Who bent the world?

Q has a back story that he allows to appear gradually throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. It is more blatant towards the end, but a careful read discovers hints. For example he says that it is a grievous task that God (interestingly Elohim) has given to the sons of men (1.13), thus turning the flow of his thought from a human perspective as though we initiate the question What does life mean? to some sense of an assignment from God to us that we find grievous. We tend, if we have some sense of deity, to pose questions like "why?" to this being. Whereas here Q may be proposing that it is God who is posing the questions. Later he says that God has been testing humans (3.18) And when he turns his thoughts to pleasure as a candidate for the answer to the question What does life mean? and we expect him to "test" pleasure (expecting that this is his method for all candidates) he surprises us with "I said to myself 'come now, I will test you with pleasure." (2.1) It's as though he speaks for God rather than question God, and this is further exasperated by his assertion that "what is crooked cannot be straightened" (1.15) and "Consider the work of God, for who can straighten what He has bent?" 97.13) What sense can we make of this?

the Wisdom of Q

What does life mean? This is the searching question posed by Qoheleth in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. The Message version calls the author "the Quester."It seems to me that the most important question to be asked in this world is this timeless one. How would you answer?  Q says that with a brilliant mind and great wisdom he (presumably) presses various "pretenders" to show that they are the answer to the question. But none of them escapes his scrutinizing reaction "ha! like chasing the wind." Worse, in the Message the paraphrase is "like spitting into the wind." This is even more insulting than trying to chase or grasp the wind - it involves the mockery that returns at the end of the pursuit. It seems to me that the effect of the "Fall" - the brokenness of our world, which seems much like a roof caved in by our own doing and the wreckage falling randomly on and around us, is experienced differently by different people in different times. But perhaps the most common experience of that wreckage is a profound sense of meaninglessness in our lives. And how do we manage this? We tend to live deliberately unexamined lives. We choose an agnostic option that we perhaps have not been offered that mentions the possibility of god but feels no obligation for the integration of that possibility towards a meaningful existence. Q wants to talk!

Maundy Thursday

Last Supper, Maundy Thursday

The term "maundy" comes from a Latin word meaning "commandment" and refers to Jesus' new commandment given to His disciples after washing their feet - "love one another." This is certainly the core commandment and ethic of our Christian faith. It is a simple idea and yet a difficult practice. Love, in the New testament is clearly not simply an emotion, it is a code of behaviour. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul describes love's behaviour: Love is patient, kind, doesn't envy, does not boast, is not proud, doesn't dishonour others, is not self-seeking, in not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, doesn't delight in evil, rejoices with the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, never fails. A pretty good check list, isn't it? Love one another. As we gather for worship this weekend, as we gather as families this weekend, as we cross paths with the world of people I'm sure we can fulfill this commandment. Let's keep it in mind. 

Bethany

Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary
Tintoratto, 16th Century

On Wednesday of Holy Week it is thought that Jesus rested at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany. Perhaps no Bible town name has been chosen more than Bethany to name churches in our day. Bethany is also a common town name and even a girl's name. Bethany means "place of resurrection." No wonder it is a popular name. We all long to be in a place of resurrection. It's important that Jesus rested in such a place. These were his dear friends and here there hospitality was always ready for him. Here he could relax, eat, sleep and talk. As he contemplated the hard work of the coming days Jesus rested in this safe place and in the fact of resurrection. At Southside we travel with Lifeshapes as our discipleship language. The semi-circle is the rhythm of rest to work. we note that in the creation week our first day was one of rest (Sabbath) and from that we work. We don't rest from work, rather we work from rest. The powerful rest we have is that of resurrection and whatever work of dying is before us (to ourselves, to the world) is best prepared in a safe place of rest in resurrection. As Paul said, he wanted to know the power of Christ's resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, in that order. Where is my Bethany? How do I lean hard into the rest of the resurrected life so that I may enter the fellowship of the sufferings of my Lord? 

