First Thursday in Lent

John 3:16-21 (NRSV)

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’

Why is it that we see these signs with John 3:16 at sporting events and on yard signs? Do folks believe that someone will see that sign, know instantly that it refers to a bible verse, and run out, look it up, read it, believe, and start living differently? I'm not sure it works that way. Maybe that's why, even as a priest, I'm turned off at these hollow public displays of faith. 

Let's dig into the practice a little. I understand that it started in Boston in the 1970s as a way for evangelical Christians to propagate the Gospel. Their idea was to put John 3:16 on a sign and hold it up at a game. If the game is televised, more people would learn salvation and everlasting life through Jesus. The verse, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life," seems to display the complete message, or does it? The question that I have is, "is eternal life" the ultimate goal? I don't mean to be cynical here, but what is it that were are striving for? 

Or, are we striving for a life more connected to God in this life? Are we living to be closer to our creator? In doing so, are we becoming more responsible to those around us (our neighbor) and the environment (God's creation)? Are we loving God and loving our neighbor like God's only Son asks? Some would say that belief is enough... if you believe, you are in, like it's some sort of club for eternal life. That's partly why I cringe at isolated scripture texts without some context. 

John 3:16 is part of a more extensive explanation of who Jesus is. Yes, Jesus is the one that reconciles the world to God and Jesus is the one that provides us a way to have an eternal presence with our creator after this earthly life is over. However, Jesus is also the one who is the light that shows us the way to be and live in a relationship with God and with one another. A relationship that needs to be nurtured with practice. Not that we can do anything to earn God's love, but that we act out of and in response to God's love.

I'm not sure what, if any, converts to the faith these signs bring. But I do know, for me, it lacks context for those who are not familiar with the Holy Scriptures. If you asked someone on the street what John 3:16 was, they would say it was a Bible verse but wouldn't know what it said or meant. 

During the lent season, we are encouraged to engage in practices that draw us closer to God. If holding up a sign at a game does it for you, then rock on. I'm not condemning the practice. But, be ready to respond to the question, "why are you doing that?" by offering the story of Jesus calling us into a life of love and relationship. 

Romans 2:25-3:18 (NRSV)

Friday in the Second Week of Lent - Reflections on the Letters of Lent

Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So, if those who are uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you that have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart-- it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God. Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, "So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail in your judging." But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my falsehood God's truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), "Let us do evil so that good may come"? Their condemnation is deserved! What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written: "There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one." "Their throats are opened graves; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of vipers is under their lips." "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery are in their paths, and the way of peace they have not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

"Real Circumcision is a matter of the heart." The cutting or mutilation of one's body for ritualistic purposes has always befuddled me. Why would you hurt yourself to prove your relationship? Why would God require the removal of the male foreskin in order to prove that there is a bond? What purpose does it serve? This topic may generate more question than reflection today. But, that's ok.

If we listen to what Paul is saying, he is making the claim that it doesn't matter if you are circumcised if you are not going to keep up your end and honor the covenant. That those who keep the covenant and grow in love and relationship are circumcised by virtue of the relationship. I understand that the ancients needed to make an outward physical sign of their covenant, symbolic of the bond they experienced with God. A bond that affected their relationship with one another. 

Paul is further saying that our lack of faithfulness to our relationship with God doesn't diminish God's faithfulness in us. I don't know how many times I have heard folks claim that they've been too bad, that God doesn't want anything to do with them. False! God is faithful and desires a relationship, especially with those who have gone astray. God's favor and grace for creation never decreases. Once the bond is there, it NEVER goes away.

So, what is the call to action amid all this circumcision talk? I hear God calling us to keep the covenant and nurture the relationship. Leaning on the fact that it doesn't matter if we are male and have a foreskin or not. What matters is that our hearts are right with God. Do we trust God? In the season of Lent, it is the perfect time to evaluate ourselves and our relationships, see what we are doing that destroys and remove it... recognize what it is that brings us closer together and do it. How deep is our commitment?

Romans 1:28-2:11 (NRSV)

Wednesday in the Second Week of Lent - Reflections on the Letters of Lent

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God's decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die-- yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them. Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. You say, "We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth." Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will repay according to each one's deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.

