The MosaicXn Church in Everett Washington

How is your Lenten season going so far?  For some of us it’s been an amazing spiritual journey and extremely rewarding.  For others of us it’s been a journey filled with bumps in the road.  Perhaps you’ve found yourself struggling during this Lenten season and you wonder why.  “Why is life throwing me curve balls, God?  Especially when I am trying to discipline myself and participate in Lent!  I just don’t get it, Lord.”  If you find yourself struggling with things–mental, emotional, financial, spiritual, physical–here’s a quick quote from our friend Henri Nouwen that might be of help.  He reminds us that perhaps it is we who are struggling who have the greatest potential for benefiting from Lent: “How often have I lived through these weeks [of Lent] without paying much attention to penance, fasting, and prayer?  How often have I missed the spiritual fruits of the season without even being aware of it?  But how can I ever really celebrate Easter without observing Lent?  How can I rejoice fully in your Resurrection when I have avoided participating in your death?  Yes, Lord, I have to die–with you, through you, an din you–and thus become ready to recognize you when you appear to me in your Resurrection.  There is so much in me that needs to die: false attachments, greed and anger, impatience and stinginess…. I see clearly now how little I have died with you, really gone your way and been faithful to it.  O Lord, make this Lenten season different from the other ones.  Let me find you again.  Amen.” 

Reading from book (“Preoccupations”)
       We modern Westerners are so busy with ourselves, so preoccupied with the question of whether we do justice to our own selves, that the experience of the “transcendent” becomes practically impossible….In this way of thinking there is scarcely room for Him who speaks whenever we are silent and who comes in whenever we have emptied ourselves.  Instead of making ourselves susceptible to the experience of the transcendent God, we, busy with many things, begin to seek after the small flighty sensations brought about by the artificial stimulation of the senses.

James 1:2-4, 9-11 (“Wisdom and Joy”)

      My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing….
       Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.  For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes.  It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.

Prayer:
       Almighty God, help me joyfully to put “first things first” today.  Forgive me when I have allowed the artificial concerns of this whirlwind life to overwhelm the space in my heart that should be prepared for your presence.  When I become preoccupied with self, put me back on the track of commitment to you. Amen.

Lenten Action:
       Give your energy today to holding yourself accountable for your actions.  Promise yourself to give up just one self-indulgence for the day; for example, a morning cup of caffeine, the daily newspaper, dessert after dinner, or so on.

Reading from book (“Discipline: Preparing a place for God”)
       Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God’s guidance.  Thus, discipline is the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God–a time and a place where God’s gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to.

Sirach 32:14-17, 20-23 (“The Fruits of Discipline”).  [FYI: Sirach is a book you may not be familiar with.  It is a book found in the Catholic and Orthodox bible, but is absent from the Protestant bible.]

       The one who sees God will accept his discipline,
              and those who rise early to seek him will find favor.
       The one who seeks the law will be filled with it,
              but the hypocrite will stumble at it.

       Those who fear the Lord will form true judgments,
              and they will kindle righteous deeds like a light
       The sinner will shun reproof,
              and will find a decision according to his liking….

       Do not go on a path full of hazards,
              and do not stumble at an obstacle twice.
       Do not be overconfident on a smooth road,
              and give good heed to your paths.
       Guard yourself in every act,
              for this is the keeping of the commandments.

Prayer:
       Holy God, give me the discipline it takes to keep my heart open to your word.  Do not let the anger of resentment sidetrack me from the priority of seeking my true home with you.  Please give me what it takes to recognize that any personal rejections, real or imagined, are only reminders of an imperfect world.  Bestow your grace on me so that life’s disappointments will bring out the best in me and not the worst. Amen.

Lenten Action:
       Make it a point to retreat from life’s fast lane for the duration of this Lenten observance in order to nurture and grow an attachment to the Lord’s incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection.  Select and set aside a prayer time to meditate and respond to God’s gracious presence.

