LENT 2020: Week 1, Day 4

• LENT 2020: Week 1, Day 4
• Saturday, February 29, 2020:
  Psalm 51; Isaiah 58:1-12; Matthew 18:1-7

When we hear the word, “Lent,” the first thing most of us think of is fasting.

Lent is a foreign concept to most of us Baptists and, although one of the features that makes our Baptist church unique is the fact that we follow the liturgical calendar, it’s not our native tongue, if you will. What we know about Lent, we mostly know from popular culture. And in pop culture, if Lent is about anything, it’s about giving something up. More specifically, it’s about giving up some kind of eating or drinking.

And that’s not wrong. Fasting is a part of Lent. But we often overemphasize the fasting. As a result, it becomes all about us. And that’s the exact attitude we’ve been reflecting on, and trying to change, over the past two days.

Today’s reading from Isaiah exposes such hollow fasting.

“Why do we fast and you did not see?,” complain the people. “We afflicted ourselves and you took no note?”

The people are wrong, for God notices: “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers!”

What does God want instead?

Is this not the fast I choose -
to unlock the shackles of wickedness,
to loosen the bonds of the yoke,
to set the downtrodden free -
and to break every yoke?

The purpose of fasting is not the fast. The purpose of fasting is to refocus our attention on the things that matter.

And justice, says the prophet, is what God desires.

May we have ears to hear.

LENT 2020: Week 1, Day 3

• LENT 2020: Week 1, Day 3
• 
  
• Friday, February 28, 2020: 
• Psalm 51; Jonah 4:1-11; Romans 1:8-17

It’s easy to look down at Jonah and condemn his anger. After all, the story is farcical. It’s good writing, and as readers the author wants us to condemn Jonah. By doing so, though, we condemn ourselves.

We shouldn’t condemn Jonah’s anger, not in itself, for anger in itself is not a bad thing. In fact, there are times when anger is appropriate and warranted. In fact, as we look around at the  inequality in our world, we should probably get angry far more often.

But Jonah’s anger is not that. Instead of a righteous anger over injustice, his is a petty anger that we can relate to all too well.

Yesterday, we reflected on how privilege can cause us to expect to always be the center of attention - and cause us to be angry when we are not. Like Jonah, we get angry when we see people get things we don’t think they deserve.

When this kind of anger comes over us, it’s good to lean on the Psalms.

During Lent, may we learn to recite the Psalms. And as we do, may we allow them to shape our attitudes, to shape our thoughts, to shape our actions, to shape our entire outlook on life.

“Grant me grace, God,” says the psalmist.

As we pray this Psalm, may we be trained to see past our privilege - and to see ourselves as in need of grace.

A pure heart create for me, God,
and a firm spirit renew within me.

As we go throughout the day, as we go throughout this weekend, may we carry these words with us.

LENT 2020: Week 1, Day 2

• LENT 2020: Week 1, Day 2
• Thursday, February 27, 2020:
  Psalm 51; Jonah 3:1-10; Romans 1:1-7

When we think about the story of Jonah, the center of the story is Jonah himself. And for good reason. The story is told in such a way as to encourage that.

But today’s reading is a reminder that the story is also about Nineveh and its salvation. In fact, the salvation of Nineveh should be the focal point of the story. No one, least of all Jonah, expects the evil Ninevites to actually listen and heed the prophecy. It’s almost comical how repentant this pagan nation is. The king removes his robe, covers himself with sackcloth, and sits in ashes. And then he orders a national fast. Even the animals are to fast.

And God accepts their repentance. What a wonderfully surprising story! Right?

Wrong. Jonah hijacks the good news of Nineveh’s salvation and makes it a story about him.

We understand Jonah all too well, for all too often we insist that life be all about us. This is especially true of privileged people who are used to everything revolving around them. This is the very definition of  privilege. No wonder, then, that people all across our nation have been acting like Jonah, throwing temper tantrums at the very thought of not always being the center of attention. 

Sometimes, though, it’s just not about us. And today’s reading is not about Jonah. This is a story about the people of Nineveh and their salvation, and Jonah is but a supporting actor.

The Ninevites, like the Psalmist, repent. And in a striking turn, verse 10 tells us that “God relented from the evil that He said to do to them, and he did not do it.”

God changed God’s mind. And that’s some good news. 

Now if we can only go and do likewise.

