Date: Wednesday, Mar 8             
Contributor: Becky Lucas
Lectionary Link 
 
These readings today remind me of my father.  I remember my father speaking in church on Sunday morning, starting off by saying, “I am a miserable sinner.”  It was shocking to me because I didn’t view him that way, as I wasn’t my teenage self yet. Today’s lessons remind us that we all frequently fall short of who Jesus hopes for us to be. It brings me comfort to know that we are clay in God’s hands.  We can be molded in a manner more pleasing to him, if we yield to his loving hands.  The first step, in preparing ourselves to yield to God, is to acknowledge that we do need his help to be the people that he wishes us to be.  That is to acknowledge that we are miserable sinners from time to time. It is my prayer that this Lent we can acknowledge our shortcomings and yield to God’s loving hands and be the beautiful vessels he intends for us.

Date: Tuesday, March 7
Contributor: Kathy Hagan
Lectionary Link  
 
Collect: O God, you willed to redeem us from all iniquity by your Son: Deliver us when we are tempted to regard sin without abhorrence and let the virtue of his passion come between us and our mortal enemy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

One text states that the Hebrew word for sin, het, translated literally means ‘miss the mark’. The Oxford American Dictionary defines iniquity, in part, as ‘gross injustice.’  
Delving more deeply into the collect and the rest of the liturgy for this day, I think about the incredible injustices we see around us in the world and in our own community. And I reflect on how I ‘miss the mark’. 

A friend told me of her neighbor, an immigrant, who as a 10-year-old child started a daily journey at 4 am to fetch water for her family. The trip took nearly two hours each way and then the water had to be boiled before being used. She faced many horrendous situations in her home country. As a young woman she traveled through great peril to find safety here and now strives to learn a new language, a new culture, while struggling to help her children face those same challenges. 
​
As I witness the way in which my friend respectfully assists this family, I am aware of how I have missed the mark. As I work through what I perceive to be my own challenges, I forget the basic, foundational commandments of loving God with all our heart, soul and mind and of loving our neighbors as ourselves. I am reminded that I have the ability and the responsibility to clearly and fully observe the world around me including those in my own community. Not only observe them but to be an active participant in loving them as I love myself. I can take steps large and small to witness those around me, to respectfully acknowledge and assist, to advocate for change and to talk about the challenges they face with others.  I am grateful that God allows us to reflect, learn, to grow, and to ask for her help each day as we strive to not miss the mark.  
 

Date: Monday, March 6
Contributor: Barb Hovey
Lectionary Link  
 
Today’s gospel is part of what Luke described as the sermon on the plain. Jesus and his apostles arrived on a plain to be greeted by a multitude of people. In these verses, Jesus gives instructions to love your enemies. There are well known injunctions to turn the other cheek, to be merciful and to forgive.
 
One line stood out to me on the first reading of this lesson: “Do to others as you would have them do to you”. This is commonly described as the Golden Rule. It is an ancient concept and Jesus would have known it as a tenet of Judaism. I am fond of the Golden Rule because it is simply stated but profound.
 
Paul McKenna of Scarboro Missions designed a multi-faith poster showing the Golden Rule in sacred writings from 13 faith traditions. Creating the poster "took five years of research that included consultations with experts in each of the 13 faith groups." This poster has been on permanent display at the Headquarters of the United Nations since 2002.





​

​​Date: Saturday, Mar 4   
Contributor: Connie Hendrick
Lectionary Link  
 
Matthew 5:43–48
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
 
Many decades ago, before the Internet and personal computers and online language databases, I studied Middle English as a graduate student.  It was the age of pen and paper, manual typewriters, and vinyl records. We listened for hours to recordings of Middle English prose and poems, eventually reciting along with the well-known pieces.  And when the word Lenten was heard, I knew the poem/song following would describe exuberant, riotous, and earthy springtime.
 
Lenten ys come with love to toune,
With blosmen ant with briddes roune,    
   That al this blisse bryngeth.
 
(From: The Complete Harley 2253 Manuscript)
 
I understood that springtime comes with love to town, with blossoms and birds’ secret songs, bringing all this bliss.
 
The Middle English noun Lenten means springtime, derived from the Old English lencten (the lengthening of daylight hours, spring, springtime) and related to Old High German lenzin (spring). Eventually the term Lenten or Lent acquired a specialized usage describing the 40 day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter, a period of abstinence and penance.  And yes, it takes place in springtime and the lengthening of daylight, but how do I reconcile our modern penitential Lent with the exuberant Lenten of Middle English prose and poetry. Perhaps my focus will be that both, conceptually, are about renewal and love.  Matthew’s verses in today’s gospel speak of love. 
Radical love.
Perfect love. 
​And Lenten has come with love to town.

Date: Friday, Mar 3
Contributor: Gayle Marsh
Lectionary Link 
 
Psalm 130:4-5
I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; *
in his word is my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning, *
more than watchmen for the morning.
 
A lot of waiting and watching happens in the wee hours. Darkness magnifies fear. Limited vision and creaky nocturnal disturbances have accompanied humanity for millennia. The sixteenth century Cornish Peasants Litany contains the phrase:
“From ghoulies and ghosties and longleggety beasties And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord deliver us!”

