"God... Is Really among You."

"I ask for the grace to pray and meditate faithfully.  I ask for patience, tolerance, compassion, empathy, and gentleness.  I ask to abstain from anger, anxiety, discouragement, compulsive behaviour, arrogance, and self-importance.  I ask to know and follow Jesus more closely, seeking justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly."


1 Corinthians 14:20-25
20 Brothers and sisters,^* do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults. ²¹In the law it is written,
‘By people of strange tongues
   and by the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people;
   yet even then they will not listen to me,’
says the Lord. ²²Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. ²³If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind? ²⁴But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. ²⁵After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship him, declaring, ‘God is really among you.’


1)  "...in thinking be adults;" "...called to account;"  "...out of you mind."


2) Wow... hard text.  An admonition for "believers" to speak in a language understood by "outsiders or unbelievers" lest unbelievers consider us "out of your mind."  So many Christians that get so much press these days seem "out of their minds" to me.  It is a voting day today, so politics is on my mind.  How can so many so-called Christians identify with political parties that are selfish, self-centered, totally lacking in respect for the earth, for the people with whom we share the planet, and a common level of empathy for those who live at the margins?  They are simply out of their mind.  Our prophecy, our good news, needs to be good news to everyone or it is good news to no one.  I was thinking this morning that spirituality must be political, if it isn't political, it isn't spiritual.  The state of our souls impacts how we treat the people around us and if the state of our souls is a state of love and compassion, how we treat other people needs to reveal love and compassion.  Love in the world looks like social justice, equity, community.  If a person thinks they are following Christ, but has nothing bus disdain and scorn for "outsiders and unbelievers," then indeed, they must be out of their minds.  And the truth is, people who are out of their minds are frequently the ones in power ruling the world.


3) What is the invitation in all this?  To seek integrity, to let my actions be motivated by the love, empathy, compassion and joy that I receive from God, offering love, empathy and compassion to everyone I meet.


"Holy One, let us not be out of our minds, but let our actions declare that you are really among us."


Breathprayer: "God... is really among you."