One Step Closer

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follow Jesus, Holy Week, Lent, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

When we get this close to Holy Week I generally regret that I have not been more diligent in my Lenten practice. This year there is no regret—only longing for a clearer sense of what is truly necessary for a readiness to recognize God’s gifts in the everyday. Whether I am reading the”regular readings” or those chosen especially for parishes celebrating “the scrutinies” there are verses that always pull at my heartstrings — not with guilt but only desire. Listen to my favorite ones:

>I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God and they shall be my people.

>A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from your presence and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

>Whoever serves me must follow me, says the Lord; and where I am, there also will my servant be.

>I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in his word. More than sentinels wait for the dawn, let Israel wait for the Lord. For with the Lord there is kindness and with him is plenteous redemption.

With the sun this morning I can see the heavy frost on the trees across the river but I have confidence that, by noon, all of that frost will be dissipated and the hills will have taken on a different clarity, that which comes from the sun. I, too, will shine if I renew my trust in the Lord and choose to receive the warmth of God’s love suffusing everything around and within me. (I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in his word.)

Assessments

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daily practice, inner strength, Lent, navigate, persevere, routine, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

So now again it is March—and raining. The capricious month is back. Has it come quickly for you or does it seem as if we have been dealing with unexpected happenings for a very long season? “In like a lion, out like a lamb,” we say. I think the lion has been with us for a very long time. Can you go back in memory to early March of last year (for us 3/12/20)? Could you have even conjectured what was brewing? And how have you navigated events since then? Have you settled into a routine that allows you some sense of achievement or is lassitude a constant companion? Who and/or what are you missing that has been impossible or restricted over these past months? Have there been any benefits? How has your spiritual life survived/thrived?

So many questions…so many changes. Should we say today: “Happy New Year,” just hoping against hope that the vaccines that have been approved will be an answer for us if we continue for a specified time to follow the protocols of mask-wearing and hand-washing and social distancing? (That seems like a BIG IF). Are we up to the task ahead of us? (Perhaps we are lucky that it’s Lent, the season of disciplining ourselves for the good of the whole.) If we’re still waiting for our “start-up” practice to begin in earnest—for our inner strength to kick in—perhaps we ought to add a prayer practice that will get us back to a routine—even if it’s just “Good morning, God! Thank you for this day!” when we wake up and “Good night, God. Thank you for this day” before we sleep each night.

We seem to be on the verge of better days. Let us hope for that but persevere no matter what is ahead of us. God bless us all!

A New World Order

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Abraham, create a better world, Genesis, Lent, live simply, moral responsibility, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There has been a lot of pain and letting go during these days of Covid 19. We have lost many of our loved ones “in the flesh” and have only memories to comfort us. This “letting go” is likely the most difficult of any loss and the most universally understood. I considered this as I read the story in Genesis of Abraham being asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. It’s easy to say that God did not really ask for that; it was just a test and we know that Abraham passed the test. This is a story from very ancient days where human sacrifice was the order of the day. The practice was intended to bring good fortune and to pacify the gods. In this time and in our culture there is no justification for such a practice. My God would never ask for that kind of willingness…so how can we use the story to learn a lesson?

As we move into the second week of Lent we might ask ourselves what we are willing to give up for the common good, or perhaps even more to the point, what we are willing to do, to engage or practice to create a better world—even if the scope of our “world” is very circumscribed. Some time ago a question arose in our country asking about our willingness “to live simply so that others might simply live.” It was a clever, catchy statement that caught on in social justice circles and many people took it to heart and changed their lives to be more ecologically or otherwise responsible.

What might be a moral responsibility today if we bring the “willingness” closer to our own life? How might our lives be changed if we take to heart what it would cost to give up our most cherished images of ourselves and live in the heart of God—whatever that means to you? I wonder what the world would feel like then…

Peculiarly God’s Own: That’s Us!

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distinctive, Lent, Moses, peculiar, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

So here we are at the end of the first week of Lent. How are you doing with your practices? Do you even remember what you said this year’s season would be like? The Scriptures continue to pound out the message to us, providing new prompts every day. The first reading for today is pretty clear, with Moses telling us once again that we belong to God and what that means regarding agreements and statutes to follow. There’s just one stand-out word—one that I wouldn’t expect. Moses says to the people: Today the Lord is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own...

That struck me as, well, rather peculiar! I wouldn’t have used that word which I always knew to mean something strange or odd. That is one of the ways the dictionary tells us it’s used. That is the second listing however. The first definition for peculiarly is: more than usually; especially. Webster has it as “characteristic of only one person, group or thing, (and in big letters) DISTINCTIVE.

So I ask you today: How do you see yourself as peculiarly God’s own? How would other people recognize you that way? What is it about you that is so special that it warrants the descriptive PECULIAR?

No Babbling!

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Lent, Matthew, Our Father, prayer, The Lord's Prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I find myself sometimes in conversation—more often as I get older—saying to whoever seems to be listening: “I’m babbling, so I’ll stop now…” I smiled, therefore, when I saw the gospel reading for today from Matthew 6. Listen:

Jesus said to his disciples: In praying, do not babble like the pagans who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

What follows is The Lord’s Prayer, a great example of how to be concise yet meaningful. No wonder it is prayed by people all over the world who are of all Christian denominations. Today may be a good day to take apart the prayer and reflect on each of the thoughts, to go deeper in considering what they might mean for your life now. A lovely reflection for a Tuesday at the beginning of Lent, don’t you think? Think of how many people in the world are saying this prayer today. Why not join in virtually to that great throng?

