Zechariah 14:9 Our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is One!

Deuteronomy 28:49-50 The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. NKJV

The enemy nation is compared to a soaring eagle that swoops down on its prey (Jeremiah 48:40; Hosea 8:1). The enemy would show no compassion on the people whether old or young. 

Jesus, the name above all names. To Him was given the Kingdom on earth. To Him was given the key to eternity. He came with shouts of peace and in His Kingdom there will be peace. In the gift of salvation we are reconciled to the Father and in the unity of Holy Spirit we are delivered safely home to God’s dwelling place. Without God there is no peace. Carla

Zechariah 14:9

And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.

In that day it shall be

“The Lord is one,”

And His name one. NKJV

Zechariah anticipates the glorious day when the Lord will reestablish His reign on this earth, where it was first challenged by Satan (Revelation 20:1–3;  Psalm 93:1; 97:1; 99:1). This will be the answer to the prayers of all those who pray Jesus’ words, “Your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10). The words the Lord is one, speak of His unity and His uniqueness (Deuteronomy 6:4). The NKJV Study Bible

Ephesians 4:5–6

one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Deuteronomy 6:4

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 

Psalm 47:7

For God is the King of all the earth;

Sing praises with understanding.

Isaiah 45:21–24

Tell and bring forth your case;

Yes, let them take counsel together.

Who has declared this from ancient time?

Who has told it from that time?

Have not I, the LORD?

And there is no other God besides Me,

A just God and a Savior;

There is none besides Me.“

Look to Me, and be saved,

All you ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other…

Zechariah 14:16–17

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain.

Do you know the word Ubuntu?

A Nguni Bantu term meaning “humanity” often translated as “I am because we are,” and also “humanity towards others”, but is often used in a philosophical sense “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity.”

As chairman of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Desmond Tutu used descriptive words to speak about Ubuntu intimately binding it within Christian principles of goodness. He describes the person true to Ubuntu as one who is “generous, hospitable, friendly, caring and compassionate.” He says it as a state in which one's "humanity is caught up and inextricably bound up” in others.

Tutu says of Ubuntu, “I am human because I belong, I participate, I share.”

I am loving the connection here with Saints from the past—today in Kilkenny, named after Saint Canice (‘Cill’, the Irish for church, and ‘Cainnech’ the given name of ‘Canice’).
I have for much of my life been drawn to Celtic spirituality, beginning with my time on Iona (Scotland), back in my university days. In the religion of my growing up days, heaven (or getting to heaven) was front and center.
What a gift for me to learn that for the Celts, faith is a celebration of ordinariness, and an earthed humanity—which includes a care for the earth, and the animals that live here. They believed that nothing was secular, because everything was sacred. And paying attention, we see, and embrace “thin places”—those times we know that there is no distance between heaven and earth. I read once that “The vision of the Celts was sacramental rather than mystical.”

And, there nothing is outside of God's love and grace.

This is important: hope is not something we acquire or even learn, or add to our life. Why? Because the good news is that hope is already in our DNA. It may be buried, true, but it is still there. And going back to Ubuntu—we see hope as a gift, and power, that is shared and communal. We are on this journey together.
So hope is something we honor. There is power in this awareness. Thin places, even (and especially) in the muddle. This means that we can be present, and sit with, sorrow, pain or unknowing, and not be undone by them. The muddle can be big. But it is not bigger than hope.

“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention,” L.R. Knost reminds us. “So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” Sabbath Moments

John 3:16-21 The light of God is evident but we choose if we see it.

 1 John 4:7–12

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love…

Every deed, every action, that harms another will be exposed. The light of God illuminates the darkness that in Him the world can decide to choose good over evil. Our actions, not our words, show the fruit of Holy Spirit in us. As believers our sins our hidden in Christ. Without faith in Him and in the gift of salvation we will face God and our deeds will be subject to scrutiny and judgement. Only Christ reconciles us to Him. Jesus is the hope of the world. Carla

John 3:16-21

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” NKJV

The speaker in this section may be the narrator expanding on Jesus’ teaching or Jesus still speaking with Nicodemus. The Greek manuscripts did not use punctuation that would have indicated a change of speaker. The content of this short discourse reflects themes typical to John such as the opposition of light and darkness. For that reason, the speaker is most likely the narrator.