30 pieces of silver

Tuesday of Holy Week was the day that Judas is recorded as negotiating the price of betrayal of Jesus. For 30 pieces of silver he was willing to give his friend into the hands of his enemies. How could this be? It was only later at the last supper that we're told that Satan entered into him, and that certainly empowered the treachery of his deed. But he was Jesus' friend. Of course we remember that on a perhaps lesser level even Peter denied knowing Jesus and betrayed him in this sense. The truth is we are fickle followers at best and turncoats at worst. For what would I trade my relationship with Christ as Saviour and Lord? Would I deny him? Would I actually betray him? Foolishness declares that I would never deny or betray my Lord. Wisdom understands the resident darkness of my heart and sets a guard.  "Oh to grace, how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above."

foot washing

As we enter Holy Week, some of the events of that week may engage our hearts in fresh ways this Lenten Season. John 13 is a powerful passage concerning service. Jesus does the job of a servant by washing is disciples' feet. This is a demeaning and probably disgusting task! But we must remember that this is the nature that He assumed, not only human form, but the very nature of a servant according to the Apostle Paul. He ends the embarrassment (to the disciples) of this ministry to them by telling them to do the same! And so in this Holy Week whose feet (literally or figuratively) will we wash? Early in the narrative is something that makes all the difference to this behaviour:
"Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.. he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet." (John 13.3-5) It is the word "so" that is so significant. We might translate the passage as "Because Jesus knew.."  It is when we know who we are, and that our origin and destiny is in and with Christ that we are released from our sinful struggle for significance in the lonely dance of survival of the fittest. We are joint heirs with Christ, being formed into His image (a servant), and destined for glory. Why need to be big fish in a small pond? So whose feet will it be? 

Lazarus Saturday

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)
The Resurrection of Lazarus

Lazarus Saturday is celebrated as one of the two feast days between the Fast of Lent and the Fast of Holy Week by the Orthodox Church. We often miss the importance of the chronological place of the miracle of Lazarus' raising. Jesus asks the most important question of His ministry when He arrives at Bethany and is greeted by the distraught sisters. "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" In performing this miracle just before the events of Holy Week and His final arrest and crucifixion Jesus provided a theological context for all that would occur. It was rather like a movie trailer, says Luci Shaw. It was a preview of what would transpire because of what would transpire in the days to come. It was a promise to all of us that the dark days were the preface to resurrection and life forever!

hyacinths

Bought these hyacinths the other day without knowing what colour they will be. They haven't begun to emit the distinctive Spring aroma yet either. But one of these mornings we will arise to both colour and aroma. It's certain! Has Lent been a time when we have begun to emerge from the bulb in the ground state to a new life of promise and beauty? Will AnnaBeth's hyacinths be white? or pink? or ? What has been formed in you in your Lent emergence as you have dwelt on your finiteness, failures and futilities, on your humanness? Has the repenting of the season given you hope about the newness of your resurrection in Christ? The apostle Paul inspires us to forget what is past and to press on..
Let's look forward eagerly to what has been formed in the dark soil and now is ready to blossom and delight!

snow?

Snow? I'm not sure we were ready to face this first thing this morning! "Enough!" Right? How does this relate to Lent? Lent's season is rather long, isn't it? When will Easter ever arrive? When will we be able to declare "He is Risen!" And the Christian journey is sometimes like that as well. We struggle with our finiteness, our frailty, our failures and disappoint ourselves, those around us and, we're sure, God our Father. And yet we see progress as we consider where we've once been, how we've once been, and the new snowfall doesn't threaten weeks more of winter but rather it will melt by this afternoon. This is a lapse, not a condition. This was a trip, not a fall. This is a moment, not a while.
John, the Apostle, is blunt about sin. He declares that only self-deceived people say that they don't sin.  But he tells us that we have an Advocate with the Father when we do sin. He tells us that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 Jn 1.9)

morning prayer

O Lord and Maker of all things, from whose creative power the first light came forth, who did look upon the world’s first morning and see that it was good, I praise You for this light that now streams through my windows to rouse me to the life of another day.

I praise You for the life that stirs within me:

I praise You for the bright and beautiful world into which I go:

I praise You for earth and sea and sky, for scudding cloud and singing bird:

I praise You for the work You have given me to do:

I praise You for all that You have given me to fill my leisure hours:

I praise You for my friends:

I praise You for music and books and good company and all pure pleasures.

