Author: rkcdlitt

Patience

My mother always told me that I never had patience when it came to things I wanted. That was many decades ago; I have learned patience now. I no longer feel powerless when I see things that are wrong in God’s world, at least what I perceive to be wrong. I have learned to manage my emotions, seeking freedom from human feelings such as envy or anger. With God’s help, I try to manage my emotions into positive words and actions.

Sorry, I digressed; much of my learned patience has to do with others. I begin by saying something good about all whom I meet; I invalidate other voices that condemn a person because of color or gender. But I do realize that what the other person feels is important to them and therefore to God and then it must be to me. My patience allows those I disagree with to voice their opinions. Hopefully, discussion will then follow.

I recently was in a group discussion on blessed and good communities in church settings. I spoke against the genderization of God. God is not human, and we must teach our ministers to eliminate the masculine use of He when referring to God; I also stated that men could be upset with the term She. I emphasized that there are so many praises and biblical names we use for God that we can eliminate all genderization.

I have gained patience from my ever-present closeness to God. I am blessed by God’s patience with me; I pray that I share that patience when dealing with my brothers and sisters who share God’s blessings. God sent Jesus into this world to lead us to perfection. We are not as strong as Jesus, but we can embody His patience within us as we offer our patience to others.

© Russell Kendall Carter

How is God speaking to you today? Is He asking what you are doing with the gifts He has so freely given? There are so many people in this world and so many ways that we who realize God’s mission and our place in His grand scheme help others who are lost to be found. Open God’s door for others to come in.

Since joining to St. George’s church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I have grown so much spiritually that my one sincere desire is to share my gifts, given by our loving God, to enrich the lives of others. Our church leaders have shown me how my deeds can help me be a better steward of God’s Love.

Proverbs says, “The wise share with others the choice food and wine, but fools gulp theirs down in depravity.” What does that mean to those of us who follow God’s will? To me, God is telling me to use the gifts he has bestowed on me to serve others, as faithful servants of His Grace and Love. The gifts you have are not like mine; in many ways they are better . . . when shared with others. I ask that you look at time you have each week; find a few minutes or an hour that you can ask, “God, what can I do with this time to help those in need of Your Grace?”

God is inviting us to serve; this is one of the greatest messages we learn from the life of Jesus. Follow in His footsteps; invite others to follow him. Perhaps your talents are in sharing his food, instructing his children, building a ramp for a wheelchair-bound brother or sister. Or maybe your talents are in financial planning for the good of the congregation or writing a grant to chare God’s bounty with our brothers and sisters suffering in poverty in Haiti. Look inside your soul; there is a yearning for you to complete your life by serving others in His name.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Bewildered

We are bewildered by those who don’t believe!!

I use a double exclamation because I cannot understand how a person cannot recognize what I find so evident. I have been blessed with a wonderful wife and two children. They are all loving, caring, and giving people. But they do not share the depth of accepting God’s presence in their lives. They believe, but I know they question. God loves them; I love them. They attend church and share their bounty with those in need. They are good people to whom I do not preach.

My life has had many difficulties; as I look back on how I overcame the trials, I see that there was an unseen force that opened doors for me to cross. I say to my wife that I have loved her long before I was placed in my mother’s womb. We share a love that is eternal. And if it is truly eternal, it was present before we met. This is God acting in our lives.

I think of John’s opening: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” God is within us before we met and will be with us long after we shed these mortal bodies. How am I to react to people who doubt? Is it my place to try to convert them? I think not. I write a spiritual prayer blog daily. In my writing, I reach out to people trying to comfort them with the word of God.

I was once criticized by one of my fellow church members for giving money to the beggar. She said that all he would do is buy more drugs or liquor. My rector commended me for this kindness reminding me that God wants me to share what I have. What the recipient does with my gift is between him and God. It is not my place to judge him. Only God is worthy to judge us.

Saying this, I meet nonbelievers every day’ I share love with them. I do not try to convert them; I do pray for them. God loves them as God loves me. In God’s eyes, we are equal and equally worthy.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Our work for spreading love is not over; in fact, it has just begun. We are daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers; therefore, we are all one family. We may have our disagreements; we may all have different directions in which we go. Living in love is God’s will for all of our lives, not just a select few. Relating to people with the spirit of love in our hearts is the living heartbeat of our lives, the very warmth of our spirits.

We love each other; we are devoted to each other, with honor for all and live with goodness in our lives, The peace, the love of God. Our love is sincere and opens our hearts just a little wider spread God’s goodness with each person we recognize as a person of love. We walk in the light of Christ’s path; we give thanks and praise for interpersonal meeting, for this is the will of God.

When we love, we welcome all of our and brothers and sisters. As Jesus did many times, we bring them to our table and feed them both with food and with love. Our love is sincere; our love is good. At this table we give thanks for the presence of God and for the presence of our friend. We find the evidence of God when we practice love toward our neighbor, our new friend, our new brother. We both open our hearts to God’s Love and Truth. We are His children. Our work for love and good is never over; it renews its need every morning we rise in God’s true light.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Western civilization is in a state of emergency. As we see what is occurring around us, this puts us into a state of spiritual uncertainty, spiritual emergency. In the present condition of our country and the world’s society, injustices are growing. People of color are deprived of basic human needs. Our lower classes are considered to be expendable just as the poor were expendable in the beginnings of the industrial societies in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. We are returning to a time of those with assets using those without as if they were machines to be discarded after they have served any useful purpose.

There are those who want to quiet any opinion or public outlook that does not agree with their own. We are entering a time that seems to parallel the society in A Clockwork Orange, where the government and thought police abuse everyone except themselves. This is not what God wants from us.

