Dr. Terry Threadwell's Blog

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 JOHN 4: 7– 12

Thomas Merton once said, “If a person has to be pleasing to me, comforting, reassuring, before I can love him, then I cannot truly love him. Not that love cannot console or reassure! But if I demand first to be reassured, I will never dare to begin loving. If a person has to be a Jew or a Christian before I can love him, then I cannot love him. If he has to be black or white before I can love him, then I cannot love him. If he has to belong to my political party or social group before I can love him, then I cannot love him. If he has to wear my kind of uniform, then my love is no longer love because it is not free: it is dictated by something outside itself. It is dominated by an appetite other than love. I love not the person but his classification, and in that I love him not as person but as a thing. I love his label which confirms me in my attachment to my own label. But in that case I do not even love myself. I value myself not for what I am, but for my label, my classification. In this way I remain at the mercy of forces outside myself, and those who seem to me to be neighbors are indeed strangers for I am first of all a stranger to myself.” –THOMAS MERTON, SEASONS OF CELEBRATION, 174 GOD IS LOVE

He (Merton) raises a great question.  Do we love because of the return we get on our investment? I would hope not.  Love of this kind is empty, shallow and unfulfilling. Paul wrote, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. … And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1Co 13:4-8; 13 NIB)

Perfect love went to Calvary.  Jesus knew that many would reject him, and yet he still went to the cross.  That’s love.

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1Jo 3:11-18 NIB)

In building a community of pardon that is the temple of God, we have to recognize that no one of us is complete, self-sufficient, perfectly holy in himself. No one can rest in his own individual virtues and interior life. No man lives for himself alone. To live for oneself alone is to die. We grow and flourish in our own lives insofar as we live for others and through others. What we ourselves lack, God has given them. They must complete us where we are deficient. Hence we must always remain open to one another so that we can always share with each other. The greatest of gifts then is this openness, this love, this readiness to accept and to pardon and to share with others, in the Spirit of Christ. If we are open we will not only offer pardon, but will not disdain to seek it and recognize our own desperate need of it. THOMAS MERTON, SEASONS OF CELEBRATION, 229

The traditional Buddhist greeting is namaste.  It is a recognition of the divine spark in the other person.  Theologically, we might call that spark the ‘Imago Dei,’ the image of God.  I would call it love. Why can’t we see the love of God in everyone?  In some, it might be buried deep, the trials and tribulations of life can cause us to retreat deep inside, but that love is still there.  Let us love one another.

“Why do we fast and you don’t see; why afflict ourselves and you don’t notice?” Yet on your fast day you do whatever you want, and oppress all your workers. You quarrel and brawl, and then you fast; you hit each other violently with your fists. You shouldn’t fast as you are doing today if you want to make your voice heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I choose, a day of self-affliction, of bending one’s head like a reed and of lying down in mourning clothing and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Isn’t this the fast I choose: releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke, setting free the mistreated, and breaking every yoke? Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house, covering the naked when you see them, and not hiding from your own family? (Isa 58:3-7 CEB)

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on Mount Samaria, who cheat the weak, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, “Bring drinks, so we can get drunk!” The LORD God has solemnly promised by his holiness: The days are surely coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even the last one of you with fishhooks. (Amo 4:1-2 CEB)

Lent isn’t about just the individual, but the collective, and the community. In Isaiah’s day, the wealthy corporate owner was going the synagogue and could not figure out why their prayers were not being answered. The answer was simple, forget fasting from food, or cakes and candy, trying cutting out the oppression. They oppressed their workers in particular and the poor in general.  God’s response went further than starting a church food bank or giving their old clothes.  God’s answer was to practice hospitality by living in the community.

Acts 2:42-46 isn’t Socialism, and it isn’t a free market economy.  The church didn’t drive into the poor neighborhoods and give out food and clothes. The Church was meant to practice community. “The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles.  All the believers were united and shared everything.  They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them.  Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. (Act 2:42-46 CEB)

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.  After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter  said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”  Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you (will never) have a part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” (Joh 13:3-10)

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (Phi 2:5-7 NKJ)

John 13 is so full of meaning, the double emphatic response to Peter, the importance of the act of washing feet, both spiritually and communally.  I want to focus on the actions of Jesus. The host in a meal might take a bowl of water around to his guests to wash the hands, but never their feet, and never during the meal.

Jesus literally takes off his robe and adopts the clothing of a servant and showed his disciples what it was like to ‘but made Himself of no reputation.’  American culture is about success, promotion and being somebody.  Christianity should be a counter-culture to the American model.

 “When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don’t take advantage of him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt. I am God, your God. (Lev 19:33-36)

Once a year in the Mission District of San Francisco they reenact the story of Joseph and Mary as they sought a place to stay, they call it Las Posadas.  As they go from door to door requesting hospitality, the cry from inside rings out, “this is not an inn, move on—I cannot open lest you be a scoundrel.” It’s that fear of the stranger that keeps the doors closed or our lives, homes and our churches.  Instead of being welcoming communities, many are closed, restrictive and unwelcoming—even hostile.

