Thursday Pause

 

Today we push pause together.  We sit holding our lives lightly with each other.  I invite you to take a deep breath.

Breathe in God’s presence that meets you in the stresses and strains that can bind you…breathe out the blame and shame thinking that can bind us.

Breathe in a peace that surpasses understanding…breathe out endless chatter of our minds that causes chaos to swirl.

Breathe in God’s liberating love for yourself and for all our brothers and sisters who are bound by discrimination…breathe out fear, hypocrisy, and hatred that promise to keep us safe (but don’t).

Breathe in the good news we can change directions and go together in new directions…breathe out feelings of being stuck or stymied or thinking, “That’s just how it is.”

Breathe in a feast of Thurman quotes that have illuminated the Lazarus narrative this week…breathe out cynicism that causes us to see only the brokenness.

Breathe in slowly and deeply…breathe out letting your exhale be even longer.

Breathe in trusting in God…breathe out all the voices that want to fix or save or solve your problems.

Breathe in….breathe out.

Be still in this moment and feel God’s love.  Amen. 

Lent with Lazarus

 

This week we are adding to our Lent with Lazarus quotes from the Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman.  Here is one from his book, Jesus and the Disinherited:

 

“The basic fact is that Christianity as it was born in the mind of this Jewish thinker and teacher appears as a technique of survival for the oppressed. That it became, through the intervening years, a religion of the powerful and the dominant, used sometimes as an instrument of oppression, must not tempt us into believing that it was thus in the mind and life of Jesus. 'In him was life; and the life was the light of men.' Wherever his spirit appears, the oppressed gather fresh courage; for he announced the good news that fear, hypocrisy, and hatred, the three hounds of hell that track the trail of the disinherited, need have no dominion over them.”

A few thoughts from this quote.  First, Dr. Thurman is clear that Jesus was a poor, itinerate, preacher from a minority religion.  Jewish people were tolerated, if they paid taxes and didn’t protest too much about Caesar claiming to be a “god”.  Jesus wasn’t powerful or prestigious.  As he said in Matthew 8:20, “The foxes have holes and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of Man does not have a place where He may lay His head.”  Jesus wandered through life, just as we can sometimes feel aimless or restless.  

Second, Dr. Thurman reminds us that the church today has gained and gathered tremendous power.  Think about our church with its property, buildings, and budget.  I think about this when I receive a paycheck from the church.  I tremble when I hold my life up to Jesus’s life.  I am not poor, itinerate, or pushed to the fringe with my back against the wall.  I need to keep praying, “Lord I want to be a Christian in my heart,” and keep asking God to guide me in living that prayer.  This reminds me what it means to be full alive, I long to let God’s love radiate and roam free from my heart to the world.  

Third, I am always aware of how the church has/continues to hurt and harm people through racism and homophobia and sexism.  There exists a wall for our BIPOC brothers and sisters, obstacles for our LGBTQ family; and a stained-glass ceiling for our sisters in faith that don’t honor women as we do men.  There are tombs where we still confine and define people based on race, sexual orientation, and gender.  There are also tombs of economics and geography too.  The ways we “other” people, binding them.  Just as Lazarus was set free with God’s liberating love, so too that is our work.  

Notice Jesus brings the life to Lazarus…the people unbind him.  God brings life today, we are called to unwrap the things the constrict and restrict, especially those on the margins.  Just as people in the Lazarus story worried about the smell of the tomb, so too there will be a stench as we deal with our biases – individually and collectively.  Just as Thurman said that fear, hypocrisy, and hatred guard the gates that can prevent people for being fully alive, we need courage to go together into God’s kin-dom.  May you and I prayerfully ponder Dr. Thurman’s quote today and throughout this season of Lent.  Amen.  

