Sacred Contracts

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Abram, contract, covenant, Genesis, Psalm 105, sacrifice, spiritual agreement, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The lectionary readings today speak loudly of covenants. The best and most dramatic story is from Genesis where God directs Abram to prepare a series of animals and birds for sacrifice and then sends a fire to “seal the deal.” (GEN 15: 1-12, 17-18)

I learned long ago that with reference to God and humans, a covenant is a contract between God and people. This morning I wanted something more sacred and found a short paragraph on the internet that satisfied me. It explained it as follows:

There are some fundamental differences between a covenant and a contract. While a contract is legally binding, a covenant is a spiritual agreement. A contract is an agreement between parties while a covenant is a pledge. A contract exchanges one good for another, while a covenant is giving oneself to the other.

How comforting is is to know – as Psalm 105 reminds us today – that “the Lord remembers his covenant forever.” My question to myself today is: Am I willing to do the same, always remembering my covenant with God?

Commitment

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action, covenant, inaction, psalm 50, relationship, sacrifice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s lectionary includes verses from Psalm 50 in which the psalmist expresses God’s desire for us to “step up” in our response to life, suggesting that our sacrificial offerings (bulls and goats – or for us checks and cash) are not enough. God says, “Why do you recite my statutes and profess my covenant with your mouth though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?”

We could take offense at this and use more words to defend our actions or inactions. If I am honest and look in the mirror, I must admit to that kind of behavior at least some of the time. But then I hear verse 14 wherein God seems in need of relationship with us. “No! But this is what I want from you. Offer me grateful heart. Fulfill the vows that you have made.” It’s as if God is asking from us what each of us wants from others: the willingness to say what we mean and mean what we say – and then to live into what that means.

How can I refuse?

 

 

 

 

 

Starting Now

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covenant, Genesis, holy season, Lent, path, rainbow, spring, teach, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth

Two things occur to me as I read the lectionary texts for this First Sunday of Lent. Initially, as the sky clears after a night of snow here, Genesis announces God’s promise of the covenant that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood. I muse that I haven’t seen a rainbow – that amazing sign of God’s covenant – for a very long time. It’s not that I haven’t looked, nor do I think God has had a change of mind, but it does make one wonder – in light of all the devastating floods this past year – if we are paying enough attention. Happily we now know the vastness of the world as well as the cooperation that has been manifested after each tragedy, allowing the restoration of stricken areas through generosity and teamwork.

Secondly, and most likely due to the slow pace of life in my home for the past two weeks because of the nasty flu bug, it seems as if Valentine’s Day/Ash Wednesday was much longer ago than half a week. When I read “First Sunday of Lent” this morning, therefore, on the US Bishops website, I react with a surprised: “What!? So…all the “Lent-ing” so far was just practice…preamble, maybe?” and I wonder if the “Holy Season” will drag along seemingly forever. But that might not be a bad thing, given my lack of preparedness so far! Maybe I’m being given a second chance to wake up, to shake off the lethargy of inaction and make something of these next several weeks.

So in the hope that spring awaits at the end, I resolve to pay more attention beginning today, as I pray with the psalmist: Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God, my Savior!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Count the Stars

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Abraham, Abram, covenant, descendants, Genesis, God, night sky, silence, stars, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, weather

Last night when I finally turned off my bedroom light and got into bed I immediately had to get up again. I have a high window on the wall beside my bed and in the dark I saw that the night sky was resplendent with stars! I knelt on my bed to see what I could from there and then moved to the window that looks out on the back yard. Not enough of a view, I went into the room next to mine to see if I could escape the fullness of the trees…Not really. I needed to be outside to get the full effect – but it was late and, not willing to disturb the lovely, absolute silence of the house, I went back to bed, but smiling inside and out.

