Tag: Jesus

Christ as King

 In ancient times, kings, priests, and prophets were often anointed with oil to signify God’s choice for a special role. The word Christ means ‘the anointed one’ and for Jesus it is a title signifying his divine anointing to redeem humanity, fulfill prophecy, and establish God’s kingdom.* During Jesus’ time you can understand why the King of Rome and Herod, the Roman Jewish king of Judea, were concerned about being overthrown. But God had other plans.

Power over people seems to be infusing our world today with horrific displays of violence spurred on by unrelenting activism. This power grab is intentionally driven by terrorists. And, too often it is the leadership of Western governments who don’t understand the folly of their policies which select winners and losers for their social experiments thereby inflicting pain in other ways.

I’m done with the violence and these experiments! When Jesus was preaching the gospel to his apostles and disciples he was saying this, that God is done with the powerful who actively work to make you surrender your soul to their will. It’s God’s will be done, not an emperor’s will and not a terrorist’s will. Jesus Christ was born to affirm God’s love for all people. The power hungry always ignore this message because it undermines their control.

There is hard terrorism that uses guns and other weapons of violence against unsuspecting people. But there is also a soft terrorism that uses government policies and court systems to unleash inconsistencies that destabilize peaceful environments. Both are used to adopt a message of fear. God would never envision this for his creation. Jesus knew this.

Consider the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples:

The Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13 / Luke 11:2-4) 

  • “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”: (Praise & God’s Sovereignty) 
  • “Give us today our daily bread.”: (Provision & Daily Dependence) 
  • “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”: (Forgiveness & Mercy) 
  • “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”: (Guidance & Protection) 

Key Themes for Disciples 

  • God-Centered Focus: Start with God’s glory, not just your own needs. 
  • Trust & Dependence: Rely on God daily for everything, like needing “daily bread”. 
  • Forgiveness: Acknowledge your need for forgiveness and extend it to others. 
  • Surrender: Pray for God’s will to be done, showing surrender to His plan. 
  • Spiritual Warfare: Ask for strength to overcome temptation and evil.*

No king of Rome or of the Jewish state needed to be concerned about Jesus assuming their power. Jesus understood that his power was the Word. The only control Jesus had was the ability to ease mankind’s souls. His teachings did this. God anointed him as Jesus Christ. We bow only to God. Is Jesus a king? Perhaps. I would much rather consider him as God’s disciple. This means that each of us can be God’s disciple too.

Happy birthday Jesus. May we understand your love for us all.

*found with the help of Google 🙂

Where Is My Church?

I left my faith two years ago.  Before that time I was very committed to the faith of my birth, Unitarian Universalism.  Ever since my children were born I served my church in various roles: teacher, membership chair, governing board member and past president, personnel committee chair, leadership facilitator, and docent of its historic site.

Unitarian Universalism is described as a liberal religion characterized by a “free and responsible search for truth and meaning”, open to all persons, and without a creed.  Long before gay marriage became legal, we affirmed this right of passage and performed many of these unions. Born out of the Judeo-Christian traditions, the faith now preaches that Love is their doctrine.

I have come to see that my church has lost its way during this time of racial upheaval and that it is trapped in today’s climate of identity politics.  It started after the 2017 presidential election when the Unitarian Universalist Association began to promote the “Resistance”.   During that time the Faith in Action Committee became heavily focused on social justice issues like the Black Lives Matter movement and White Privilege re-education.  Now they march for the Poor People’s Campaign, everyone’s right for employment, and sustainable living wages.

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The members of Unitarian Universalism have a long tradition of being inclusive and justice seeking which aligns well with the faith’s democratic governance structure.  This method of “doing church” helped me to ground myself in governance models that are inclusive and sensitive to just action.  These models I easily applied to my role as a city councilor, and I was able to create needed change in my community of diverse hearts and minds.  However, “doing church” and “creating communities of justice” is not the same as “worship”.

Worship is the feeling and expression of reverence for a deity.  One should not worship money, a privilege, or a social cause in place of God…this will cause emotional suffering when one comes to understand that the object replacing the worship of God is fallible.  I see this happening in our larger cities…Government is expected to solve all of humanity’s problems.  The more troubling thing is that most if not all churches now are misguided in their worship practice.

Like Jesus turning the tables of the greedy and manipulative money changers at the Temple, we must shake ourselves awake to our true purpose as caring individuals spreading the Good News that God wants us all to know; our Creator loves us and our prayerful good deeds lead directly to Him.  This would be my church and my proudest affiliation.  Does this worship experience exist for me here on earth without racial creeds or social justice dogma?  Like Jesus, each of us must find our direct link to  The ever loving God.

Peace always.