Lent 4

Sunday-One of today's lectionary readings was Is. 55:1-9. It may reflect a response to an earlier section, where the people have rejected the gentle waters of God instead of the horrific flood of conflict. Like them we buy material that does not satisfy. What have you obtained that did not satisfy but was a fleeting experience of retail therapy? I think of that commercial that  lists the price of an event but notes that some things are priceless. What things in life are free but priceless for you?

 

Monday-Frozen fog makes the sidewalks hazardous, but it is beautiful when it decorates the trees. Sin can be double-sided like that. the fruit of the garden was attractive, but to eat of it meant death. Frozen fog is also evanescent, fleeting, as it melts away with the rest of the frost with the first rays of the warm sun. Where can we allow God's light to melt away the allure of evil?

 

Tuesday-Calvin on judging (Mt. 7) "We flatters ourselves but cast severe censure on others...we are tickled with the desire of inquiring into other people's faults...the greater percentage of people think that when they condemn others that they acquire  a greater liberty of sinning." Christians are often accused of being judgemental. When is this a fair criticism and when is it mere accusation? What pushes us into judgemental postures?

 

Wednesday-A Daniel fast- I noticed this in a Sojourners e-mail as I have tried to exercise more and watch my diet even more closely to lose some weight and to get in better shape, but I gained three pounds. Daniel ate a simpler diet for 10 days. The discipline of fasting is connected with prayer. The idea is to seek a clearer focus, to fight through hunger toward deeper hungers. Would you consider a Daniel period of abstaining from something for ten days during a prayerful time? Why are we willing to try any sort of test diet but reject fasting out of hand for a spiritual diet?

 

Thursday-Purell dispensers have cropped up everywhere due to the flu virus, I suppose. We don;t hold to the purity codes of the Old Testament, but it seems that we have a certain fear of germs. Maybe we could use them as spiritual reminders, secular versions of the holy water founts in Roman Catholic churches. A test for something impure is something that you would not want to be public knowledge and speculation. Let baptism wash away an impure word or deed today.

 

Friday- Nancy Duff cites Christopher Morse (p. 7 in the late Paul Lehman's book, the Decalogue) that moral laws are like buoys that alert swimmers to where the deep waters lie. Lehman wanted to move from moral laws as absolutes but were intended to help us see that the 10 Commandments are less inflexible rules but more descriptions toward the world God desires. For him the 10 Commandments help us see how to make human life more human, more to the ways God intends.

 

Saturday-Doing less instead of doing more for Lent seems counter-intuitive. I don't mean doing less of sinning, although that is a always a good idea. I mean doing less, because the shape of our harried lives gives us insufficient time for attention, rest, and reflection. Perhaps we could go through our color-coded itineraries and start to cross some out. Maybe Lent is the best time for us to capture some Sabbath magic, to learn to rest in God, to rest with God.