Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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David remains the greatest king in Israel's history.
Shepherd boy. Giant slayer. Songwriter.
King.
Adulterer. Murderer.
He confessed and repented. He was restored.
A precursor to his/our most important relative, he longed
for God's people to enflesh the united way.
"How wonderful, how beautiful when brothers and sisters
get along!
That's where God commands the blessing!"
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While I know the
United Way stirs ideological spasms of affirmation/antagonism from the aisles,
the Boone County, Illinois version enables lots of good stuff.
So I felt good
about being asked to sub for who they really wanted to pray at their annual
breakfast kick-off on 9/19 at 7:00 a.m.
Besides(1), I was
headed to the Boone County Jail after breakfast and the United Way of Boone
County provides counseling, mentoring, and educational opportunities for
gals/guys locked up in that joint.
Besides(2), when
I was a 1st year seminarian, Dr. David Watermulder, president of the seminary's
board of trustees and senior undershepherd
of one of the franchise's most "important" churches, advised, "No
matter who they are and if it doesn't conflict with your church's calendar,
take every opportunity to speak because it's another chance to spread the
gospel."
I prayed; then as
I was leaving for the jail, a few attendees asked for a copy of the prayer.
That's been a
problem since I was in my early years of undershepherding
ministry; for I think I heard Him say as I began to pray a prayer on
Sunday that I'd written on Friday, "Bob, we went over that on
Friday. Don't you have anything new to talk about? Truly, this is
supposed to be a conversation not a script. Prayer is not a show or
recital. Let's talk."
I promised to
post a summary here from what I can recollect.
Of course, most
of this prayer has been obsessing my prayers for months; so I think what
follows is pretty close to what I prayed earlier.
Repeating...until...
Yeah, I'll bet in a Christian kinda way that
I pray it again on 9/22 at both services with the second one broadcast live via
www.bnnsradio.com at 10:00 a.m.
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These are
dangerous days, Lord.
Hosea is our
contemporary: "There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no
knowledge of God in the land. There is swearing, lying, murder, stealing,
and committing adultery. They break all bounds and bloodshed follows
bloodshed. Therefore, the land...[America]...mourns."
When we peer into
confessional candor's mirror, we see we are often more part of the disease than
remedy by our prejudices, pettiness, party loyalties, vain idolatries
masquerading as virtuous ideologies and denominational allegiances, competing
ministries, barking, biting, beating, and butchering.
Selfishness, the
deadly dark virus from the pit of hell, is rationalized and enabled at the
expense of Your commanding call, "Love each other just as much as I have
loved you" with grace,
mercy, and forgiveness.
The golden rule -
love others as much as you love yourself and do for them as you want them to do
for you - has been polluted/poisoned by self before service and the demonically
inspired obsession with "my" rights, needs, feelings, opinions, and
concerns.
Even churches and
community organizations that should know Him better and have, at least, heard
about confirming Godly belief with Godly behavior are sooooooo sorely divided
and, therefore, ineffective as well as grotesquely hypocritical in telling
others how to get along and cooperate and care for each other when they don't because of
their passions for segregating and separating and enabling disaffections and
disunity as Democrats and Republicans, Bears and Packers, Cubs and White Sox,
Bucs and Thunder, Baptists, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists,
Lutherans, Pentecostals, and other schismatics in defiance of Your high
priestly prayer that all may be one through You so that the world will believe
and then behave like believers with invitation, inclusion, welcome, and agape.
Maybe, today,
right here, right now, we will stop going through the motions of faith and
start living faith and modeling Someone better.
The united way.
The world,
nation, states, communities, churches, and all
of the below are starving for Someone better.
Maybe, today,
right here, right now, we can start reflecting that Someone's selfless caring
and bearing and sharing with generous hearts and helping hands.
Maybe, today,
right here, right now, we can take David's longing and enflesh it in our lives:
"How blessed it is when people are united."
Really.
No more skits and
shows and drama and theater...and posing.
Really.
Now.
From now on.
No more
compromises and accommodations with naysayers and nitpickers and the naughty
who say and do little nice.
Now.
From now on.
"Let there
be peace on earth as it is
in heaven...Let it begin with me/us..."
Right here.
Right now.
From now on.
As prescribed in
Holy Scripture.
As perfectly
patterned by Jesus in whose name we pray.
Amen.
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Blessings and Love!
1 comment:
Good stuff!
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