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Lenten Daily Reflection 2021-03-01

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Daniel 9.4-10

I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love with those who love you and keep your commandments, we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. “Righteousness is on your side, O Lord, but open shame, as at this day, falls on us, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. Open shame, O Lord, falls on us, our kings, our officials, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by following his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

Until I read this confession of Daniel I had not thought much about confessions themselves. This is a religious confession, so there we will remain. The confession begins in the first person singular, and Daniel pretty quickly dispatches his transgressions. He then begins with “we” which seems through the course of the next six verses to be sufficiently broad to include the entire congregation, all of the Israelites, the entirety of the people.

Daniel makes this confession when the Israelites have been living in hard times, the people dispersed and enslaved. The nation, the congregation has transgressed. The transgressions against the Lord, “the great and dreadful God,” are listed. The list may seem general, but I suspect any pious member of the congregation could list the specifics of the laws broken, the prophets disdained. The “men of Judah…..the inhabitants of Jerusalem…” knew the laws as their descendants know those same laws today.

But we are not members of this congregation. We do not tend to believe that nations are punished by the Lord. As a nation we look away from transgressions beyond the immediate and passing fashionable ones. No “creditable authority,” that is, no modern Daniel, is proposing the current pandemic as a punishment of God. A couple of prominent evangelists suggested the 911 attacks on our nation were God’s punishment for our misdeeds and transgressions. But their words were vilified immediately to a degree leading to public retraction and apology.

As with Daniel in verse 4 we do have our confessions on the individual and personal level, our “Confiteor”--our prayer of acknowledging our sins and asking for God’s mercy. The Confiteor, which is beautiful, is exquisite in its vague nature regarding sins and transgressions. I think that if we enjoy, believe in and take comfort from confession but we do not believe in punishment or real specificity of our transgressions, perhaps we should look more closely into ourselves to explore the precise purposes confession, public or private, may serve for us.



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Posted by Bill Hunter

Lenten Daily Reflection 2021-02-27

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You can listen to the reading and reflection by clicking here.

Matthew 5.43-48

‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This familiar chapter from the Sermon on the Mount instructing us to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” seems so straightforward. Jesus lived this directive, and it is a message conveyed to us in multiple ways throughout the bible. Yet, while reflecting on this passage, and wanting to go deeper into its meaning, I found I had more questions than answers.

What Jesus says to us here seems simple: Loving those who are easy to love (those who already love us) is mundane and not as righteous as loving all (including those who are our “enemies”). To do this is to be “perfect” and live the word of God.

In theory I agree with this concept. I can imagine how living this might make a kinder, equitable, righteous and more whole world without the negative forces that currently divide us and cause so much pain. But how on earth do we live this? While it might be easier to love those who already love us, I do not always find it “easy” and I think for most people it can be a tremendous struggle at times. Loving your enemy, then, seems like such a Herculean task.

What eventually grounded me in this passage was Jesus stating that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous”. This moved me deeply because it conveys God’s infinite love and generosity to all of us. Before thinking about this as it relates to how I might love my enemy, I thought, I need to fully embrace what it means that God loves me with all of my many flaws and shortcomings.

Like most, I tend to judge myself when I have thoughts or engage in actions that disappoint me and don’t demonstrate my values. Sometimes, rather than turn to God for guidance in these moments, in haste I will distance myself from these transgressions because they are distressing and causing me bad feelings. Of course, this also creates distance from God. Although perhaps not the intended message, this passage serves to reinforce that God loves us for who we are in our entirety. If God can love the unloveable parts of ourselves then we can too. And if we are able to acknowledge these difficulties to ourselves and God without judgment, then we can begin to understand them, and with compassion, begin to change.

Starting small and within myself, has helped me begin to understand how we move closer to the perfect place of loving our enemies. By understanding my own failings as a person but being able to accept and work on them with compassion guided by God’s help, I am better able to extend this love and understanding to others. To “Be perfect” then is really to accept that we are all anything but.



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Posted by Heather Kelly

Lenten Daily Reflection 2021-02-26

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You can listen to the reading and reflection by clicking here.

Matthew 5.20-26

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

This always seems like an intimidating reading to me, like we’re being called to an unattainable standard: to be more righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees, to not even be angry with anyone...I feel like I’m angry with someone every day! The Pharisees had a hard time following Jesus, though; as I understand it, they were caught up in their rituals and laws, rather than seeing the love in action Jesus was calling them to. Perhaps being more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees means living in community with our human family with patience and love, rather than checking off boxes of church services attended, and checks to charities sent, and calling it a day.

When confronted with someone doing harm in our community, instead of stewing in our righteous anger and name calling under our breath, or appealing to some higher authority to get our neighbors back in line, we can try to rely on God’s grace to have the patience necessary to reconcile with our neighbor ourselves. I can think of many uncomfortable conversations I’ve avoided with my family because I want to keep the peace, and enjoy the time I have to spend with them, but in doing so, I’m slacking my duties as a Christian.

During Lent, we’re called to reflect on where we’ve fallen short in our journey following Jesus, and to seek to grow closer to God and more Christlike. This reading reminds me that often it’s the sins of omission that stand between me and building the kingdom of God. We are called to challenge ourselves to actively seek to meet this high standard Jesus sets for us, with the understanding that Jesus is there to help us attain it, and forgive us when we fall short. It’s not a standard I’ll ever be able to meet in this lifetime, but that’s the beauty of grace.



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Posted by Emily Hursh

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