Lent Feb.24th

Sunday Feb.24-Phil. 3:17 -4:2 is one of the lectionary texts. We certainly regard our feeding as important, given the rise of foodies and a multitude of diets. As Calvin said, our minds are factories of idols, of replacements for God. The passage speaks of us being in two worlds, this one and the commonwealth of heaven. Coming from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and living north of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I  like that word. Especially so, because the common good, the common well-being is important to me. What public good are you willing to make some sacrifices for?

 

Monday- Connections and the need for them seem built into the creation. We live in a sea of interdependence. Sin can be the denial of connections and their impact, or the insistence that we live as we are unconnected. Indeed that could be a good ethical restraint: "what would I say to my loved one about what I am going to do?" As an exercise, jot down 5 people or things that connect you to the past, then  the present, then the future. How have they connected you to others and to God? What is the basis for those connections?

 

Tuesday Calvin wrote on Ps. 121 "we are naturally more anxious than is needful in seeking alleviation and redress to our calamities, especially when any imminent danger threatens us, we act a foolish and mistaken part in running up and down through tortuous mazes. ..No matter how high we look we find salvation only in God." Here is a view that faith can alleviate anxiety. Where does anxiety threaten your enjoyment of life?

 

Wednesday- I grow tired of being a classical music philistine (although i have yet to reach that stage in modern art or dance) and picked up a Teaching Company music appreciation set. Classical music has an extensive vocabulary to describe what the composer is up to. A part of  a musical idea is called a motive:think Bah bah bah bum in Beethoven's 5th. these pieces are massaged and transformed t eventually form a whole. it sound like the mosaic of one's life, no?

 

Thursday-Changes in church size seem constant but different overall. At present, large churches are growing larger, small churches are stable but threatened as usual, but mid-sized churches are in uncertain territory. God's love may by unchanging, but the structures of church life do not have to be so. The evidence would suggest that no one is satisfied with the size of their church. Susan Nienaber of the Alban Institute suggests displacing that anxiety with a focus on what God is calling us to be and to do in our particular church setting.

 

Friday- Home towns are the crucible of our lives. They form many of our assumptions and expectations of social life. We may remain in a psychic version of them, wherever we live, or we may well be seeking to escape from them. Just recently, we read of Jesus having a hard time in his home town when he did not fit the categories they had placed around him. Jeffrey Johnson writes of "reading a home town like a poem." When you think about growing up what are the mental pictures that spring to mind? What do you miss? What don't you miss?

 

Saturday-Joy of giving is a difficult phrase. I rarely feel it if I am being manipulated or even coerced into giving. On the other hand, I do find real pleasure in giving, whether it's a kettle at Christmas, making a pledge to NPR, or making something special for our children. Maybe it is a sign that my heart is too small when I need to be coerced into giving.When I was young, people gave for things that would last, institutions or projects like the March of Dimes. now they seem to demand a personal connection and want to  dictate the terms of their gift.