Promises, Oaths

By the time we become adults, we have sworn allegiance to many things, and then immediately broke them. We are always too proud of ourselves and too anxious to succeed to care about keeping those small promises and oaths we adopted when young.

This, unfortunately, includes those we make in church. We bow down to God, confess our sins, and in community pray to an invisible God who seems to ignore what we want (not need). We are dissatisfied always. We own a false humility and are proud of it, particularly when before others. We are proud of our material wealth and standing in society. We shun the command to have no other gods to worship. We ignore the blessings of the commandments and the beatitudes. Pride is our God.

But there is hope for us; all is not lost; all is not bad. There are times when we are truly on our knees, praying to God who is always faithful to us. We hear the name YHWH, which can mean that God will be who He will be. And that my brother is loving and caring father. In our persecutions, both personal and public, we are guaranteed the kingdom of heaven. This is God’s promise to us. This is a key part of the covenant that God made with the Israelites thousands of years ago. We clearly seed the seed of love and grace growing within us. We return to His child. We forgives us and loves us.

Let us love one another as God loves us.

©Russell Kendall Carter