Tag: accountability

Leadership Matters (2 Kings 9:30-37)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Jehu Commanding Jezebel’s Death, by Philip Galle, c.1561

Jehu then went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard of it, she put on her eye shadow and arranged her hair. She looked down out of the window. When Jehu came through the gate, she said, “Do you come in peace, Zimri, you master murderer?”

Jehu looked up to the window and said, “Who’s on my side? Anyone?” Two or three high officials looked down at him. Then he said, “Throw her out!” So they threw her out of the window. Some of her blood splattered against the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. 

Jehu then went in to eat and drink. He said, “Deal with this cursed woman and bury her. She was, after all, a king’s daughter.” They went to bury her, but they couldn’t find her body. Only her skull was left, along with her hands and feet. They went back and reported this to Jehu.

He said, “This is the Lord’s word spoken through his servant Elijah from Tishbe: Dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh in the area of Jezreel. Jezebel’s corpse will be like dung spread out in a field in that plot of land in Jezreel, so no one will be able to say, This was Jezebel.” (Common English Bible)

“Jezebel” is not a common name for a reason. Few parents would ever give their child such a moniker. Jezebel is portrayed in Old Testament Scripture as a pagan priestess who cared nothing for Israel’s one true God; and would do anything to get her way – even if it meant fabricating false witnesses and committing murder (1 Kings 21). Here name is used synonymously in the New Testament with spiritual prostitution and opposition to God (Revelation 2:20).

Jezebel was from the city of Tyre, and married King Ahab. She introduced her husband and his nation to the chief Canaanite god Baal. Jezebel promoted the worship practices of Baal. She brought to Israel 450 prophets of Baal, and 400 prophets of Asherah. What’s more, Jezebel’s commitment to Baal led her to persecute and kill the prophets of God (1 Kings 18:4, 13).

Jehu was a military man, called by God through the prophet Elisha:

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel. You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord’s servants shed by Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.’”  (2 Kings 9:6-10, NIV)

Eventually, Jehu made his way to Jezebel – and she knew full well that he intended on killing her. So, Jezebel readied by presenting herself as beautiful as possible. It seems that she intended on seducing or currying favor with Jehu so that she might continue in the royal court. But Jehu wasn’t having it.

The new king of Israel, Jehu, in seeing Jezebel, didn’t even bother to go up to her when she showed herself out of the upper level latticed window. He simply asked where the loyalty is, from those attending her. The eunuchs responded by throwing Jezebel out the window to her death. Thus, the details of Elijah’s earlier prophecy came to pass in a gruesome way.

In my reading of the story this time around, I wondered how many people are in jobs who are working for someone they see continually doing selfish and unfair things. My mind gravitated toward the eunuchs – Jezebel’s servants – who daily dealt with her. I wondered:

  • Were the eunuchs ever disturbed by Jezebel’s actions?
  • Did they ever get angry over all the injustice they saw? Or, were the eunuchs just like their mistress, having no regard for the many lives she destroyed?
  • What was the nature of their loyalty? Was it forced, or was it just shrewd?
  • Did the eunuchs dispose of their mistress because they finally saw a way out, or did they toss her out the window as a mere watching out for themselves and wanting to be on the winner’s side?

The text never tells us about the life or motives of the eunuchs. Yet, I imagine they most likely saw the situation for what it was at the time. And I suspect they had a sense that Jezebel’s reign of injustice needed to be finished.

In saying this, I’m in no way advocating for dislodging an unjust and unfair leader by violent means. But what I am saying is that, if one has a strong sense of goodness within them, its distressing to see a bad leader act in sinister and malevolent ways day after day. Consider the following statistics from the Niagara Institute:

57% of all workers have left a job in their lifetime because of bad leadership. 32% say they have considered leaving a job due to poor management, and/or due to unbearable working conditions.

69% of workers would pay better attention to their work if they were treated with more respect by their employers. 79% of employees have quit a job in their lifetime due to a lack of appreciation.

96% of employees said that management showing empathy would make them want to stay with the company. Moreover, management thinks they’re doing a good job, with 92% of managers saying that their company is empathetic; whereas only 50% of employees agree.

35% of employees say their direct manager is their biggest source of stress at work.

Over 120,000 deaths every year may be attributed to how U.S. organizations manage their employees. This doesn’t even account for the physical and mental toll an ineffective leader can take over a period of time.

Maybe Jezebel’s eunuchs knew their own deaths were just a matter of time.