Lent with Lazarus ~

 

This week, I am weaving together the narrative from John 11 and quotes from Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman into a beautiful tapestry.  Yesterday, we held the question, what makes you feel fully alive?  We acknowledge the coming to life of Lazarus as one way the Spirit can stir within us in new ways.  I wonder have you ever had a moment where life felt like a dead end, but then there was an exit ramp you had not noticed previously?  There is the fully alive of Martha’s honest, heartfelt conversation with Jesus.  We can feel fully alive when we share our thoughts and ideas with each other.  Such sacred conversations are important in our lives and can transform us.  We can feel fully alive when like Mary we are fiercely faithful.  While Martha’s faith compelled her forward to go out to Jesus, Mary stayed back.  Mary lingered, just as Jesus did.  Sometimes fierce faithfulness forges forward, other times our faithfulness is a pregnant pause to ponder where God would have us go or what God would have us say.  You don’t have to race to return every email or text.  You can breathe, wait, let God get a word in edgewise before your fingers start typing a stream of conscious response. 

 

There are moments when we can feel lost or wandering in this world, especially now.  This makes me think of a quote from Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman, “There are two questions that we have to ask ourselves. The first is 'Where am I going?' and the second is 'Who will go with me?'”

 

I pray you will let those two questions in Thurman’s quote sink, sing, and simmer on your soul this day in ways that help you feel alive.  May those questions help free you, let God’s liberating love loose in your life to unbind you.  I pray these questions will stir new directions and roll back stones that seem to be blocking your way right now or show you a pathway you had not notice.  May you and I continue to be alive in a world that longs for each of us to let our lights shine this day.  

Lent with Lazarus ~ Week Four

 

We continue to let the narrative of Mary, Martha, Jesus, and Lazarus sit and stir within us this Lent.  I pray over the last three weeks there have been moments of information and inspiration.  I pray you have found new insights that have set you free and found ways to let loose your fierce faithful love.  I pray you have discovered places to roll back the stone, let the fresh air in, and name that there are parts of life that don’t smell that great.  For all that still binds us, both in holy life-giving ways and that which confines/defines us in less than holy ways, we open our hearts this week again to our Lent with Lazarus.  Read now the Good News Translations ~ noticing where there are differences from other versions of the last few weeks:

 

A man named Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, became sick. Bethany was the town where Mary and her sister Martha lived. (² This Mary was the one who poured the perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was sick.) ³ The sisters sent Jesus a message: “Lord, your dear friend is sick.” ⁴ When Jesus heard it, he said, “The final result of this sickness will not be the death of Lazarus; this has happened in order to bring glory to God, and it will be the means by which the Son of God will receive glory.” ⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ Yet when he received the news that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. ⁷ Then he said to the disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

⁸ “Teacher,” the disciples answered, “just a short time ago the people there wanted to stone you; and are you planning to go back?”

⁹ Jesus said, “A day has twelve hours, doesn't it? So those who walk in broad daylight do not stumble, for they see the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if they walk during the night they stumble, because they have no light.” ¹¹ Jesus said this and then added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go and wake him up.”

¹² The disciples answered, “If he is asleep, Lord, he will get well.”

¹³ Jesus meant that Lazarus had died, but they thought he meant natural sleep. ¹⁴ So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ but for your sake I am glad that I was not with him, so that you will believe. Let us go to him.”

¹⁶ Thomas (called the Twin) said to his fellow disciples, “Let us all go along with the Teacher, so that we may die with him!”

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been buried four days before. ¹⁸ Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Judeans had come to see Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother's death.

²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died! ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask him for.”

²³ “Your brother will rise to life,” Jesus told her.

²⁴ “I know,” she replied, “that he will rise to life on the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and those who live and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord!” she answered. “I do believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

²⁸ After Martha said this, she went back and called her sister Mary privately. “The Teacher is here,” she told her, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up and hurried out to meet him. (³⁰ Jesus had not yet arrived in the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.) ³¹ The people who were in the house with Mary comforting her followed her when they saw her get up and hurry out. They thought that she was going to the grave to weep there.

³² Mary arrived where Jesus was, and as soon as she saw him, she fell at his feet. “Lord,” she said, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”

³³ Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved. ³⁴ “Where have you buried him?” he asked them.

“Come and see, Lord,” they answered.

