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Lent Devotion 30

Sunday afternoon 9 people from Lakewood UCC went to the Publix Headquarters in Lakeland to be part of the finale of the farmworker march from Ft. Myers to Lakeland.
It was inspiring. There was an incredibly diverse group of people including many, many young people. People were there from all over the country. They had flown in specifically to attend this event. It made me realize that this is part of a much bigger movement. While we think of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) as a local group, which they are, they are also of world renown. The Coalition has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and they are known not only in Florida and the US, but around the world. They are considered a premier model for effective non violent change.

The motto for the CIW used to be “Se si puede” meaning it can be done or we can do it. Today there was a different chant. An adaptation. I was with Claudia Rodriguez, our Nursery Attendant, who speaks Spanish, and I asked her , “What does this new chant mean?” She said it was in the past tense: “’It has been done,’ or ‘We did it.’”

While the CIW is still trying to get Publix to come to the table to discuss the Fair Food agreement, they have successfully negotiated agreements with 11 other major food corporations including Burger King, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Subway and Pizza Hut. This “has been done.” So, there is a new motto.

Sometimes when we are working for change or trying to accomplish something that is important to us, we may be focussing on what is yet to be accomplished. And we may lose sight of what has already been done. Again and again in the Bible the people recount the amazing things that God has done for them in the past. This gives them hope and strength in the present as they work for a new future. It is important for us in our spiritual lives and in our life together as a church to celebrate how far we have come, what we have been able to accomplish, the positive change that has already occurred. This then inspires us to keep up our efforts and not to give up. Let’s make sure that we are not ignoring what “has been done.”

Prayer: Sometimes we can only see that the glass is half empty. May we have eyes to see how far we have come and to pay attention to the strides that have been made that deserve to be celebrated. This gives us strength and hope to continue the struggle. When we see what God has done and is doing, we can trust that eventually our efforts for justice will bear fruit. God does not give up on us. May we not give up. Amen.

Lent Devotion 29

Creation or evolution? Bumper stickers and candidates and school boards hold forth on this topic. Creation, Genesis style, by God who specifically images each life form and species. Or evolution à la Darwin, purported to be a godless, scientific explanation for the vastly profuse effusion of life.

While Charles Darwin may not have been a regular church-goer, it should be noted that the one book Darwin took on his voyages was Milton’s Paradise Lost, the epic poem on based on the biblical story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

The third edition of On the Origin of Species ended with a hymn of praise to God. Darwin was awed that “from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved. “ [Quoted in The Christian Century, 3/20/13, p. 8] Using today’s description, maybe we would say that Darwin was “spiritual but not religious.”

The design of an ever adaptive, changing natural world. Circumstances converging creating the “perfect storm” which resulted in a life-supporting habitat. A simple, almost unremarkable emergence of life gradually spreading and diversifying resulting in the current profusion of nature. To me there is nothing more awe-inspiring or miraculous than this incredible process. The theory of evolution is enough to prevent one from lapsing into agnosticism or atheism.

To look at the human species and the harm we have done to one another and the planet; that could drive you to agnosticism or atheism. But the examination of the natural world and affirming the system of evolution, it’s hard not to see a God of some kind at the heart of it all.

Creation or evolution? Yes! God creating evolution. That’s a God to which I will gladly give my love and trust.

Prayer: May we take delight in the glory of creation. May we see the hand of the divine in the natural world. May we celebrate that we are part of the amazing, awe-inspiring, miraculous creation. We hope to have hearts centered on the God of creation and to cherish and care for God’s miraculous gift. Amen.

Lent Devotion 28

I bet you are reading this on a screen of some kind. In fact, that’s the only way to read this unless it has been printed out to read. Much of what we read and are exposed to, much of our communication, is done “on screen.” Have you thought about how many hours a day or a week or even a year that you spend in front of a screen? If you include phone, computer, tablet, tv, the figure could get alarming.

Maybe you think I’m going to move on to a rant against technology. Well, not exactly. In fact, we got 7,239 visits to our website in 7 days recently and I think that is great! It’s miraculous, actually. I celebrate the outreach our church (of 60 members) can have because of technology and the internet. But what I will say is that I believe our increasing amount of “screen” time makes church ever more important. To balance screen time, we need real time face time. We need contact – physical, social, relational – with real people with whom have a bond. At church, we come together, face to face, hand to hand, eye to eye, voice to voice, with our sisters and brothers in Christ. We don’t know what that encounter is going to involve, what it may mean, or how we may be affected, until it happens. Church is always a surprise. And we will miss the blessing if we don’t show up; if we confine ourselves to screen time. Our calling is to embody the love of God as Jesus did. It takes our bodies to embody. It involves actually being with other people. And we can’t know ahead of time what the outcome will be. So, in a society captivated by efficiency, outcome, and bottom line, where does going to church fit in? It’s not something that you can readily measure, quantify, chart, or sometimes even explain.

