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Lenten Reflection for Wednesday, February 26 
Missy Trull
 

Hebrews 12:1-3

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,^[a] and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of^[b] the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
³ Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners,^[c] so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. 

 I happen to be a pretty anxious person. I wish this were not the case, but alas, it is. There is a small list of things that help regulate or soothe my anxiety and one of those is running. Above all else, running reminds me to breathe. I run and I am connected to my breath and my body, and my head gets a break from all the worries—the dreadful futures I have imagined, the people I am convinced I let down, the task lists, the fears—and instead my mind goes blank. As I run, I relocate myself in both the strength and the limitations of my breath and body, and I can rest there, at least spiritually.

But running is hard! And tiring! And sometimes it is cold outside and my bed is so warm! So although I know it is a practice I need that keeps me grounded, connected to myself, and helps regulate my anxiety, it is still really, really hard to maintain.

So when our text today talks about “running with perseverance the race that is set before us,” in both a literal and figurative way, I get it. I think the writer might be deeply aware of the struggle of maintenance. Just as it is difficult to stay in healthy relationship with our own selves, it is difficult to stay in healthy relationship with God, and does seem to require some discipline. This week Mother Sarah and Mother Kimberlee sent out a note about Ash Wednesday and lent, explaining that this season is “a time to figure out the things in and on our hearts that are getting in the way of being in relationship with God.” This too seems to be the call of today’s verse: “lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely.”

And, the text says, “take heart,” for you are not alone. The book of Hebrews is often talked about as a sermon, meant to encourage an Early Christian community in a time of hardship. In today’s verse, we are invited to remember those who have come before us, people who have also given up something or took on a new spiritual practice to grow closer to God--Saints or family members, or friends, the “great cloud of witnesses” who are with us in spirit as we go through this season. And we remember those who are with us now, one another. I am thankful to be walking through this season in community with all of you. And then, finally, this verse invites us to remember Jesus, and how he “endured the cross for the sake of joy.” ...Joy? what “joy” is this verse talking about? The book of Hebrews presents, throughout the chapter, faith as vision into the heavenly world that is not-yet, but still-present among us. I believe this may be the “joy” the text is speaking of—the joy of experiencing the Kingdom of God, the joy of nearness to Christ and one another, the joy of soulful movements of the Holy Spirit, here and now.

So may we give-up or take-on what we know we must for the sake of this joy. And may we do so with the “cloud of witnesses” that came before us, our community present with us now, and the hope we hold for the Kingdom of God to become more and more present in this world.

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

In our Ash Wednesday liturgy, we are invited to observe a Holy Lent - it's kind of a funny thing - we are usually invited to dinner, or a movie, out to drinks or those of us with children to playdates - but invited to observe a Holy Lent!  What on earth does that mean? And do I want to respond to an invitation that might require more work than fun?

God is constantly inviting us into relationship with God, but we may be too busy regularly to answer God's invitation to us. Lent is a specific invitation to us to re-commit our hearts to God. What that means  is that this is a time to figure out the things in and on our hearts that are getting in the way of being in relationship with God.  (In secular terms - it means looking at the things that are unnecessarily distracting us from being present with ourselves and our loved ones.) So we both give things up - those things that cloud our hearts and our minds (remember this isn't a time to lose weight, so we aren't talking about desserts and chocolate!) - and take things on - such as daily scripture readings or daily prayer -if you have a partner or a family, you may want to consider a common Lenten practice. 

One of the ways we are inviting you all to observe a Holy Lent is to join us in contemplating the 10 Commandments, which we will recite every Sunday in Lent,  hear about in our Sunday sermons, read about in Ana Levy Lyons' book No Other Gods and discuss in our three Lenten small groups.  The commandments are guidelines and expectations given to us by God - something we tend to shy away from in liberal Christianity as we grip onto a concept of freedom of choice - and yet, what does it mean to consider them? How might they give us something that we are yearning for?  We hope to find out!

Join us this Lent. Commit yourself to a daily practice, commit yourself to church - and see how much easier it is to turn our hearts back to God, together.