³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ “See how much he loved him!” the people said.

³⁷ But some of them said, “He gave sight to the blind man, didn't he? Could he not have kept Lazarus from dying?”

³⁸ Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance. ³⁹ “Take the stone away!” Jesus ordered.

Martha, the dead man's sister, answered, “There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days!”

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believed?” ⁴¹ They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, “I thank you, Father, that you listen to me. ⁴² I know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ After he had said this, he called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ He came out, his hands and feet wrapped in grave cloths, and with a cloth around his face. “Untie him,” Jesus told them, “and let him go.”

 

As I read this story, I think of a great quote from the Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman, “Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive” 

Where do you long to come alive like Lazarus?  When you do you feel most alive?  These are experiences when you are in a faithful flow and lose track of time.  When, where, and under what conditions does your soul soar and heart feel full to overflowing?  I was taught and caught as a child to be modest and humble; even to downplay shining my light.  I was told not to brag or boast, keep my ego in check.  Rev. Dr. Thurman wants us to be unbound from that which tries to confine or define us.  Rev. Dr. Thurman wants us to let our light shine.  How might you come alive and live fully today?  I affirm it isn’t only Lazarus who is alive in this passage.  Martha is alive with her honest questions; Mary is alive with her fierce faithfulness; Jesus is alive in his honest weeping.  Where do you long for life this Lenten season?  May that holy question guide you every hour today.  Amen.

Friday Prayer

 

Week four of living inside the narrative of Lazarus is wrapping up and I pray letting loose new insights for you.  We have found ways to see ourselves specifically in Lazarus’ side of the story.  We have honored where we need to be set free and holy covenants that wrap and sustain us.  We have looked at the branches of our life.  We continue to listen and let this story speak to our story. 

God of liberating love, grant me the strength to look at the branches of my life.  Help me examine and explore where there is life and where a branch might be trimmed.  I hand to You the clippers, release control to Your wisdom which guides and grounds me.  Thank you for places where I feel released from “shoulds” and “have tos”.  Thank you for people I covenant with and give my life to tasting the sweet fruit of Your love.  Thank you for this season of Lent when You untie and free us.  Thank you for the question, “What is it you plan to do with your one, wild and precious life?” (With deep thanks to Mary Oliver for this question).  You hold my life with me, thank you God.  Help me be set loose to live your love this day.  Amen.   

Thursday Pause

 

Today we push pause together.  We sit holding our lives lightly with each other.  I invite you to take a deep breath.

Breathe in God’s liberating love…breathe out that which weighs on your soul and binds your heart.

Breathe in the good news of new life that is the promise at Easter …breathe out the tombs that confine you.

Breathe in a feast of fresh air swirling in like a stone rolled away…breathe out fasting on pushing the stones of life up a hill only to have it roll back over your toes time and time again.

Breathe in slowly and deeply…breathe out letting your exhale be even longer.

Breathe in trusting in God…breathe out all the voices that want to fix or save or solve your problems.

Breathe in….breathe out.

Be still in this moment and feel God’s love.  Amen

Lent with Lazarus ~ Trimming Back the Branches

 

Yesterday we held the question, what needs to be unbound and unwrapped in your life?  What confines you in ways that cut off circulation?  We also celebrated that there are certain covenants, agreements, or responsibilities that can bind us in beautiful ways.

 

As we hold this truth close to our hearts, are there new insights this morning into the holy covenants or divine duties in your life?  Continue to make a list of the things you choose to carry. 

 

I invite you to focus on the image of tomb that became a womb for Lazarus.  Here he was confined, only to have a transformation.  Here he was in the darkness, only to encounter new life when the stone rolled away.  Jesus shows us the power of renewed life.  Jesus opens us to the truth that not every death is a period; rather sometimes things end so that something new might begin.  This is the invitation from Sunday of cutting back a branch that is blossoming.  Sometimes we trim back that which is life-giving to let loose, unwrap, grow in new directions.  This is not a muscle we exercise or explore very much.  Instead, we believe that if it is good, leave it alone.  To be sure, you need to be prayerful and careful when you trim life back.  You can’t just hack or whack away.  Sometimes you cut just a bit, or a small section, to see what happens.  Better yet, remember from Sunday, Jesus invites us to surrender the clippers to God to cut back the branches of life carefully, lovingly.  This takes time, patience, and persistence.  It is always easier when dealing with plants to just tear everything out and start over.  But in doing so, we may eliminate the very activity or person or place that was feeding our souls. 