Jesus speaks of the destruction of human society where nations fight against nations; in this case the fight is between the haves and the have-nots. Unless we change our outlook, there will not be a day when we can speak our minds publicly. Before this goes deeper into our culture, we must speak against these neo-thought police until what God wants returns to the norm. God promises that God will never abandon us; He will be with us through all our times of trial. He assures us that we will never be alone as we stand for His word against those who corrupt or misinterpret. God loves us; we must trust His love and His compassion to restore His kingdom to all people, not just the rich, the haves.

Now, a simple prayer: Gracious Father, we face uncertain times as we try to walk the path shown to us by Jesus. Be with us; give us the strength to persevere; allow us to overcome the hate speech that is tearing our society apart. We place our future, our destiny, in Your Hands. Allow us not to fear what other hardships others may threaten us. Your presence is our strength.

 © Russell Kendall Carter

God knows our human thoughts; we cannot be ignorant of this truth. When we enter our quiet place to pray, the Holy Spirit wits with us and reveals God’s role for us in life. When you pray, take a moment to thank God for all the saints who paved our way. God loves you; and His word will never fail you.

In your quiet space, listen with your heart; listen with your soul. The word of God spreads through you and flourishes all with whom you come in contact. God gifts us with the freedom to choose; He wants us to choose goodness and love, for when we do, we have a strong shield protecting us from harm. Our relationship with God is a pure gift, and we feel this gift come alive in our quiet space. Every gift from God is flawless.

A simple prayer: gracious God, allow me to extend what I feel in my quietude; allow me to share Your Grace with all. Allow me to extend the love You so freely give with every stranger I meet today.

© Russell Kendall Carter

The Psalmist writes that the needy will not be forgotten, and the hope of the poor will not perish forever. Dear God, our society has completely eliminated the concept of “for the common good.” As a society we have forgotten the obligation of justice for those in need. Reading your words in the Christian Bible, we learn that Jesus preaches social order which incudes charity for those society has forgotten. For the sake of the common good is no longer a consideration of our society; for this we ask your forgiveness.

Jesus taught the greatest commandment is to love God with all our hearts and with all our souls, and the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. By letting our neighbor live in poverty and without nourishment is not love. We treat former enemies better than we treat our poor neighbors.

Virtually all our major religions teach us to aid those in need, yet we do not do this. Too many people are begging for money at intersections. Too many people are living under the bridges of our cities. For a self-identified Christian country, we are definitely not.

We must turn round and consider the hope of the poor. We must open our hearts to hear your word and prayer that we will love one another. In Galatians Paul says, “They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.”

Sometimes, I think that we remember the poor, but that is all. Dear God, help us consider the hope of the poor.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Timothy writes: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instructions for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed (2 Timothy 3:16-17).” This means that for us to truly follow God’s lighted path, we must study the Bible, and according to Timothy, the Scriptures.

Lectio is the study of the Scriptures; I expand that to all of the Bible, since the first practitioners were the early Hebrews; the concepts are very old in origin. It is reading, meditation, and prayer. Contemplatio is to observe, note, or notice. I practice these concepts because it treats the Bible, particularly the New Testament, as the living word of God, and it emphasizes my communion with God. It brings God to the center of my very core.

One of my recent emails contained this New Testament verse as a thought for the day: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17).” One of the suggested paths for studying lectio is to select a word or short phrase; in this case, I choose revealed. I read those passages right before and right after this verse, situating myself in the midst of the writer’s mind. I meditate on how Paul uses the word and prayer for guidance in my understanding of my relationship with God.

I contemplate, I re-read, I meditate more. Within moments a feeling of understanding enters my being and it is revealed to me that God invites me to live by faith. Using the concepts of lectio and contemplatio, I am enlightened and gladdened by the eternal presence of God within me.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Joy, at times, can be fleeting; it comes in and goes out of our life, sometimes like a winter storm. We are coming out of a long-isolated living due to this pandemic. Last evening, I went to the Celtic service at church. The joy of communal prayer enter my being and I was reminded that we were not alone this past year and a half. We know that through all of the storms of our lives, all the distress we face, we walk with Jesus by our side, many times being carried by His love. We do not navigate our way with God, we walk on the path of eternal love.

We gather in church in the presence of God asking that His light shine within us to support our love for all mankind, as Jesus invites us to do with the greatest commandments. God sets us free with His joy in our hearts. We share this boundless joy through His love. God’s Joy rescues us from all our trials and tribulations. I pray with thanksgiving for His great gift that with sharing His Joy, we are all one body of Christ.

© Russell Kendall Carter

The Psalmist writes, “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress. . .” We are so grateful to God that we may come to Him to allow our spirits to rise. We reach to God for help and comfort. As I age, I turn to God every day because aging brings a more difficult path to walk. We need the lighted path that Jesus shows us. With the presence of God within us our trials are eased.

I am blessed with a wonderful wife of 54 years, two children, and three grandchildren. God is good to me. However, I grew up with a mother, father, and sister, all helped form who I am today. All have since passed. I wept and mourned at each of their deaths. Each time I turned to John’s writing, “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy (16:22).”

It is important for us to grieve; it cleanses our life of all the unpleasant events surrounding us. Our grief folds us into a temporary cocoon of self-centeredness; thus, removing those negative forces. As the Holy Spirit brings us from this web of sorrow, our spirit and souls are renewed to this the understanding that those departures are not permanent. As I write this, my mother, father, and sister are around me, looking over my shoulder, making sure I treat them fairly (I may snot have in my youth).

As humans, we are not perfect; our grief brings God into our lives, renewing our spirituality. We become stringer as we recover from our grief. We are thankful that God is a wonderful provider of Grace, Love, and Comfort.

© Russell Kendall Carter