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This is the extra day of February that keeps the calendar, the seasons, and the stars properly aligned. Without leap year and Feb. 29 every four years, we would eventually end up having winter in July! Thank goodness for leap year helping us to maintain order and balance.

In Psalm 25, the lectionary psalm for last Sunday that has been our focus for the week, the writer pleads for mercy and forgiveness from God. That forgiveness will set things right. But the writer also pleads for God’s guidance:

Make me to know your ways
Teach me your paths
Lead me in your truth
God instructs sinners in the way
God leads the humble in what is right

This implies that not only is forgiveness needed for a full and abundant life, but instruction, guidance, and teaching are also needed. That is what gives the balance. Forgiveness cleanses and frees us. And learning God’s ways keeps us from getting ourselves in the same trouble over and over again. Instead of an endless repetitive loop, the spiritual life can be imaged as a spiral, growing and progressing, not just covering the same ground over and over. Forgiveness and learning help us to grow in our spiritual lives.

Let’s think for a moment about how we learn things. I am trying to learn some Spanish for a trip this summer. I am listening to cds. I am studying books that I have gotten out of the library. Claudia, our church nursery attendant who speaks Spanish, is tutoring me. Sometimes I listen to Spanish radio. I am paying more attention to my son’s Spanish homework for school. There are all of these different ways that I am trying to learn more Spanish.

When we think about the psalmist’s plea to learn God’s ways and follow God’s guidance, no one could be against that, but how will it happen? While we may desire sudden illumination, a zap of revelation, or a tidy rule book, that’s not what we are given. We are given life experience to examine and reflect upon. We are given religious traditions to learn from. This involves participation in worship, reading, study of holy texts, conversations with those experienced, wise ones of our faith. Like any other significant learning, spiritual learning takes effort, time, study, and participation. It doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t happen without intentional exertion.

You may want to take a few moments to think about the effort that you are putting into your spiritual life at this time. What are you doing to learn God’s ways? To receive God’s instruction? To follow God’s leading? How are you being a student of God’s intentions? Who are your teachers as you seek to grow in God’s ways? What can you do to increase what you are learning of God? Lent is a wonderful time to invest more effort and energy in our spiritual growth and development. And today we can use this “extra” day of February to do some extra learning!

Prayer
We are thankful for all that we as humans have been able to learn about the world, about life, and about ourselves. We are grateful that life is a journey of never-ending discovery and growth. May we choose to learn more of God and of the way of God shown to us in Jesus. May we let Jesus be a teacher for us as we learn through life. We have been given so many resources for receiving instruction from God. We give thanks for the church, for our faith tradition, for our ancestors in faith, and for our companions on the spiritual journey which bless our growth and nurture our learning. Amen.

We face many difficulties in this life. Struggles and challenges abound. Sometimes we bring trouble upon ourselves. Other times, circumstances occur that we cannot account for and they mire us in misery.

In the ancient world, the world of the Psalms, life’s problems were thought to be sent by God as a response to sin. If you sin, you have problems. If you don’t sin, you don’t have any problems. If you have problems, it is because you sin. There was a sense of direct cause and effect.

So in Psalm 25, the writer refers to many problems and then pleads for mercy and forgiveness because of the belief that God’s forgiveness will mean the end of the problems. The writer refers to being put to shame, being involved with those who are wantonly treacherous, there is reference to enemies, to being lonely and afflicted, to the troubles of the heart, distress, and violent hatred. This Psalm, like many others, is filled with references to severe woes. And what is the cause of these woes? Sin. And what is the relief for these woes? God’s forgiveness.

And so the Psalmist pleads for forgiveness and mercy:
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions
Pardon my guilt, for it is great
Be gracious to me
Forgive all my sins.

The assumption is that God’s forgiveness and mercy will purge the sin, and thus all the difficulties that are being faced will come to an end. With God’s mercy, life will be prosperous and good. No troubles. While this is more simplistic that we would accept today, there is still great wisdom here. Will repentance and forgiveness take away all of our troubles and worries and make life a bowl of cherries? No, I don’t think so. But I certainly believe that more forgiveness in the world would lead to a world with fewer problems and troubles.

Cultivating the art and grace of forgiveness could alleviate much suffering and pain in the world: In families, in communities, in the work place, in the legal system, and even between nations and groups. Frankly, forgiveness has fallen on hard times and we are suffering for it. It is perceived as weakness. It is seen as being unfair. Letting people off. We are more comfortable with a system of retribution and restitution. Pay back. Don’t let anyone have something for nothing. Forgiveness is seen as pure give away. Ok for God, maybe, but not for inter human affairs.