This verse presents a concise summary of the gospel message, tying the events of Jesus’ death to God’s love for the world He created. The statement is remarkable in its depiction of divine care for the entire world—not just His chosen people, Israel.

The Greek term used here for One and only is monogenēs, meaning “one of a kind.” At one time, it was presumed that the term derived from the Greek words monos (“one” or “only”) and gennaō (“to beget”). The translation “only begotten” is based on this assumption. Subsequent manuscript discoveries produced evidence that the term actually comes from monos and the noun genē (“kind” or “type”). The term monogenēs therefore refers to uniqueness and has no inherent reference to chronology or origin. Hebrews 11:17 reinforces this by referring to Isaac as the monogenēs of Abraham. Isaac was not Abraham’s first child—chronologically, Ishmael came first. But Isaac was considered unique because of the supernatural intervention that aided in his birth and his role as the son through whom God’s covenant with Abraham continued. Ancient critics of the doctrine of the Trinity used this term to claim a chronological beginning for Jesus. Conversely, the Nicene Creed used this term to assert Jesus’ inherent relationship to the Father: that as the eternal Son He is “begotten [gennēthenta], not made” by the Father.

John prefers to refer to Jesus as the “Son” and God as the “Father” (John 3:35; 6:40; 17:1). Jesus’ reflection and representation of the Father is complete (14:9–10). As one sent by God, Jesus fully represented Him on earth (13:16, 20). Rejection of Jesus results in condemnation. The New Testament ultimately roots all salvation in faith in Christ (Romans 4:1–24; Hebrews 11:13, 26). There is no other way to achieve right standing with God.

The dualism between light and dark is a common theme in John’s Gospel and 1 John. In this context, “evil” refers to deeds that flow from unbelief. Anything done apart from faith in Christ is no better than the worst evil. Faithlife Study Bible

God’s love is not restricted to any one nation or to any spiritual elite. World here may also include all of creation (Romans 8:19–22; Colossians 1:20). At His first coming, Jesus came so that the world through Him might be saved. When Jesus comes again, He will come in judgment upon those who refused His offer of salvation.

To believe is to receive life (verses 15, 16) and avoid judgment. A person who does not believe not only misses life, but is condemned already. The idea of believing in Jesus’ name is also found in 1:12. Condemnation refers to the reason for judgment. The light referred to here is Jesus, the light of the world (1:7–9; 8:12; 9:5). The ultimate reason people do not come to Christ is that they do not want to.

The one who does the truth (1 John 1:5) is obviously already a believer because his or her deeds are done in God. Therefore, “coming to the light” is more than exercising faith. A person who comes to the light not only believes, but also openly identifies with the light so that his or her works can be seen as things done in union with God. The NKJV Study Bible

John 1:18

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Ephesians 5:13

But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

John 1:4–5

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

“I salute the light within your eyes where the whole universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am in that place within me, we shall be one.” Crazy Horse (renowned Oglala Lakota leader).

This week we are seeing and embracing the beauty inside, even in our brokenness, and yes, even in times of darkness.
And hopefully, paying attention to the affirmation to see that beauty in one another, with the affirmation that we are indeed connected, and on this journey—yes, pilgrimage—together.

Yes, there are parts of ourselves that we do not like, or do not understand, or avoid, or bury. There's nothing new about that. Except that we fuel the fire with an assumption that our priority is to fix the problem. Or at the very least, to look good trying.
Sometimes we hide. Sometimes we pretend. Sometimes we get busy being helpful to others. And sometimes we go to a specialist for advice.
I have nothing against specialists. (I've spent a fair amount of money on a few.) It's just that when we believe the solution is disease-removal, we tinker and trade one infomercial or Bible verse or well-intentioned guru for another, believing that there is beauty only after the fix.
It sounds like the Islamic parable about the man who loses his camel, but spends all of his time looking for the rope.

