What Can We Do?

April 27, 2009

Monday of the Third Week of Easter

Now Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people. Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and people from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and debated with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. Acts 6:8-10

Jesus answered them and said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal." John 6:26-27

Piety

I Need to Breathe Deeply by Ted Loder in Guerillas of Grace

Eternal Friend,
grant me an ease
to breathe deeply of this moment,
this light,
this miracle of now.
Beneath the din and fury
of great movements
and harsh news
and urgent crises,
make me attentive still
to good news,
to small occasions,
and the grace of what is possible
for me to be,
to do,
to give,
to receive,
that I may miss neither my neighbor's gift
nor my enemy's need.

Study

What can we do to accomplish the word of God?

Once we taste and see the goodness of the Lord, then we can not stay away from his table of plenty. Last week we read how Peter and Paul could not NOT witness to everything that they saw. Now, we see that drive reflected in Stephen. When the Holy Spirit is at work, the crowds who can not resist the attraction of Jesus’ love and how that love is reflected back through disciples like Peter, Paul and Stephen.

Watching moths in the summer evening when the outdoor lights go on, we watch the insects fly toward the light instinctively. Do we have an inherent instinct to be drawn to good (the word of God) or do we have an inherent instinct to be drawn toward evil?

Forces of the world never stop tempting us until they break down all our barriers (self control) and succumb to the promise of affection, esteem, power and control. But, the Holy Spirit does not take a day off either. For the Spirit, every day is a holy day (holiday). Whether working through the saints, our clergy, our family, or the homeless person on the park bench, the Spirit is drawing us to works of mercy. Even the homeless person on the bench reflects the face of an angel of God. From these ministers, our attraction to the word of God becomes as strong as our attraction to breathing.

Action

What can we do to accomplish the word of God? All around us are distractions. How can we focus on the word of God and not the word of ABCCNNBCCBS bring us the latest things to worry and obsess over (swine flu, the NFL Draft, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the World Bank protests, diversifying your portfolio, gay marriage, the President speaking at Notre Dame)?

Jesus teaches the what. "Believe!"

Jesus also teaches the how. “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal." Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

What is your program to strengthen your belief this week? What is your plan of action for God’s love? Nothing happens if it does not get planned. How will you diversify your plan of Christian action for this week?