Living word by word

lenten dispensations, part two

On the subject of lenten dispensations, see the Ironic Catholic for a consideration of whether carob is allowed when you're giving up chocolate.

Lent 5A

    Because I split preaching pretty much evenly with my colleague here at ECLC, I often don't repeat the same texts every three years. But for some reason every time the Lazarus story has come around here, it's been my turn to preach, it seems. And so it is again this year.
    The sermon I won't be preaching, because I'm getting tired of it: Lazarus dies twice, and so do we. It's one of those sadly ironic pieces in John that no sooner has Lazarus been raised from the dead, people are ready to kill Jesus, and Lazarus again too. Of course, as far as we know Lazarus isn't killed off, but we have to assume that, at some point, he does die again.
    What would it be like to die twice? We have to hope that Lazarus' first experience with dying and being called again to new life would give him confidence as he faces his second death. He's done it once. He knows that's not the end of the story. He knows that Jesus will call him forth.
    And so it is for us. We are baptized into Jesus' death. We've already died once in those waters, so we can face our second death with more confidence. Yes, we will die, but we know that is not the end of the story. Christ will call us forth again.

speaking of being born again-- Lent 2A

    The Rake this month has an article about the Barna study in which self-professed "born again Christians" were found to have worldviews that  many of their fellow evangelicals deem insufficiently "biblical." So now James Dobson and friends are on a new campaign to bring these folks up to speed on what it really means to believe in Jesus.
    Isn't it ironic that Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, which seems to be all about double meanings and highly metaphorical language for the mystery of God's love, is the origin of this litmus-test phrase for being a "real" Christian? Nicodemus doesn't get it with Jesus there in the room with him. Are we really surprised to find that contemporary Christians have vastly different takes on what the faith is all about?
    Maybe it's a cop out to avoid longer conversations, but when strangers ask me if I'm born again, I just say yes. My baptism is valid, thank you very much.

Lenten clearing

    I've decided, on the whole, not to blog much about my lenten disciplines this year, on the theory that Matthew 6 doesn't really endorse a lot of trumpeting when it comes to spiritual disciplines.

    I will share, however, that I'm excited about one prospect. Most recent years I've made an attempt during Lent to reduce my consumerism, buying not at all when I can and buying used when I must. Each year I've also thought, "I should call all these catalog companies and get off their lists too." But I haven't done it. Catalog Choice just made that a lot easier. And this year, there's even more motivation because we'll be leaving the country for a while, and who wants all that junk mail to return home to? Plus I'm phasing out the email account to which most of my junk mail has gone for the past couple years. I can't wait to just eliminate the account and say good-bye to all those reminders to buy! It feels great to clear the desk and the mind.

Lent 2A -- what is a gift anyway?

A couple weeks ago we heard David Rhoads of the Lutheran Seminary in Chicago "perform” the book of Galatians. It was enlivening to hear that familiar book with new ears, all at once, but what grabbed me most were his concluding remarks, in which he spoke about the power of the Gospel to free us. So often in the church we have defined the “problem” as guilt, a category that made sense, perhaps, to first-century Jews and our immigrant forebears. But increasingly our culture has lost a sense of guilt -- or pathologized it where it exists. Shame, on the other hand, is alive and well for people across the cultural and religious spectrum. And the Gospel, Paul makes clear, frees us from shame as well.

This came to mind reading the second lesson from Romans for this Sunday, where Paul in his later letter details how Abraham was reckoned as “righteous” through faith. This is a dense enough passage as it is – a daunting one to preach, especially since one has to exegete Genesis at the same time. But I'm considering it. In our Lutheran framework, the focus on being “righteous through faith” has so often turned faith into just another – if more vaguely defined – work. It wasn’t Abraham’s circumcision that saved him, the argument goes. It was that he believed God. For a modern person struggling with faith defined as believing the Creed, that’s not good news. It only leaves us feeling unable to spiritually measure up, not good enough – in other words, ashamed.

But what if this righteousness that God gives truly is something given? What if, as Paul writes, God “justifies the ungodly”? Not the believing, repentant ungodly, just the plain old, mixed-up, not even sure I want to believe ungodly?

If that is so, then we, like Abraham are living into a whole new reality, one that doesn’t fully exist yet, like the child and country still longed for. And living into that reality, created by God and held in God’s hands, is all the righteousness we need.

lengthen-ing Lent

I understand that this is the earliest Lent has begun in over 100 years, and it will not be this early again for another 150 years. Truly a once in a lifetime experience!