Paul tells us, "in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself." If we are looking at others and judging them on some sort of moral code that we think we understand more than we are looking in the mirror and examining our own lives, we are damned. I truly feel that if we all pay attention to ourselves, if there is deceit or strife in another it will be worked out. We cannot help another see if we have a log in our own eye. (Matt 7:3)

I am struck by the laundry list of sins that Paul is listing - wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, gossip, slander, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. I am wondering what the Romans are really up to, and why Paul is pressing on them. It may be that he is admonishing them for their pagan ways, but it seems that in all of these instances, the offender is putting something (deceit, gossip, etc.) in the way of their relationship with others and God.

Anything that destroys our relationships is a sin and it needs to be taken out of our lives. However, you know best what is destroying your relationships with others. The saving grace is that God loves us through our shortcomings. God's patience and kindness lead us to repentance. God is the final judge and we will all be accountable, not that we let so and so do thus and such, but that we destroyed our relationship with God and others trying to be a judge of some pursuit of some puristic code.

The call I hear today is to be good to one another. Love one another. Help one another navigate the troubles of this life. Don't hurt each other. Strive for relationship and understanding. Struggle with the things that you don't understand. Help untie the knots in communication and help heal the hurting.

Romans 4:13-18 (NRSV)

Tuesday in the 2nd weeks of Lent - Reflections on the Letters during Lent

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations")-- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be."

"Promise" is what I hear when I read this passage from Paul's Letter to the Romans. To me, promise implies a commitment to action. You will or you will not do something that you told someone else. In bible-speak and theology, there is a lot of talk about covenant which I think is different from a promise. To me, a covenant is a more formal agreement or arrangement that is a relationship with obligations and mutual responsibilities. Where a promise is just an obligation (one-sided), the covenant is a formal, detailed arrangement (two-sided).

In this portion of his letter to the church in Rome, Paul is reminding the people of the original "promises" made to Abraham by God long before there was Torah (or law.). Paul explains that the promise pre-existed and is a promise based on faith in God and God's favor for us, not because of the law or those keeping the law. It seems that Paul is using this line of thinking to assert that Abraham's descendants who have kept the faith in God are the recipients of God's blessings, not those that merely "keep the law." This includes those children of Abraham who now have a new found faith in Jesus as the Christ.

The call to action for me would be to understand that rules are intended to shape and order society. Though mostly intended for good, sometimes rules or laws are not just and display the prejudices of those who make them. I understand that those who were "under the law" thought that they were doing what is righteous before God, but I also think that God is more worried about the relationship than anything else. It all began from a relationship with Abraham. God said, "And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you." (Genesis 17:7)

Hebrews 3:1-11 (NRSV)

Tuesday in the First Week of Lent - Reflections on the Letters during Lent

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, holy partners in a heavenly calling, consider that Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses also "was faithful in all God's house." Yet Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later. Christ, however, was faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors put me to the test, though they had seen my works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.' As in my anger I swore, 'They will not enter my rest.'"

"Builder of a house." As a former builder, hearing this phrase in scripture immediately got my attention. I have always liked being creative, and I felt an extreme sense of accomplishment after the completion of each project. When you are a craftsman, artist, or wood/metal worker, or machinist,  and you pour your whole self into what you are doing, there is a great sense of satisfaction. Ask anyone who has ever built anything, written anything, or created anything.

The writer to the Hebrews calls the recipients "holy partners" and "brothers and sisters." The writer goes on to point out that we should be confident that we are part of God's house in Christ Jesus. The letter also warns of hardening hearts as a response to hearing the voice of God and contrasts this to the Hebrew people who wondered in the wilderness for 40 years after they left Egypt.

We harden our hearts very much like a disobedient child does when they hear the voice a loving parent, knowing that what they have done (or not done) would disappoint the parent. We are fearful of the parent that may be angry and what corrective action the parent may take. If we are members of God's household, then we have responsibilities to the head of the house (God). It's not wrathful anger, but I see it more as loving anger and frustration.

We should remember that Jesus referred to the creator of the universe (creator of ALL things) as "Daddy." This was a loving term of endearment meant to invite us into the understanding that we should relate to God as more of a loving parent that loves us unconditionally. God desires a relationship with us and God wants us to have a relationship with each other. We are brothers and sisters with Christ, invited into the household of God, called into a relationship as God's children, so that we may know God a little closer.

Titus 2:1-15 (NRSV)

Friday after Ash Wednesday - Reflections on the Letters during Lent

"But as for you, teach what is consistent with sound doctrine. Tell the older men to be temperate, serious, prudent, and sound in faith, in love, and in endurance. Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled, chaste, good managers of the household, kind, being submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, and sound speech that cannot be censured; then any opponent will be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us. Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to talk back, not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Savior. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one look down on you."