This morning I felt a little envious of Abram (not yet Abraham since God’s covenant with him was yet to be made) as I read that God took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” God added, “shall your descendants be.” I can only imagine Abram’s feeling inside – a complex mix of amazement, wondering and perhaps doubt, since he and his wife were getting old and had no children. Maybe it was the enormity and beauty of the stars that convinced him to trust in God’s promise; the Scripture says that at that moment, “Abram put his faith in the Lord.” (GN 15:1-12)

Back in my own backyard, I was thinking more about the day with reference to Abram’s life and mine. The weather held everything yesterday: a cool breeze, magnificent sunshine, a quick, loud and torrential thunderstorm – even the smallest arc of a colorful rainbow, just for a moment – and, of course, the stars. I’m guessing, by what we know from the Scriptures and from what is easy to extrapolate from those texts, that Abram’s life was a bit like the weather – as is mine. It wasn’t all, as they say, “sunshine and flowers” but the rainbows and glorious night sky were likely enough for him to hold on when the hard times came. (Who of us would be happy to uproot our whole clan and move to another country at age 75? Maybe a modern-day refugee could give us a good sense what that costs.)

God made a covenant with Abraham that day and kept it. I’m certain that it had to be renewed in Abraham’s soul on a regular basis. We would do well to pay attention to the stars or whatever prompts us to bow down to the marvelous things God is doing in our lives that reminds us to stay the course for another day.

 

 

 

 

 

A Covenant Forever

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Abraham, Christ, covenant, Emmanuel, family, Jesus, King David, Lord, love, promise, psalm 89, religious community, Scripture, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today all the Scripture readings highlight the God’s relationship with King David, his ancestors and his descendants – a secure, unbreakable covenant of unfailing love for all time. Although I have never borne children and cannot trace my ancestry back many generations, I feel the fullness of the concept of covenant in the family stories that I do know and in the larger “family” that I inhabit in my religious community and in the “family” of the eastern part of the USA. It is not an easy time for us; destruction and unrest seem the order of the day. Underneath it all, however, I have a hope that we will survive because of the promise that God made to Abraham, renewed in Christ and manifest in ways seen and unseen in all of us. As we anticipate the blossoming forth of Emmanuel this night we might reflect on the words of Psalm 89 from today’s liturgy.

Your love, O Lord, I will forever sing, your faithful friendship shall be the subject of my song. For I have come to know your love as fountainhead, it’s ceaseless source not here, but in your high abode. And you yourself have made this oath of faithfulness to us and all of David’s line, a covenant  proclaimed to all you chose, a promise made to us that never ends. The heavens are the witness, Lord, to what you say and do, your steadfast love to us is clear. (Ps. 89:1-5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O Adonai, Come!

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Adonai, Colossians, covenant, creation, love, Moses, O Antiphons, Old Testament, prudence, serve, set us free, St. Paul, teach, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is the second of seven in the series of “O Antiphons” used in Christian liturgical practice. (See yesterday’s blog). One author explains the use of these verses for Christians this way: The antiphons are, in fact, a collage of Old Testament types of Christ. Their predominant theme is messianic, stressing hope of the Savior’s coming. Jesus is invoked by various titles, mainly taken from the prophet, Isaiah. The sequence progresses historically, from the beginning, before creation, to the very gates of Bethlehem. Thus, yesterday we began with the call to Wisdom, seen in the Scriptures as God’s consort in the creation of the world. Today we hear the plea to the Lord and Ruler of the house of Israel. The title Adonai is Hebrew for Lord, or the Lord of Lords, the Master, the Owner, in this case, the One who gave the Law to Moses.

O Adonai, Ruler of the house of Israel, you appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush, and on Mount Sinai gave him Your law. Come and teach us the way of prudence.

O Adonai, you are the covenant maker and promise giver. You appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the commandments. Come, set us free to serve you.