So the prayer goes out ‘come quickly Lord Jesus’, but if the Lord shows up today will you offer him shelter or will you turn Him away because He doesn’t fit your idea of what He should look like.  Being open means being vulnerable, but on the cross the arms of Jesus were open wide, inviting the ‘who so ever’ to come on in.

Currently, there are some 800,000 immigrants that came to the US illegally as children with their parents and have been allowed to stay under the DACA program.  The US is all they have ever known and desire to remain here.  They’re knocking at the door, waiting to come in. Will somebody let them in?

You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. (Lev. 19:34)

The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penance, and repentance of sins, almsgiving, atonement, and self-denial. Its institutional purpose is heightened in the annual commemoration of Holy Week, marking the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.  I have written several devotions over the past nine years on various subjects, including prayer.  I would describe myself as a passionate Pentecostal; a progressive—looking to see what God is going to do in our postmodern world, but I also like to reflect back on some of the old practices to see if we can gain insight and depth to our Christian life.

I was re-reading a book by Dorothy C. Bass called Practicing Faith.  The book tells the story of a Priest arriving in Israel, it’s Friday evening just as everything was shutting down for Sabbath. With no public transport, he sets out to walk the fifteen miles to his destination.  Not far down the road, a family invites him in to spend Sabbath with them; they offer him a meal and a bed.  Appreciative of their hospitality, on Sunday, he continues his journey. 

I remember as a child in London’s East-end going into a neighbor’s house and being invited to stay for lunch or dinner.  During the summer months, there were no doors closed; people would sit outside their homes, play with the children, talk, and share.

In our world, today there is a crisis of hospitality that can be seen in our attitude towards homelessness, refugees, and immigration. The problem goes even deeper when even our relatives and friends don’t come anymore to sit around the table, yet in Acts, we read that the early church, “continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, (Act 2:46 NIV) In many homes today, even families are too busy to sit down together and talk and eat a meal together, why there’s football practice, dance practice, baseball, and the list goes on. Jesus says, “Look! I’m standing at the door and knocking. If any hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to be with them and will have dinner with them, and they will have dinner with me. (Rev 3:20 CEB) This day, I’m talking to me, but is my prayer life a reflection of the way I live life in general.  “Who is that knocking at my door, don’t they know I’m busy.”

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  (Joh 14:12-13 NKJ)

When you start living the life of your dreams, there will always be obstacles, doubters, mistakes, and setbacks along the way. But with hard work, perseverance and self-belief there is no limit to what you can achieve.” —  Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Jesus fully expected that any believer, full of the Holy Spirit, would be able to achieve great things. We can do greater things these days, more than any other generation before.  The need is out there, don’t wait for somebody else to do it, you be the agent of change.

Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.  For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit. “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.  (Jer 17:5-10 NKJ)

What is the real root of personality in a man? It is obviously that which is irreplaceable, genuinely unique, on the deepest spiritual level. Personalism is the discovery, the respect, but not the cult, for this deep reality. Secular personalism is a… craze for individuality, a rage for self-manifestation in which the highest value is sought in the recognition by others of one’s own uniqueness. But the great paradox of Christian personalism is this: it consists in something more than bringing to light the unique and irreplaceable element in the individual Christian. On the contrary, Christian personalism does not require that the inmost secret of our being become manifest or public to all. We do not even have to see it clearly ourselves! We are more truly “Christian persons” when our inmost secret remains a mystery shared by ourselves and God, and communicated to others. (Merton)

The two best friends behind the viral “Lemons for Leukemia Challenge” are attempting to set a world record today for the most donors added to the national bone marrow registry within a 24-hour period.

To set a world record is one of the items on the bucket list of Chris Betancourt, 20, who was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia and given the prognosis of one year to live.

When Betancourt’s best friend, Dillon Hill, 19, learned of the leukemia diagnosis, he took time off from college to help his dying friend fulfill his bucket list.

The pair created the challenge, a social media campaign that aims to raise awareness for bone marrow donations, and calls on partakers to record themselves taking a bit out of a raw lemon and then post it online and challenge someone else to take part. Because a marrow transplant is the only treatment that could potentially save Betancourt’s life, they are hoping to use the campaign to raise awareness for bone marrow donation. (ABCNEWS)

So take the challenge, suck a lemon and help fight leukemia by becoming a bone marrow donor.

https://join.bethematch.org/

The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. (Jer 18:1-4 NKJ)

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. (Rom 12:4-5 NKJ)

Modern society focused on the collective at the expense of the individual.  Postmodern society now focuses on individualism at the expense of the collective.  So is it the individual or the collective.  The Bible says it is both.  Every pot in the potter’s house was different.  Different shapes, sizes, purpose, style or color.  Paul says that we need them all if we are going to function as a body, not all the same but bringing our individualism.

This Lent season, don’t just think about what to give up, but what you can bring to the whole.