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Lenten Daily Reflection 2021-03-10

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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.



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Posted by Carol Oliver

Lenten Daily Reflection 2021-03-09

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

Matthew 18.21-35

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Once again, we are given an example of the need for infinite grace and forgiveness. Seventy times seven is not enough. This is a difficult concept for our finite natures to grasp. Our minds keep a ledger of debts, deals, and balances. Of course, we should be generous, but not too generous. We don’t want to be considered weak or a “push over” or an “easy mark”. Somehow, the sticky wicket of fairness clouds our judgement. Isn’t forgiving seven times plenty? No, this scripture makes it very clear, it is not enough.

These days, I am working with a group of high school seniors who have not done well with remote learning. They are missing required credits. Their chances of graduating this May are bleak unless we can convince some very stressed and irritated teachers to give them additional opportunities to make up these credits. This is a challenge, but I feel there is a connection between this scripture and my students need for another chance, a time extension or an alternative assignment. They need forgiveness, not because they deserve it, but because we all need such forgiveness every day.

I think my reflection on this scripture today is really a prayer for help. Lord, help me guide and inspire these students to ask for grace once again and help me support their teachers to grant them the grace of a “retake”. Don’t we all need those “retakes”? Amen.



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Posted by Carol Normandin

Lenten Daily Reflection 2021-03-08

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

2 Kings 5.1-15

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.” He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”

So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.”

A mighty commander. Raids and captives. A treasure readied to secure healing. “Go then,” the king of Aram tells his champion, Naaman, “and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”

The king of Israel is dismayed at what he reads: “When this letter reaches you, know that . . .”

For me, one of this past year’s defining characteristics is an ever-present ellipsis . . . the news alert . . . . the email bing . . . the phone ring . . . multiple times this past year I understood the urge to clench my hands and tear my own clothes . . .

“So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots . . .”—the message was clear to the king of Israel, the show of power and its implicit threat. Elisha, however, is literally unmoved. He sends a messenger out to Naaman. The army commander is enraged at the perceived slight, anger triggered by his sense of personal superiority (“I thought that for me he would”) and nationalistic bias (wash in the waters of Israel?).

But, for the second time in this passage, when given advice by his servants—persons far below his social station and over whom he likely has absolute authority, including as to life or death—Naaman listens and acts. In this listening and doing, he is made clean. Healed. In the words of the text: “restored.” When he returns to Elisha, Naaman testifies that he knows something new about God.

Surely, healing and restoration—returning to God—may be sparked by arduous, acute trial or tragedy, a healing catalyzed by emergency forged into lasting commitment. But I don’t think that’s how it happens for most of us most of the time. Something I’ve been trying to return to, as these pandemic months of what for me has become mostly a day-to-day routine of at times grinding monotony and near isolation, is the idea of practice.

It’s an idea that for me recalls early life lessons at school, in music, in sports: repetition and routine, repetition and routine, until, incrementally, the new becomes the known becomes instinct becomes reflex. So I’ve been trying to remember to practice: to breathe and keep calm like Elisha, to remember that God is working (“ . . . by him the Lord had . . . ”), to listen like Naaman, to do and do again and do again whatever blessed thing can, at times, feel infuriatingly routine, to keep myself open for what new thing I might learn to know of God.



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Posted by Loyal Miles

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