When we embrace the light, we can let it spill to the world around us. I can hear Mr. Rogers’ voice, telling this story. “I was once invited to sit in on a master class of six young cellists from the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony orchestra. The master teacher was Yo-Yo Ma. Now Yo-Yo is the most other oriented genius I've ever known. His music comes from a very deep place within his being. And during that masterclass, Yo-Yo gently led those young cellists into understandings about their instruments, their music and their selves, which some of them told me later, they'd carry with them forever. I can still see the face of one young man who had just finished playing a movement of Brahms Cello Sonata, when Yo-Yo said, ‘Nobody else can make the sound you make.’ Of course, he meant that as a compliment to the young man. Nevertheless, he meant that also for everyone in the class. Nobody else can make the sound you make. Nobody else can choose to make that particular sound in that particular way.” Sabbath Moments

Romans 1:16-17 The Gospel of Christ saves lives…ours!

 Romans 3:21

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 

Faith in the salvation that God gives to mankind in Jesus is offered to all who will receive it. Faith alone pleases God and out of His abundant love for His creation He offered up His life that in Jesus we could be saved. We live and abide in God’s love and in His righteousness. Carla

Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith”.  NKJV

The New Testament speaks of salvation in the past tense (Ephesians 2:8), the present tense (2 Corinthians 2:15), and the future tense (13:11). In the past, the believer has been saved from the penalty of sin. In the present, the believer is being saved from the power of sin. In the future, the believer will be saved from the very presence of sin (Matthew 5:10–12; 8:17; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 2:11–13; Revelations 22:12).

From faith to faith means faith is at the beginning of the salvation process, and it is the goal as well. When a person first exercises faith in Christ, that person is saved from the penalty of sin and declared righteous. As the believer lives by faith, God continues to save him or her from the power of sin to live righteously (verse 16). The NKJV Study Bible

Righteousness is one of the key phrases in Romans and Paul’s other letters.  It could refer to righteousness that comes from God—that is, the righteous status or right standing that God grants to those who have faith in Jesus Christ. Alternatively, it may refer to God’s own righteousness and His saving work. It’s also possible to combine these possibilities: Righteousness is an attribute of God that is manifested in His provision of salvation. As a result, those who believe are granted righteous status before God, who is himself righteous.

God reveals His righteousness in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21). This good news about Jesus Christ—the gospel message—also might be the way that the righteousness of God is made known.

“But the one who is righteous by faith”,  in this Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 to support his position that righteousness before God is only by faith. In the original context of Habakkuk 2:4, faith in God sustains a righteous person through hardship. This same faith in God—which relies on God’s promises for deliverance—is applicable to salvation. Faithlife Study Bible

Habakkuk 2:4

“Behold the proud,

His soul is not upright in him;

But the just shall live by his faith.

Romans 2:9–10

tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 

Acts 3:26

To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

1 Colossians 1:18

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

There are two places we need to go often.

A place that heals you.

And a place that inspires you.

Both places embrace the permission (the invitation) to show up. To this life. To this day. To be here now. Because we know that we bring the gift of enough. To spill light where we can, in a world where darkness is real.

“My mantra this year has been the Hebrew words, Lev Basar, which means ‘a heart of flesh,’ from the biblical verse, ‘I will take from you a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.’” Thank you, Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger.

Sometimes we wonder if we want that heart of flesh. It can be easily wounded. Or broken. And when that happens, we assume it implies limitation and weakness. And we wonder if we are “enough”.

It is then we need to hear Bryan Stevenson’s affirmation, “Our brokenness is also the source of our common humanity, the basis for our shared search for comfort, meaning, and healing. Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurtures and sustains our capacity for compassion. We have a choice. We can embrace our humanness, which means embracing our broken natures and the compassion that remains our best hope for healing.”

Living with sadness, accepting it, is easier than trying to pretend it isn’t there. It is another of life’s great mysteries that sadness and joy can coexist so compatibly with one another. In fact, I wonder if, on this side of heaven, either one can be complete without the other.”

There is no virtue in advertising one’s sadness. But there is no wisdom in denying it either. And there is the beautiful possibility that great love can grow out of sadness if it is well-tended. Sadness can make us bitter or wise. We get to choose.”

