Separation of Church and State

It can be argued that the Separation of Church and State cannot be found in the US Constitution.  At the same time, the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment is used by some as evidence that the founders wanted a line drawn in the sand between Church and State.

I'm not concerned whether this separation is in the Constitution or not, I still think it's a good idea and should be maintained for a couple reasons:

1) It keeps the State from dictating what a religion teaches and practices.
2) It prevents the State from becoming a Theocracy.

There are Christian Dominionist movements afoot to either establish fundamentalist Christianity as the state religion or to "prove" that this is a Christian nation.  If the latter can be done the former is inevitable.  If this truly is a Christian nation, then what is to stop legislation that reflects fundamentalist Christian teaching and belief?  And wouldn't that violate the 1st Amendment by establishing a theocracy?  An example will suffice.

There is a loud and powerful push to bring prayer back to public schools.  It's thought that children are not allowed to pray before a test or lunch or anytime.  Actually it's a civil rights violation to stop a child from praying if the child isn't distracting or interfering with teaching.  A child can pray or read a Bible anytime during the school day, but they are not forced to pray.  Would establishing school prayer force prayer upon children?  Would there be an opt-out for students who are atheist?  And from which religious tradition would the prayers come?  Christianity?  Judaism?  Islam?  Hinduism?  The majority religion of the school district? Would this then become an establishment of a religion by the State via public education?

Thoughts?

Receive, Give, Flourish

The Sea of Galilee has an inlet and an outlet, and it teems with life.  Contrast that with the Dead Sea.  It only has inlets.  If there is any life in it (and there probably isn't), it's life that has adapted to the heavy salinity of the water.  It really is a dead sea.

We receive God's very being into our being through the Spirit of Christ and we are made alive and enlightened.  It flows in us like an inlet.  But it isn't ours to keep.  It's meant to flow out of us in acts of kindness and mercy, in loving and faithful service to others.  We give what we have received.  We are meant to be like the Sea of Galilee.

Receive, give, flourish!

Live IN Love

Nobody lives ON their house.  People live IN their house because it makes more sense.  What’s the use of having a house, with all of the furnishings and things that make it a home, if you are not going to live IN the house?  The same thing goes for love.  What’s the sense in having it if people aren’t going to live in it?  You can’t live ON love or AROUND love.  No, you live IN love—whether that’s the love of your family or friends or spouse, or even the family pet!

God’s love is meant to live IN, not on or around!  It’s meant to surround you so that all else pales in comparison.  That’s why Jesus could talk about the sparrows and how we are worth more than many of them.  That’s why Jesus could say, “Do not fear.”  That’s why it says in Romans 6:23 that the gift of God is eternal life IN Christ Jesus our Lord.

This involves your whole self—body, mind, spirit.  Your very being is received and kept hidden within the being of God—every fiber of it.  You start to live in confusion when you think that you are separated from God.  This confusion is what often leads to the urge to live independently from God and to live only within and for yourself.  That is the very definition of sin.  It’s to live only for yourself without any regard for God and others.  This is the cause of most of the pain and heartache in our world today.  The price we pay is death and more death.  Romans 6:23 also says that the wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life IN Christ Jesus our Lord!  People of God are those who live IN Christ Jesus.  The challenge is putting yourself in Christ—a challenge you cannot achieve.

But God can achieve that.  Nothing is impossible for God to do.  And so God sends His Spirit to remind us of what has been accomplished for us by Christ Jesus our Lord: his sacrifice on the cross at the hands of people living independently from God, his rising from the dead by the mighty hand of God, and his ascension to all authority in heaven and earth.  Jesus is Lord and has the name that is above all names in heaven and earth.  You are baptized by that same mighty hand of God into Christ and his love.  You didn’t do it.  It was done to you.  You are not separated from God.  You live IN His love because you live IN Christ Jesus your Lord.  And Christ Jesus lives IN you as he takes residence IN you.  Take and eat, this is his body; take and drink, this is his blood.  His supper is his reminder of the profound reality that he lives with and in you.

Have no fear, but when fear strikes your heart and mind pause yourself and recall that your very being is surrounded by the love of God in which you live and which lives in you.