I thank God for you

One of the texts for today is Romans 1: 8-17 which starts with Paul writing to the people of Rome:


First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world

What this reminds me is that faith is often "caught" and not "taught."  It is in seeing a relationship with God acted out in the lives of others that encourages us.  

As I write this I think about my friend Mary Wood who - right now - is at a refugee camp in Thailand.  She has been going there for years and developed relationships with the people to the degree that they truly are family.  I am grateful to facebook and her pictures and descriptions of life in the refugee camp that is so foreign to me and clearly so familiar for Mary.  She is teaching theology and leading worship and loving people.  She is living and sharing her faith.  I thank God for her and her witness.

I usually start the day watching CBS news and feel overwhelmed at times by the greed and the duplicity and the rancor of those who are in leadership in our country.  It is when I think of people like Mary that I remember there is another way of life than seeking power and money.  She  encourages  (gives me courage!) me in my faith.  

The text for today ends like this (from the Message)


It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.”

We live in "right standing" before God when we put our trust - not in ourselves or our possessions - but in God.  And that is when we find the abundant life.  Mary is an example for me.

So, my mantra for today is

"When I trust God I really live"

May it be so.

Here is a prayer by Ted Loder which speaks of the adventure of faith

 

LET SOMETHING ESSENTIAL HAPPEN TO ME

by Ted Loder

O God,

Let something essential happen to me.

Something more than interesting,

or entertaining,

or thoughtful.

O God,
Let something essential happen to me,
something awesome
something real.
Speak to my condition, Lord,
and change me inside where it matters,
a change that will burn and tremble and heal
and explode me into tears
or laughter
or love that throbs or screams
or keeps a terrible, cleansing silence
and dares the dangerous deeds.
Let something happen to me
which is my real self, God

O God,
Let something exciting and passionate happen in me now.
Strip me of my illusions of self sufficiency,
of my proud sophistications,
of my inflated assumptions of knowledge
and leave me shivering as Adam or Eve
before the miracle of the natural-
the miracle of this earth.
That nurtures me as a mother
and delights me as a lover.
The miracle of my body
that breathes and moves,
hungers and digests,
sees and hears;
that is creased and wrinkled and sexual
shrinks in hurt
and swells in pleasure;
that works by the most amazing messages,
of what and where and how.
Coded and curled in every cell
and that dares to speak the confronting word.

O God
Let something essential and joyful happen in me now.
Something like the blooming of hope and faith.
Like a grateful heart,
like a surge of awareness
of how precious each moment is
That now, not next time,
now is the occasion
to take off my shoes,
to see every bush afire,
to leap and whirl with neighbor,
to gulp the air as sweet wine
until I've drunk enough
to dare to speak the tender word:
"Thank you"
"I love you"
"You're beautiful"
"Let's live together forever now"
and "I'm a fool for Christ's sake."

Create in Me a Clean Heart

Psalm 51 is one of the texts of this day and this phrase from it is my mantra for today:

CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART

 I have read and sung and prayed this phrase over and over again for years.  As I did some reading this morning and reflecting I realize that it really says it all.  Beginning with the word - CREATE.
What that reminds me of is God is at work and God's work is creation and recreation. And it also reminds me that a clean heart is not something I can do on my own.  I need a source that is greater than me.

It also reminds me that I don't have a clean heart.  I always like this story by Anthony de Mello from The Song of the Bird:

 A preacher put this question to a class of children: "If all the good people were white and all the bad people were black, what color would you be?"
Little Mary Jane replied, "Reverend, I'd be streaky!"

So would the preacher. So would the mahatmas, popes, and saints.

 ++++++

 The difference between Little Mary Jane and most of us is that we don't easily acknowledge our streakiness.  Often the Dark Night of the Soul comes as we face the ways in which we have hurt others, ourselves and God.  We can go a long time in denial and defensiveness before we acknowledge certain aspects of our sinfulness.

Psalm 51 is supposedly David's realization of the depth of his sin in his adultery with Bathsheba and all of its consequences. Praying this Psalm - really praying it - is not for the faint of heart.  But it is appropriate for the beginning of Lent and for any of us who take seriously the transforming work that God can do within our souls and our lives which will ultimately affect the world.

So today is a day for me to spend time with these words - "CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART" and trust in the mystery of God's grace, mercy and recreation.

Here is a wonderful poem I found online about this Psalm. by Sylvia Purdie  from Christchurch, New Zealand.

Psalm 51: Standing under the shower of Confession

 
The most lovely of Psalms, number 51,

but how do we get to verse 1?

What needs to happen in us before we can begin?

because us silly people tend to be much more

comfortable hiding

under umbrellas of self justification.



O crap. things have gone bad.

It’s not my fault!

If only he wasn’t so arrogant

she needs to sort her shit out

you change, not me!



The last thing we want to do

is recognize our rebellion.

How do we train ourselves to bring

honesty to our God

to peel back the layers of pride?

We quite like our own dirt

do we want to be washed clean?



This Psalm, of all Psalms,

takes the most guts to read

but you can do it!

Like a child shoved under the shower

Take a deep breath and begin –
 
Have mercy on me, O God …

CREATE IN ME A NEW HEART, O GOD

Amen

Return to the Lord

Today is Ash Wednesday which has always been an important day for me.  It is the first day in the season of Lent and I have felt over the years that I set myself back on course on this day.  For me, it has always been a day for reflection and recommitment.

Sunday I preached at a UCC church where the worship leader invited people to the Ash Wednesday service and made a point of saying that it would not be gloomy and negative.  It would be positive and uplifting. As I sat there and listened I thought how much I like the Ash Wednesday service to be what others might call "gloomy and negative."  For me, confession is central to my faith and Ash Wednesday is a service of confessing the ways in which we have fallen away as we recommit to returning to the Lord.  Before we "return" it is helpful to explore the ways in which we have wandered away. 

Today as I read through the readings I looked again at Jesus words to his disciples saying:
"Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them;"  His teachings show his awareness of how easily our wily ego can take over so that we end up playacting our faith instead of just living it. 

So, here I am beginning again today and in my own way - returning - to the one who continues to invite me into deeper living.  I will spend time in my "prayer closet" in confession today and hopefully attend church this evening.  The ritual of ashes on my forehead speaks to my soul and is emblematic of my recommitment to this challenging and amazing walk of faith.  The text that I carry in my heart today is these verses from Joel

Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.

Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.

What is most important for me to focus on is not my sin or my faith practices.  I need to remember who God is - "gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love."   It is my hope and prayer that dedicating myself (through prayer, worship, reading, writing, serving) to centering on the presence and character one who calls me into new life  will give me life.

May it be so.

Here is an Ash Wednesday Prayer by Jan Richardson

Blessing the Dust
A Blessing for Ash Wednesday

All those days
you felt like dust,
like dirt,
as if all you had to do
was turn your face
toward the wind
and be scattered
to the four corners

or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—

Did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with dust?

This is the day
we freely say
we are scorched.

This is the hour
we are marked
by what has made it
through the burning.

This is the moment
we ask for the blessing
that lives within
the ancient ashes,
that makes its home
inside the soil of
this sacred earth.

So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking
we are less
than we are

but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made,
and the stars that blaze
in our bones,
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge
we bear.

–Jan Richardson