O You who Yourself are everlasting Mercy, give me a tender heart today towards all those whom the morning light brings less joy than it brings to me:

Those in whom the pulse of life grows weak:

Those who must lie abed through all the sunny hours:

The blind, who are shut off from the light of day:

The overworked, who have no joy of leisure:

The unemployed, who have no joy of labor:

The bereaved, whose hearts and homes are desolate:

And grant Your mercy on them all.

O Light that never fades, as the light of day now streams through these windows and floods this room, so let me open to You the windows of my heart, that all my life may be filled by the radiance of Your presence. Let no corner of my being be unillumined by the light of Your countenance. Let there be nothing within me to darken the brightness of the day. Let the Spirit of Him whose life is the light of men rule within my heart till eventide. Amen.

John Baillie

church and kingdom

We know that "church" has lost its contact with our neighbours, right? I meet regularly with couples wanting to be married, and they have simply no connection to church as the catalyst of religion and spirituality. What are your ideas about how the kingdom of God is arriving, God's future in our present, in a society where the church is not the obvious answer? This is not just an interesting question, but a desperate one. If we were to dismantle "church" and re-assemble some other gathering sort of community what would that look like? Should we? I love the church and all it has meant to me over the decades, but I need to ask about how to re-imagine church for a new day, so that it truly is the vehicle for God's arriving Kingdom. Can we start over somehow? 

Psalm 23 for lectio

The practice of "lectio divina" is a lovely way to meditate on Scripture. The passage is read (most helpfully aloud even if I am alone) slowly several times. As I read, I listen for something that impresses me in a new or renewed way. Then that thought, or image, or insight or whatever it attaches itself to becomes my focus. What is God saying to me? What will I do about it? Psalm 23 is a wonderful passage for lectio with its pastoral language and vivid language. I suspect that on this Friday as we near the end of Lent and reach the summit of Easter some of us would be refreshed by a meditation of this sort!

idols

Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City is a wonderful contemporary thinker and communicator. In Lent we give up "idols." I found his instruction on this topic insightful: 

Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give….

The Bible sometimes speaks of idols using a marital metaphor. God should be our true Spouse, but when we desire and delight in other things more than God we commit spiritual adultery. Romance or success can become “false lovers” that promise to make us feel loved and valued. Idols capture our imagination, and we can locate them by looking at our daydreams. What do we enjoy imagining? What are our fondest dreams? We look at our idols to love us, to provide us with value and a sense of beauty, significance, or worth.

The Bible often speaks of idols using the religious metaphor. God should be our true Savior, but we look to personal achievement or financial prosperity to give us the peace and security we need. Idols give us a sense of being in control, and we can locate them by looking at our nightmares. What do we fear the most? What, if we lost it, would make life not worth living? We make “sacrifices” to appease and please or gods, who we believe will protect us. We look to our idols to provide us with a sense of confidence and safety.

The Bible also speaks of idols using a political metaphor. God should be our only Lord and Master, but whatever we love and trust we also serve. Anything that becomes more important and nonnegotiable to us than God becomes and enslaving idol. In this paradigm, we can locate idols by looking at our most unyielding emotions. What makes us uncontrollably angry, anxious, or despondent? What racks us with a guilt we can’t shake? Idols control us, since we feel we must have them or life is meaningless.

Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our lives.

What many people call “psychological problems” are simple issues of idolatry. Perfectionism, workaholism, chronic indecisiveness, the need to control the lives of others—all of these stem from making good things into idols that then drive us into the ground as we try to appease them. Idols dominate our lives.

• Consider the three metaphors of idolatry in Scripture. Which of these challenges you most?
• Using these categories, can you determine idols in your life? If not, are you willing to ask God to reveal them to you? Be careful, if you ask, He just might do it.