 

On Sunday, I invited you to list every activity and thing you are doing from your calendar last month.  To ponder, with God, what was life-giving and what felt draining.  To open your heart to God’s wisdom, letting God cut back with the clippers.  If you did not have a chance to do this yet, I encourage you to do so now.  This is very similar to surveying the Mason jars on the shelves of your soul.  What is good and what is expired?  Lent is the season to take stock of all that is within us and around us.  When we do this, we arrive at Easter morning aware of where there is life and hope and God’s love leaping forth.  May your prayerful ponderings this day open you to the One who is the Source of grace and love in our life.  Amen. 

Lent with Lazarus - Unbound

 

What was Lazarus’ side of the story?  What were his feelings when Jesus lingered?  Was he grateful for being raised from the dead or frustrated to be put through such an emotionally draining experience?  What it was like to be in a tomb, to awaken with a jolt bound tightly/wrapped by a shroud, feel the cool breeze when the stone was rolled away and light flooding the darkness, and to shuffle out of that space bounded up and feel the sweet release of being set free?  There is such profound power when I set into Lazarus’s sandals.

I wonder, where do you feel like Lazarus?  Are there places that feel lifeless right now?  Of if we borrow the image from Sunday’s Gospel of the vine and branches, are the branches of life that no longer bear fruit? 

Is there something binding you?  Are there obligations, “shoulds”, “have tos”, demands and decrees others are placing upon your life?

Where is there a refreshing and replenishing breeze?  Are there any promises of new life where you thought there was only dead ends or decay?

Are you shuffling toward an opportunity?  Perhaps you are inching toward it because you are uncertain or unclear; perhaps afraid because you don’t have everything plotted and planned out. 

I love that when Jesus asks for the stone to be rolled away the crowd says, “But Jesus, the stench!”  Where is the aroma of life right now less than pleasant?

 

Where do you long to be unbound? 

 

This story ends on such a powerful image: Unwrap him, let him loose!  Resurrection is about being set free.  Free from the obligations that confine and constrain us.  Free from being treated as less than a beloved child of God.  Free from fear, deception, and hatred (what Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman called, “Three Hounds of Hell).  Free from relationships that wound you.  Free from addictions that numb you.  Free, free at last. 

 

Where does your soul right now cry out to be unwrapped and let loose?!

 

One final question is freedom for or toward what?  Freedom just for the sake of doing whatever we individually want, I don’t think is realistic.  It isn’t just about meeting my own needs or having it my way all the time.  For example, when I went to college there was a freedom. I ate junk food, stayed up too late, and didn’t keep a schedule.  Soon my body and grades reflected the unhealthy way of life.  All those things (like broccoli, a decent bedtime, and having a routine) suddenly didn’t seem demanding or difficult after all.  There are things we chose to carry and somethings that we feel forced to hold.  I encourage you today to ponder the difference.  You may write down something today that feels like a burden or as binding you, only to eventually see this as a blessing.  Some obligations are holy and life giving (like family, being your pastor, caring for those who have their backs against the wall, and tending God’s creation).  While not everything that binds us is a blessing, we can’t live every day footloose and fancy free.  Let’s hold this beautiful tension as we let Lazarus’s story sing to our story today.

