A Daily Lent

Inner Resources Monday of the Second Week of Lent - March 9, 2020 We all carry within us inner resources we have turned away from or that we do not yet know. A part of the spiritual journey is discovering these hidden, undeveloped resources lying latent within us. I find that most persons distrust their own inner resource to a great degree. We may trust someone else’s inner resources, but we can’t bring ourselves to trust our own. We cannot believe, at a deep, inner level, that we could really be entrusted with the precious treasure of God’s life within us. Elizabeth O’Connor uses a descriptive image for this distrust. First, she affirms the transforming power welling up from within us like “springs of living water.” But then, she says we spend our time “off drinking at wells that serve for a time, but leave us anxious because we so quickly thirst again.” These other wells may satisfy us for a time, but ultimately they leave us thirsty . . .until we learn to drink the springs o...

Holding All of Life Together Saturday of the First Week of Lent – March 7, 2020 The life animated and guided by the Spirit – what we would call a spiritual life – is not separate from our normal, everyday life. We do not step in and out of these two ways of doing life. I hear some people, for example, talking about their “time for doing” and their “time for being,” as if life is divided into compartments that can be kept separate from one another. The spiritual life – or life animated by God’s Spirit – is not a life which removes us from the world or which touches only one aspect of our existence. The spiritual life, both being and doing, touches every all of life. It umbrellas everything. Henri Nouwen holds together these two poles . . . what he calls the “worry-filled life” and the “life of the Spirit.” The goal is not to move back and forth between these two ways of doing life, but rather, to increasingly bring them all under one umbrella, so that the life of God’s Spirit...

Change of Heart First Sunday of Lent – March 1, 2020 Contemporary life treats busyness and worry as if they were badges of honor. We are quick to tell others what busy people we are, as if our busyness itself makes us important. The fact that I’m busy somehow contributes to the feeling that I’m indispensable and seems to increase my worthiness in the eyes of others. Culturally we’ve created a cult of busyness and productivity. There are fewer more disdained words in our society than the word “lazy.” The spiritual life does, in fact, speak to simplicity, silence and solitude. Intentional time during which we give our attention to God is vital to our spiritual well-being; however, we do not claim that the only way to live a spiritual life is to let go of all responsibilities and obligations. The notion that anyone could live the spiritual life if all life-duties were removed is simply false. Rather, the spiritual life is about developing a different consciousness in the midst o...

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 8:21 – 30 Focus Passage : But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world." (Jn. 8:23) Jesus said to those pressing him, “You are of this world; I am not of this world.” The tone sounds harsh, especially given the context of the passage; however, I believe he implies no condemnation to being “of this world.” We are each “of this world.” Our humanity plants us in “this world.” Being “of this world” simply means that we are shaped by the structures of the “world,” that the society in which we live exerts tremendous influence on us, that our culture provides us a framework with which we do life. In a sense, you might think of this framework as a lens through which we see the world and life. Those who lived in Jesus’ first century world had a structure in which they lived, just as those of us who live today have a framework or paradigm with which we l...

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent Daily Reading : John 4:43 – 54 Focus Passage : "Unless you people see signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe." The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. (Jn. 4:49 – 50) The official with the sick son “took Jesus at his word.” What does it mean to “take Jesus at his word”? Some contemporary expressions of Christianity reduce faith to a system of assertions and propositions we are to believe intellectually. They suggest that we agree with certain statements about God and Jesus. If we agree with those statements, especially in public, we believe. Many Christians think that such belief in and of itself is the extent of Christian faith, reducing life with God to mental assent. I can speak about this mindset, because I’ve spent a good part...

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent Daily Reading : Matthew 18:21 – 35 Focus Passage : Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive someone who sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." (Matt. 18:21 – 22) Often in the Gospels people asked Jesus a question out of a particular personal motivation, only to find that Jesus didn’t answer their question. Rather, he raised new questions, or redirected their question to that which was relevant to the kingdom of God. Peter asked a question about forgiveness. “How many times should I forgive another? Seven times?” It was a generous question. Most of us don’t get past three. But there was an unspoken part of Peter’s question: “How many times should I forgive someone else before I take matters into my own hands?” Peter’s background in Jewish law restrained him from excessive retaliation, limiting vengeance to “e...