The Lent Lily The Lent Lily - A.E. Housman Tis spring; come out to ramble The hilly brakes around, For under thorn and bramble About the hollow ground The primroses are found. And there's the windflower chilly With all the winds at play, And there's the Lenten lily That has not long to stay And dies on Easter day. And since till girls go maying You find the primrose still, And find the windflower playing With every wind at will, But not the daffodil, Bring baskets now, and sally Upon the spring's array, And bear from hill and valley The daffodil away That dies on Easter day A.E. Housman

trees

The Moravian Daily Text New Testament reading assigned for today is Matthew 27. It is the distressing account of Judas' suicide. As Lent is long into the season now we might find this a dark time. We dwell on our sinfulness, the desperate condition of a fallen world and all of its brokenness and perhaps we lose heart. Judas made a heartbreaking decision. He chose the wrong tree. There was forgiveness ready for him at the tree on which his Saviour was crucified and yet he chose to hang on the tree of his own guilt and condemnation. Either tree would do.

On which tree do I hang my failures, my sins, my desperation? Am I still visiting trees to hang what has already been judged, condemned and sentenced on the tree upon which my Saviour died and I with Him? "When I survey the wondrous cross."

"do you believe this?"

Lazarus' tomb in Bethany

"I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

So Jesus asked Mary and Martha when their brother Lazarus died. They answered yes, but their eyes probably  betrayed a distressed question like "what good is that now?" As our Lenten meditation this day let's allow Jesus to ask us the same question "Do you believe this?" But let's do the hard work ourselves of asking and answering the question "what good is that now?" Because it is really good now! As Lent has brought us to sadness and hopelessness, so it leads us to the cross and empty grave where Jesus declares "I am the resurrection and the life!" That changes everything - now and forever. Does it?

waiting

The two Christian seasons of Advent and Lent are marked by a sense of waiting. And today as we look out upon a grey, rainy day, in which the water is running and pooling and maybe washing away the last of this long winter's snow we are waiting for summer! We are longing for warmth. And in Lent we are waiting for Easter. We are longing for life. But waiting is good for us. "We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield." (Psalm 33.20) In 2014 we don't wait well. We are going too fast, we feel that it's urgent, we can't put it off (whatever it is.) But when we simply can't move our circumstances any faster, when we are stuck, when we are helpless and finally succumb to the waiting, there can come a strange and holy quiet. This is a better thing than reluctant resignation, although that may have to be the starting point. It is an opportunity to reflect, to be grateful, to describe the hope of our waiting to our soul. And to rest there.

works of charity

Peter Brueghel, the Younger (1564-1638), Works of Charity.

Lent reminds us of our frailty. Lent reminds us of one anothers' frailty. And we join together in our weakness to hope together towards the strong Kingdom of God in which our frailty is but a distant memory. I love the idea of C.S. Lewis of the heaviness of our future existence. We will be vividly strong and present to one another. But for now we need to bear one another up and supply whatever strength we possess to one another. Acts of charity are characteristic of Lent. Notice one another. Care for one another. Practice random acts of kindness towards one another that we may celebrate the Kingdom's heaviness in advance. What might I do? For whom might I care? Who is in my circumstances, frail? Ideas?

Mahima

Lent is the calendar season during which we look for the arrival of God's future in our present. It is the time of longing for His Kingdom to come. In our world there are "thin places," places where heaven touches earth and the Kingdom arrives in splendour. Among these are the Mahima After Care homes in Kolkata, India. Smita Singh leads  a  powerful ministry there to the rescued human trafficked young women from the brothels of that teeming city. Restoring these beautiful children psychologically, spiritually, physically and socially along with assisting them in seeking justice against their perpetrators Smita dramatically answers the question that we as a church seek to persist in: "What would it look like if God's future arrived in these girls' present?" She can simply say "like this!" Smita will once again visit us at Southside this coming Sunday to bring us news of her girls and her co-workers. 

song for Lent

He has formed me from the dust and to dust I shall return… but then! Does anyone remember the 2nd Chapter of Acts? Paste this address into your browser above and enjoy!