Isaiah’s Punch

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abstinence, fasting, homeless, hunger, Isaiah, Lent, oppressed, poor, response, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

In a contest of people who “tell it like it is,” the Prophet Isaiah would always (it seems to me) win hands down! The words “fast and abstinence” had great meaning when I was a child who always knew that there were rules about eating during Lent. We understood that our two smaller meals – usually breakfast and lunch – could not equal, or at least not be larger when put together, than our main meal and we worked hard at making sure of that. And there was also the question of dessert…when to have it and when to pass it up. This was serious business and whether we knew Isaiah or not, we knew that God meant business.

I doubt we ever heard the scathing criticism in Chapter 58 of Isaiah’s prophecy that we read today. He speaks for God in his estimation of the people’s fasting, saying: Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits and drive all your laborers. Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. …Is this the manner of fasting I wish? Had we been truly awake when we heard the next part, we might have wondered if God was speaking to us or if it was some mean taskmaster! But listen and see if you can find yourself in this kind of attitude and action. Did we ever wonder whether the practice of controlling our eating had anything to do with our consciousness during the rest the rest of our day?

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own…

Things seem much more dire now when there are so many hungry and poor people in our midst, more homeless and oppressed people…What do we do for them? Do we notice? How do we help? How is it that our light can shine in response to such great need? All God asks is our best. What is that for you?

Renewal

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40 days, Corinthians, forgiveness, Joel, Lent, Lenten journey, psalm 51, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It seems strange to say that today is a day that people long for – make themselves ready for even – when the Scriptures are full of commands. Listen:

*Blow a trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly. Gather the people, notify the congregation; assemble the elders, gather the children…” (Joel 2)

* A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me… Give me back the joy of your salvation and a willing spirit sustain in me…(PS 51)

* Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation! (2 Cor 5)

Taking each of those statements at a time – one after the other – from today’s lectionary readings – should bring us to a place of longing…an interior “heart space” where we can hear God say to us, “Even now, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness…even now.”

It’s as if we’re being given a “Get-out-of-jail-free” card…as if we’ve won the lottery and all is forgotten…as if we a as clean as new-fallen snow and innocent of all our faults and poor choices – sins even of the most grievous kind…because our God is a God like no other, the one who forgives, and forgives, and forgives again.

Today we start over, as if we were just born. What will you do with this gift? How will you spend these 40 days of Lent? Are you up to the challenge of Divine Love?

Always Another Chance

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frustration, Jesus, Lent, Mark, one more chance, pandemic, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It seems – in light of recent events – that there is no normal in our world and yet we continue to survive. We are in the midst of the most horrific pandemic our age that is taking lives wantonly…and yet now, less than a year into it, we have not one but at least three different vaccines that seem able to stem the tide of the disease. We have had four years of a government that had no preparation for governing, whose members floundered and then got replaced with others equally unqualified…and yet now we have a president prepared by almost four decades in national politics to repair what has been undone because he understands how to govern and is, in addition, a humane, upright individual who knows suffering and love and is willing to do his best for us all. It is as if we have been given “one more chance” and, when we fail to recognize it or to step up to the challenge, God says, “All right, I’ll give you another chance at paying attention…just one more time…”

When will we learn? The frustration of Jesus is seen this morning in Mark’s gospel (Ch. 8) when he says: “Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember?…”

Lent begins tomorrow. Today is Mardi Gras…Will there be wild dancing, eating and drinking – regardless of the rules about masks and social distancing? Will we pay attention and perhaps take the forty days to come asking ourselves the questions that Jesus asked today? Do you not understand or comprehend?…Will this time be different?

Early and Late

Tags

Lent, perspective, psalm 90, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I started up the stairs with the intention of an early post this morning but – as often happens – many things intervened. I had, however, already read Psalm 90, the lectionary psalm for the day, so a melody was already on replay inside me as I walked. Whether good fortune or not I am often “gifted” with a song in my head for a day or more when that happens. Today was no different but today I know it to be good fortune, just the kind of reminder I need in the run-up to Lent. Here’s the refrain (even though it took me till 1:00PM to say it!). See if you can accept and affirm it perhaps as a mantra for the entire six weeks.

In every age, O God, You have been our refuge. In every age, O God, You have been our hope.

If said repeatedly each day when reviewing happenings, it might put a new spin on things, helping to find a new perspective sometimes, or a new level of trust in the events of the day. Even if none of that happens, you may grow more positive, knowing that God is present in every event of every day.

Unconditional Acceptance

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acceptance, enemies, forgiveness, Jesus, Lent, love your enemies, Matthew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Beginning with yesterday’s readings, the Lenten path grows more challenging. Not only are we to “make for ourselves a new heart and a new spirit” (yesterday’s challenge). Today calls us to reach out even further when we encounter others — especially those others whom we would never wish to meet. Here it is from the mouth of Jesus:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for He makes the sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. (MT 5: 43 –>)

Who are your enemies? Even if it is likely that there may be little chance of you ever meeting an enemy face to face, can you really say there is no one on earth that you could not welcome into the circle of your embrace? How might you move toward acceptance? And, with steadfast love of God, might you hope to come someday to the forgiveness that bespeaks the love of God for all creatures?