Lent 5

Sunday Ps. 32 is in the lectionary reading for us. Still, I wanted to highlight its early movements, when it may get covered over by other great readings. When we sin, we want it to stay well-hidden. Maybe we especially want to keep sin hidden from our own self.The psalmist says that this will eat us up inside. To deal with the shame and guilt, it is better to confess, to tell the truth. That confession makes God the hiding place, not the inner recesses of the human heart.

 

Monday-Bonhoeffer said that we "participate in the life of Jesus (incarnation,cross and resurrection) by  new life in existence for others thorough Jesus." In other words, we do not transcend into the holy from the human. We transcend ourselves through this life and there encounter the holy. We do not need to wait for heaven for the song's prayer to be answered, nearer my God to thee.

 

Tuesday-Purdue fans are heartbroken about the NCAA chances with a serious knee injury to a star player. Any sports fan is saddened to see a great player injured. Of course some IU fans take delight in the pain of Purdue at any time. At some time, most of us do take some secret delight in the pain of others. Somehow, it feels as if it elevates  our own status. It makes the world seem a little bit more fair, as if the scales are better balanced.

 

Wednesday-Calvin on John 15:4 "Christ has no other aim in views other than to keep us as a hen  keeps her chickens under her wings, lest our indifference carry us away...he did not leave the mission of salvation in mid-course but  the Spirit will always be efficacious in us...all who have living fruit in Christ are fruit bearing branches." Consider reading and singing the hymn, Abide in Me.

 

Thursday-Some Christians emphasize a born again experience.  A piece in Christian Century (1/26/10) speaks of a third conversion in midlife, where the writer notices a sense that one phase is completed and God is calling her to something new. She marks this transition as intensely specific and quotes Lassky:'if Christ came to restore the divine image in all of humankind the Holy Spirit communicates to persons, marking each member of the church with a seal of personal and unique relationship." Do you sense that god may be making some room for some changes in your life?

  

Friday-I've been thinking about the reaction to the Tiger Woods televised apology. It seems that no apology an satisfy people in our media culture. Some say it was too scripted. If he didn't use notes, then it would be said that he was ill-prepared and didn't take it seriously. It seems to me that no apology can satisfy critics. the church is one place where an apology is accepted, by God, if not us, in the liturgy. We are not judged by sincerity, or eloquence, or emotional range. We merely throw ourselves on the mercy of a God who seems to be a far less sever critic than we are.

 

Saturday-Marilyn McEntyre has a new book on language, Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies. "Truth-telling is so difficult because the varieties of untruth are so many and well disguised...in comparison (to media culture) the truth seems pale, understated, or indecisive by comparison." We hear so much bombast that we lose an ear for precision, and indeed, kindness. She is right that words have power, and we do well to "reinvigorate them as bearers of truth and instruments of love." where can you start to use words in that way? To whom should they be directed?