Tag: Jeanne Penoyar

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

I’m going to guess that most of you reading this post today believe you have the first and greatest commandment down pat. Love God. It’s the “with all our heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” part that I question. I also question it in myself. Is my love for God whole? Or are parts of me still holding back? I ask because if we truly did love God wholly, do we really need the second commandment? Think about it. Perhaps it depends on our definition of what it means to love wholly. But this will not be the focus of today’s reflection.

Instead, let’s look at “The Greatest Commandment, Part II.” Or, the Sequel. Love of neighbor. For this, I’d like to offer you a blueprint for love of neighbor, one that I’ve used often in prayer and when delving into my understanding of how to love others. I hope this will help you also:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”   -1 Corinthians 13:1:7

There – the blueprint. The road map. What I most like about using this passage in my journey to loving others is that I can take baby steps. The first part reminds us that loving is more important than anything else we do. But the second part – this part lets us take those small steps. We can pick this apart and work on each of our shortcomings.

Perhaps we can start with patience if that is your downfall. Maybe it’s arrogance or irritability. Rudeness is a big one; jealousy, or perhaps too much rejoicing when someone you dislike experiences hard times. Are we happy in that? Or can we instead say a prayer for that person to help them? You must know that if you have not yet moved forward in your efforts to love, it cannot be done all at once. Dissect the blueprint. Pick one step and take the time necessary to improve this act of love. You may have to bite your tongue along the way. Try not to! But if you do, step back a bit on the road and look just ahead of you. What could you have done differently? Then, step forward and try again. Each time, with practice, should be easier. One – step – at – a – time!

Note that Jesus says we must love our neighbor, but often, I am asked how to define a neighbor. Well, look up from your phone and texting and social media and glance around you. You will find no shortage of neighbors to love. Whatever their race, creed, ideology, nationality, age, sexual orientation, body type or hair color — these are your neighbors. These are the folks you are commanded to love. Jesus also said that we should love these neighbors as we love ourselves. Love of self must be in the likeness of Jesus’ love for us, not in self-centeredness. Understanding how Jesus loves you will move you forward on our journey to loving your neighbor. Then, perhaps one day, who knows when our love of neighbor will also include those enemies whose only goal is to destroy us. An outlandish idea? Not in the eyes of Jesus. Yes, perhaps one day! Perhaps —

God Bless.

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Last week Friday I was positive about the direction this post would take, based on today’s readings. I love the Deuteronomy reading when Moses, almost chiding the Israelites about the wonders they had seen; the wonders God performed for them to bring them out of Egypt and to freedom. The Israelites did not always appreciate it.

And then we have today’s Gospel about taking up your cross and following Christ. We are told that this is the way to gain eternal life in the Kingdom, regardless of what we gain here on earth.

Yup! I really thought I had this down. Until this past Saturday, when I attended the funeral of my friend and neighbor, Bob. Bob and his wife Ann live next to me in my condo complex (so close that we cannot open our condo doors at the same time!). I’d call over there, and Bob would ask if I was calling “long-distance”, or if I was visiting, he’d ask if I needed a ride home. It always made me smile. I’ve known them for years, but there is always more to learn about someone’s story.

My original instincts for today was to take the route through the Gospel that, while carrying our own crosses in life, big or small, we would ease our own burdens by somehow easing the burdens of another. And, quite frankly, that is exactly what Bob did all his life. He made people smile. And that made people happy. And that would if only for a few short moments, make life a bit more bearable for some.

Now, I’m not a social media person. I don’t have a Facebook page. Bob had one. I now feel a bit cheated that I was not connected to him in this way, also. Because all I heard at the funeral was about how Bob’s page made people smile. Often he would tell me that he was going to “check on his peeps.”  We were all Bob’s Peeps. He posted his corny Dad Jokes, as he called them; every day he would in some way wish everyone a good whatever day it was. He loved Wednesdays, Hump Day. His Facebook page was called “If You Grew Up in Grand Rapids/Kent County You Remember” – and it had 23,000 followers. Yes, 23,000! People he would never meet or get to know. But they knew Bob.