LENT 2020: Week 1, Day 1

LENT 2020: Week 1, Day 1

Wednesday, February 26, 2020: Ash Wednesday:
Genesis 2.15-17, 3.1-17; Psalm 32; Romans 5.12-19; Matthew 4.1-11

“The devil is but another name for our impatience,” says Stanley Hauerwas in his commentary on Matthew. “We want bread, we want to force God’s hand to rescue us, we want peace - and we want all this now.” 

In this Lenten season, and especially in this election season, may we resist the temptation to “accept the devil’s terms for the world’s salvation,” which Hauerwas says leads to the belief that “we have no time to be just.”

Yes, there is a great urgency to the problems of poverty and income inequality, of racial injustice and sexism, of healthcare, and of so much more. And, yes, we need solutions. 

But, while elections are important and have very real consequences, we must also remember that, as Hauerwas reminds us, “Jesus is our bread, he is our salvation, and he is our peace.” Political figures are not our savior.

No matter who wins the primary, no matter who wins the next election, there will be no immediate fix to our problems. In fact, things may very well get worse before they get better.

And so, over the next forty days, let’s make an intentional effort to “learn to wait with [Jesus] in a world of hunger, idolatry, and war.”

Let us continue to work towards solutions to the big problems of our world. And let us continue to work for structural change. In the meantime, though, let us guard against letting the urgency of our problems lead us to taking shortcuts to justice.

As Hauerwas reminds us, “The devil is but another name for our impatience.”

Christmas 1: Here But Not Yet

Christmas 1: Here But Not Yet

Christmas is here, but nothing seems to have changed.

In fact, judging by the gospel reading this week, of Herod slaughtering children in Matthew 2 with a level of political violence rarely seen in history, things might even be worse.

As Stanley Hauerwas puts it, "Jesus is born into a world where children are killed, and continue to be killed, to protect the power of tyrants."

What do we do with that? Where's the good news?

In the midst of crisis is never the time to say that everything will be okay. To do so is to minimize pain and deny the grieving process.

Rachel refused the be comforted. And rightly so, for Hauerwas reminds us that "the gospel is not a consolation for those whose children are murdered."

Even so, the good news is that the creator, sustainer, and liberator - the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - is with us. It's important, essential, to remind ourselves of this, often, over and over again, when times are good. Doing so builds up resources to rely upon when things go awry.

This is why we must read the psalmist and the prophet before reading the gospel text this week.

Using creation language, Psalm 148 calls the sun and moon and stars, the fire and hail and snow and smoke, the mountains and hills and trees, the wild and tamed animals and birds, kings and princes, men and women and young people, to praise the God who is over all.

Then Isaiah (63.7-9) helps us count our many blessings by recalling what God has done. Not only has God claimed Israel, but God has had compassion and shown affection. When they were in distress, says the prophet, God was in distress too. And God saved them.

This is necessary perspective when faced with genocide against children, if we are to muster the hope to keep going, and the courage to confront Herod, rather than cowering in outright despair.

Hauerwas calls the church to an alternative politics to Herod's politics of murder. By politics, he does not mean Democrat or Republican. There are many ways to be political, Hauerwas reminds us, beyond party politics.

"The movement that Jesus begins," writes Hauerwas, "is constituted by people who believe they have all the time in the world, made possible by God's patience, to challenge the world's impatient violence."

And the reason for both our patience and our resistance: "The good news is that Herods die. Kings come and go, but God's people endure." As such, "those who would follow and worship Jesus are a challenge to those who would kill children."

The very presence of a people who pledge allegiance to one greater than Herod, a people who will outlast Herod, is a challenge to Herod's reign - so long as we have patience.

Writing about the Jesus's temptation in the desert, in Matthew 4, Hauerwas writes this:

The devil is but another name for our impatience. We want bread, we want to force God's hand to rescue us, we want peace - and we want it now. But Jesus is our bread, he is our salvation, and he is our peace. That he is so requires that we learn to wait with him in a world of hunger, idolatry, and war to witness to the kingdom that is God's patience. That Father [sic] will have the kingdom present one small act at a time. ...Jesus's refusal to accept the devil's terms for the world's salvation has made it possible for a people to exist that offers an alternative time to a world that believes we have no time to be just.

It is tempting to insist upon justice now. But doing only reinforces the impatient violence of Herod.

We don't have time to wait, but we do have time to be just. We do have time to mourn with Rachel, to grieve with Rachel, to wrap our arms around her and shed tears with her.

And we have time to resist Herod without the violence of impatience, for we know that we belong to a kingdom that will outlast Herod.