Today’s
section of Luke’s Gospel focuses on Jesus’ Lament over Jerusalem. This is a cry of sorrow not necessarily for
what is about to happen but for what Jerusalem has done, her history. Jesus’ lament is a cry as one who loves a
child and has to sit back and watch the child make its own mistakes.
I have
said that Jesus’ cry from the cross comes down to us through time and history
and looks at each and every individual and asks “why have you forsaken me?” And here again it is the same thing.
Fr.
Richard Rohr in Falling upward spirituality for the two halves of life (which I
highly recommend) reminds us that;
Catholics used to say at the end of their
Latin prayers, Per omnia saecula saeculorum, loosely translated as “through all
the ages of ages.” Somehow deep time orients the Psyche, gives ultimate
perspective, realigns us, grounds us, and thus heals us. We belong to a mystery far grander than our
little selves and our little time.[1]
I
believe this is again occurring here. Jesus’ Lament for Jerusalem can be
translated into any time, place or person.
So how does this sound if we were to replace some words. Listen; America, America the nation that
kills the prophets and stones those sent to it.
How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen
gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! OR what if I were to make it more personal
Joseph, Joseph you have killed prophets and have stoned those I sent to you.
You
may be saying to yourselves that makes no sense. I have never known a prophet...And I have
never actually stoned anyone. Yet each
and every time I have dismissed a stranger or passed up an opportunity to pause
and truly listen...I have killed a prophet.
Each and every time I have mocked writing, dismissed an opportunity for
ministry, devalued myself… I have thrown a stone.
Reverend
Michael K. Marsh an Episcopal priest actually names the stones that we throw quite
well. “Stones of inadequacy – stones that say, ‘go away. I’m not worth your
time or love.’ Stones of arrogance – stones that say, ‘My way is better.’
Stones of isolation – stones that say, ‘I can do this all by myself. I don’t
need you.’ Stones of fear – stones that build walls instead of a home in which
all are welcome. Stones of immaturity – stones that say, ‘I don’t want to grow.
I don’t want to take responsibility. Just let me play by myself.’ Stones of
prejudice – stones that say, ‘You’re different from me. You’re not wanted or
needed around here.’ Stones of defensiveness – stones that say, ‘Don’t change
or challenge me. Let me stay in my narrow little world.’”[2]
These are the stones of violence that deny another’s dignity and humanity.
Each
and every stone we throw is not just a rejection of the other but in reality it
is a rejection of ourselves. Those we
may have dismissed or tossed a stone at will walk away and probably forget it
in ten minutes but we hold onto it and …well improve upon it. We improve upon it in many different ways...I
can make my hate a little stronger…my words a little harsher or even the quilt
I feel for what I have done I can beat myself up a little better. These actions, behaviors, allow us to
discount ourselves to claim to be unworthy, that we are not children of
God. Yet, just as Jerusalem is a holy
city, we are called to be that sacred place, that holy city, the place where
God dwells and can be found.
You
know, part of our rejection of us as dwelling place, that rejection of God
dwelling within us, often comes from a fearful place. We live in fear of love, we live in fear of
stepping beyond ourselves and we live in fear of ourselves. So often we see
ourselves in the worse possible light as opposed to the light of love in which
God sees us. This keeps us from growing
in God and deepening our relationship with God.
Allow me to refer to Richard Rohr again as he reminds us that “the most
common one liner in the bible is ‘Do not be afraid’; It is located in the Bible
365 times.”[3] That is one do not be afraid for every day in
the year.
This
an invitation to find a moment of non fear based living. In that moment of no
fear, in that time of loving ourselves when we seek to love the other so that
we might more fully know God in our lives, therein lays the very truth of
God. Henri Nouwen has said; “The fact
that I am always searching for God, always struggling to discover the fullness
of Love, always yearning for the complete truth, tells me that I have always
been given a taste of God.” In other
words the spark of God is within us and we need to take time to pay attention
to it.
Norvene
vest in tending the holy reflects upon benedicts rule and his practice of
becoming aware of God and paying attention to God in our lives. She speaks of the way of humility. She
states; “the way of humility in the rule of Benedict begins with the constant
acceptance of our human, fallible reality, fully known by God who embraces us
totally in our goodness and in our particular weakness”[4]
God knows our faults and loves us through them and doesn’t hold them against
us. This is a non fear moment…we have to
be fearless in loving ourselves beyond our own fallibility.