http://grooveshark.com/#!/search/song?q=2nd+Chapter+of+Acts+He+Has+Formed+Me

trust

Well, twice in the wilderness journeys of Israel the company arrived at a place called Rephidim. It was then nicknamed Massah and Meribah (quarrelling and testing.) Why? This was a desert sort of piece of geography and the Israelites complained against both Moses and God, saying they would rather have died in Egypt than here in the desert. Almost 40 years later they circle back to the same place to have the same experience! Psalm 95 is an interpretation of these events where we hear God saying that the Israelites tested Him even though they had seen what He had done for them. And so He declared that they would never enter the Promised Land. Seems severe, doesn't it? I was wondering why this was God's reaction to them. Then in a conversation with some friends when one said that the fundamental human problem is that we don't trust God a light went on in my head and heart and I think I got it! This is why God was angry with them. They had seen His power and provision and they still did not trust Him. I have to ask myself if I truly and consistently trust Him -in every area, with every aspect of my life. And I have to know that this really, really matters to my Christian formation. Has God ever been other than good as far as my life is concerned? And so am I trusting him implicitly? The image I have is that we are little children holding on to God hand in hand knowing that  can trust Him completely! He has always been, will always be trustworthy and He expects us to know this and act on it.  

water from a rock

In Exodus 17 and Numbers 20 we have two accounts of water drawn from a rock. Both are miraculous, and both reflect God's care for His people in their need. But after the fact there was a sort of closed door meeting with the players. Apparently Moses was furious. Apparently God was furious. Why? Both were furious with the people. Both understood that the people were taxing their patience and were doubters in their faith even in the face of recent miraculous intervention. But it also turned out that God was angry with Moses and forbade entry to the promised land because Moses and Aaron didn't treat Him as holy in the second occasion of striking the rock. Does God still feel that way towards His people and His leaders? Yikes! Let's talk tomorrow at Southside..

seeing with my heart

More from The Little Prince. What am I seeing today with my heart rather than with my eye? What am I trying to see with my eye that I ought rather to see with my heart? What is the difference? Who am I looking at with my eye whom I should rather look at with my heart? Riddles that childlike living might solve in a moment!

The Little Prince

In his wonderful classic The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exubery grown ups are spoken of rather disparagingly. The narrator early in the story describes pictures he has drawn - number one and number two. They are of a boa constrictor which has swallowed an elephant. But the appearance of the first is like that of a hat. When the six year old asks grown ups if they find the picture scary they ask "what's scary about a hat?" So he must draw the second picture depicting the actual elephant inside the snake. His conclusion? "Grown ups never understand anything on their own, and it's a nuisance for children to have to keep explaining things over and over again."

Jesus lauds the wisdom and comprehension of children. In this Lent season a good practice might well be to try to see the world through the eyes of a child. To be returned to simplicity, to wonder, to belief, to acceptance. Once again we will have to slow our days down to a child's pace! Take time to plod, to stop, to retrace your steps, to look. And al the better if you can spend time with a real child to teach your real inner child the simple complexities of life.

self portrait

This piece of art (Giovanni Boccaccio: 1313-1375) is interestingly entitled Marcia painting her self-portrait. 
The season of Lent is a good time to examine ourselves as we experience the tensions of being human, being mortal, but awaiting the effect of the resurrection of Easter to make us beings in-dwelt by eternity. In this in-between we must humbly reckon with what we are in order that we might hope to become what we will be. We must look honestly at ourselves to long all the more for what we shall be and to invite the "shall be" into the present. So the idea of this painting is fascinating to me. What would my self-portrait look like? How would I depict myself? Sometime ago I came across the idea of the FAE, the fundamental attribution error. This the propensity to excuse in myself what I condemn in others. Someone trips on the sidewalk and I consider them clumsy, I trip on the sidewalk and I mutter about the poor workmanship of those who built it with such unevenness that would cause a trip hazard! Or morally I excuse as understandable, as just a little slip up, that which I judge in others to be a pretty major moral failure. My Lenten self portrait should be accurate. So for some that means challenging the FAE. For some it means looking with new eyes at the "shall be" that is wondrously forming in light of Easter For some it means seeing the beauty and value of the one who is depicted but hadn't yet been admired and now notices behind her shoulder a Father who calls her beautiful.

