Lenten Daily Reflection 2021-03-10
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.