Norvene
goes on to explain benedicts view on this…
Benedict describes the honesty, self love,
love of others and God-which is the fruit of freedom from fear and the
integration of love resulting from a life of humility-as ‘Good Zeal.’ It is manifest in the ability to be
consistent in ‘showing respect to others,’ in ‘supporting with the greatest
patience one another’s weakness of body or behavior,’ in the desire to do what
one ‘judges better for someone else’; in ‘mutual love’ for one’s companions
along the way, whether family, community members, or coworkers; in ‘Loving awe
of God’; in ‘unaffected, honest and sincere love of those who have some
authority in one’s life’[5]
In
other words those stones that I spoke of earlier, that we throw at ourselves as
long as we embrace them with grace filled humility and not use them to punish
or belittle ourselves God is already there with you embracing you through
them. That humility, that grace filled
humility, is a practice in and of itself that we, as Christians, must
nurture. As we do practice humility we
can be free, free from fear to love our selves and others. Supporting each other in our flawed reality
of just being human the way God made us.
This
is what Lenten period is about…taking that time to get to know God within us,
around us, in our friends, family and community a bit better. So that one may get to know God better there
is required spiritual discipline. YOU
HAVE TO LOOK FOR WHAY YOU ARE YEARNING FOR.
During
Lent, many of the faithful commit to fasting or giving up certain types of
luxuries as a form of penitence. The Stations of the Cross, a devotional
commemoration of Christ's carrying the Cross and of his execution, are often
observed. Many Roman Catholic and some Protestant churches devoid their altars
of flowers, while crucifixes, religious statues, and other elaborate religious
paraphernalia are often veiled in violet fabrics in solemn observance of this
event. In certain pious Catholic countries, the consumption of meat is
traditionally yet varyingly[1] self-abstained by the faithful, while grand
religious processions and cultural customs are observed, and the faithful
attempt to visit seven churches during Holy Week in honor of Jesus Christ
heading to Mount Calvary.
Some
still surrender something for lent that is of value to them. Such as if you love star bucks… (I am not
picking on star bucks) then you may want to give up a Grande a day or as my
grandmother always did she gave up sweets for lent. In the ancient day one would clean out the
cupboards of all meat and dairy products.
This is what led to many of the carnival type celebrations. Use up all the riches of the cupboards and
eat and drink as much as you can for come that first day of lent it is gone for
40 days actually about 44 for Sundays are not counted as days of lent.
Give
up. Let go of something you hold too
tightly: a dream, a person, a
possession. Give up trying to impress
people, Give up wearing uncomfortable shoes, worrying about tomorrow. Give things away, like love, a word, your
life. Serve, not expecting anything in
return. Love without expecting a
reward. Give up trying to save
yourself. Be righteous but know that God
doesn't love you because you are righteous.
I often
suggest that one try to take on something for lent. I try to take on some new
spiritual practice, some task of prayer or meditation which I struggle with or
seek out opportunity to minister.
Perhaps one could find time to volunteer with a local community based
feeding program or perhaps seek out a program for youth that could use
assistance and or mentoring.
This
taking on something for lent is not just going out there and doing volunteer
work. Now don’t get me wrong
volunteering is all well and good but what makes the Lenten project different
is that as you do it you perform it with prayer full attention. This is work dedicated to God as a way of
getting closer to God and though the practice of a volunteerism is enough with
prayerful intent it can be even better.
We
enter in to these practices in order to get to know God and Christ a little better,
a little closer. We want to think, confess, and understand, but also to
encounter, worship, and be transformed by God. The primary way we do this is
through liturgy in both word (reading and preaching about the Bible) and
sacrament (baptism and the Eucharist). But we also do this through practicing
the liturgical seasons like Lent. In order to know the Good News about Jesus
holistically, beyond something that we work out in our brains like a word
problem, we try to enter into this story with our bodies.
Tish
Warren a student at Vanderbilt University in a blog for women in ministry
writes of her friends; “I have a friend who gave up alcohol for Lent one year.
He’s not an alcoholic, but he found that he was relying on alcohol to get
through social events in a way he felt was unhealthy. Now, he still drinks
alcohol, but after his Lenten fast he returned to it freer, knowing that it was
not what made him okay, and he is able to abstain from it more readily. Some of
us would do well to limit our working hours or practice Sabbath-keeping over
Lent to repent for how we rely on work or busyness to make us feel okay. I have
a friend who gave up her smartphone for Lent because she felt like technology
had become, in some sense, a god in her life. She didn’t know how to live
without being plugged in 24/7, so Lent was an experiment in letting go of a
false god to rely on the true God.”[6]
One
year for lent I took up the practice of photography. We all take pictures and this is a normal
thing often used to commemorate special events.
