Author Archives: Rev. Cynthia Anderson

God initiates, but we cooperate with the work of the Spirit in our lives. How? Well first we have to actually be open to receiving the gift of the Spirit taking up residence in our hearts and lives. The Spirit doesn’t force us. We can block entrance. We really have to decide if we want to be transformed or if we simply want our lives to go on as they have. In my experience, the Holy Spirit is not into maintenance – the Spirit is about constant growth.

God does things God’s way. And odd as it may seem to us, God’s way is to be born as a baby in a smelly stable in a backwater town of the Roman Empire. God’s way is to allow poor and outcast shepherds to be the first to hear and see the good news. God’s way is to show us what God’s love, grace, mercy and life are by living them in our presence.

God in Jesus enters the gray, chaotic, distracted and despairing world that we are rushing through — a world where we are surrounded by an unending stream of bad news and difficulties — and offers us this amazing, incredible, glorious gift. It is the gift of a love so abundant, so gracious, so amazing, so life-giving that simply being in his presence changes us – and we don’t even pause, much less stop, to notice. And if we don’t even notice, then we certainly don’t savor or appreciate the gift and allow it to transform our lives.

For Paul reminds us, everything we have – all riches and the abilities that allow us to gain those riches – are gifts from God in the first place. It is God who provides us with everything we need, and Paul reminds us, God generously provides not just enough for our survival but with the generosity needed for our enjoyment. God is not stingy. God gives lavishly, generously, extravagantly so that we might live freely and joyfully – with enjoyment. We can trust in God’s generosity.

Do we live as this kind of free people? People who are free to love God and other people with a wholeness of heart and mind and strength. Or have we too become enslaved to the culture that surrounds us? I want us to look especially at the first commandment God gives. You shall have no other gods. In other words, we won’t place anyone or anything else at the center of our lives – because what we place at the center is what directs us. And if that center is anyone or anything but God, then we become enslaved.