Emptied and Filled
Good Morning Friends,
I have often wondered about the importance of real fellowship in the conversion of the church to actually be a tool for healthy community building. As we behold the places in which we live and work and worship I think the hope is in the power to live and work with people upon the basis of absolute love and honesty. Here we must be Emptied and Filled.
Scripture: Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 (NRSV)
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. The dread anger of a king is like the growling of a lion; anyone who provokes him to anger forfeits life itself.
Proverbs 20:1-2 (NRSV)
Final Exhortations, Greetings, and Benediction
But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters,
to respect those who labour among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, beloved,
to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets,
but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 (NRSV)
Message: The words of the Bible are great but to absorb them I have found it is almost essential for them to be translated though the lives of people in relationship one with another to get real traction. The work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Sam Shoemaker, an Episcopal priest, is such an example of how such engagement can create change. He had a role as a spiritual guide for the establishment of Alcoholics Anonymous but the Holy Spirit also expressed a vision for the cities of the world through him. In an interesting way, the work of the Holy Spirit through him passed on to others has become part of the DNA of how I view the church and the communities in which I live. There is much to be learned about life from the lives of people who affirm God. So this morning as I behold this life I have been given and rejoice in the faith that is put to work in me I imagine what steps Sam Shoemaker might have suggested. For those who have a vision of a community with an identity linked to God I offer, with apologies to the twelve steps, the following guide for leaders:
- Admit we are powerless over our communities and churches—that our lives have become unmanageable because of them in their overflowing and emptiness.
- Believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore our churches and cities to sanity.
- Decide to turn our will for our communities and churches and our lives over to the care of God.
- Make a search and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, our churches and communities and cities.
- Admit to God, to ourselves, and to the world the exact nature of our corporate and shared wrongs.
- Be ready to have God remove all these defects of corporate character.
- Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
- Make a list of all people groups we as a church, community and city have harmed, and became willing to make amends to them.
- Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continue to take personal inventory, and when wrong, promptly admitted it.
- Seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, carry this message to public officials, laity and ministers and priests as a practice of these principles in all our affairs.
Pray that the peace of God sanctity us and the communities in which we live and work and worship. Pray that our spirit, soul and mind be kept blameless. Pray that the power of the grace of Jesus Christ fill us to overflowing. Pray for a great awakening from our drunkenness and a revival of unity of the social and spiritual realities of life.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 