Faithfully yours,
The Mothers

Also See:

Lenten Daily Reflections

Notes From the Road 
By Theologian In Residence
Colleen Wessel-McCoy-McCoy

Fanning the Flames

Holy Apostles reflection January 2020

What will unfold in the year ahead? For many the hope of easing into a new year with new habits and a fresh start has been rocky. Violence near and far has shaken us. Partisan politics are tense and bitter. 

It would seem that unity is the answer. Calls have been made to quiet conflict, for all to get together and get along. And yet we are in times that call for taking sides. The obligations of love for one another can mean that we are in conflict and shouldn’t pretend that we are not. 

But taking sides is not trolling on the internet. It is not yelling into our newspapers or at the TV. It is not arguing at the dinner table. Taking sides is standing with. Taking sides is sharing our own stories of struggle. Taking sides is showing up when the injustices of society are made plain. 

Recently the United Methodist Church has proposed to split into two denominations, one moving towards greater inclusion of LGBTQ persons and one doubling down on their exclusion and rejection of the fullness of God’s creation. This is not the first time the Methodist Church took sides. In 1844 the Methodist Episcopal Church split over the question of slavery. One defender of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, preached that the “God-forsaken combination of Free-soilers, Black Republicans, and Abolitionists” were fanning “a flame of intense warfare upon the subject of slavery, which can result in no possible good to any one.” He was wrong that raising the subject of slavery was the source of conflict. Slavery itself was the problem, and fanning the flames against it was the solution. 

Without shelter for the holidays, homeless mothers of Moms 4 Housing moved their children into and empty home in Oakland, California last November. By insisting that they and their children had a right to housing, they called attention to the reality that speculators intentionally keep large numbers of homes empty to increase their profits while homeless families are living in the streets. Moms 4 Housing argued in court that housing is a human right and filed a “right to possession” claim on the empty house. Courts were persuaded to defend the speculators and send the sherriff’s office to evict the families. The initial eviction attempt was thwarted by a large crowd of supporters standing with them. Before dawn on January 14 police returned with armored tanks, a police robot, and a swat team with AR-15 guns to arrest the moms and two supporters. The leaders of Moms 4 Housing point out that their fight wasn’t for that one particular house but to fan the flames of the contradiction that in Oakland there are four empty homes for every one homeless family.  

That same day hundreds of people traveled from across New York state to Albany for the opening of the legislative session to say that universal healthcare must be a legislative priority this year in New York. Under the banner of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, we shared stories of how time and time again our system of for-profit health insurance has turned illness into a full-scale family crisis. Co-pays made care inaccessible. Long wait times for care led to job losses. Coverage denials ended in death. One father carried a photo of his son who died from being cut off of insurance and unable to afford life-saving medication. Even those with insurance have lost life savings battling the costs of cancer treatment. 

Insurance companies and housing speculators have taken sides. They battle in the legislature and in the courts to defend the arrangements that build their wealth at the cost of our lives. And so the call to all get along can be disingenuous. Instead we should move from reaction to taking sides. Taking sides is the witness of those who stood outside the occupied home in Oakland. It is the witness of those who shared in the capital how their lives have been shortened by untreated illness and their savings lost to medical bills. And it is the witness of the Methodists standing together in the steadfast belief in the dignity of all persons, letting go of part of an institution--refusing to all just get along--when that no longer serves justice. Fanning the flames of dissatisfaction with injustice, all of these examples show faith and hope in eventual reconciliation in the service of human flourishing. 

There are opportunities ahead in New York to stand with and take sides. The Kairos Center is hosting a day-long convening on Christian Nationalism on Saturday, January 25th in midtown, including an afternoon panel featuring Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Rev. Dr. William Barber, former Apache Stronghold chairman Wendsler Nosie Sr, and Jeff Sharlet and Jeff Sharlet of Netflix’s The Family. 

Artists and music makers will gather Saturday February 1 in midtown for Songs in the Key of Resistance, a cross-movement space for New Yorkers to create community through singing and support each other as we work for justice in our city. 

On February 7th we are traveling to Rochester, NY to join Rev. Dr. Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis for a mass meeting as part of the MORE Tour (Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering, and Educating). 

And save the date for Saturday, June 20, 2020 and the Moral March on Washington, DC, a historic fanning of the flames.