2 Corinthians 5:18-21 In Christ, God, was reconciling the world to Himself.

 2 Corinthians 6:16 

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said•:

“I will dwell in them

And walk among them.

•I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.”  NKJV

We are the righteousness of God in Christ. God sees Jesus in us and we are reconciled to Him. God’s love conquered sin and death in the salvation of Jesus. It is only through His sacrifice that the world could be saved. El Roi  God sees me. He sees you. Carla

The Hebrew name for God that means "the God who sees me" is El Roi (or El Ro'i). This name was coined by Hagar in Genesis 16:13 after she encountered God in the desert, marking a profound moment of feeling known, seen, and cared for during a time of extreme distress.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. NKJV

Because of Christ’s propitiation, His satisfaction of God’s righteous demands, God is now able to turn toward us. God has made us new creatures in Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, a word meaning “a change of relation from enmity to peace.” We who have been reconciled to God have the privilege of telling others that they can be reconciled to Him as well.

God could change His relationship toward us because our sins have been imputed (reckoned) to Christ, instead of to us. In other words, God placed our sins on Christ, who knew no sin. His death was in our place and for our sins. If we believe in Jesus, God counts Jesus’ righteousness as our righteousness (verse 21). 

The word of reconciliation that has been entrusted to us is to tell all people that God wants to restore them to a relationship with Himself (Romans 5:8). This is the Good News that everyone needs to hear. 

Ambassadors are more than messengers. They are representatives of the sovereign who sent them. In the Roman Empire, there were two kinds of provinces, the senatorial and the imperial. The senatorial provinces were generally peaceful and friendly to Rome. They had submitted to Roman rule and were under the control of the Senate. The imperial provinces, however, had been acquired later, and were not as peaceful. These provinces were under the authority of the emperor himself. Syria, including Judea, was such an imperial province. To these provinces, the emperor sent ambassadors to govern and maintain peace. 

Christians have been called by their King to serve as ambassadors in a world that is in rebellion against Him. However, God has given His representatives a message of peace and of reconciliation.

Jesus never did anything wrong. Yet He died for our sins, so that we could be declared righteous, that is to say, justified (verse 19). The NKJV Study Bible

Reconciled  refers to the end of hostility between God and people. 

Christ’s death provided the means of reconciliation. His suffering made peace between God and humanity possible (Isaiah 53:5; 2 Corinthians 1:3). Paul presented Christ’s sacrifice as the basis of reconciliation and the source of his apostolic vocation (verses 14–18). He wants the Corinthians to understand the centrality of Christ in his ministry in contrast to other teachers, who boast about themselves.

The Hebrew word used here for world, kosmos, refers to people estranged from God and under the influence of sin and the devil (4:4). God does not use people’s sins as a reason to withhold salvation or reconciliation.

We  are ambassadors meaning representatives of Christ. Paul and his companions not only spoke on behalf of Christ, but their lives—namely, their endurance of suffering—represented Christ’s life and character. As Christ’s representatives, they were charged with presenting the message of God’s plan of reconciliation to the world.

Paul affirms that Christ did not sin, though He was tempted (Matthew 4:1–11; Mark 1:12–13; Luke 4:1–13; Hebrews  4:15).

Not counting their trespasses against them is how God regarded Christ as sin for the sake of undeserving sinners (Galatians 3:13). More specifically, Paul may be presenting Christ as a substitute for sinful humanity or he could be referring to Christ’s identification with sin through His union with sinful humanity. Another possibility is that Paul is interpreting Christ’s sacrifice in light of Old Testament sacrificial concepts (Leviticus 4:24; 5:12; Isaiah 53:10).

Through Christ’s death and resurrection, God demonstrated His righteousness (dikaiosynē) by judging sin yet showing mercy to sinners. Here Paul refers to the idea of Christians becoming the righteousness of God. He may mean that believers, as a result of God’s justification, receive a right standing before God while Christ takes on their sins (Romans 5:8). Alternatively, Paul could be describing God’s righteous character, which believers receive and should live out in their lives. Faithlife Study Bible

Romans 5:10–11

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Ephesians 6:20

for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Romans 1:17

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

1 Corinthians 1:30

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—

2 Corinthians 6:1

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

I relate to Wade Rouse's admission, “It was my time to look God in the eye. I had already spent much of life trying to avoid direct eye contact with God—like I did country dogs that people kept chained to a post all winter—worried that He would see into my soul, see my darkest secrets, know that I was thinking, and want to rip me apart.”
'Tis true. The God of my youth is a tough audience, especially when perfection is the goal.

A disciple of Rabbi Menachem-Mendel complained: “I come from Rizhin. There, everything is simple, everything is clear. I prayed and I knew I was praying; I studied and I knew I was studying. Here in Kotzk everything is mixed up, confused; I suffer from it. Please help me so I can pray and study as before. Please help me to stop suffering.”
Menachem-Mendel replied: “And who ever told you that God is interested in your studies and your prayers? And what if he preferred your tears and your suffering?”
Yes, what if I knew (and lived) as if all my broken pieces are loved?
This is in contradiction to a world that honors beauty as perfection, where it is easy to miss the gift of the here and now.
But what if spirituality is about here and now, with all of the passions, and the imperfections—and yes, “suffering”?
What would it mean to embrace the self—This Self—as imperfect, and ambiguous, and exquisitely human?

But what about the irritations and “suffering”? No doubt we want them to go away. Here's the paradox.
You cannot change anything until you can love it.
You cannot love anything until you know it.
And you cannot know anything until you are willing to embrace it.

On this day, I am grateful to offer the prayer of St. Patrick…

As I arise today,

may the strength of God pilot me,

the power of God uphold me,

the wisdom of God guide me.

May the eye of God look before me,

the ear of God hear me,

the word of God speak for me.

May the hand of God protect me,

the way of God lie before me,

the shield of God defend me,

the host of God save me.

May Christ shield me today.

Amen. “Sabbath Moments”

Pope: As a pastor, I cannot be in favor of war; too many innocents have died

On the return flight to Rome, Pope Leo XIV speaks to journalists about his mission to proclaim the Gospel to all peoples, recalls child victims of the wars in Iran and Lebanon, condemns the death penalty, and insists on respect for international law.

 https://youtu.be/jFkUVE3szPY?si=YIh0a6309bKSvryr

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