I embrace two truths here. One is the gift of seeing and embracing the beauty inside, even in our brokenness.

And two, the affirmation to see that beauty in one another, with the affirmation that we are indeed connected, and on this journey—yes pilgrimage—together. On the pilgrimage each one of us walks, we are fueled by our inherent value. Those places of beauty, creativity, resilience, imagination, courage and humor. And kindness. Those places of healing. And places of inspiration. Sabbath Moments

Matthew 16:24-26 Christ in us. The hope of the world!

 Psalm 49:7–8

None of them can by any means redeem his brother,

Nor give to God a ransom for him—

For the redemption of their souls is costly,

And it shall cease forever—

Jesus came in the form of a servant. He humbled Himself and came to do the work of His Father. He suffered, died and rose again in fulfillment of the promises given in the Old Testament that we could live in the newness of His Covenant of peace on earth and goodwill towards mankind. He is our example of how we are to live. We are the humble servants of our Triune God and in Him we abide. Only God can do what is impossible for us. But in Him nothing is impossible. Carla

Matthew 16:24-26

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? NKJV

Jesus revisits His earlier remarks about taking up one’s cross (10:38–39). If His opponents kill Him, His disciples can reasonably expect a similar fate. Although they will receive positions of honor, discipleship will be costly.

Faithlife Study Bible

Matthew 10:38–39

And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Luke 14:27

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 

James 12:25

He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 

Luke 12:20–21

But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

We all experience pain—personal, relational, or exhaustion from the weight of the affairs of the world. And it appears on the doorstep of our heart in a variety of ways. This I know: when our life (and yes, our world) takes a left turn—or we find ourselves emotionally overdrawn (literally heart-weary)—we, for whatever reason, continue to feel small. But in the end—sadly to our detriment—we try to run away, or we shut down, because we see our pain, and our brokenness, as blemishes. In other words, something we must hide, because it triggers shame.

But this I know to be true: Whether it is conflict or sorrow or grief or anxiety or self-pity, I cannot bury pain without mortgaging something else to keep it hidden. In the end, I live life “shunting back and forth between my pain and my defenses.” (Merle Shain)

Or, as Richard Rohr reminds us, “If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it.”

(And it doesn’t help if we see pain—brokenness and vulnerability—only as an enemy, or source of shame.) 

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he tells the boy. “It is a relentless fight that takes a toll, and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil – he is rage, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
He continues, “The other wolf is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. And this same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thinks about what his grandfather tells him for a minute, and then asks, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee replies, “The one you feed the most.”

Today, I choose to feed the good (life-giving) wolf.

I liked this, from Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger, “My mantra this year has been the Hebrew words, Lev Basar, which means ‘a heart of flesh,’ from the biblical verse, ‘I will take from you a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.’

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, ‘There's nothing as whole as a broken heart.’

 In these traditions, you cultivate a broken heart which is very different from depression or sadness. It's the kind of vulnerability, openness, and acute sensitivity to your own suffering and the suffering of others that becomes an opportunity for connection.”

My friends, we are not on this journey alone.

And I can tell you that this past week, I’ve watched the ways we all carry pain, in a week where the news—the blasphemy of our President posting an image of himself as Jesus Christ, and then going after Pope Leo—can leave us feeling helpless, fearful, appalled, or enraged. Or, just dizzy.

Speaking of what we feed, it really did my heart good to watch Pope Leo’s charitable and courageous response to the comments. “Charitable because he has not responded in any way other than with charity and respect. He speaks about our obligations to one another. He has called us to follow the Gospel, which has always been radical, and never more so than right now. It’s radical because it asks us to love not just our friends, our family, and our tribe, but the stranger.” (Thank you Maria Shriver)

We have a choice. We can embrace our humanness, which means embracing our broken natures and the compassion that remains our best hope for healing. Or we can deny our brokenness, forswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity… But simply punishing the broken—walking away from them or hiding them from sight—only ensures that they remain broken and we do, too. There is no wholeness outside of our reciprocal humanity… Embracing our brokenness creates a need for mercy.”

So. Back to our current news; mercy, and kindness, and humanity matter. Excerpt from “Sabbath Moments”