Today marks the beginning of a new year, 2026. As we look ahead, we make plans, we have dreams and
hopes about what 2026 might contain, but ultimately, we place the year in God’s
hands, saying with James, “If it is the Lord’s
will, we will live and do this or that.” We have plans for the year
ahead as a council. We plan on working together as a congregation on vision and
mission. It’s a good time to reflect on the changes in our church family. There’ve
been many events that have happened since our last vision/mission time: a new
pastor, a pandemic, a complete turnover in our staff, new growth, and many important
denominational conversations. We’re the same, and yet different church now than
10+ years ago.
While we cannot control the year ahead of us, we can choose how we’ll walk through the year ahead.
I’m sure many of you wondered about choosing our passage this morning from Luke
as a New Year’s Day passage. These verses come from what is often called, The
Sermon on the Plain, which echoes a lot of what Matthew places in The Sermon on
the Mount. Luke places these verses right after a call by Jesus to love your enemies and to do good to those who hate you. Now Jesus moves on
to telling the people to be careful about judging others, or more importantly, the
spirit with how you judge others.
At the heart of Jesus’ warning is that if you judge you’ll also be judged, so
be careful how you treat others. As we enter the new year, we have a choice on
how we are going to relate with each other, and with others in our lives and
community. Will we look at others in critical ways, checking to make sure they
do all the right things or hold the right values, or are we going to choose a
different way? It’s important to note the context here, as the scholar David
Brown writes, “The thing here condemned is that disposition to look
unfavorably on the character and actions of others, which leads invariably to
the pronouncing of rash, unjust, and unlovely judgments upon them. No doubt it
is the judgments so pronounced which are here spoken of; but what our Lord aims
at is the spirit out of which they spring. Provided we eschew this unlovely
spirit, we are not only warranted to sit in judgment upon a brother’s character
and actions, but in the exercise of a necessary discrimination are often
constrained to do so for our own guidance. It is the violation of the law of
love involved in the exercise of a censorious disposition which alone is here
condemned.” It’s not wrong to hold each other to account for our actions,
but it’s how you do it that Jesus is getting at here.
Jesus offers a different way, paraphrasing what he
says, “don’t judge or condemn
and you won’t be either, don’t worry so much about the speck in other peoples’
eyes, pay attention first to what’s preventing you from seeing more clearly.”
Jesus offers a kinder way of living with each other, “Give, and it will be given to you. A
good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured
into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” How we treat others will reflect back on us.
When we’re overly critical of others, they’ll return that same kind of criticism back on
us. Over time, people withdraw from those who are harsh, recognizing that it
will likely only be a matter of time before they’re the ones who’ll be harshly
judged for not measuring up, and often, in self-defense will attack the
critical person first. The reality is, none of us ever completely measure up. This
is why Jesus came to take our sin and brokenness on himself and to bring
healing and reconciliation with God and others.
The positive side of Jesus’ teaching is that “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will
be poured into your lap,” goes with other
passages that talk about how God’s cup of blessing runs over. Jesus is using a
business image here, a merchant who is generous with his customers will be
judged and evaluated in a generous way by others. Another way of saying this
is, the way you treat others is the way others will treat you, kindness and
generosity create kindness and generosity in return. At the heart of this is
beginning the year with the goal of becoming more like Jesus and joining him in
what he’s doing; the best way to do this is to keep our eyes on Jesus.
How do you create eyes for seeing God and what’s he’s
doing? What are some spiritual practices or ways of looking
at the world through the eyes of God that might be helpful for noticing and
responding to what God’s doing in the midst of the chaos of life. The Examen is
a way of prayer developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola in the late 16th century
that invites prayerful reflection back over the events of the day in order to recognize
God’s presence and figure out God’s direction for our lives. A good friend in
Montreal, Father David, introduced me to Ignatius, who developed the Jesuit
order. Ignatius required his followers to practice the Examen every lunch and
evening. It involves 5 steps:
1. Become aware
of God’s presence. As you pray, ask the Holy Spirit to help you see God’s
hand at work in the events of the day.
2. Review the day with gratitude. Gratitude is an important way of
engaging our day and helping us to recognize God’s presence and the joys and
little gifts that are part of each day. Look at the work you accomplished, the
people you met, those you helped, and those who helped you, the food you ate,
the small pleasures in the day. Give God thanks.
3. Pay attention to your emotions. Ignatius recognized that we
often experience the presence of God through our emotions. When did we
experience happiness, boredom, resentment, compassion, anger, contentment, and asking
what is God saying through those feelings. Often it will be to recognize where
we need to still grow, but often it can also help us recognize when something
is wrong and act as a call to be God’s agent in making it right again.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. This may be an
emotion you experienced, an event or person you encountered, or a direction
from God to pay more attention to.
5. Look toward tomorrow. Ask Jesus for direction and guidance for
the day ahead, and for the strength and wisdom needed for where he is leading.
End your prayer by talking with God, asking for forgiveness and grace,
thanking Jesus for who he is, asking questions you have, and sharing problems
you’re working through.
As we enter this new year, may your eyes and hearts be
open to seeing the blessings and presence of God each day, and may this guide
you through 2026.
No comments:
Post a Comment