I’ve been on both ends of being an employee/worker and a leader/manager. I can say that I have suffered abuse in both roles. Yet, in my judgment, the onus on making a workplace a good and positive environment is on management.

Whatever role we occupy in this life, it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that there is no injustice; and that integrity and fairness are ubiquitous. Leaders are especially called to exhibit what is good, right, and just in everything they do.

Let’s all be willing to hold one another accountable for how we work and live together in this world. If not, we’ll keep having stories like Jehu and Jezebel.

“A Blessing for Leaders,” by John O’Donohue

May you have the grace and wisdom

To act kindly, learning

To distinguish between what is

Personal and what is not.

May you be hospitable to criticism.

May you never put yourself at the center of things.

May you act not from arrogance but out of service.

May you work on yourself,

Building up and refining the ways of your mind.

May those who work for you know

You see and respect them.

May you learn to cultivate the art of presence

In order to engage with those who meet you.

When someone fails or disappoints you,

May the graciousness with which you engage

Be their stairway to renewal and refinement.

May you treasure the gifts of the mind

Through reading and creative thinking

So that you continue as a servant of the frontier

Where the new will draw its enrichment from the old,

And you never become a functionary.

May you know the wisdom of deep listening,

The healing of wholesome words,

The encouragement of the appreciative gaze,

The decorum of held dignity,

The springtime edge of the bleak question.

May you have a mind that loves frontiers

So that you can evoke the bright fields

That lie beyond the view of the regular eye.

May you have good friends

To mirror your blind spots.

May leadership be for you

A true adventure of growth.

A Calling Is a Sacred Responsibility (2 Kings 9:1-13)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
King Jehu

The prophet Elisha called to a member of the group of prophets, “Get ready, take this jug of oil with you, and go to Ramoth-Gilead. When you arrive there, look for Jehu, Jehoshaphat’s son and Nimshi’s grandson. Go to him, then pull him away from his associates, taking him to a private room. Take the jug of oil and pour it on his head. Then say, ‘This is what the Lord has said: I anoint you king of Israel.’ Then open the door, and run out of there without stopping.”

So the young prophet went to Ramoth-Gilead. He came in, and the military commanders were sitting right there. He said, “Commander, I have a word for you.”

“For which one of us?” Jehu asked.

The young prophet said, “For you, Commander.”

So Jehu got up and went inside. The prophet then poured oil on his head and said to him, “This is what the Lord, Israel’s God, says: I anoint you king over the Lord’s people, over Israel. You will strike down your master Ahab’s family. In this way I will take revenge for the violence done by Jezebel to my servants the prophets and to all the Lord’s servants. Ahab’s whole family will die. I will eliminate from Ahab everyone who urinates on a wall, whether slave or free, in Israel. I will make Ahab’s dynasty like the dynasty of Jeroboam, Nebat’s son, and like the dynasty of Baasha, Ahijah’s son. And as for Jezebel: The dogs will devour her in the area of Jezreel. No one will bury her.” Then the young prophet opened the door and ran.

Jehu went out to his master’s officers. They said to him, “Is everything okay?

Why did this fanatic come to you?”

Jehu said to them, “You know the man and the nonsense he talks.”

“That’s a lie!” they said. “Come on, tell us!”

Jehu replied, “This is what he said to me: ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king of Israel.’”

Then each man quickly took his cloak and put it beneath Jehu on the paved steps. They blew a trumpet and said, “Jehu has become king!” (Common English Bible)

The biblical books of 1 & 2 Kings (originally one book of Kings) tells of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah over a five-hundred year period from c.960-586 B.C.E. The dynasties of the house of Omri and the house of Jehu were the longest lasting in Israel.

The books of First and Second Kings are primarily concerned with an evaluation of the 20 kings of Judah and the 19 kings of Israel. Of greatest concern was whether the particular king was loyal to God, or not. If the king tolerated worship of other gods besides Yahweh, and established sacrifices outside of Jerusalem, then that king was evaluated as doing evil in the eyes of the Lord.

This judgment of the kings is consistent with Deuteronomic laws of sole loyalty to God, and the importance of a central location for all Jewish people to worship (in Jerusalem).

To understand why it was so important for Jehu to be anointed with a mission is to know something of the house of Omri, and in particular, the king Ahab and his queen Jezebel. They are both conveyed to us in the biblical text as a power couple who want what they want, without a lot of concern about the subjects of their kingdom.

