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March 23, 2009

Fifth Sunday of Lent [March 29, 2009]

Occasionally, on television you will see programs that ask people to do daring things like motorcycle jumps, parachute plunges from bridges, jungle searches for some for some hidden prize or other such weird projects.

Well, just for fun, let me ask you another odd question, a question I dearly hope that you will never have to answer. The question: What would you be willing to die for? Most folks would say, “Well, I hope I never have to answer to that.” Or you might say: “If my house was on fire and my kids were inside, I’d risk my life to save them. I’d even risk my life to save my old black lab hunting dog.

Happily, of course, situations like that rarely arise or if they do arise, we have high praise for the person(s) who took the risk.

There are indeed folks who are willing to risk their lives practically every day: Policemen, firemen and women, soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, doctors who treat people with infectious diseases, young adults who volunteer to travel to countries with politically unstable governments. You could name other brave souls.

Another group of people who are willing to give up their lives for a cause are those who love their country, true patriots like the Irish who battled with Great Britain to reestablish their freedom. Think too of the monks and people of Tibet who for years have been struggling for freedom. Once a country loses its freedom, it loses very identity.

But there are also others, of course, who are willing to take their lives and the lives of others for radical causes: Think of the Muslim extremists, for instance, who tie explosives around themselves, ignite them, killing dozens of people at one time.

People in Ireland have also died at the hands of the IRA. People in Spain by the Basque Separatists (ETA). All I can say is that this is misguided patriotism. Nonetheless, it must take tremendous courage for such people to dress in ammunition and then blow themselves up. There must be more worthy causes than that.

At the same time, it occurs to me that people over a span of time have chosen to die for religious causes more than for any other. I find that interesting inasmuch as life itself seems to me more important than the beliefs of any particular religion.

Interestingly, of course, Christians claim that Jesus died for us. It is a tenet of our Christian faith that through Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection we are saved. I confess that I do not know precisely what “dying for our salvation” means. As close as I can come to answer that is to say that Jesus struggled through his entire adult life to bring life to people by his word, by his miracles of healing and by his very person. As an ultimate sign of his life saving work for us, he was willing to die for all humankind.

I also think of Jesus death as a living sign or model of how we are invited to live for others. Wrapping oneself in explosives and blowing ones self up for the sake of others is obviously not an answer. Yet, in some sense we are called on to sacrifice something for others in a model that resembles Jesus’ life and work. This could also be called a “sacrifice” in a relative sense, a giving up something of ourselves and our life for the sake of others.

Think of the efforts mothers endure to bring new life into the world, the hard work parents do to sustain their families. Yes, I realize these examples are not equal to the suffering and death of Jesus. But, of course, God is not calling us to literally die for others. But there are ways and ways of dying for others. In all of this we can say that Jesus is our model.

So, now we are back to the original question: For what are you willing to die? I imagine most of my readers might now say: “ Well, at least I know what I am willing to die for and I know what I am not willing to die for, and that makes all the difference.

The scriptures: Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Hebrews 5: 7-9; John 12: 20-33

Posted by Cindy Lentine at 02:09 PM.

March 16, 2009

Fourth Sunday of Lent [March 22, 2009]

I suppose I should know better by now, after all the years of communicating with people, but it still amazes me how speedily and efficiently our words, our personal messages can get from one place to another, from one person to another. Just think, for instance, how quickly a little piece of gossip makes the rounds.

But more to the point, any of us who use a computer or an ordinary cell phone will know how easily one can reach across the world. I have a good friend, a teacher who lives in the far reaches of Alaska and we communicate by cell phone and e-mail all the time. I think I probably have around 200 names on my e-mail address book. Now, if I was to write a letter by hand to each of these folks at Christmas time it would be the Fourth of July before they received them.

By the way, I understand that instant messaging on cell phones is now all the rage. A friend showed me how to do it but I found out that my fingers were too large and clumsy to cover those small keys on my cell phone. Besides, I’m sure no one could have understood my abbreviated words anyway. Ah, the fascinating world of technology.

A question, however, in regard to the speed of communication is this: Does communication technology, all this messaging, make us more human, more intelligent, more sensitive, more intuitive more responsive to others. Is our world a better place a more humane planet because we have learned over the millennia to talk to one another? I think that may be a valid question. I have no immediate answer

So, it seems to me that this messaging or communicating that we do can be both good and bad. In so many cases today the messenger becomes less important than the means whereby the message is communicated. Our hope is that if the message gets to its destination fast, our goal will have been achieved. So, let’s get the latest and fastest Intel processor!

But think about this: In the not-so-long-ago, messages were delivered in person or by a person. Someone was entrusted to get a letter or a document to an addressee. That messenger took personal responsibility to get it there. At one time in our American history, for instance, folks used the Pony Express to get a letter from point to point across the vast plains. Today, as we all know, government officials often use a personal courier to deliver top-secret documents. Even the Vatican sends messages by courier.

