of climate change. And by that I mean more than environmental ministry.
The people who follow Jesus as Lord are charged with fostering a climate of godliness, humility, generosity, justice-seeking, peace-making, love-giving. Not only are we to live this way – we are to create a climate in which others can experience transformation and live this way too. That is the pattern we see in the community of sinner-saints who surrounded Jesus and later his apostles.
What marks the emotional climate in your community? On your social media feed? In your local media? Is it a climate of suspicion and division, or honest inquiry and supportive assistance? Is it a climate of violence in word and deed, or generous debate? Does it celebrate death or nurture life?
And then this: how are you being called to change that climate? Where does God want you to show up?
What does God want you to say? Who does God want you to love, to challenge, to break down, to build up?
We are responsible for the climates in which we live in more ways than one. As well as working to undo the ravages we’ve wrought on this earth and its creatures, I pray we can truly be climate changers in the spiritual sense, creators of emotional, political and spiritual climates in which children can thrive and all those who are wounded can be loved back into wholeness. Even us.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
We’re talking about the end of the world; must be Advent. The end of the world, Jesus suggests, will not sneak up on us, tiptoeing in quietly: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken."
Nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves; sounds like the latest headlines – and decades of warnings from environmental scientists. For those who track the melting of ice caps and the rising of seas, the increasing ferocity of storms and fragility of food production, also sound the alarm about the conflicts the resultant scarcity will unleash among humans. What are we doing to each other, and to the planet we call home, with its wondrous diversity of creatures and abundant food supply?
Will the end of this world, when it comes, be man-made or God-ordained? Are we to work to save God’s creation or hasten its implosion? I’m still betting on the former – I don’t believe God is inviting us to help destroy the earth, but to build God’s reign in the here and now, bringing about a just and merciful creation built on the promises of God. In that sense, we are all to be about the business of climate change. And by that I mean more than environmental ministry.
The people who follow Jesus as Lord are charged with fostering a climate of godliness, humility, generosity, justice-seeking, peace-making, love-giving. Not only are we to live this way – we are to create a climate in which others can experience transformation and live this way too. That is the pattern we see in the community of sinner-saints who surrounded Jesus and later his apostles.
What marks the emotional climate in your community? On your social media feed? In your local media? Is it a climate of suspicion and division, or honest inquiry and supportive assistance? Is it a climate of violence in word and deed, or generous debate? Does it celebrate death or nurture life?
And then this: how are you being called to change that climate? Where does God want you to show up?
What does God want you to say? Who does God want you to love, to challenge, to break down, to build up?
We are responsible for the climates in which we live in more ways than one. As well as working to undo the ravages we’ve wrought on this earth and its creatures, I pray we can truly be climate changers in the spiritual sense, creators of emotional, political and spiritual climates in which children can thrive and all those who are wounded can be loved back into wholeness. Even us.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
11-22-24 - Belonging To the Truth
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
It is a surreal scene, this genial interrogation by the Roman governor of an occupied territory, of an itinerant holy man with no visible support – whose very life hangs on the outcome of this interview. These two do a conversational dance, Jesus never answering a question directly, making no effort to defend himself or to set up a scenario in which his life might be spared. When asked directly, “So you are a king?” Jesus only says, “That’s what you say,” and that his purpose in being born was to testify to the truth. And then he says enigmatically, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
This strikes me as a funny way to put things – I don’t think of people "belonging" to truth, but rather having the truth, possessing truth, grasping truth, denying truth. What Jesus suggests is that the Truth is much bigger than we are; we can no more possess it than we could contain the ocean or corral the stars in the night sky.
This truth that encompasses us, Jesus suggests, is an objective reality – which prompts Pilate to pose his famously early post-modern question (left off our lectionary this week…) “What is truth?” I don’t think that’s a question on many people’s lips these days. There is your truth, my truth, the media’s truth, “deep fake” truth, doctored distortions of history masquerading as truth. How can anyone know the Truth, much less get lost in its vastness?
Those who follow Christ are given a clue – he said he was the Truth, the Way, the Life. One way we enter into the Truth is by coming to know Jesus as he was, and is, and is to come. The time we invest in growing our relationship with this Lord who calls us friend brings us deeper and deeper into the ultimate reality of things – the Truth.
And he offered another clue: “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” I see many Christ followers reacting out of deeply human responses these days, throwing off little evidence that they are listening to that Prince of Peace who commanded us to love our neighbors, tend the wounds of the outcast, lead with humility and not with combative fear.
How do we listen to Jesus' voice? We study his word. We tune ourselves to receive his voice in prayer. We follow his commands and teachings. We listen to other followers of Christ. We pay attention to where his Spirit is bringing life to dead places around us, and join him there.
As we listen, we will hear, and we will know the Truth, and come to belong to this Truth big enough to set us free.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
It is a surreal scene, this genial interrogation by the Roman governor of an occupied territory, of an itinerant holy man with no visible support – whose very life hangs on the outcome of this interview. These two do a conversational dance, Jesus never answering a question directly, making no effort to defend himself or to set up a scenario in which his life might be spared. When asked directly, “So you are a king?” Jesus only says, “That’s what you say,” and that his purpose in being born was to testify to the truth. And then he says enigmatically, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
This strikes me as a funny way to put things – I don’t think of people "belonging" to truth, but rather having the truth, possessing truth, grasping truth, denying truth. What Jesus suggests is that the Truth is much bigger than we are; we can no more possess it than we could contain the ocean or corral the stars in the night sky.