In Minnesota one is never sure whether signs of spring will coincide with Easter morning, but it is less likely this year.  We are just as likely to have snow Easter morning as warmth.

But one thing is certain. . .it will be lighter. It's 10 below this morning, but the days are growing brighter. May your lenten journey through the lengthening days lengthen your hope and stretch your vision as well.

Blessed Ash Wednesday

That thing you thought would save you, is killing you.

The margarine you ate for all of the 1980’s was worse for you than real butter and still clogs your arteries. The marathon training that made you feel so healthy turns out to have ruined your joints and reduced your immunity. The diet that they said would turn around your health messed up your metabolism for good. The drug  therapy that you thought would make your life better now turns out to raise your risk of heart attack.

The time-saving devices that our forefathers developed to save their backs now mean that we don’t get any exercise.

Remember the prediction that personal computers would give us  a paperless society?

The international alliances of a generation ago come back to bite us, and the children of those allies are now dreaming of jihad against us.

We live in a time with so much information and so little reason to trust anything we read. We can get practically anything we want from anywhere in the world, but half the time we don’t know anything about how it was made or whether it is safe.

And even our best intentions can come back to bite us.

A few months ago my husband and son were in a car accident one block from his nursery school. They slammed into the side of a moving truck at an uncontrolled intersection. They were fine. The car was not. Not having faced any decisions about cars in nearly ten years, we immediately began the research on what to get next for our one and only family vehicle. Hybrid or not? Compact or wagon? Side airbags too? What about diesel?

One thing we were certain of – it would not be a new car. Both for financial and environmental reasons, we did all our research in the used car market. We even contemplated buying a compact diesel station wagon from a few states away for its stunning gas mileage.  In the end, we found an acceptable conventional vehicle from a local small dealer, still second guessing ourselves about forgoing the diesel.

And then, a few days later a new report was released. It turned out that diesel fumes, because of the soot they emit, are so bad for their effect on climate change that any savings in gas mileage is canceled out. That thing you thought was so righteous? It’s not.

That thing that you thought would save you, in fact is killing you.

Forgive us Lord, for all our efforts to save ourselves. We make terrible messiahs.

technical difficulties

As if on cue, my Ash Wednesday gremlins have arrived (well, a little early this year). It seems that every year I have some sort of technical dificulties around this time -- most often with copiers. But this year -- HORRORS!-- my computer refused to start yesterday, stuck in some hellish start-up loop that kept asking for my password but wouldn't let me go any further.

In the brighter light of this morning it appears that my documents are salvageable and I may only need a big software re-install. Irritating, but not devastating.

What is sobering is how quickly things come to a halt when I can't get at my files. Thank goodness for web-based email, at least, and the spare (but slllllowww) computer at home.

Anyway, as you can see I CAN blog, but don't expect a lot of posts in the next three days. It may take me a while to catch up with other things again.

Lent is coming

Those of you who know me know I’m a calendar/ reading of the day/ devotional junkie. Or at least, when I buy such books I imagine that I would use them regularly if I just had the right one. I know this is just another form of consumer fantasy, but I can’t help myself.

Anyway, here are the faves for this upcoming Lent

Reflecting the Glory by N. T. Wright

OK, this one is old, but Tom Wright is one of the most accessible serious exegetes around, someone who manages to bridge the evangelical/liberal gap and really digs into the text. Although this book fits well into the Lenten/ Easter cycle, it doesn’t have to be read that way.

 

Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter

I’m excited about this resource because of the authors compiled here: G.K. Chesterton, Madeleine L’Engle, Dorothy Day, and a few 20^th century authors who are still living, like Frederick Buechner. Rather than arranged around days, this one is organized by theme, moving from passion to resurrection. More than 40 reflections, fewer than ninety, so it won't take you all the way through the Easter season.

 Living Simply, an ELCA Hunger Calendar

Just what it says. We're going to use this one at home because it's full of tangible actions we can do with my kids. 

 And here’s a fun one for those of us with  China on our minds: Brushstrokes: a series of meditations on Chinese characters  written by an Episcopal priest who has lived in China for nineteen years. Makes me want to learn Chinese calligraphy!

Lent is coming

A quote (perhaps not entirely verbatim) from Anne Lamott as Lent approaches:

"God loves us exactly the way we are -- and way too much to let us stay that way."