At any rate and in either case, a living person takes responsibility for delivering words, whether good or bad. If the words happen to be welcome, all the better, if unwelcome, the messenger often might suffer violence or death. Even today, we often hear the phrase “to kill the messenger,” It’s a phrase that comes from the Greek playwright Sophocles’ in his play, Antigone. William Shakespeare also once used the phrase, “don’t shoot the messenger.” We sure hope not.

But it is not so amusing, my friends: Individuals who choose to say hard words or give warnings are often tortured or killed. There is an example of that in the scriptures for this very Sunday. The Chronicler in our first reading points out that many messengers of God who were sent to the Israelites over the centuries were mistreated and their message rejected.

The classic messengers in the Jewish testament, of course, were the great prophets, Jeremiah (mentioned in today’s reading) Isaiah, Micah, Ezekiel, Haggai and Malachi and others less well known. In today’s parlance, they often took the heat when they gave warnings to the people and especially their kings. Jeremiah, for instance, was thrown into a dry cistern and left to die. He was warning the king of Israel to avoid a useless and dangerous alliance with another king.

So, you may ask, why were they persecuted? Think of it this way: Prophets, by profession, are people who are willing to look deeply into their times and speak the truth to power. They are not willing to accept soft and easy answers for world problems and for that they are scorned. But that is precisely the role of prophets, to ask hard questions and not allow for soft and easy answers. If you will allow me, I often think of our president, Barak Obama as a prophet. He spoke bluntly this week of the grave condition of our economy. Who was listening?

Returning to the scriptures, we know and follow the greatest prophet of all time: Jesus of Nazareth. The author of John’s gospel in today’s liturgy, for instance, says of Him that he came into the world to bring light, but people preferred darkness to light because their works were evil. How would we interpret “darkness” in our times?

The common denominator in all this, it seems to me, is that truth and messengers of truth will always find it difficult to get a hearing. Just think, for instance, how difficult it was for Jesus to get people to listen to the good news. Ultimately people killed the messenger.

But it seems to me too that part of our problem is that there are not enough messengers to speak truth to power. Ideally, prophets should not be in short supply in any age. Unfortunately, we imagine that it takes some special kind of person to be that messenger. Not so, I say! If we ordinary Christians are not messengers of good news, what are we good for? If we are unable or refuse to bring good news into the dark corners of our world, who will do it?

This brings us back to our original question: What can bring true and lasting change to our world? Speedy technology or a Christian messenger who believes in the message? I think we know the answer to that: All the broad band access, all the Intel technology, all the high powered computers, all the cell phones in the world will never compare to one human voice who is willing to speak truth to power. Jesus did it, so can we. May God bless you and all that you do this week.

The scriptures: Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23; Ephesians 2 4-10; John 3: 14-21

Posted by Cindy Lentine at 09:34 AM.

March 09, 2009

Third Sunday of Lent [March 15, 2009]

An article appeared in our local paper some days ago about an action that happens all too often: As group of teenagers bearing cans of spray desecrated a local Jewish synagogue with Nazi symbols. One would think that at some point in our American history intelligent people would be able to appreciate the meaning or significance of holy places. Such actions happen at Catholic churches as well, of course, but that does not make it any less serious in the eyes of all devout people.

A year or so ago several young adults in South Carolina went on a spree burning African American churches in several cities. They were finally apprehended and the parishioners went back to work rebuilding their churches without hate in their hearts.

One might ask, of course, why churches or synagogues or mosques? I think the answer is that most people of any faith have deep regard and respect not for the building itself, but for the actions that take place there: Worship of God, teaching of the commandments and other forms of devotion. In some sense, churches may be more sacred to us than even our own homes!

I imagine to that there is one other building in Washington, D.C. that is sacred to most people and that is the Supreme Court. You will notice that it has a frieze of some of the world’s great lawgivers on the façade. From a distance it almost looks like a giant cathedral with the pillars across the front. Once again, we would all be angry if someone were to desecrate it by graffiti.

Again, we may not be offended simply by the desecration of the building. More often, our anger might arise out of a conviction that this building itself (like a church, mosque or synagogue) is the place where human law is adjudicated, where justice is served, where people can expect their cause will be heard. When, therefore there are reports that an officer of the court has been shot, everyone is outraged.

Given these various examples of law, worship and the buildings where accompanying activities are carried out, we can well understand the short episode in the gospel describing Jesus’ anger with the mercantile activities that were being carried out in the temple in Jerusalem. “Get these things out of here,” he said, “you are turning the house of God into a market place!” As far as I know, this is the only incident in the gospels where Jesus ‘lost it,” where he became physically violent.

Interestingly, of course, no one else in the temple seemed to feel that there was anything wrong with what the sales that where going on. These men were simply selling sacrificial animals and birds that were needed for Jewish worship. It was probably a long-standing custom with which no one took offense.