This truth that encompasses us, Jesus suggests, is an objective reality – which prompts Pilate to pose his famously early post-modern question (left off our lectionary this week…) “What is truth?” I don’t think that’s a question on many people’s lips these days. There is your truth, my truth, the media’s truth, “deep fake” truth, doctored distortions of history masquerading as truth. How can anyone know the Truth, much less get lost in its vastness?
Those who follow Christ are given a clue – he said he was the Truth, the Way, the Life. One way we enter into the Truth is by coming to know Jesus as he was, and is, and is to come. The time we invest in growing our relationship with this Lord who calls us friend brings us deeper and deeper into the ultimate reality of things – the Truth.
And he offered another clue: “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” I see many Christ followers reacting out of deeply human responses these days, throwing off little evidence that they are listening to that Prince of Peace who commanded us to love our neighbors, tend the wounds of the outcast, lead with humility and not with combative fear.
How do we listen to Jesus' voice? We study his word. We tune ourselves to receive his voice in prayer. We follow his commands and teachings. We listen to other followers of Christ. We pay attention to where his Spirit is bringing life to dead places around us, and join him there.
As we listen, we will hear, and we will know the Truth, and come to belong to this Truth big enough to set us free.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
11-21-24 - Testifying To the Truth
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
It is human nature to want to categorize people, put them into definable boxes and label them. Pilate was trying to get a handle on who Jesus was when he asked him,
“So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”
I wish it could be said of kings generally that they were born to testify to the truth; kings like that are the exception rather than the rule. And perhaps testifying to the truth is incompatible with the demands of political power. I don’t mean that political leaders have to be liars, but they do need to have a strategic relationship with the truth, speaking the right things to the right people at the right times, and knowing when not to speak at all.
And what is the truth to which Jesus testified? The truth about God – that power belongs to God (Psalm 62:11).
The truth about justice – that God alone is qualified to judge the human heart. (James 4:12)
The truth about love – that God operates in an economy of love, a love so deep and vast it is dangerous to the merely human spirit.
Those who call themselves followers of Christ are also born to testify to the truth – and for us the Truth is personal, the Truth is Jesus. In our times many who claim to follow Christ are allowing fear and bigotry to draw them away from the very clear teachings of Jesus, transferring faith in the goodness of God to faith in wealth, power, guns. Closing our hearts to those who look, think, act, love, vote, and live differently than we do is never a valid choice for Christians. We don't have to agree or always condone, but we are not entitled to condemn or close our hearts. If ever there was a time to testify to this truth in our national discourse, it is now.
Jesus could never have been a political leader; his allegiance to the truth made him too threatening to the powers that be. We need to stand up to leaders and to fellow Christians when they turn their back on the truth. We need to stand with those who have the courage to speak for justice. We are called to be bearers of this dangerous love of God – even as it is inevitably diluted in us.
Every day, let us be bearers of Christ's truth. Let us be bearers of Christ, testifying to who he is in our lives. Let us testify to overwhelming Love.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
It is human nature to want to categorize people, put them into definable boxes and label them. Pilate was trying to get a handle on who Jesus was when he asked him,
“So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”
I wish it could be said of kings generally that they were born to testify to the truth; kings like that are the exception rather than the rule. And perhaps testifying to the truth is incompatible with the demands of political power. I don’t mean that political leaders have to be liars, but they do need to have a strategic relationship with the truth, speaking the right things to the right people at the right times, and knowing when not to speak at all.
And what is the truth to which Jesus testified? The truth about God – that power belongs to God (Psalm 62:11).
The truth about justice – that God alone is qualified to judge the human heart. (James 4:12)
The truth about love – that God operates in an economy of love, a love so deep and vast it is dangerous to the merely human spirit.
Those who call themselves followers of Christ are also born to testify to the truth – and for us the Truth is personal, the Truth is Jesus. In our times many who claim to follow Christ are allowing fear and bigotry to draw them away from the very clear teachings of Jesus, transferring faith in the goodness of God to faith in wealth, power, guns. Closing our hearts to those who look, think, act, love, vote, and live differently than we do is never a valid choice for Christians. We don't have to agree or always condone, but we are not entitled to condemn or close our hearts. If ever there was a time to testify to this truth in our national discourse, it is now.
Jesus could never have been a political leader; his allegiance to the truth made him too threatening to the powers that be. We need to stand up to leaders and to fellow Christians when they turn their back on the truth. We need to stand with those who have the courage to speak for justice. We are called to be bearers of this dangerous love of God – even as it is inevitably diluted in us.
Every day, let us be bearers of Christ's truth. Let us be bearers of Christ, testifying to who he is in our lives. Let us testify to overwhelming Love.
© Kate Heichler, 2024. 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.
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