For me, just picking one word for today is difficult. So, if I have to choose, it would be "reprove!" Yes, reprove... according to Webster, "to correct or scold usually gently or with kind intent." I'm not sure why that word stuck out. It may have been how I read it, or it may have been the other twitchy feelings I got when I read the whole passage together.

I think that Paul is trying to teach Titus how to speak the truth in love, but he's using examples that are characteristic of time, place, and culture. For me, wives and slaves being "submissive" isn't an example that work's in our time and place. In fact, I think it was these passages in scripture that were used to justify slavery and against women's suffrage. Slavery was wrong! People are not property! Women are equal and they are not property either. I think, for the sake of compromise and maintaining good relationships, we must submit to one other at times, but this reading far from justifies people as property. It's sad that scripture was ever used that way.  

Now, some of Paul's examples work for us today: integrity, sound speech, fidelity, zealous for good deeds, sound in faith, in love and endurance, temperate... all good things to aspire to. Speaking the truth or reproving is something that none of us are very good with... we do not like to hold our brothers and sisters accountable for their behavior, for fear that it will cause a rift. That somehow, a gentle correction with kindly intent is going to ruin our relationship. The truth is hard to bare sometimes. We get upset when we are told the truth. It's definitely something everyone needs to work on. 

The call to action for me today can be found within the reading. We should live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly! Also, in with love and friendship, gently reprove one another - with the emphasis on gently. It's ok to hold each other accountable.

Mark 3:19b-35 (NRSV)

Then [Jesus] went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.  When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, 'He has gone out of his mind.'  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, 'He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.'  And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, 'How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come.  But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

'Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin' for they had said, 'He has an unclean spirit.'

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him.  A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, 'Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.'  And he replied, 'Who are my mother and my brothers?'  And looking at those who sat around him, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.'

This passage takes the story in an unusual direction after the appointment of the twelve.  The phrase that stands out to me today is, “a house divided against itself will not be able to stand.”   Jesus is faced with accusers saying that he has a demon.  He said to them, “How can Satan cast out Satan?”

In this passage, Jesus goes home and confronts accusers there who say that he has a demon.  Some think he is out of his mind and possessed.  Jesus teaches them in a parable, saying that the kingdom cannot stand if divided against itself.  He also relates it to plunder a strong man’s house…  that one must first tie him up.  Jesus goes from talking about a kingdom divided to the forgiveness of sins and blasphemies, saying that blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness.  He said this because they said he had an unclean spirit.

Then, he abruptly goes from there to define who his mother, brothers, and sisters are.  Jesus says that the ones with him are his mother and brothers and sisters, and whoever does the will of God is his brother and sister and mother.  This is also the first time in Mark's Gospel that indicates Jesus has kin (mother and brothers and sisters).

The call today for me is unity.  It came to me from his explanation of a house divided.  If we, as disciples and children of God, are in union with each other, then anything is possible.  Unity is strength and power; Unity is wisdom and influence.  Without unity and a shared mission, we are divided, and we will fall.

John 17:20-26 (NRSV)

'I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.  As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.  'Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.  I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.'

This is a continuation of the prayer from Thursday 2/23.  It is interesting that we skipped versus 9 through 19 of Jesus’ prayer in chapter 17 because of the commemoration of St. Matthias on 2/24, so we ended up missing some of the prayer.  Today we pick it up at verse 20.  You can read the missing part here.

‘Know’ or to ‘make known’ is the word that stands out today.  Jesus prays for his disciples to know God more closely so that they may participate in the divine relationship.

Everything is tied together and interwoven into these verses – the Father in Jesus, Jesus in the Father, their divine glory and love.  Jesus wishes this divine unity be available to the world.  He prays for his glory to be revealed to the world so that people may believe and participate in the divine relationship of love.

This goes along with my personal theology of God.  God is a God of relationship.  God is in relationship with God’s self in the Godhead; Father, Son, & Holy Spirit – And God’s people are in relationship with each other.  The gathered people of God (the Church) are in relationship with God, and the divine love of Christ is shown forth in this relationship.  In order for people to experience God’s glory in Christ, they must be brought to the knowledge of the divine love through God’s gathered people.

I feel the call today is to be with Jesus in this divine relationship.  To know Jesus as he is made known to us, participate in his Love, and then be catalysts of that love within the world - so that the world can know Christ and be reconciled to God.