Jezebel was a follower of Baal and Asherah, not Yahweh. She provided for hundreds of their prophets. Her husband the king was fine with this situation. Jezebel was a clear enemy of God’s prophets, and killed hundreds of them, so that there were only a few left, including Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 18:13).

Ahab and Jezebel’s powerful misuse of authority is relayed in the story of Naboth (1 Kings 21). Ahab wanted to buy Naboth’s vineyard, which was adjacent to his own land. But Naboth refused to sell, mainly because the land was his family’s ancient generational inheritance.

Jezebel went to work and arranged false witnesses to claim that Naboth had cursed both God and King (which was the ultimate sign of treason in Israel). As a result, Naboth was wrongly stoned to death; and Ahab unjustly confiscated his property.

Elijah prophesied that Ahab’s descendants would die, his dynasty will perish, and that Jezebel would be eaten by dogs (1 Kings 21:17-24). In our story for today, this is alluded to in the reference of God eliminating all that belong to Ahab who “urinate on a wall,” that is, unjustly marking the territory of another as their own property.

Indeed, it all shook-out according to prophecy. Ahab died in battle. Then, Ahab and Jezebel’s son Ahaziah succeeded him as king. Young Ahaziah died two years into his reign, and his brother Jehoram became king. Jehoram was then killed by Jehu. After this, some of Jezebel’s own palace officials tossed her out a window to her death, and dogs descended on her carcass – all to Elijah’s earlier prophecy.

Injustice, unrighteousness, abuse of power, and selfish concerns are ugly nasty business. These sorts of attitudes and behaviors ruin people, and keep others locked into patterns of poverty and powerlessness. God is not okay with any of it.

Whenever we are in the middle of oppression and/or authoritative people abusing their power for their own benefit, its hard to maintain our sense of rightness and goodness. Yet, we must. In such times, patience and perseverance is needed without resorting to attempts of paying back evil with evil.

What’s more, we can find ways of tapping into the spiritual power of God within us, in order to resist and subvert unjust authority with righteousness. To some degree, everyone can do something by employing nonviolent resistance tactics like networking, protest, persuasion, non-cooperation, and speaking out through either speech or writing.

Only those who possess nothing can be entrusted with everything. Systemic evil isn’t changed from the top, because those at the top benefit from the system. Rather, structural evil is transformed through grass roots efforts from the bottom up. What’s more, individuals rarely change from the outside-in, but rather from the inside-out.

A ruling establishment is not always necessarily wrong. Yet, it takes a lot of willing accountability and plenty of intentional soul searching for administrations to remain on the straight and narrow.

Such realities characterized Jehu. He was a non-descript military man. There was nothing, in particular, which distinguished him as having a special calling from God.

Yet, although Jehu fulfilled his calling, he added to the call; the Lord was not pleased with Jehu’s form of violent bloodshed, and so, put an end to Jehu’s house, just as Omri’s house had been purged from Israel.

Power and authority will do that to a person – which is why leaders must be continuously vigilant to guard against developing a thick ego and following their pride.

And so do we. Anyone who receives a call from God has a sacred responsibility and trust to fulfill that calling with competence, care, and conscientiousness.

Almighty God, direct me in all my activity with Your grace, wisdom, and help, so that in all I do and say may glorify Your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Truth Stumbles In the Public Square

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality BlogLeave a comment

In these past few months, as an American citizen, I have often wondered what God thinks about the current political situation and climate of the United States.

I must say that with a serious reading of the biblical prophets, it’s rather easy to imagine what the Divine stance likely is:

Justice is far from us,
    and deliverance does not reach us;
we wait for light, but there is only darkness;
    and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
We grope like the blind along a wall,
    groping like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
    among the vigorous as though we were dead.
We all growl like bears;
    like doves we moan mournfully.
We wait for justice, but there is none;
    for salvation, but it is far from us.
For our transgressions before you are many,
    and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions indeed are with us,
    and we know our iniquities:
transgressing and denying the Lord
    and turning away from following our God,
talking oppression and revolt,
    conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.
Justice is turned back,
    and deliverance stands at a distance,
for truth stumbles in the public square,
    and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
    and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
    that there was no justice. (Isaiah 59:9-15, NRSV)

These days, many of my prayers echo the complaint of the ancient prophet Isaiah. I too, have an expectation that God will grant justice and righteousness; and that the Lord will take pity upon us for our ignorance of what is just, right, and good.

And like the prophet Isaiah, I grieve a situation of profuse lying, political malpractice, and socio-economic illiteracy. Many, if not most, Americans and the world community alike, lacks things it needs to live a viable and joyous life. So, I mourn, like a bear growling for a long-awaited meal.