I was still working for the hospice at that time and I was driving all
over Ventura, Orange and Los Angeles counties.
I had decided for lent I would seek something out that spoke of god to
me. One picture each day….that didn’t
work out so well….over the forty days I took 194 pictures. When one starts to look for God, to seek out
that deeper relationship finding god in the everyday is really not difficult..
I
would like to refer to Reverend Michael K. Marsh from his blog interrupting the
silence again which states; “A battle is brewing on the road to Jerusalem. At first it
looks like just another confrontation with the Pharisees and a puppet tyrant.
But it is more than that. It will be a battle between a hen’s wings of love and
a fox’s claws and fangs, a battle between stone and flesh. That does not sound
like a fair fight and it is not. Only Jesus, however, seems to know that.”[7]
Jesus
is on the road to Jerusalem. So here are
the Pharisees. We do not know if they
are headed the same direction or where they are coming from and yet here they
meet. There is no greeting. No words of comfort only a warning. Herod
wants you dead now go away; words of rejection, painful and frightening words,
words that are hurled stones.
See
Jesus knows the fight is not with Herod, not with the Sadducees nor the
Pharisees. Jesus’ fight is neither with
Simon the Zealot nor with Judas Iscariot.
Jesus’ fight is with Jerusalem.
Michael Marsh reiterates; “’Jerusalem, Jerusalem.’ In those words I hear
my name. For you see, Jerusalem is the universal name. It is the name of every
family, language, people, and nation. Jesus is calling your name and my name.
And I cannot help but begin to recall the stones that I have thrown.”[8]
Christ looks
past all our stones. Christ continues on
the path towards Jerusalem, the path towards us upon the path paved with
stones. You see it is the practice, the intention of seeking God
out during these forty days. That helps us with taking those stones that are
thrown at us or that we throw at ourselves and laying them down and pave the
path to Jerusalem.
With
each step on the path to Jerusalem Jesus is calling to us and offering
compassion, understanding and healing. Christ is calling us to be a whole and
holy people. He comes to us in
opportunity everyday through the poor, the hungry, the immigrant, the homeless,
those who suffer from mental illness, physical disabilities. Anyone who may challenges us and strike up
that old fear in us.
“Every
day he comes to us. We hear him in the cries of the poor, the immigrant, the
homeless, the needy, and the hungry. We see him in the faces of those who are
different from us, who threaten us, who scare us, those who live on the fringe
of what we consider acceptable, those who would stretch us, confront us, and
maybe even change us. We feel him in the touch of friends, parents, spouses,
and mentors, whose hands support, encourage, sustain, and challenge us.”[9]
Again I
encourage you throughout this Lenten period to take time to be alone with God
in prayer. Take time to seek God out in
the world. Take a moment to go beyond
your fear. Get past your old stones and
lay them down. Allow this to be a time
of transformation, reformation, and renewal.
Over
the next few weeks we will be hearing of different aspects of Jesus’ ministry
that always leads to one place and one place only. I bet you think I am speaking of Golgotha or
the cross but no I encourage you all to look to Easter Morning. For all the work and practice you may enter
into during this Lenten period will lead to a new morning, a new way of seeing
yourself, a glorious Easter morning where you will be able to see a road behind
you paved with old stones that now glisten in that morning light.
[1] Richard Rohr, Falling
Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life (San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 2011), xxx.
[2] Michael K.
Marsh, Interrupting of Silence, http://interruptingthesilence.com/tag/jesus-laments-over-jerusalem/
(accessed February 14, 2013).
[3] Rohr, Falling
Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, 6.
[4] Norvene Vest,
ed., Tending the Holy: Spiritual Direction Across Traditions
(Harrisburg, PA.: Morehouse Pub., 2003), 126.
[5] Ibid., 127.
[6] Tish Harrison
Warren, Giving Up and Taking Up: What we do (and don’t do) when we keep Lent,
http://thewell.intervarsity.org/spiritual-formation/giving-and-taking-what-we-do-and-dont-do-when-we-keep-lent
(accessed February 19, 2013).
[7] Marsh, Interrupting
of Silence.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
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