St. Patrick

In preparation for the most important saints' day of the year - here again is the Lorica (otherwise known as the breastplate) of St. Patrick. Seriously - pray it daily through the weekend and during St. Patrick's Day!

Lorica of Saint Patrick (ca. 377)

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through a belief in the Threeness,

Through confession of the Oneness

Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today

Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism,

Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,

Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,

Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today

Through the strength of the love of cherubim,

In obedience of angels,

In service of archangels,

In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,

In the prayers of patriarchs,

In preachings of the apostles,

In faiths of confessors,

In innocence of virgins,

In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today

Through the strength of heaven;

Light of the sun,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of the wind,

Depth of the sea,

Stability of the earth,

Firmness of the rock.

I arise today

Through God’s strength to pilot me;

God’s might to uphold me,

God’s wisdom to guide me,

God’s eye to look before me,

God’s ear to hear me,

God’s word to speak for me,

God’s hand to guard me,

God’s way to lie before me,

God’s shield to protect me,

God’s hosts to save me

From snares of the devil,

From temptations of vices,

From every one who desires me ill,

Afar and anear,

Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,

Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of pagandom,

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.

Christ shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,

Christ in the eye that sees me,

Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through a belief in the Threeness,

Through a confession of the Oneness

Of the Creator of creation

Creation Groans

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but we also ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, even the redemption of the body. (Romans 8.22-23)

What a poignant term this is "groans." This personification of creation is such a lovely image of the camaraderie of the wait. Our fourth little grandchild was born on Sunday and while our daughter was in labour with her husband by her side and AnnaBeth with them in that holy place of a new person, a new image bearer entering the world; with the wonder of texting our whole family was weighing in with "it will be over soon" messages. And it was! The pain and groaning gave way to joyful weeping and gratitude.

Today we will travel alongside people who are groaning. We will walk through the groaning forest together. We will hear the aching groans of the trees and the earth beneath us. And as Lent walkers let's notice and encourage one another that "it will be over soon." Over now because of the present Kingdom. Over later because of the coming Kingdom. Over, because of Easter.

brooding

As we allow the Spirit of God to "brood" over our lives in the solemnity of Lent; as He shows us our frailty and excess; as He burns away the dross and cuts away the decay of our lives we find that He then begins His best work. The Creation account of Genesis 1 portrays a unformed or preformed mass of material and the Spirit hovering above ready to call into order that which was not. Then we have the wondrous drama of the emerging of all that is. And we hear that God saw that it was "good." So as we eagerly watch for signs of Spring may we also watch for signs of the Spirit in our lives. Let's look for the fresh new leaves which are the evidence that Lent has worked in us and for us as preparation for the Holy Spirit. As we slowly walk around in our skin let's stop to notice where that growth is occurring and water it with the Word of God while we commune with the Spirit of God asking the good questions "what is God saying to me here?" and "what am I doing about it?"

40

Why 40 days for Lent? 40 is a familiar number in the Scriptures. Moses was up on the mountain with no food or drink for 40 days and nights; the flood was of 40 days duration; the children of Israel were 40 years in the wilderness; Jesus' fast was 40 days and 40 nights. It seems to be a sacred span of time. A generation of human life in the Scriptures seems to be 40 years. Perhaps that is the meaning. Lent does indeed remind us that we are dust and to dust we shall return and so the human life is a brief stay. How shall we seize the opportunity of this season to alert one another of the importance of using this brief sojourn to prepare for that which is across the Jordan, so to speak? What about some intentional conversations about mortality? How might we initiate some coffee shop sorts of dialogues along the lines of "have you given something up for Lent?"   

wilderness

The Temptation in the Wilderness
Briton Riviere (1840-1920)

The Hebrews writer reflects on Jesus' humanity: "Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." (Hebrews 2.17-18)

Yesterday at Southside we reflected on our humanness as fallen beings and our vulnerability to the areas of temptation first identified in the Garden of Eden and the mysterious "tree." Eve saw that the tree was "good for food"; that it was a "delight to the eyes"; and that the tree was "desirable to make one wise." The same three attractions -lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life are describe by the apostle John (1 John 2.16.) Richard Foster may have been the first to use the common language of "sex, money and power." Jesus resisted Satan in the wilderness in these three arenas. He was tested as to the appetite of the flesh, as to the possessions of the world and as to the raw power of mastering the whole world. This is the high priest who comes to our aid when we have the onslaught of temptation. In which area am I most at risk? In this Lent season how do I call on the aid of the One who was tested every way that I am, yet "without sin"?  