It seems to me that we are failing one another. Our collective vice, and lack of virtue, have led us on a path of injustice. We are a flawed people; we need Divine help.

Perhaps you believe I am being something of a curmudgeon, being too negative – that I’m seeing the glass darkly as only half empty. But no, I’m actually seeing the glass as completely empty, for we are a bereft people.

But just maybe this emptiness can be filled with justice and righteousness, and not shallowness and lack of education, nor gaslighting and manipulative selfishness. Just maybe we can filled to the full in truth.

Our public life together depends upon ethics of accountability.

This insipid business of people stating that they are “being transparent” is nothing but a red flag letting us know that they are doing just the opposite.

We need a new community – a fresh vision of what life can be together. And we are getting anything but that. Instead, in the U.S., we get entrenched yelping from both Republicans and Democrats. And in the face of injustice, we receive an eerie silence from those who ought to know better.

This is not simply a struggle for a political party and its policies. What is happening now transcends each party’s vision of how to live together as a people.

Historically, the Democratic party has generally believed that government ought to raise money through a fair system of taxation. The funds then are to be used to provide basic services that serve the common good of all persons, i.e. ensuring a living wage, protection through laws, maintenance of infrastructure, equal access to healthcare and education, etc.

The Republican party has approached a more individualistic vision of government, believing that each person should manage their own money to make the best use of a market economy. Then, they can create economic growth without reliance upon government regulation of business. Private philanthropy and non-profit organizations are relied upon to provide social services. Private companies are called upon to handle infrastructure needs.

In essence, at the core, Democrats have a vision of community and caring for one another, whereas Republicans have a vision of each person living prosperously under their own fig tree without the interference of others.

This is why things like tax increases and tax cuts become such visceral issues, because they get at the practical outworkings of each party’s vision of how to live together.

But the stakes are even higher than an American two-party system. There is presently leadership in the United States that is openly antagonistic, belligerent, bullying, rude, and frankly, unbiblical and unvirtuous. There is nothing that comes out of the current president’s mouth that reflects the words of Jesus; and there is nothing he does which is consistent with the ways of Jesus.

Many, if not most, “Christian” Republicans are woefully out of touch with their own Bibles; and, at the very least, are complicit in retraumatizing the already traumatized people in the nation (and the world) through supporting unjust leadership.

In the time of the prophet Isaiah, not only was there injustice (common citizens not receiving what they need to build a good life and flourish) but there was no one willing and available, no one engaged and at work to turn around an unjust system so that the government would respect basic human rights for the poor and the needy, the least and the lost in society.

So, the prophet was on the scene to announce that Yahweh, the God of Judah, has noticed. Yahweh has seen that the leadership would not accept responsibility for implementing the Law of God (namely, a set of just, right, and good laws which were to frame all of Jewish society).

Nobody cared. No one bothered to help those without a voice and without hope. And Yahweh knew it. Therefore, a sorry state existed which eventually turned into the people losing their land through an active judgment of God.

Truth matters. And when it is suppressed in the public square, God’s eyebrow is raised.

Lips that speak lies, tongues that mutter wickedness, attitudes which are dishonest, hands that work only for self, and feet which run to violence are all anti-truth practices. (Isaiah 59:3-4)

There is no way on this earth and in this life to get along without government. And because of that, government’s legitimate duty to its people is to provide necessary order, safety, peace, and ensure justice – which means making sure that all citizens have what they need to grow, thrive, and prosper.

Both survival and prosperity must have the glue of truth holding society together – which means that a nation’s government needs to have the basic fundamentals of justice in mind and at heart.

A telltale sign that leaders do not have the best interests of their own people is how they speak to and treat others outside their own nation, people in differing circumstances in different places.

“They did not want to consider their duty. They have distorted their intelligence so as to not understand what ought to be done… They have distanced themselves so far from the truth that they openly combat those who turn away from perversity and choose the good.”

Theodoret (393-457 C.E.)

I cannot think of a better way to describe our current failure of leadership in this world.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Instead of selfishness we need self-discipline. Rather than a personal concern for earthly wealth and profit, we need to seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness.

Instead of simply loving those who love us, we can  love our enemies and seek to do good. We can actively walk alongside beleaguered people who have had quite enough of belligerent bullying and bogus bellicosity in their lives.