Maundy Thursday John 13:2 – 15 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are cl...

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent John 7:50 – 53 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.” Then they all went home. Those in positions of privilege and power most always want things to remain as they are. These persons enjoy the benefits of the system, and mostly are interested in keeping those benefits for themselves. In modern parlance, they are the “conservatives,” those who want to conserve things as they are. They see no reason to change, because a change in the system might mean that they lose their privilege and power. Those in control are never in favor of revolution, in other words. Revolution, change, and transformation tend to be the language of those on the bottom, those who are not have power, those who ...

Friday of the Second Week of Lent Matthew 21:33 – 43 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent...

Matthew 5:19 "Whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." The kingdom of heaven is not a kingdom of right belief. It is not a kingdom of orthodox thinking. It is an enacted kingdom, a kingdom of living, practicing, experiential belief. Ultimately, what you believe in your head may seem important, but it matters little if it is not soaking into your life, if it doesn't get down to where your roots grow, if it doesn't inform your speaking and living, if it doesn't shape who you are in connection with God, self, others, and the world. Belief, in and of itself, is very hollow and has almost no power to transform. In the United States, current conversations nationally and politically are being shaped by those who adhere to particular beliefs and who project themselves as people of principle. By their public discourse, they imply that belief and principle are the most important things. Not surprisingly, they say little a...

Matthew 5:43 - 44 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." "You have heard it said . . . but I say to you . . ." "You have heard it said" . . . in Jesus use of the phrase, he referred to the Hebrew scriptures and the Law of Moses. In our contemporary life, this is conventional wisdom, the structures and frameworks under which people live without question. These are cultural assumptions, even the traditional teachings of the Church. ** Competition is good. ** You have to have resolve and stand by your principles, no matter what. ** You get what you deserve. ** Success is important. ** Having a lot is better than having little. ** There have to be winners and losers. ** You make your own way in life. ** If you really believe and set your mind to it, you can do anything. ** I have to see it to believe it. "But I...

Matthew 5:23 - 24 “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God." Honestly, I read these words about leaving the altar to be reconciled with another person, and the petulant little child within me screams, "BUT I DON'T WANT TO!!" If stepping toward another person reconciliation is the first step toward offering our lives to God at the "altar," the "altar" will be a pretty desolate place. So few of us have healthy patterns of dealing with anger, forgiveness and reconciliation. And few of us sense ourselves so solidly connected to God in our interior that we are willing to step away from our ego to extend generosity toward another. Yet, Jesus gave us this picture of the kingdom of God, the radical reorienting of life whereby we are not p...

Luke 18:9 – 14 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” There are several doors through which a person might step into this short parable. It is rich and textured, worth spending some time with today. When Jesus wanted to say something about the kingdom of God, he generally spoke in parables. He told st...

John 8:21 – 30 Once more Jesus said to them, "I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come." This made the Jews ask, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, 'Where I go, you cannot come'?" But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins." "Who are you?" they asked. "Just what I have been telling you from the beginning," Jesus replied. "I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world." They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just...

Mark 12:28 – 34 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the k...

Luke 4:24 – 30 "Truly I tell you," he continued, "prophets are not accepted in their hometowns. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian." All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. The passage actually begins ahead of these verses. The people of Jesus’ hometown are amazed at the gracious words of Jesus when he reads from the prophet Isaiah. He connects his life and ministry to Is...

Luke 6:36 – 38 "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. "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. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Those who glibly call Jesus a “good teacher” are extremely naïve or terribly misinformed. Those who put forth Jesus’ teachings as a way to get ahead in the world haven’t listened deeply to his teachings. Try taking these words into your workplace, school, politics, or neighborhood group. You won’t get you very far in our culture’s framework. Mercy, non-judgment, forgiveness, generosity, and a refusal to condemn are not recipes for success, corporately or personally. None will help you meet your “life-goals.” But Jesus has no interest in helping you or me succeed by the world’s standards. He is ...

Matthew 5:20 – 26 “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to that person; then come and offer your gift. "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your...