He wore smiley face suspenders and considered the smiley face his family crest! Now come-on, you’ve just got to smile at that!

Bob was 72 when he died last week. His last few years were hard ones because of medical issues and complications thereof. But he always tried to put on a happy face when with others. I don’t recall him ever really complaining about his health, but to occasionally mention that walking was getting harder. According to Ann, he was even cracking jokes to the doctors when he was having toes amputated due to diabetes. I expect the smile put on the faces of the doctors also made their job easier.

The point of all of this is that we can, no matter what cross life has given us to bear, make the cross borne by others easier to bear. It often doesn’t take much: a smile, a joke, a warm handshake, or a hug.

God Bless.

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Genesis gives us the graphic, if not also cryptic, story of Jacob wrestling with God. And much to our surprise, Jacob prevails. And once again, as we have seen before in the Scriptures, God changes a name to make note of the changes of an “old self” to a “new self.” Abram became Abraham; Sarai became Sarah, and Jacob became Israel. There is so much to this story that we could take the day to pick it apart and try to make some sense of it and what it means for our lives today.

It is accepted that the “man” Jacob wrestled with was God, in human form. At morning when God wanted to end the struggle, Jacob said “no”, not until God gave him a blessing. Some might say this was quite an arrogant request, asking for a blessing. It reminds me of when Abraham argued with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. “Will you not spare the cities for the sake of fifty righteous people”? …then forty-five…then forty…then thirty…and finally for ten righteous people. Abraham dared to continue to argue with God for these folks and we could ask how Abraham could be so arrogant while in the presence of God.

But don’t we do the same thing? Don’t we sometimes show our arrogance in the things we ask for in prayer, whether directly to God the Father, or to Jesus, or to the Holy Spirit? After all, who are we to ask for such things? Who are we to think that God, in his almighty, omnipotent personhood would listen to us? Pause and take a breath. Yes, we will ask. And, yes, God will listen.

I like to think that Jacob, in asking for a blessing (in spite of being left weak and slightly crippled by the encounter), knew enough of the goodness of God, and God’s love for his creation, that the blessing would be granted. God will do the same for us.

Think back, recent or long past, when you have struggled with your spiritual self, looking for support, and yes, a blessing to get through a tough time in your life. Did you survive? Did you even recognize the blessing? Often, we don’t. And then, it will be years later when pondering our lives that we will see that the blessing was there all along, and only now being manifested. I know I can. I look at where I am today, after the twists and turns of my life, my family, my career, and my relationships, and see how God has guided me to this place. It is in our prayer and relationship with God and his Son that we will eventually see that the good things, in spite of the hard knocks of life, have brought us to a better place spiritually.

The blessings we dare to ask for should not be for riches or gain of any kind. These blessings will be for the heart; for the soul that longs to be in communion with its creator and God. Our asking is not arrogant on our part, nor is it weak. It is, rather, a humble acknowledgment that God is in charge, and we should have nothing about which to worry. Oh, we will worry. But worry will eventually pass as we flee to the peaceful and strong arms of our God, of our Savior, and to the Spirit who will bolster our spirits and give us courage.

It is in this fleeing that we will see the face of God. We will see the face of God and reap a blessing beyond anything the world can give. It is ours only for the asking.

God Bless.

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Can you even fathom a thousand generations? By today’s standard of 20-25 years per generation, we would go back, from today, 20,000 to 25,000 years. Calendars didn’t even exist then, to mark the years as we do today. Let’s just agree it is a very long time. By God’s standard, it is an eternity.

God made covenants with Abram, Noah, and others. An unbreakable promise of fidelity. Today we enter in “contracts” of many kinds: credit card company terms; a mortgage on our house; contracts between two parties to collaborate on an issue; employment terms or simply promises made — and on and on. So, what’s the big deal.

