Jacob’s story is not exemplary. He was a smooth operator who finally met himself in a confronting way – a way that involved disturbing encounters with the Source of his being. One of these encounters (Genesis 28:101-17) became a song sung by oppressed slaves of the southern states of the USA. Its plaintive cry perhaps expresses Jacob’s inner journey from bondage to health and integrity.
At the age of 99…
… if one is a denizen of the British Commonwealth, one might begin to expect that one may be soon on the way to receiving a message of congratulations from Buckingham Palace. You’ve hit the ton! Life is complete as you turn the century.
Abraham got covenant. And his wife, Sarah, was caught up with it too.
Not only that, they got a name change. Life was not ending; it was just beginning, and they were being summoned into a challenging relationship – one full of grace and great responsibility. And the story begins to unfold.
Abraham and Sarah, the parents of three great world faith traditions, become exemplars of what it means to be in relationship with the Source of all Being.
Can good arise from a mess?
I have spent a lot of time with people trying to find their way through chaos. Some situations are just so daunting you wonder if anyone can see a way through to the next step, let alone an exit to clearer space where the air is fresh and the whisper of freedom can be heard. And this is on a one to one scale. What if its a whole community that is so enmeshed in the thorns and brambles of an impossibly bleak scenario?
Today’s text from Isaiah enters Jerusalem’s destruction in 587 B.C. As in yesterday’s text, memory is the antidote to despair. As the community is carted off into exile in a strange land with an alien culture, leaving behind all that is familiar and all that constructs their identity, they are called to a deep and intimate recollection of the author of the faith that is at their core. Profound disappointment and desolation have an antidote, and it’s only as far away as our collective memory of the Creator’s preference for we who are the created.
As we through our callousness ignore and forget those around the world who are seeking asylum and safety, let us see amongst them their capacity to recall the core of their faith, simply by remembering. And let us do the same.
Keeping it together through remembering…
When we engage the Lent season introspectively, we can quickly find ourselves confronted with our own inner chaos. The wind howls, the foundations shift and wild things bay at our feet. We wonder how we are going to keep it together for forty days.
Psalm 105:1-11 is given to us as today’s text as a kind of a handrail to keep us steady. It is a reminder of how the Hebrew people recounted and focused on their historic stories of salvation and promise. Followers of Christ, too, have a shared history of salvation and promise. Drawing on these in our desert times keeps focus on the path we are following.
The Psalm draws us to “to call, give thanks, sing, rejoice, tell, seek and remember” (Rev’d Peter Walker in With Love To The World)
Having nothing; possessing all…
This morning I read an article discussing organisational risk management. It queried whether the focus is on maintaining security and safety for the organisation (or oneself) or responsibly providing channels by which its service might maximise the spirit of risk and adventure for human life to flourish.
The Apostle Paul wants life in the Corinthian church to flourish and he has risked all, even his reputation, to ensure that it happens. He points to awareness of the gift of the fullness of humanity seen in Christ as the “day of salvation” through which all else is filtered. In this way “having nothing, he possesses everything.” Now there’s a risk management policy!
Caught Out!
Exposure and shame, particularly in high places, draw us like a magnet. The media come out for a prolonged playtime and the population stands on the sidelines, tut-tutting and shaking their heads. The more we find out the more we want to know, so that we may feel justified in pouring more burning coals on this wanton head and driving this scapegoat out into the wilderness. And so we are atoned.
Not according to Isaiah 58. The spotlight is turned back to us. Our inner darkness hits centre stage and a loud trumpet declares it to all. The mask of respectability and capability falls. There is nowhere to hide and we flee to our own wilderness. The wilderness, however, is an apt teacher. There we learn what we need to know to live responsibly and effectively with one another. There is the possibility of return to begin again. And we are on the road to shalom, even theosis.
St Valentine & Ash Wednesday – Synchronous?
Some have lamented the fact that St Valentines Day and Ash Wednesday share the same space this year. Simultaneously receiving chocolates and giving them up for Lent is doing a few folk’s heads in!
Can there be anything in common with a feast celebrating romantic love and the commencement of a fast that confronts us with the sombre reality of costly sacrifice?
The original story of St Valentine combines both. He is a third-century bishop who secretly performed Christian marriage rites forbidden to Roman soldiers. He was jailed and sentenced to execution. In the meantime, he healed the eyesight of the jailer’s daughter and wrote her a note signed “your Valentine” on the day of his execution. There was nothing romantic in any of this, but it provided visible expression of the outworking of God’s love in a man the Church eventually recognised in the tradition of her highest possible manner – canonisation.
The early church called the process of being open to transformation in such a way that reflected the love of God “theosis”. This is the purpose of Lent – to focus on disciplines that take us on the journey of theosis. It is an outer as much as an inner journey, for God’s love will always have us seeking out ways to engage the other with grace. St Valentin is only one of many exemplars, but he is a worthy figure that steps forward as devout pilgrims are “anointed” with ash today in preparation for the journey to Good Friday and beyond.
Today’s text from Joel offers the same synchronicity.
Mythic realities
When we avoid the popular notion of myth as a fairytale and understand it as a means for accessing deep universal meaning that can only be conveyed in symbol and story, we are getting closer to truth.
When confronted with the world’s chaos and violence and ask “What does it all mean?” and we doggedly search for an answer, we may find ourselves in the world of ancient myth.
If we conclude that such self and other destruction is inevitable and take a fatalistic or survivalist stance we are in the middle of the epic Akkadian tale of Gilgamesh.
If we have a more hopeful outlook seasoned with a yearning for peaceful outcomes, we have landed ourselves in the covenant story of Noah alluded to yesterday.
Today, Psalm 25 acknowledges the reality of injustice but is clearly oriented to the Noah covenant. The poet seems to be enduring considerable distress but reveals a solid confidence in being part of the relationship described by the long arc of G-d’s loving mercy and justice.
From arks to arcs
Our daily texts from Revised Common Lectionary are leading into the Season of Lent, commencing this Wednesday. Genesis 9:8-17 is the climactic postlude of the Noah story, where the ancient principle of covenant is introduced. The ark takes its place as a primary point in the Hebrew view of the “arc of the moral universe.”
A covenant is different from a contract. It speaks of intentionality in fostering a positive relationship, even when the other party fails. Rev’d Dr Mark Hillis refers to the post-diluvian rainbow as a “bow at rest” – a laid down weapon suggesting a conjunction of the spectrum of light and the cessation of G-d’s intervention of punitive wrath.
This foundation of the covenant reveals an early theological understanding that natural disasters are not the punishment of offended gods. Rather there is an assertion of benevolent loving relationship awaiting development. This is an early and dawning awareness; the arc will yet reveal more touch points as it progresses through Hebrew and Christian history. Indeed it is meant to convey the basis of the whole human story – the Source of the Universe is best understood through a relationship that is positive and creative.
Credentials
A new ambassador stands before the Prime Minister and formally hands over an introductory letter sealed with the mark of his own government.
A hopeful business recruit emails her CV and academic record to a prospective employer.
A starry-eyed couple meet over coffee, swapping life stories in an effort to test the polarities of magnetism between them – will they continue to attract or will repulsion render this a one-off encounter?
There are varieties of ways for presenting credentials.
The Apostle Paul somehow does it in reverse. Having defended himself against charges of misrepresenting himself as an apostle with the authority to guide the church in Corinth, he presents his concerned hearers as his very credentials! Living witnesses to growth in Christ are all the credentials he and they require of each other! See 2 Corinthians 3:1-6
Paul has a refreshing turn of phrase for cutting through conflict hiding behind formalities and red tape that bind rather than liberate!
Wondering Pilgrim 