Lent with Lazarus Week Four

 

We are continuing to hold and be held by the narrative of Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Jesus in John 11:1-44.  This week I encourage you to read a different version of the Biblical narrative than you did the last two weeks.  When we engage various translations, the word choices can evoke and provoke different reactions or responses.  Pay attention to a new detail you didn’t notice the last two weeks.  Reading another translation slows you down as you compare your interpretations you have formed over the last two weeks to a fresh reading today.   Below is the Message translation.  Read now with me these words:

 

^1-3 A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. This was the same Mary who massaged the Lord’s feet with aromatic oils and then wiped them with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Master, the one you love so very much is sick.” ⁴ When Jesus got the message, he said, “This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show God’s glory by glorifying God’s Son.” ^5-7 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days. After the two days, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.” ⁸ They said, “Rabbi, you can’t do that. The Jews are out to kill you, and you’re going back?” ^9-10 Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn’t stumble because there’s plenty of light from the sun. Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can’t see where he’s going.” ¹¹ He said these things, and then announced, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I’m going to wake him up.” ^12-13 The disciples said, “Master, if he’s gone to sleep, he’ll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine.” Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap. ^14-15 Then Jesus became explicit: “Lazarus died. And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn’t there. You’re about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let’s go to him.”

¹⁶ That’s when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his companions, “Come along. We might as well die with him.” ^17-20 When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.

^21-22 Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God will give you.”

²³ Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.”

²⁴ Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.”

^25-26 “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.”

²⁸ After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”

^29-32 The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him. Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary run off, they followed her, thinking she was on her way to the tomb to weep there. Mary came to where Jesus was waiting and fell at his feet, saying, “Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

^33-34 When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him. He said, “Where did you put him?”

^34-35 “Master, come and see,” they said. Now Jesus wept.

³⁶ The Jews said, “Look how deeply he loved him.”

³⁷ Others among them said, “Well, if he loved him so much, why didn’t he do something to keep him from dying? After all, he opened the eyes of a blind man.”

^38-39 Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”

The sister of the dead man, Martha, said, “Master, by this time there’s a stench. He’s been dead four days!”

⁴⁰ Jesus looked her in the eye. “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

^41-42 Then, to the others, “Go ahead, take away the stone.”

They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, “Father, I’m grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I’ve spoken so that they might believe that you sent me.”

^43-44 Then he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.

Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.”

 

A few thoughts on this version of the story.  In verses 5-7, the story says Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, but “oddly, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stays where he was.”  I wonder when was the last time you did or said something that was odd, confusing, or confounding to yourself and others?  For me, I perplex myself only on days that end in, “y”.  Insert your laughter at my lame joke here.  I don’t know why I do what I do or say what I say sometimes.  Like Jesus confusing decision to stay, so too I scratch my head at myself too.  Lent is the chance for us to name, claim, and pray that we don’t have it all figured out. 

Second, I love how Lazarus is freed in this passage.  We need things in life that help us feel fully alive and set us free.  Picking up on the thread of celebrating Women’s History month, is there a female author or poet you love, who sets your soul ablaze with life?  Please post her name in the comment section.  

Finally, I find verse 35 profoundly powerful: Jesus wept.  Jesus is heartbroken when he comes face-to-face with the reality of death.  What is breaking your heart right now?  I have a long list: the unjust war in Ukraine; bills being passed that discriminate against my brothers and sisters who I love; friends I know who are grieving a loved one’s death.  Part of the grapes growing on the vine of our lives can be things that confuse or confound us.  I cannot fully explain (rationally or reasonably) many of the things that trouble me.  There are also people who empower and embrace us.  Jesus still weeps today and we are called to stand in solidarity with each person who is part of our life right now.  For the joy of those who awaken us and for the frustrations that simmer within us, offer all that is within you to God this day.  Amen.

Friday Prayer

 

Week Two of living inside the narrative of Mary/Martha/Jesus/Disciples/Lazarus is wrapping up.  We have found ways to see ourselves in the disciples, Martha, and Mary.  We have honored our holy “why” questions.  We have given thanks for our female ancestors whose love nurtured and nourished us.  We will continue to stick and stay with Lazarus throughout the coming weeks, but for now, I invite you to join me in prayer.