Here’s the big deal – a promise made or a contract broken is one person to another. I break my contract with you, and you either forget the contract or sue me for breach. God, on the other hand, will not! That is the nature of covenant. I forget to love and honor others, or to obey his precepts; he does not forget us. God cannot and will not, break his promises to us, regardless of careless attention to our part of the deal.

The covenant God made with Abram was profound. Abram’s name will be changed to Abraham to signify that something different is happening and Abraham will have descendants as numerous as the stars. All from one son who will be born to him and Sarah (Sarai) in their very old age.

Today, we celebrate the New Covenant given us by Jesus with the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. The old covenant given by God (the sacrifice of bulls & other animals) is replaced with something more precious, the sacrifice of his Son. Jesus’ own body and blood for our spiritual food. His own! And again, though we constantly sin, constantly ignore what is good for us, Jesus does not forget us! His covenant is binding to a thousand generations. How small, how insignificant our own lifetimes in comparison.

You may recall that the covenant with Noah was sealed by a bow – a rainbow in the sky – a promise that God will never again destroy humankind in such a way. Whether or not you believe the story of the great flood literally, or figuratively, doesn’t matter. God made a covenant promise that will stand forever. And Jesus will never, no matter what we do, withdraw the great gift of himself given as the New Covenant.

Sometime last year, I recall, backing out of my garage and turning to drive from the parking area. As I turned the car, there in front of me, in the early morning sky, was the largest, most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen. It was so vibrant and seemed so close; I thought I could reach out my car window and touch it. I was so excited! It was gorgeous. I tried to call my neighbor to look out to see it, but I fumbled because I didn’t want to lose sight of the rainbow before it faded.

Every time I see a rainbow, I am mindful of the great promises of God and his fidelity to us. I believe this phenomenon of nature was designed to do just that. To help us to remember the great love of God and his Son for we simple, humble beings. How could we not be excited?

God Bless.

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Does anyone remember this quote from President George H.W. Bush:

“For we are a nation of communities, of thousands and tens of thousands of ethnic, religious, social, business, labor union, neighborhood, regional and other organizations, all of them varied, voluntary and unique. This is America … a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.” — Aug. 18, 1988

I often think of these words whenever I hear the Gospel about having to be the light of the world; about having to put my light upon a lampstand so that it will shine to all who come near; about having to let others see my good deeds so that they will glorify the heavenly Father. Oh my, such a burden you and I bear.

The word “light” is found in the bible 146 times in the Old Testament, and 58 in the New Testament. Not all references are as profound as that of today’s Gospel, but they were important references. We are also salt; “salt of the earth” you’ve heard many times. Salt was a precious commodity in ancient times. Often, wages were paid in salt rather than money. It was needed that much.

These statements of Jesus are integral to our lives as Christians. These statements pretty much sum up who we are and how we are to live our lives as Christians. I would believe that if we take to heart that we as “salt” can transform another the same as the way salt will transform the taste of food, much would be accomplished. I would also believe that if we take to heart that we are “light”, and live as a light to the world, we will transform others who come to see our light and come to know the Lord.

This is a lot to live up to. We can very easily fall into the trap of not wanting the light because of all it will reveal about us. The same as sunlight through a window shows us all the dust in our homes, so does the light of the Lord shining on us show us the “dust” of sin in our hearts. We often don’t want to see, but we must. You can close off your heart all you want, but the Lord is determined to transform you so that you can transform others, and that light will find the smallest crack in your defenses and will begin to permeate your life. And onward it goes.

I’d like to look, once again, at President Bush’s quote and change it a bit.

“For we are a Church, of thousands and tens of thousands of ethnicities, of men and women, of neighborhoods, social, business, regional and other, all of them varied, and unique. This is our Church — a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky. And hopefully, someday, a broad and peaceful world for the Lord.”

Go forth and be salt. Go forth and be light!

God Bless.

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