For Jesus, however, this was serious business: He was simply repeating what the great prophets who preceded him had also said. “My house is a house of prayer. You have made it a den of thieves. “

It occurs to me too that this is one of those historical practices that no one took offense at. It’s like the old saying: “Hey, we’ve always done it this way.” Hence, by Jesus time, no one was the least bit offended by the sales that were being carried on in their place of worship. I’m sure we can find instances in our own time where violations of sacred practices become the norm rather than the exception.

It occurs to me, therefore, that there are certain things in this world that are, by their very nature, holy, sacred, untouchable. We know all this simply by instinct.

Could it be said, therefore, that the human person, the human body, is also a “sacred edifice?” You may have noticed that the gospel writer made it clear that when Jesus referred to the destruction of the temple, it was, in fact his own, his body that would be destroyed, desecrated by crucifixion.

I imagine that it does not occur to us very often when we enter the sacred precincts of our church, that it is our own sacred body, created by God that is entering these doors.

Perhaps this story of Jesus’ action in the temple should challenge us not to be swallowed up by consumerism. We might do better to invest our attention in “stocks that do not fail,” human and spiritual interests that pay eternal dividends.

In summary, there are things in this world that are by nature holy. Nonetheless, given our human tendency so often to overlook their inherent holiness, we ought not be offended if someone has the gentle courage to remind us of that. I suspect that knotted ropes may not be needed to bring us around. Just a little nudge here and there, you see.

The scriptures: Exodus 20: 1-17, 1 Corinthians 1; 22-25, John 2: 13-25

Posted by Cindy Lentine at 09:33 AM.

March 02, 2009

Second Sunday of Lent [March 8, 2009]

Despite the many years I have immersed myself in the world of scripture and theology, I must admit that there are still words and phrases that have little or no meaning for me. My favorite way of coming to some understanding of a particular word or phrase is by heading for Webster’s dictionary or Google to see if I can find synonyms or similar words. Sometimes it works. At other times I’m up against a wall.

One such mysterious word appears in the gospel for this Second Sunday in Lent. Actually, the word comes up again in the liturgy in mid-summer, all of which tells you that it must have been considered important in the Hebrew lexicon. The word is transfigured, transfiguration. It refers to the state of mind that Jesus experienced with his disciples on a high mountain.

Before proceeding, any further, let me say from personal experience that when one expends much effort to climb a mountain, the experience at the summit can be overwhelming (transfiguring). A good climbing friend of mine had an apt phrase to describe such an occasion: Looking out over the vast landscape, he would say: “You can’t get this down town.” Indeed, you can’t.” I would like to think that this might have been Jesus’ experience, something so overwhelming that he could not even explain it.

So, how does transfiguration appear in common, every day occurrences on the personal level? Perhaps you may have attended your 20th or 30th high school reunion. A quick look around will tell you that something has changed: Gray hair, a bulge at the belt line. Psychologically, the person who was non-stop full of energy in high school has now slowed down. Not even cosmetics cannot cover up the lines that were not there at 17.

Some while ago a television program appeared with the title Total Makeover. You may have seen it. I found it amazing to see what cosmetologists could do to make a person look better or at least different.

Obviously, change is one of the most evident elements in our life. We may be unhappy that we are not today what we were 25 years ago, but that’s part of the great cycle of life.

At the same time there are also positive signs in this process of transfiguration: At 50 we are more mature and sensible than we were at 15. At 25 we should be more spiritually mature than we were at the time of our Confirmation. The point, of course, is that we will not understand ourselves spiritually or psychologically unless we can look back calmly and notice the change. Change, after all, is one of the most significant signs of a healthy life. Moreover, there is a deep longing in each of us to become what we are not yet. We all know that we have undiscovered God-gifts that are just pressing to find their place in our lives but how often they lie unused because we are afraid to change, afraid or unwilling to take a chance and use them.

So, what about Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain top with his disciples? Obviously, it was a unique experience which none of his friends understood. Undoubtedly, however, he felt in close touch with his God. At the same time, nothing permanent, no significant change seems to have affected Jesus except that he was surrounded by a bright light while he spoke with Moses, the Exodus leader and Elias the prophet. When the transfiguration came to an end, Jesus and his friends immediately descended the mountain and went back to work, preaching and healing, the very work his Father had called him to.

And so, what of us? Obviously, we will probably never have that spontaneous experience of God that Jesus had. Nonetheless, I am sure there have been moments in all our lives when God seemed closer than ever to us. Perhaps it was simply a feature of raw nature; at other times we may have been alone in our church, just thinking and suddenly the sacred became real. There may have been no obvious explanation; it was just God and you. After all, sacred experiences do not need to be explained. They simply are what they are; each one is unique. In those simple moments we are personally changed with or without any physical evidence.

One last point: Nowhere in the gospel do we find Jesus explaining this transfiguration experience to anyone; perhaps he was unable to do so; perhaps it was simply too overwhelming. So, what happened next? He and his friends all went back to work, transformed, I’m sure.

The scriptures: Genesis 22: 1-2, 9, 10-13, 15-18; Romans 8: 31-34;
Mark 9: 2-10

Posted by Cindy Lentine at 01:11 PM.