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Psalm 81.5-9, 13, 15-16

He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph,*
when he came out of the land of Egypt.
I heard an unfamiliar voice saying,*
I eased his shoulder from the burden; his hands were set free from bearing the load.
You called on me in trouble, and I saved you*
I answered you from the secret place of thunder and tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you:*
O Israel, if you would but listen to me,
There shall no strange god among you;*
you shall not worship a foreign god.
O that my people would listen to me*
that Israel would walk in my ways!
Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,*
and their punishment would last for ever.
But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat*
and satisfy him with honey from the rock.

While reading this passage I was most struck by the line “I eased his shoulder from the burden; his hands were set free from bearing the load”.

I doubt I am the only one, a year into this Pandemic, who is feeling burdened. I feel constantly weighed down- by fear, by worry and by grief. To put it plainly, this has been a year of great challenges. It also has been easy to feel alone, physically distanced as we must me to keep our communities and ourselves safe.

We are not alone.

This Psalm is a wonderful reminder that we are never truly isolated. The Lord does not want us to face challenges alone. He is always there, he loves us and will always help to carry our burdens. We need only call out, and he will save us.

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

Luke 11.14-23

Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? —for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

This is a heavy reading to parse through. It seems like such a strong condemnation and definitive line in the sand from the one who calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves and whose sacrifice is the font of redemption. But there it is.

Jesus brings up an interesting point to his critics early on in the story, revealing their logical fallacy. “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? —for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul."

Evil that does good can no longer truly be evil and likewise, good that does evil can not be considered good.

I read CS Lewis' The Last Battle when I was younger and one scene really stuck with me. A young Calormen soldier, who had worshiped Tash (an evil, vicious demi-god and a parallel to Satan in Lewis' fantasy world of Narnia) all of his life and, when given the opportunity to enter the altar set up to Tash, the soldier does so piously and penitently; expecting not to survive the encounter. Instead, he comes face to face with Aslan (the parallel to Christ in Narnia) and is told that all the service that the young man had done in the name of Tash was actually done in his name, for "no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him." The young man is relieved and falls to his knees weeping.

I found, and continue to find, this heartening. That the line in the sand doesn't have to be as damning as it seems. That though there is good and evil in this world, I can't always make that determination from a cursory, superficial examination. That perhaps I have more in common with my (so called) enemies than I realize. Perhaps we aren't truly enemies at all. Perhaps there is hope for me yet?

Redemption hidden in even the heaviest of lessons.

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

Deuteronomy 4.1, 5-9

So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!” For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—

Upon reading this piece on Deuteronomy, I at first panicked and thought about how maybe I should ask Deacon John to change the piece by giving me another reading at a later date. I did not like the very direct words of statutes and ordinances, rules and laws. That is all I could think about. Why could I not get a reading perhaps from Mark or the other Apostles? But of course, I did not ask him to change it, and I knew that there was something there for me to learn.

When reading the first words of statutes and ordinances in this piece from Deuteronomy, I immediately thought about the Capitol Building on January 6 and how many rules and statutes were broken that day and how the attack was done by people who also used religion to justify the destruction of property, lives and the attack our Democracy. These people used their understanding of statutes and ordinances in the name of religion. As I watched on television, I had a chill down my spine. I had been to the Capitol building a few times for work. I knew how beautiful the place was inside and what it meant for me walking through that building as I spoke to US representatives and Senators about our students of color and their achievements and how I wanted them to continue supporting our scholars with federal funds. I thought about who I was, as a Latina-woman and first-generation college and graduate student and how privileged I was to lobby for our students in the Capitol building the few times I had been there. A place of respect for the rules of law, statutes and ordinances, now defiled, and the perpetrators, most of whom did not pay for what they did. In anger, I wanted all of them to be punished. But is that what God is calling us to think about in wisdom and discernment?

Whether it is the commandments or the rules of law, they are there to create some structure, guidance and perhaps a benchmark to start and live a life in wisdom and discernment. We need to know when to be flexible and when to forgive. I think the Pandemic and the incident in the Capitol building continues to remind us how chaotic things can get, quickly, when one is not paying attention or when people do not care about the consequences and the affects to the lives of others, as with our past President. Deuteronomy says: “take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life.”

We need to remember that, as hard and difficult this past year has been, perhaps all of this was a sign to take time to think about the things that are important in our lives-our family, our friends, our freedom and democracy, which though imperfect, is still more perfect than other countries around the world. Putting a pause on every aspect of our lives this year has to mean something? Perhaps each of us have gained a little wisdom and discernment, we have become more creative, more thoughtful, more patient and perhaps the words that I was hesitant to think about in the beginning of this reading “statutes and ordinances” was just a hesitancy on my part, due to fear about what was broken this past year and wondering, “how do we get back to some sense of order?” Are people going to continue to attack our democracy and hate? How do we now begin rebuilding, strengthening and growing our spiritual tools? May we all grow in faith, love and compassion and use this time to pause, re-set and think about how we can make our world a better place to live in love, light and compassion.