~Henri Nouwen

       How is your Lenten season going so far?  For some of us it’s been an amazing spiritual journey and extremely rewarding.  For others of us it’s been a journey filled with bumps in the road.  Perhaps you’ve found yourself struggling during this Lenten season and you wonder why.  “Why is life throwing me curve balls, God?  Especially when I am trying to discipline myself and participate in Lent!  I just don’t get it, Lord.”  If you find yourself struggling with things–mental, emotional, financial, spiritual, physical–here’s a quick quote from our friend Henri Nouwen that might be of help.  He reminds us that perhaps it is we who are struggling who have the greatest potential for benefiting from Lent:

       “How often have I lived through these weeks [of Lent] without paying much attention to penance, fasting, and prayer?  How often have I missed the spiritual fruits of the season without even being aware of it?  But how can I ever really celebrate Easter without observing Lent?  How can I rejoice fully in your Resurrection when I have avoided participating in your death?  Yes, Lord, I have to die–with you, through you, an din you–and thus become ready to recognize you when you appear to me in your Resurrection.  There is so much in me that needs to die: false attachments, greed and anger, impatience and stinginess…. I see clearly now how little I have died with you, really gone your way and been faithful to it.  O Lord, make this Lenten season different from the other ones.  Let me find you again.  Amen.”

       There have been times throughout my Christian journey when I have seemed to be unaware of my own sin.  To be sure, I was very much aware of the sins of others, but paid little attention to my own.  Have you ever experienced this?  Sure you have.  Sadly, but understandably, this shared human reality is often the foundation of a vast majority of sermons.  Just show up to a random evangelical independent church on any given Sunday morning and odds are you will listen as the pastor tries to convince you of your sin, tries to get you to see your sin.  And don’t get me wrong.  Seeing our sin is a vital part of our Christian walk.  We need to come face to face with our fallenness, our humanity, our guilt.  But there is something else equally as important, but more often ignored.  There is a flip side to the coin, if you will.  Henri Nouwen talks about this in today’s reading:

Reading: (“When Guilt Becomes an Idol”)
       “There is an awareness of sin that does not lead to God but to self-preoccupation.  Our temptation is to be so impressed by our sins and failings and so overwhelmed by our lack of generosity that we get stuck in a paralyzing guilt.  It is the guilt that leads to introspection instead of directing our eyes to God.  It is the guilt that has become an idol and therefore a form of pride.  Lent is the time to break down this idol and to direct our attention to our loving Lord.”

Prayer: 
       Dear God:  Forgive me for those times when I have made guilt my idol.  Will you help me, today, to make you and you alone the object of my gaze?  Allow my eyes the grace to look through my sin to where you are, as a child looks through a bedroom window upon the lively world beyond the pane of glass.  Amen.

~Matt Lybarger

(Today’s devotional is cited from a Facebook post of a friend of mine, Father Ed Jansen.  He quotes Thomas Merton and then gives his own thoughts.  I include my 2 cents at the end along with my prayer for today.)

       “Violence rests on the assumption that the enemy and I are entirely different: the enemy is evil and I am good. The enemy must be destroyed but I must be saved. But love sees things differently. It sees that even the enemy suffers from the same sorrows and limitations that I do. That we both have the same hopes, the same needs, the same aspiration for peaceful and harmonious human life. And that death is the same for both of us. Then love may perhaps show me that my brother is not really my enemy and that war is both his enemy and mine. War is our enemy. Then peace becomes possible.”

~Thomas Merton in No Man Is an Island quoted in Thomas Merton: Essential Writingsselected by Christine M. Bochen

 
       Jesus spoke literally, “Love your enemy.” Merton spoke figuratively that peace becomes possible when you see war as your “enemy”. How can you personally embrace such world views when they appear to be self-contradicting? Maybe the way to resolve this would be to look at how it would take shape in your relationships with the people around you? We don’t have to become physically violent to be at war with one another, do we? Consider a bridge that enables you to cross over from the side of war to the side of peace. Call that bridge “curiosity.” What would “becoming curious” look like when you’re confronted face-to-face with an “enemy?”