 

God for this week with all the experiences and encounters; thank you for insights and ideas that awaken and can increase my awareness.  Thank you for moments when Your Windex of wisdom clears off some of the mirror in which I see so dimly like the disciples.  Thank you for times have a Martha-like courage and conviction.  Thank you for experiences of Mary-like fierce faithfulness.  Help the stories of scripture continue to dwell within me that I might find myself in these words.  In the name of the One whose life is a light to my heart, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.

Pause with St. Patrick's Prayer

 

Today we push pause together. We sit holding our lives lightly with each other. I invite you to take a deep breath.

Breathe in God’s gentle hug enfolding and holding you…breathe out the narrative that you must earn God’s affection.

Breathe in the good news that God longs to gather us like a mother hen gathers her brood…breathe out the ways we feel disconnected from ourselves and others.

Breathe in a feast of honest words spoken wholeheartedly…breathe out fasting upon words used only to score points or get “likes” on social media.

Breathe in slowly and deeply…breathe out letting your exhale be even longer.

Breathe in trusting in God…breathe out all the voices that want to fix or save or solve your problems.

Breathe in….breathe out.

Be still in this moment and feel God’s love.

Now, to honor St. Patrick, here is the prayer, "I arise"

As I arise today,

may the strength of God pilot me,

the power of God uphold me,

the wisdom of God guide me.

May the eye of God look before me,

the ear of God hear me,

the word of God speak for me.

May the hand of God protect me,

the way of God lie before me,

the shield of God defend me,

the host of God save me.

May Christ shield me today.

Christ with me, Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,

Christ when I stand,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

Amen.

Lent with Lazarus ~ Asking Martha-Like Why Questions

 

When the stories of Scripture where originally told there were no titles.  So, the narrative we have been reading this Lent wasn’t known as, “The Rising/Resurrection of Lazarus”.  In fact, we may want to re-title this story, because while Lazarus is an important part of this narrative, he isn’t the main character.  Mary and Martha drive the story.  Martha, who in another story is busy in the kitchen getting the cheese and cracker platter together while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet; yet in this story, Martha is the first one out the door when she hears Jesus has drawn near.  With determination she goes out to meet Jesus, look him in the eye, and asks, “Why?”

 

What a faithful and fierce question.

 

What are your Martha-why questions in the world today?

 

I wonder why discrimination persists and plagues us?  Why do people support authoritarian leaders who cause suffering?  Why the violence in Ukraine and the heartbreaking images?  Why we “other” people?  Why do we continually push people to the fringe and fray?  Why we cling tightly both to scarcity (there is not enough!) but then try to consume and buy our way out of every problem?  I wonder why my heart can at once feel so full with God’s love and at the same time want to break/burst at all the pain? 

I wonder why…(fill in the blank)

 

Both Martha and Mary profess and confess faith.  Whereas the disciples are dazed and dense to what is going on; Martha and Mary hold their heads high and say, “This isn’t right, Jesus, and YOU can help here!”  That is prophetic and loving and powerful all at the same time. 

 

I wonder, who are the fiercely faithful women in your life?  Who has been a Martha – teaching and telling you to stand up for yourself and ask holy, hard questions?  Who is Mary – teaching and telling you that faith is taking the first step when you don’t see the whole staircase?

 

For me, I was blessed with a trinity of women – Pat, Linda, and Sue – who shaped my ministry in profound ways.  I am who I am because of Pat, Linda, and Sue.  These women nurtured me, led by example, and left their fingerprints forever on my heart. 

 

During Women’s History Month, let us name women whose legacy and life formed us.  Let us honor the fierce faithfulness of mothers, relatives, teachers, mentors, colleagues, and friends who showed us the sacred feminine that Proverbs calls, “Lady Wisdom” who sings with God’s soprano/alto voice to us still today.

Prayer: Thank you, God, for women who embodied Your holy love in profound ways.  Thank you for women we have known and female scholars whose words we have read.  Help us let loose our inner Martha and Mary in the world today – with a resurrection hope that is needed amid the ash of the world right now.  Renew, restore, refresh, and re-story our lives this day.  Amen.