forbidden fruit

So what exactly happened in the Garden of Eden story of our fall from favour? In short we became, as my mother often said, "too big for our boots." We were created to live in fellowship with God, to know Him, to love Him, and to do His good pleasure. But there was a test. There was a tree. There was fruit. "Eat from any tree.. except.." Eve reportedly saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes and desirable to make one wise, so she took some fruit and ate and  shared it with Adam. Later the Scriptures sum up our mortal sinfulness as succumbing to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life (a theology of what Eve saw.) As we travel this Lenten journey perhaps we need to assess which of the three is our current vulnerability. Are we tempted by sensual pleasure; by the advertising world's latest 'make us happy' product; by pride in the power and prestige that could be ours to put our name in the annals of historical accomplishment? The Lenten correction for these is the set of traditional disciplines of the church: chastity, poverty and obedience. Or a modern version of these: purity, accountability and simplicity.

the Good Samaritan

Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863)

The Good Samaritan

In the parable of the Good Samaritan two aspects of our fallen human condition appear, the propensity to do evil and the frailty of the human body. Having been robbed and beaten the traveller lies bloodied by the side of the path. Ironically it is not the religious fellow travellers who give him assistance but one with whom he might normally have no "dealings" - a Samaritan.

During Lent as we explore "our dust to dust" sojourns it would be important for us to work against these two aspects by setting a guard on our inclinations to sin, especially against one another; and to lend aid to those we pass by who have been robbed and beaten on life's journey. This will necessitate a certain slowing of pace and vigilance of attentiveness to those whose wounds may only be visible to the unhurried fellow traveller.

worms

"And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. For now is Christ risen, for now is Christ risen from the dead -the first fruits of them that sleep." This is the bold passage from Handel's Messiah that celebrates the assertion "I know that my Redeemer liveth!" The worms part is a rather

loose translation of the Hebrew in Job 19.26 where "worms" are not in the original but supplied in the oldest English texts. The verse, however, is a frank acknowledgement of the mortality of human flesh. Some Christians are concerned over the practice of cremation (I am not) but whether by the corruption of the body in the ground (worms or not!) or the consumption of the body by fire this body will be reduced "ashes to ashes and dust to dust" BUT with the "sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead." How many times I have recited these words at a grave, and how much present and powerful hope they bring. Our future is a physical, fleshly, material existence as proven by the physical resurrection of Christ. So Lent brings us to the grave, but only for a while.

human being being human

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

human being being human

Our Lenten teaching series is entitled "human being being human" as we centre our thoughts this season on the nature of human existence, living in the physical bodies which we understand are from dust and will return to dust. What is the nature of human life in these vessels of clay and how do we relate our day to day material lives with the spiritual realities of God and the future transformation of these bodies?

Ash Wednesday. "You are dust and to dust you shall return" was the declaration the first Adam heard after the great Fall. On Ash Wednesday we begin the journey of Lent, a season of humility and repentance. We remember indeed that we are dust and acknowledge that to dust we are bound to return. We meditate on the meanness of dust, its lowliness and lack of beauty. And know that we are such. The practice of marking the forehead with ashes, smudged in the form of a cross, begun in the seventh century, in the Catholic, Anglican and many other Protestant churches reminds us of our mortality, making the hope of Easter and resurrection all the more critical. In earlier days the imposition of ashes was part of an ecclesiastical penitential ritual for people who had been expelled from the church for serious sin -whereby they could make a public sign of their repentance. They then undertook acts of penance throughout Lent and were formally restored to the church community at Easter.

What will be your path through Lent? A sober remembering that we are mortal? A grieving period concerning the weakness of "human flesh"? A season of repentance over sinful ways? A season of penance? A season of simplicity and reformed spiritual disciplines? Let's walk and talk together on this Coracle Journey.