With all of our focus on repentance and forgiveness this Lenten season, I invite you to give some thought to how you can bring more forgiveness into the world. Where can you do more forgiving – of yourself, of others? More forgiveness will free us from untold suffering and will free us from feeling we are owed, or that we owe. In one version of the Savior’s prayer, we say, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Doesn’t the world need less debt? Give forgiveness a try. It might not solve all of our problems, but it will definitely help to make life better for everyone.

Prayer
We know our need for forgiveness – from ourselves, from God, from others. This will go a long way to relieve so much of the heartache and stress of this life. May we look for opportunities to practice forgiveness and so free ourselves and the world of some measure of suffering and pain. Jesus was forgiveness embodied. He never withheld forgiveness. May we follow in his way. Amen.

Love of enemies is a core teaching of Christianity. It is one of the most well known of Jesus’ teachings: “Love your enemies.” [Matthew 5: 44] But who are are enemies? Perhaps you’ve seen the current bumper sticker: “When Jesus said, ‘Love your enemies’ he probably didn’t mean bomb them.” We tend to think of our enemies as those who are enemies of our nation. We think of enemies as those not from our group or tribe or nation who present a threat to us or who we believe hate us. Who do you think of as an enemy?

We can also look at enemies as people who are a personal threat to us. Someone we don’t get along with. Someone who seems out to get us at work or at school. Maybe it is a rival for a love interest. Maybe we think of an enemy as someone who may perpetrate a crime against us. We’re afraid of being held up or attacked or robbed. So, we may think of an enemy in terms of a personal external threat. Can you think of someone that you might consider a personal enemy?

In Psalm 25, the writer prays, “Do not let my enemies exult over me.” We can think of enemies in the ways we mentioned above. But we can also think of enemies as those internal character traits and behaviors that work against our best interests. We can reflect on our enemies within and trying not to let those enemies get the best of us. Here we may think of things like selfishness, or prejudice, or addiction. We may consider how we let out harsh words that hurt others. We may think of opportunities, abilities, and talents laying dormant and not being put to full use. Maybe an enemy would be laziness, or lack of initiative, or apathy. Can you think of any enemies within you?

Lent is a season to free ourselves from the grip of our enemies, however we may perceive them. It is a time to limit if not eliminate the power that we let our perceived enemies have over us. It is a time to think about how to disempower our enemies with the power of love. It is a time to reflect and consider how we can follow the way of Jesus loving ourselves, others, and, yes, our enemies.

Prayer
Jesus taught us to love our enemies. That can be very difficult. Whether the enemies are outside of us or within us. But we know that the power of love is stronger than the power of hatred and violence. May we have the strength and trust to embrace the freedom of love so that we are not controlled by our enemies or by fear. Amen.

When we put money in the bank, or in a credit union, we are placing our trust in that institution. We do this trusting that our money will be properly handled. When we try a new recipe, we are putting our trust in the source of the recipe. We are trusting that whoever shared this recipe has tried it and knows that it works and that the result will be favorable. When we buy a car, we are putting our trust in the manufacturer and the seller that the car will run as expected. When we wait for the city bus to take us somewhere, we are putting our trust in the bus system to have the buses running. Each and every day, in many ways, we are putting our trust in people and systems and institutions. We trust every day.

In Psalm 25, the writer declares, “O my God, in you I trust.” Lent is a time to consider what it means to put our trust in God. Putting our trust in God might mean not putting our trust in some other things. It might change how we look at our circumstances. It should affect our entire outlook on life. Does it?

Jesus is one we can look to for putting his complete and total trust in God. Consider what that meant for him.

“O my God, in you I trust.” It is a simple plea, yet potentially life changing. Think about your life. Think about today. How did you put your trust in God today? How does putting your trust in God shape your world view? Your self concept? Your values? Your behavior? Putting our trust in God frees us from putting trust in things which are not steadfast, which do not prove true, which fail us. Even church and political involvements can let us down. Can you think of a time that your trust was betrayed and that your trust was broken? Trusting in God gives us strength to deal with those disappointments. Is there anything worthy of our trust save God?

Prayer
There are so many ways that we dispense our trust. May we learn to trust God first, and then to know that everything else will fall into it’s proper place. Placing our trust in God frees us from ultimate loyalty to things that disappoint. Trust in God never disappoints. O God, in you I trust. Amen.