To God belongs the ability to save, deliver, redeem, and judge. To you and I belongs the responsibility for treating our fellow humanity with justice, equity, goodness, and humility with a gentle spirit, holding one another accountable for our attitudes and actions. In short, it means living the truth.

That includes every politician and political party.

“Truth is difficult to reach and endure, but it is always the doorway to new freedom and life.”

John O’Donohue

If you yet are looking for some sort of positive outlook, some kind of hope, it is this: Our present suffering of spirit can serve to burn away any illusions (and delusions) that a politician or political process will save us.

Any disillusionment we may have becomes an opportunity to discover both old and new ways living the truth. It often takes suffering to teach us what is truly most important to us.

Our current malaise, national anxiety, and world troubles can become the means of future possibility, if we will let it. Worrisome circumstances can open to us the light of undiscovered truth about ourselves and our world.

We may stumble, yet there is always the chance to catch ourselves and not fall. So, what does God think of this present national and world situation? The prophet Isaiah insisted:

Let the wicked forsake their way
    and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:7-9, NRSV)

No matter what happens on this earth, Isaiah’s perspective insists upon the truth and reality of God’s ultimate authority. We shall not always understand divine authority, yet at its core, is full of justice and righteousness. And nothing can stop from it breaking out into the public square.

May it be so, to the glory of God.

The Day Is Coming (Malachi 4:1-6)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
The Great Day of His Wrath, by John Martin, c.1851

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” (New International Version)

These are the final words of the Old Testament, the concluding message of the prophet Malachi.

Malachi’s vision of God’s future action describes a Day of Judgment, a time of utter destruction for all those who devoted themselves to wickedness. The faithful, however, will receive healing by means of bright righteousness. God will restore a good, right, and just order of things.

The divine restoration will cause joy and celebration. In their freedom, the faithful will ensure that the wicked shall not have power and authority ever again.

Therefore, the conclusion to the Book of Malachi – and of all the Old Testament – is a call to obedience, to observe the law. Finally, it is communicated that Elijah – one of the greatest prophets in Jewish history – will return in order to turn the hearts of family members toward one another. And without this change of heart and behavior within the family, there isn’t anything good to look forward to.

In other words, justice and righteousness, humility and gentleness, mercy and peace, all begin within the home. If we are to get things right out in the world, it will be because we have learned how to develop and maintain right relationships and provide for one another in our families.

So, how is that project going? (said in a sarcastic tongue-in-cheek sort of way).

And, how is the religious and spiritual progress going? (said in that same obnoxious sort of tone)

Furthermore, what are you and I doing to help the situation, and not to bring harm to it? (said in an actual serious tone)

It will not do for any of us to simply blame others – even though those others likely have a lot to answer for themselves. You and I cannot control others, especially family members (although some folks do their darndest to try and do it!).

Therefore, we must practice self-control, and do what is within our own power to do in order to help bring blessing – not judgment – to the earth.

All of us need to allow accountability into our lives, so that we may continue in living good and responsible lives.

Yet, that does not always happen. Graciously, the world is not presently spinning on its axis because of me or you. Our mistakes, foibles, screw-ups, and sins are not good, but they are also not going to stop the sun from coming up tomorrow.

It is terribly sad that there is so much war, death, destruction, harm, malevolence, disease, and disaster in this old world. It’s as if the earth is under a curse, which it is. But the world is also loved by God.

The faithful ultimately trust in the grace and mercy of God. The Christian, specifically, looks to Jesus to provide the righteousness and justice that we ourselves have not been able to accomplish.

The judgment of God exists, so that the justice and mercy of God can be fulfilled.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 2:24, NIV

In union with Christ, the faithful know what a change of heart truly means. And they know what to do in order to affect that change in their lives today:

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. (Romans 6:6-13, NIV)

So then, let us restore right relationships with others, and especially with family. Let us live as people who have been lifted from a curse, and are free from divine judgment.

Let’s get up each day and live into the freedom we possess from the power of guilt, shame, and plain old-fashioned sin.

Let’s be people who choose to look both backward and forward:

  • We look back at the redemptive events of Jesus, to his coming to this earth in a miraculous incarnation, and to his death, resurrection, and ascension.
  • We look forward to the return of Christ, a second advent, when he will save his people, judge all people, and restore all things.

We can do this, my friends. We can live as we ought to live, love as we ought to love, and give as we ought to give – because of the One who has gone before us, is with us, and is coming again.

The Day is coming. Make sure that when it does, we are found faithful.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45, NIV

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. (Revelation 1:5b-6, NIV)