“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.” — Matthew 7:12

It comes inconspicuously near the tail end of the Sermon on the Mount. Certainly it is among the most important of Jesus’ moral teachings, while at the same time a four year old can understand it.

We think about it and it makes most sense in terms of reciprocity. This is the principle that says, do good to others today so that they will do good to you in return. Reciprocity is the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit. I’ll scratch your back, and you scratch mine. Reciprocity is dealmaking with my own interest in mind. And there is nothing moral about that! This is not what Jesus means. He says so: “Even the tax collectors and Gentiles do the same” (Matthew 5:46-47). Reciprocity living only gets us as far as “an eye for an eye” way of living in relationships, and this is where revenge and retribution have chances to live and breathe.

Jesus is interested, says the Ethicist David Gushee, “In establishing for oneself a pattern of behavior ahead of and unrelated to the behavior of others. Act toward others today the way that you would want them to act toward you tomorrow.” (The Moral Teachings of Jesus, p. 96). This implies that the other may or may not respond as you hope. Jesus calls us to act irregardless of the responding behavior of the other, “to let God’s will rather then mere human reactivity set the agenda for our behavior.” (Gushee). In my mind gets at the great challenge of what it means to follow Jesus. This is hard!

Howard Thurman describes this process thus: “True spiritual freedom involves wrestling back inner control of our motivations and accepting divine direction of our behavior.” (Jesus and the Disinherited, 98-99).

Is this what Jesus has in mind for our human experiment, that in this little, simple-sounding command the retributive, violent, and death-dealing ways of the world can be changed?

I wonder what you think. Love from here!

Peter Hawkinson

“The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.” Psalm 121:8

It’s a first day for many of you, including my Bonnie. She was up and gone early for a new school season. As I left the house this morning, bear did not seem so pleased; after a summer of buzzing activity around the house, now we’re off into a new routine.

I always come back on the first day of school to memories of some worry about schoolwork (I was not a great student!) and social anxiety (can I find new friends?). And though we were not a daily devotional type of family, on the first day of school we’d gather in the living room, and dad would read Psalm 121 and remind us that God was going with us into everything new. I am thinking about how profoundly comforting such a comprehensive truth is, that in any and all of our coming and going we are never alone.

And as I sit here in my office space to begin another new week, I find myself praying for so many of you facing new seasons — some welcomed like good friends, others intrusive, and bringing uncertainty. So many new transitions right now. Retirement. A new diagnosis. Dorm drop offs and tender goodbyes. Surgical procedures, with treatments to follow. The end of treatments, finally. Job interviews. A new decade of life. Hospice care. Downsizing. Waiting for daily updates about a loved one in critical care. A new grade in a new school. Fresh grief, so deeply missing a departed partner.

There is no choice but to move forward. Life comes with new seasons and first days. They come often with some excitement and also apprehension. Mixed feelings hint at the unknown. What will happen today, this week, in the year ahead? And likely, true to our feelings, there will be some good and some hard days ahead.

God’s promise is to come along. What a blessing!

Love From Here

Peter Hawkinson

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, NRSV)

Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in comstant touch with my own limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that , and then he told me, “My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations cut me down to size — abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, The Message)

One of the many ironies of Christian faith is the call to reckon honestly and continually with our own weakness. We are told in fact that our honest assessment of our brokenness is the fertile ground for God’s grace to grow in us and through us. Make no mistake about it, ours is a faith of giving up, of letting go, of finding strength in Christ Jesus rather than trying to spend all our time and energy proving ourselves to be holy enough. This doesn’t mean we become lazy in trying to live a moral and ethical life; it’s just about where we locate our capacity to do so, and that is in the strength God’s Spirit gives us to be loving, kind, compassionate, merciful, just and righteous.

Of course, we’re fascinated by the wondering about what Paul’s thorn in the flesh, what his handicap was. An addiction maybe. Some bad relentless temptation. Certainly some deficit, some glaring weakness. The human, mortal point of course is that even St. Paul had his struggles, and so of course do you and I.