~Father Ed Jansen, OSB

 
My 2 cents:
       I admit I am not quite convinced that Jesus taught pacifism, classically defined, in the Sermon on the Mount or elsewhere.  However, Father Ed Jansen’s comments following Merton’s quote force me to reexamine my definition of “enemy” during this Lenten season.
       As I mentioned this past Sunday at Mosaic, I am often reminded (and then remind others when the conversation arises) that we as Christians are not at war with flesh and blood. Simply put, if it has flesh and blood, it is not our enemy. Many of the tragic moments of war are the result of “principalities and powers” which affect this fallen world.
       When St. Augustine argued his “Just War” theory, I’m sure he, too, was aware of the tragic irony in such a theory.  I assume it broke his heart to discuss the justified use of violence, all the while knowing that our only enemies are spiritual ones. On the one hand, he argued for the acceptable use of violence against flesh and blood so long as it was to protect the flesh and blood of weaker people from the tyrant(s). On the other hand, he must surely have realized that these “enemies” were not really enemies at all, but rather fallen people, influenced by fallen forces, engaging in extremely fallen acts. I wonder if he cried while writing his theory of war. I wonder if he screamed at the devil for such a state of affairs. I wonder if he questioned God’s providence in utter frustration. I know I do…

My Prayer:
       Our Father, Lord of love and peace, you are known for your grace, mercy and justice.  Startle us with a glimpse of our fallen desires so we will awaken once again to our sinful tendencies to hastily judge others’ actions, thoughts and motives.  Give us the grace to suspend judgement in light of humble curiosity.  Grant us the ability to seek first the act of empathy in all situations.  Let the grace and mercy we have towards others be a reflection, no matter how pale, of the grace and mercy you have shown towards us.  Forgive us those times in which we attempt to steal judgement and justice out of your hands, grasping frantically for a power and nature which were never ours to begin with.  And in those harshest of moments, when we fall short of our calling, when we fail to resist the temptation to judge, for our sake and for the sake of those we judge, give us wisdom and grace in our sin. Amen.

Reading from book:
       Lent is a time of returning to God.  It is a time to confess how we keep looking for joy, peace, and satisfaction in the many people and things surrounding us, without really finding what we desire.  Only God can give us what we want.  So we must be reconciled with God, as Paul says, and let that reconciliation be the basis of our relationships with others.  Lent is a time of refocusing, of reentering the place of truth, of reclaiming our true identity.

~Henri J.M. Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey, The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1998.

Prayer:
       Dear God: Speak gently in my silence.  When the loud noises of my surroundings and the loud inner noises of my fears keep pulling me away from you, help me to trust that you are still there even when I am unable to hear you.  Give me ears to listen to your small, soft voice saying, “Come to me, you who are overburdened, and I will give you rest…for I am gentle and humble of heart.”  Let that loving voice be my guide.  Amen.

~Henri J. M. Nouwen,

With Open Hands.

This is a great perspective on Lent:  God is longing to bring us closer to Him this season.  Will we let Him draw us near and embrace us?

Reading from book:
       For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to love God. I have tried hard to follow the guidelines of the spiritual life—pray always, work for others, read the Scriptures—and to avoid the many temptations to dissipate myself. I have failed many times but always tried again, even when I was close to despair.
       Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me. The question is not “How am I to find God?” but “How am I to let myself be found by him?” The question is not “How am I to know God?” but “How am I to let myself be known by God?” And, finally, the question is not “How am I to love God?” but “How am I to let myself be loved by God?” God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home.

From The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri J. M. Nouwen (New York: Image Books, 1992).

Reading from book (“Forgiveness”)
       To forgive another person from the heart is an act of liberation.  We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us.  We say, “I no longer hold your offense against you.”…We also free ourselves from the burden of being the “offended one.”  As long as we do not forgive those who have wounded us, we carry them with us or, worse, pull them as a heavy load.  The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies and then define ourselves as being offended and wounded by them.  Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves.

Luke 6:33-37 (“Reciprocity”)
       Jesus said:”If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?  For even sinners do the same.  If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you?  Even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again.  But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.  Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most Hight….
       Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.”

Prayer:
       God, my divine advocate, grant me the spirit of authentic forgiveness.  Elevate my thoughts from the pit of retribution and negativity to the liberated place where I am free from the bonds of wounded anger.  Let you who forgave your executuioners inspire me to forego my obsessive victimhood and free my heart ot follow your will.  Amen.

Lenten Action:
       Choose on bit of emotional garbage that you are clinging to, get rid of it, and get on with your life.  In honor of this act, give a gift to someone else who needs a helping hand.