As Christians, this title of Adonai ascribed to Christ can be understood as in the Letter to the Colossians where St. Paul writes that He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities: all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all else that is, and in him all things hold together…God was pleased to have all fullness dwell in him…(COL 1:15-20)

This is the one to whom we cry out: Come! Teach us to live your covenant of love!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sacred Promise

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Abraham, blood sacrifice, communion, Corpus Christi, covenant, disciples, Exodus, Last Supper, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is one of remembrance of God’s enduring and evolving covenant with us – from the days of Abraham and then during the Exodus (EX 24:3-8) when Moses related his conversation with God to the Israelites in the desert and they exclaimed, “We will do all that the Lord has told us!” At that time the covenant was sealed by a “blood sacrifice” when half the blood of the animal that had been slain was poured over the altar and half sprinkled on the people. With Christ came a new iteration of covenant which Christians see as the fulfillment of what God and Abraham had promised at the beginning of our salvation history. When Jesus took bread and wine at the Last Supper and said to his friends, “This is my body; this is my blood…Whenever you do this, remember me,” (MK 14: 12-26) he gave us a memorial – a way to remember the love that exists between God and humans – in a way that we could celebrate and which would create the community that would spread that love throughout the world.

Today is the celebration of that covenant, the feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ). Lots of wonderful hymns will be sung today, motivating congregations to the remembrance of Christ’s willingness to pour himself out for us, being a model of God’s side of the covenant while also teaching what is possible on the human side. It’s a day to ask ourselves about the level of our own willingness to act as disciples, recognizing the reality that lives in the words we say and sing, according to whatever tradition of the covenant we follow, and living into that reality with all that we are and all that we are becoming.

Remembering

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covenant, generations, God, honor, partners, Psalm 105, rejoice, remember, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning I found in an alternate translation of Psalm 105:3-9 a striking translation of the psalmist’s call for us to remember all that is contained in the covenant that God made and keeps with all generations. I repeat it here as a reflection for today.

We rise to sing in honor of your holy name. Let every seeker’s heart rejoice and search for you with all their strength until they stand before the beauty of your face, remembering. Remember, remember everything you can recall, remember every work and wonder, remember every word God speaks to you in wisdom. Remember too that you are children of the Blessed One; your heritage goes back to Abraham and Sarah. Remember that you are servants of the Lord and chosen ones like Jacob by your God, who is the Mighty One and Master over all, whose will prevails and works succeed forever. Remember that you are partners to a covenant, a promise made and kept for many generations.

A Higher Law

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covenant, creation, Deuteronomy, God, heart, Israelites, Jesus, letting go, Lord, love, Matthew, perfect, perfection, Sermon on the Mount, soul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Much more comfortable with readings that speak plainly of love than of law, I wasn’t thrilled this morning to see Deuteronomy show up with a first line of “this day the Lord God commands you…” I was pleasantly surprised, however as I read on and heard that the observation of the law was to be not with the mind and will (although that would necessarily be involved) but with “all your heart and all your soul.” The entire section (DT 26:16-19) was based on an agreement that sounded quite mutual, resulting in the Israelites becoming “a people peculiarly his own, as he promised.”

Jesus took this theme and expanded it at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (MT 5:43-48) – an extraordinary section that calls us to love those we would not and sometimes think we could not: our enemies and those who hate us. There is that line at the end that people (including myself) are always trying to translate in a softer way than what we learned as children. It says be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. What dawned on me this morning, however, in putting the two readings together (I really am a slow learner sometimes!) is that the perfection is not the perfection that comes from the mind – working hard at while still resisting internally what the “law” calls for. Rather, Jesus is talking about that law of the covenant in Deuteronomy, that agreement of God with his people that comes from the heart and the soul. That law is not about resisting anything but rather letting go of what holds us back and allowing love to flow through us as God does in the entire creation. The perfection of love is what God already is. It is only in God that we can accept the terms of this law and move toward it each day anew so that, in the end, when we see God “face to face” we will recognize ourselves in God’s eyes the way that God already sees us.

Torah of the Heart

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covenant, freedom, joy, Lord, love, psalm 119, Torah, trust, truth, worship

Once again this morning it is the psalmist who speaks to my heart. I return to that longest psalm (119) for my morning praise (vs. 41-47).

For the sake of the covenant we keep between us, Lord, let your love descend and hold me fast. Allow my mouth to utter words of truth, this Torah of the heart, which I shall trust and keep forever. Then in freedom I will walk upon your path and know these precepts are yours alone. I’ll bind them to my heart with deepest joy for I love and worship all you love, my Lord.

May these words bring comfort, peace and well-being for all who seek the God of love today.