I am for church that is high touch and high tech. But I think we must resist to temptation to focus on the tech as the expense of the touch. Church should be high touch augmented, supported, enhanced, and extended by high tech.

Prayer: As humans we have a hunger for the sacred, the holy, a sense of spirit. This yearning is expressed and fulfilled in relationships with other people. May we invest ourselves in face to face contact creating communities of joy that meet our deepest hungers. May church be a safe, welcoming space in which we encounter love embodied and incarnate. Amen.

Lent Devotion 27

The US Constitution is not set in stone. The 18th amendment to the Constitution went into effect on January 17, 1920. On December 15, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution went into effect repealing the 18th Amendment. So began and ended prohibition. The point is that changes can and have been made to the Constitution. The need for changes to the Constitution was envisioned by our nation’s founders. That is why they included a process for change within the Constitution itself.

Based on the precedent of prohibition, the editors of the Catholic Jesuit magazine America have called for the United States to repeal the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution. This amendment was adopted with the rest of the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791. It is the amendment that protects the right to keep and bear arms. The Jesuit editors support the 2008 ruling of the US Supreme Court that the 2nd amendment impedes government control of the possession and use of firearms.

The repeal of the 2nd amendment is a long shot by far, but it is heartening to see a major Christian group take a position in favor of peace and anti-violence and not afraid to be controversial or visionary.

What is even more hopeful is that this stand was taken by the Jesuits, and the newly elected Pope Francis is member of the Jesuit order. While I may not agree with some of the positions that the Catholic church insists on endorsing, I do support this Jesuit initiative which could reduce the number of guns in this country and the consequent violence and death that results. I hope that this new Pope is as committed to peace as the editors of his order’s magazine.

Prayer: We hold in prayer the new pope, Francis. He undertakes great responsibility and has the potential to make a strong, courageous witness for the gospel of Jesus Christ. While we pray for Pope Francis and the Catholic Church, we also pray for all churches of Jesus Christ and for all Christians that we might not just leave it to our leaders to work for peace in the world, but that each and every one of us might truly be peacemakers in the spirit of Jesus. Amen.

Lent Devotion 26

From Heaven above to earth I come
O worship the King, all glorious above
Sing praise to God who reigns above
Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down
All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above
Come down O love divine, seek thou this soul of mine

Many hymns and scriptures use the imagery of God being in heaven above us and we here on the earth below. Of course, we know that God is everywhere, not just one place and not another. By definition, God has to be everywhere. So there really isn’t anywhere, physical or spiritual, that God is not. And with advances in science, we know that beyond us is the atmosphere and space. But what is above? “Above” all depends on the frame of reference. What’s above to us may be below from another vantage point.

There is also other language such as “as far as the east is from the west” that implies the vast scope of God. We now know that if you go far enough “east” you end up in the “west” and vice versa since we know that the earth is round.

These images are quaint and can make scripture and religion seem antiquated and even irrelevant. The image of a far off heaven may be intended to convey the distance between the world as it is and the world as God intends it to be. As far as the east is from the west is a spatial image of distance and separation. If we want to convey distance and separation in more current images, how might we do that? Might we say as far apart as the Latin alphabet is from the Arabic alphabet? Might we express isolation and separation in terms of the internet: As isolated as if having no access to the internet for months on end. Are there other images of separation that we can think of in today’s terms? God was as silent as if I were in a dead zone with no cell phone reception. I pray, but it is as if I have no bars.

Using contemporary imagery and language is important for keeping religion, Christianity, and our faith vital and relevant and alive. It is also a reminder that those who penned what we now consider scripture used what was contemporary, colloquial language, which may loose something in translation across languages and centuries.

Prayer: We know that our faith is a living faith. God’s love and grace are relevant in every culture, in every age, and in every circumstance. We know that the way of Jesus is the way of life, whatever our context. May we not be afraid to reverence faith of the past and make relevant faith for today. Amen.