Reflecting on this sense that loving and following Jesus Christ leaves no room for pride, I wonder if Paul’s thorn in the flesh could have been his very strengths. His Charisma, his boldness, his growing fame, all contributing to his sense of self-importance. If we follow the logic, he might say that “when I am strong I am weak.” Strong, independent, self-sufficient, powerful, wealthy, successful — these are the central tenets we’re working for on our human journey. And these put our need for God’s grace on the back-burner. My wondering is if in one way or another Paul’s greatest weakness is his capacity for pride, and that he needed constantly to seek out humility which he found in his honest confession, his giving up, his giving in.

This is why we are constantly confessing our sins to God, so that we can let go, give up, give in. And always, always as we sit in our weaknesses there comes a word of mercy, of grace, of forgiveness, of God’s complete acceptance of us. And we are strengthened to begin again, with fresh experiences of being loved completely.

The way to guard yourself against selfish pride is to be honest about your own weaknesses. Every day. And then to listen for mercy, and watch for the grace of Christ to give you strength to love, to serve, to bless.

What is the handicap you have been gifted with? The thorn in the flesh that travels with you? Are you aware of and willing to share your weakness, to be vulnerable with God, who is rich in mercy and abounding in steadfast love? This is, after all, the way to find strength for life.

Love From Here

Peter Hawkinson

“Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.” Joshua 1:9, The Message

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi Berra

I would often call my folks when I was perplexed about what to do when a choice was at hand. Seeking the sage wisdom and advice of those farther down the road of life, of those who know and love me most, my dad would often respond in a way that I found unhelpful, and frankly, annoying at the time. He’d say one word, with emphasis: Proceed! Here I was, at a fork in life’s road, having to move in one direction or another, out of time, faced with a choice, which meant that I was looking for their help in nudging me in one direction or another. And all I got, essentially, was, “Well, go ahead then.” Proceed.

Looking back in my life, I wonder why I came to these moments, and come to them still with some sense that it’s a 50/50 proposition. That is, that if I choose rightly, if I can discern what God’s will is, and go in that direction or make that choice, all will be well, and I’ll get blessed. But if I make the wrong choice, that is not God’s will, then I will fail and in fact, find myself alone, without God’s guidance and blessing.

Theologically, we love to turn God into a cosmic being who’s just waiting for us to fail, or to fall. And God’s ways become daunting riddles, puzzles that if we can’t solve will find us abandoned for now, with a future much more bleak, referenced by lakes of fire. So we have to figure out our way through the gauntlet of life without a misstep. “Good luck, don’t mess up!” is what God seems to say.

This theology is rooted historically in the Church’s attempts to literally “scare the hell” out of people and get them to get saved, even back in crusade time with the tip of a sword at your throat. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all in on the need for new life in Christ! I know the blessings each day of the Holy Spirit work going on to transform my heart and mind, and the action of my hands and feet.

But It’s a God of love who we meet in the bible, and at the communion table. God who is so profoundly FOR us that God lives among us in Jesus form. God, who refuses to give up on “a stubborn and stiff necked people”, God of “Hesed”, steadfast love, God who IS love and always with us. So we don’t need to be cower in fear that one choice is right, and the other is wrong, and we’ll find out if we made the right one shortly. No, God goes with us, God is with us, wherever we go.

Which brings me back to “Proceed.” I realize with the years now that my folks were teaching me that God’s presence and blessing were not contingent on my choices, but that I couldn’t get away from the love of God in any direction, and that God has given me freedom to reflect and move forward.

This doesn’t mean every choice I’ve made has been a good one. Some, in reflecting back, were not the right one. But I’ve learned that even in those disappointments, especially in those sorrows, God’s love and grace have allowed me to learn and move forward. Like a loving parent, our heavenly Father loves us without qualification.

So whatever it might be that’s in front of you, decisions and directions big and small, just allow yourself to hear God say to your spirit, “Guess what. I will be with you wherever you go.” and then take Yogi’s advice: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Or call me up, and we can talk about it, and then I’ll say to you “well, proceed!” And we’ll laugh together.

Because God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good!

Love From Here

Peter Hawkinson