Lent 6

Sunday-Ps. 126 is reflected in the hymn, Bringing in the Sheaves. It is a wonderful evocation of the reversal from bad fortune to good times, like the Depression-era song, happy Days Are Here Again. What bad place or time were you in when you dreamed of escape? When have you a dream come true?

 

Monday-Earthquakes have ravaged Haiti and Chile.I've already heard some fools blame some elements of religion in Haiti for the earthquake. I'm sure that they can think up something in Chile to cast aspersions on suffering people and to blame them for their plight. the Christian response to suffering is to have compassion and seek to ease the suffering, not to heap on piles of blame on top of the rubble.

 

Tuesday-Frances Taylor Gench teaches at Union Seminary, Richmond. In a fine book, Encounters with Jesus, she writes on the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) "much has been made of her irregular marital history but little of her witness, or missionary endeavor, or the vindication of her role by Jesus...Kysar observes... "the reader knows, because of her, that no matter who you are...the revelation of God in Christ is for you." (38) Who is a surprising embodiment of the faith for you? How does it surprise you that you embody the Christian faith? Where does it shine out in your life?

 

Wednesday-Calvin had a realistic view of human nature. On  I Cor. 15:58 on abounding in the work of the Lord: "unquestionably,if the hope of reward is taken away and extinguished, alacrity in running will not merely grow cold, but will be completely destroyed." Earlier he says," who would not turn aside from the way if not by thinking of a better life, so they are kept in reverence of God?" What are you7r hopes for heaven?

 

Thursday-Using people, taking advantage of people, is a sin against our creation in the image and likeness of God. Sometimes we will say thing such as, it not personal, it's just business. People are sacred and should not be treated as mere objects for our own selfish desires or plans. People are too vital to be considered merely part of statistics or especially mere means toward some larger end, no matter how well-intentioned.

 

Friday-Terence Fretheim has written his magnum opus, God and World in the Old Testament. In its closing paragraph on the relations of God, nature, and human beings he writes: "Human beings give voice to nonhuman praise, to a world highly charged with wonder and praise. On the other hand, the heavens will proclaim the glory of God with less clarity on a smoggy day."(284) He sees us involved in a triadic relationship always: human beings, nature, and our God. As creatures of the earth itself, we are charged as being its representative; our fates are intertwined in the divine drama.

 

Saturday-Donald Capps is  a recently retired pastoral theologian at Princeton. In Agents of Hope, he sees the enemies of hope as despair, apathy, and shame. The allies of hope are trust, patience, and modesty. Emily Dickinson imagined hope as a bird, the thing with feathers. It lifts us from the tyranny of what is into the rarefied air of what could be. What fond hopes to you have that lift you from the mundane?