Today's Scripture Readings
Isaiah 58: 9b-35 (NRSV)
Luke 5: 27-32 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
This Lent, I chose for my seasonal reading the book entitled: Pilgrim Road: A Benedictine Journey Through Lent, by Albert Holtz, O.S.B. On each day of Lent, Holtz has written a page about his sabbatical pilgrimage that took him from Newark Abbey in New Jersey through England, to Bolivia, Amsterdam, and just about all over the world. He completes his story of what he saw on a particular day's trip with a reflection for our Lenten observance.
On the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Holtz recalls his Euro-star train journey from Paris' Gare du Nord at 8:09 a.m., through arriving at 10:35 a.m. in Waterloo Station in London. As Holtz writes, he paints for the reader a magnificent picture of what he is seeing and experiencing from the beginning of that train trip to the end.
At one point, he writes of the following experience.
At his reflection point for all of this, Holtz writes:
Lent is a period of tending to our gardens. Our lives are full of seeds that have been planted. Some by God, some by those who have inspired us, and those particular things that are part of the natural law called: life. As we receive the gifts of faith, hope and love from these seeds comes the life of God's creative beauty that will bring forth something wonderful, that shall grace the sky with dazzling new colors and flavors that will please the most discerning of palates.
There will also be the weeds, that come through sin and the difficulties of life. Many of these will be planted by the biological realities of our D.N.A. Many weeds will grow from our families and the behaviors they teach us by word and example. There will be many pains and hurts that will give life to the weeds, which seek to weaken what grows from the seed. Many of them will come through no fault of our own. Some will come as we harbor grudges and find it difficult to forgive those who cannot tell the difference between good vegetation from healthy seeds vs. the weeds. Such people often insist on trying to pull the weeds out for us, because of what they do not understand. Others will insist that the weeds along with the product of the seed must be burned, suggesting that the whole garden is contaminated. What they do not see, is that while the seeds are sprouting, and the plants are growing, that through some are being challenged by the weeds, they are discovering a fuller knowledge of themselves. They really only need help to work past the effects of those weeds, to become a mature and healthy food that will provide nourishment and hope for generations to come.
The tax collectors in Jesus' day were presumed by those of their time, to be sinners. They were marginalized "because of the dishonesty and injustice associated with their profession. Jesus does not talk to Levi privately, but calls him in the midst of his business, and goes to a public banquet where a "large crowd" of tax collectors and other friends are present. The Pharisees emphasize the impropriety of sharing a meal with these people, who, besides being sinners, would have contact with the Gentiles and thus been ritually unclean. Jesus uses a proverb to explain his stance: he has come to help those in need and will go out to them. Those who will not recognize their own need are not ready for the doctor" (Jerome Kodell, O.S.B. Collegeville Bible Commentary, New Testament Volume, p. 947).
Once again, we see that Jesus goes to those presumed to be "ritually unclean" because of what they do. Jesus, not pleased with that kind of thing, does not waste time trying to reason with those who have already written them off. Instead, Jesus goes and makes a partnership with them, to welcome them (hospitality) as part of God's family first, and to show God's mercy and forgiveness (reconciliation) for them second. Jesus does not see individuals as "ritually unclean", alternatively, he includes them to be part of the work God has sent Christ to do.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer individuals, along with other marginalized persons, have experienced being set aside by those who consider us to be "abominations." This is their way of suggesting that we are "unclean." The injustices experienced by Native Americans at the hands of white, Christian, men who insisted that their cultural identity and religious values made them such a superior class that they thought of themselves as "commissioned" to exploit and dispose of others who were not like them; is a shameful chapter in American history. This attitude brought by through colonization, resulted in many cultures, traditions and peoples being subjected to the most cruel and unacceptable means of stigmatization and prejudice. This is something that we as Americans and Christians should not be proud of.
Lent is a time for us to take an honest look at what has been happening in our garden. As we grow in the company of people of diverse sexual orientations, genders, gender identities/expressions, classes, races, cultures, languages, health statuses, wealth statuses, religions and so on and so forth; what are we declaring to be "unclean" when it is in fact a product of God's Holy Spirit? Are we looking at other plants recognizing their unique contributions to the work of God among us? Or, are we declaring them weeds because, well, they are just not like us?
God has come in Christ to make us part of a partnership for the expansion of the reign of God among all people. We, as Christians, are just one particular flavor, or product of what God is growing in the great garden of life. It is God's job to determine what no longer bears good fruit. Not ours. Our partnership with God, is to participate in loving everyone who is part of God's garden. Each person is created in God's image and likeness, and have been redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That includes us. That includes those that we have arrogantly decided are weeds.
During this Lent, let's allow God to have control over our own gardens, and leave those of others to the care of God as well.
When we work with God by letting the goodness of the seeds of our own faith, to be nurtured by unconditional and all-inclusive love; the awesomeness of God's transforming grace becomes visible to others so that they can add their God created flavors to the diverse garden of God's holy and life-giving people.