I ponder and join cycle of prayers offered 24/7 worldwide in faith communities and monasteries around the clock. We are not alone. Angels are present. Joining the communion of all saints past, present and yet to come brings a hopefulness and peace that dispels our fight to fall asleep or get back to sleep. There is comfort as my ever watchful canine companion, Abby, ALWAYS gets up to be with me. And, we note the faithfulness of DOG as GOD spelled backwards. Historically, watchmen are members of a body of people who stay awake to observe villages and towns overnight. In Israel’s time watchers kept track of livestock as we recall shepherds alert at Jesus birth. Few towns had walls to maintain boundaries to protect from poachers or “enemy” attack. Watchers monitor the possibility of fire, of riot, and all manner of things “that go bump in the night”.
​
For whom are we are called to stay alert for?
What invitation awaits as we keep watch?

Date: Thursday, Mar 2   
Contributor: Mike Sirany
Lectionary Link 
 
Matthew 7:7-12
“Ask, and it will be given you; search and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. To everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake?...”
The second part of this I have always liked, believing that God would not give us anything that would be harmful, just as I would not always give everything to my children that they asked for or wanted. I am often amused by the whiney four year old  in the checkout lane begging and pleading with mom or dad for one or more of the items on the display ahead of the register. I am also a bit annoyed when a parent ends up giving in to something clearly not in the child’s best interest, often times to quiet them (or maybe the parent believes it shows the child love?) I suspect God does a better job with us!
And this latter part also contradicts that often over-quoted and poor theological advice “Be careful what you ask for from God, you may get it!” As if God will grant our selfish or harmful request to teach a lesson, even if it harms us. That is not love, at least in my understanding.
The asking and promise of receiving I find more problematic. Really? If I ask, I get it from God? “OK God, could we have world peace now, no hunger, no greed, injustice or hate???” I don’t think those are bad or selfish things to ask for, but I am not convinced that is all it takes to change the world.
Two insights into understanding this passage more deeply have helped me accept the asking part, without expecting an immediate affirmative response.
 

1. Jesuit William Barry, a few decades ago, wrote that God already knows everything we want, desire, and everything that would be in our best interest. So why ask? (In the Ignatian exercises, the beginning of each prayer period is to ask for our deepest heart’s desire, which Ignatian spirituality teaches is also God’s desire for us.) Barry says that we ask because it puts us into relationship with our Creator, it increases our bond of intimacy with God. It also allows us to be open and honest with God, which leads to a deeper self knowledge and understanding of ourselves. “God, this is my heart’s desire. But not my will, but yours…”

 

1. My prayers don’t change God.  God loves me unconditionally and is already doing everything in God's power to help me grow more deeply in Her love. But Margorie Suchocki, process Theologian, says we ask and pray to change US! Prayer changes us, opens our hearts, and when we are more open and receptive to God’s word, it changes how God can work in and through us. The more open I am to giving and receiving love, the more God can do through and with me. So we ask and seek to deepen our intimacy with God and open ourselves to God’s lure and invitation to be his hands and feet, and voice in a world so desperately in need of God.

 
These two insights have been useful to change my attitude towards this part of the passage from one of skepticism, to one of encouragement to keep asking, keep praying, and above all, remaining open to an intimate relationship with God.

Date: Wednesday, Mar 1             
Contributor: Mary Pendergrass
Lectionary Link 

My thoughts for today were first sparked by an opinion I read in the January 25, 2023 Washington Post by Bibi Bahrami, a Muslim woman belonging to a small mosque in Muncie, Indiana.  And then I recalled a sermon from our rector on January 15, 2023 on the subject of being an evangelist which seemed to mesh with the op ed.  The woman who wrote the op ed spoke of an unfamiliar man who showed up at her mosque and seemed very angry.   He was a non-Muslim and former military and his actions were suspicious but she and her husband welcomed him and offered comfort.  She and her husband are Afghani refugees and based on their past experiences they believe in the idea that strangers must be welcomed and all must search for common ground.  They decided to trust their instincts and they and other members of the mosque continued to welcome him there and to trust him with various responsibilities.  Then the woman became aware of rumors among some congregants claiming that the Marine had first come to the mosque with a plan to blow it up.  She invited him to her home for a meal and then questioned him about the rumors and what he was thinking.  She learned that he had indeed planned on destroying the mosque because while serving in the Marines he had been at war with Muslims and had developed a deep hatred for them.  But he then said that he had been treated with such kindness and compassion by the woman, her husband and other congregants that he had changed his mind.  They had given him a place to belong and shown him what true humanity is.  Over time he became a member and a leader at the mosque because of the example of others.
 
Randy’s sermon spoke to the idea that being an evangelist doesn’t entail stepping onto a soapbox to harangue others as to their state as sinners or approaching strangers to spout verses from the Bible and push tracts into their hands which reproach them for not believing in your way of belief.  When we weaponize Christianity we are forgetting to love one another.  As in the op ed we should give evidence of God’s goodness in our own lives by what we do.  How we live and our attentiveness to others should give the story of God’s love.
 
Both the story of the Muslim woman and her mosque, and Randy’s sermon, remind me that this is how I want to live my life - by being attentive to others and their needs and offering comfort and kindness where I can.  It’s difficult and I know that I often don’t live up to my aspirations but I’ll continue to try and do the best I can each day.  I encourage you to go to St. Christopher’s website and listen to the sermon of January 15 as well as Marilyn’s sermon on February 5, 2023 regarding using your light to do the work of Jesus.

Click here to find the sermons.