Mighty To Save

Today's Forward Day by Day meditation asks: "How often do we think that we possess the absolute truth?" and then concludes by asking "What motivates you to serve others?" For hundreds of Thousands of Rotarians worldwide, service and truth are closely connected.

Rotary's motto is "Service Above Self." One of the ways Rotarians can serve is by being bridge builders. The United States of America is fracturing into two opposing sides. As we saw on January 6, the rules have changed. The number of people who would wish to break up the United States so they can be surrounded by like-minded people is staggering. Civil war is a real possibility in the years ahead. Rotarian can serve by seeing the ways that Rotary can be a force for understanding, reconciliation, respect, peace. Building peace is in fact one of the 7 focus areas of Rotary.

Rotary has a "Four Way Test" based on Truth, Fairness, Friendships, and Mutual Benefits. If Rotarians could apply the Four Way test more in their lives to bridge the gaps, Rotarians could help serve the greater good. Many Rotarians are understandably leery about "politicizing" Rotary, but that's not the idea. Rotary needs to look beyond only peace building in underdeveloped, war torn countries. Rotary needs to recognize that the United States and other developed countries have a problem with peace building internally.

It all begins with having the wisdom of Jesus. The wisdom that it takes an "infant" mind to truly see. Children, especially infants, are utterly trusting in their parents. We have a wonderful parent in God who is perfect and loves us. Yet too often we trust too much in our own opinions, knowledge, friends, families, allies, and traditions. When we recognize that God is the true Father/Mother we should trust, we are truly wise. 🙏

1 Corinthians 1:10c: "That you be united in the same mind and the same purpose."

Today's Forward Day by Day meditation talks about the decline of membership the US Episcopal Church faces today and quotes Presiding Bishop Michael Curry: "In order for the sun to rise on Easter morning, we must harness all our creative resources and come together to serve Jesus, not ourselves. We must collaborate in order to serve the movement, not to save the institution.”

The FDBD author asks "What does it mean to serve the movement of Jesus first, and the institution of the church second?"

The meditation prompted a wonderful array of reactions from the FDBD brothers and sisters. Some celebrating change, others urging sticking to tradition. All shared in love and respect.

In the face of declining attendance in the Anglican churches of the developed world, To pass Good Friday and see the Easter Dawn we have to embrace both change and tradition.

Jesus summed up the long, wild Bible story: Love God, Love Your Neighbor. Too many Christians are preaching a Gospel devoid of love for their neighbors, the non-Christians or "incorrect" Christians, whom they see as an existential threat and/or doomed to damnation. On the other side, there are the Christians who see Christianity and other world religions as utterly similar, just a personal preference, so they don't feel it's important to love God by sharing God's love in the Gospel. Bad theology matters.
With some of the loudest Christians not loving enough, and the more loving Christians staying silent, the non-Christian world sees Christianity as increasingly hostile to peace and global cooperation.

God works in mysterious ways. Right now we see anger and division in America. But in truth a major evangelical opportunity exists, including in the Episcopal Church of the USA and the Anglican community worldwide. Christians must unite to show the courage, faith and humility to work together to bring a Gospel showing love for God and our fellow man into the world. In uniting on the core values of the Jesus Movement, we can tap into a deep yearning in America for lowering the partisan tensions that divide and cripple us.

In the time of Jesus, like now, we have to start by redefining who is our "neighbor" and learning to love people who are radically different from us. Even people who voted for another President!

Today's Forward Day by Day meditation asks "Do you give more credence to the words of the wealthy than those of the poor? What would Jesus say about your answer?"

We are all probably guilty of giving more credence to the wealthy rather than the poor. Part of this error is understandable and aspirational since we hope the wealthy will use their wealth to advance what we believe can make our world better. But mostly our error is grounded in the false assumption that the wealthy know better as they are wiser and smarter. That may be somewhat true for rags to riches stories, but many of today's wealthy didn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps. They just kept on cashing in the silver spoons given to them.

Today we have examples of wealthy people pledging to use their wealth for the greater good. We see the Bill Gates and the Warren Buffets who go so far as to pledge half of their personal wealth to charity. Why don't we encourage and even STRONGLY encourage the wealthy to donate more to public causes. Especially those wealthy persons who spend billions on dubious efforts, like those who rocket their masculine, Freudian aspirations into space.

As for our leaders, who should beware the leaders who scream their undying love of the little guy while unfailingly supporting policies that favor the rich, especially the richest "persons" (according to the Supreme Court) of all: Corporations. Even when those policies don't benefit or even hurt the little guy.

We should all support policies that help all of us, especially the little guy, especially the poor. Jesus would like that answer. 🙏

Today's Forward Day by Day meditation asks: "Which psalm has particular meaning for you?" Psalm 22 in many ways encapsulates all the soaring joy and deep sadness of the Psalms. Christ quoted Psalm 22 on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

It’s one of the most wonderful examples of how the Old Testament foresaw the coming of Jesus.
“Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.”

The psalm ends on a much more hopeful note with God coming to the rescue and the entire world believing in the God of the Bible. The commentary makes it seem that Jesus was in perfect control when he quoted this psalm.

Maybe he was. Jesus consciously quoted the psalm knowing that it ends in hope and victory. But in that moment perhaps the human nature of Jesus truly understood the feeling of utter abandonment, pain and hopelessness. That was probably the most perfect moment when Jesus was both human and God at once. 🙏