Prayers
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honourable;
if you honour it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Luke 5: 27-32 (NRSV)
After this he went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up, left everything, and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?’ Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’
Blog Reflection
This Lent, I chose for my seasonal reading the book entitled: Pilgrim Road: A Benedictine Journey Through Lent, by Albert Holtz, O.S.B. On each day of Lent, Holtz has written a page about his sabbatical pilgrimage that took him from Newark Abbey in New Jersey through England, to Bolivia, Amsterdam, and just about all over the world. He completes his story of what he saw on a particular day's trip with a reflection for our Lenten observance.
On the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Holtz recalls his Euro-star train journey from Paris' Gare du Nord at 8:09 a.m., through arriving at 10:35 a.m. in Waterloo Station in London. As Holtz writes, he paints for the reader a magnificent picture of what he is seeing and experiencing from the beginning of that train trip to the end.
At one point, he writes of the following experience.
10:20 a.m. Out of the tunnel...Syndenham, Hill station...Herne Hill....apartment buildings and row houses...worn-out neighborhoods of brick and asphalt...rough, rough, shuddering tracks... A double-decker bus below...a wide river alongside--probably the Thames.
I think about the little man in the gray cap, and a snatch of Scripture from the prophet Jeremiah comes to mind. God's chosen ones, he declares, "will be like a well-watered garden." Hmm... What if we were less like a speeding train and more like a watered garden?
If my life were a garden, then my heart would be a place of calm, patient waiting for things to come in their own due time: seasons of blossoms, seasons of plenty, and seasons of sleet and snow and seeming sterility. If my life were a garden to be tended, then my desire to control everything would no longer make sense, because a garden can't be forced or pushed or hurried along; a garden needs to be nurtured, not driven headlong like a train on a track. Then my efforts at prayer or work would take on a different meaning, because anything that a garden produces comes not as my accomplishment but as a mysterious, beautiful gift of nature's bounty (p. 9-10).
At his reflection point for all of this, Holtz writes:
If your life is like a garden, then Lent is not a project to be accomplished, but rather an opportunity to let God help you to look carefully at your garden and help it to be more fruitful. Prayer, fasting and works of charity are traditional ways of doing this. If your life is a garden that needs to be watered and weeded but cannot be forced or controlled, ask the Lord to help you this Lent to let go of your need to control, and to teach you how to be patient with the God's slow way of doing things (p. 10).
Lent is a period of tending to our gardens. Our lives are full of seeds that have been planted. Some by God, some by those who have inspired us, and those particular things that are part of the natural law called: life. As we receive the gifts of faith, hope and love from these seeds comes the life of God's creative beauty that will bring forth something wonderful, that shall grace the sky with dazzling new colors and flavors that will please the most discerning of palates.
The tax collectors in Jesus' day were presumed by those of their time, to be sinners. They were marginalized "because of the dishonesty and injustice associated with their profession. Jesus does not talk to Levi privately, but calls him in the midst of his business, and goes to a public banquet where a "large crowd" of tax collectors and other friends are present. The Pharisees emphasize the impropriety of sharing a meal with these people, who, besides being sinners, would have contact with the Gentiles and thus been ritually unclean. Jesus uses a proverb to explain his stance: he has come to help those in need and will go out to them. Those who will not recognize their own need are not ready for the doctor" (Jerome Kodell, O.S.B. Collegeville Bible Commentary, New Testament Volume, p. 947).
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer individuals, along with other marginalized persons, have experienced being set aside by those who consider us to be "abominations." This is their way of suggesting that we are "unclean." The injustices experienced by Native Americans at the hands of white, Christian, men who insisted that their cultural identity and religious values made them such a superior class that they thought of themselves as "commissioned" to exploit and dispose of others who were not like them; is a shameful chapter in American history. This attitude brought by through colonization, resulted in many cultures, traditions and peoples being subjected to the most cruel and unacceptable means of stigmatization and prejudice. This is something that we as Americans and Christians should not be proud of.
God has come in Christ to make us part of a partnership for the expansion of the reign of God among all people. We, as Christians, are just one particular flavor, or product of what God is growing in the great garden of life. It is God's job to determine what no longer bears good fruit. Not ours. Our partnership with God, is to participate in loving everyone who is part of God's garden. Each person is created in God's image and likeness, and have been redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That includes us. That includes those that we have arrogantly decided are weeds.
During this Lent, let's allow God to have control over our own gardens, and leave those of others to the care of God as well.
When we work with God by letting the goodness of the seeds of our own faith, to be nurtured by unconditional and all-inclusive love; the awesomeness of God's transforming grace becomes visible to others so that they can add their God created flavors to the diverse garden of God's holy and life-giving people.
Prayers
Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth your right hand to help and defend us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, p. 35).
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (Collect for Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 217),
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Human Family, Book of Common Prayer, p. 815).
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