“It’s no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” —Jiddu Krishnamurti
Quit keeping score altogether and surrender yourself with all your sinfulness to God who sees neither the score nor the scorekeeper but only his child redeemed by Christ. — Thomas Merton (Merton’s Palace of Nowhere by James Finley, p. 30)
Denise, my wife and partner in life, love, and ministry, found the above quote from Thomas Merton in a book that she was reading this past week. The quote stayed with me throughout the week and helped inform my sermon this past Sunday. I was preaching from the lectionary Gospel reading Matthew 5:21-37.
This particular reading is always an interesting challenge when it comes around in the lectionary cycle. Amongst the challenging concepts in it are the infamous if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, and the statement that if you divorce and remarry you are committing adultery. Yeah, not exactly easy passages to preach on, especially since they are in the same chapter as the Beatitudes!
I have always struggled with this particular passage and the seemingly harsh and judgmental tone in Jesus’ words. They seem to be counterintuitive to the message of loving God, neighbor, and self. Carrying out this action of hacking off hands and plucking out eyes results in this extreme result — An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. (Quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi)
Yet these extreme examples have been used by christians (lower case is intentional) to pummel others into shame and submission. The first time that I preached from this passage years ago, a woman left worship in tears. I went out to check on her after the Benediction. She wasn’t offended by what I had said, rather she was overwhelmed by the grace that the sermon had offered her. Grace that had never been offered to her by the “church” after her abusive husband had left her and she had re-married.
I believe that Jesus used these extreme examples to make a point. Instead of being smug and self-righteous because one believed that they were keeping the law and were therefore better than others, the individual should instead humbly realize that they are not perfect.
This brings me back to Merton’s quote. As a Christ follower I am not called to judge others. As I used to say in the military, That decision is above my pay grade! Instead I believe that I am called to see everyone as one of God’s children. To stop keeping score and see others as they are (and as I am)… a frail, fragile, and broken child who is loved with a grace-filled love by my creator. Perhaps if we did that, by God’s grace, mercy, and love there might be peace in this world.
Alfred Lord Tennyson in his poem “Ring Out Wild Bells” from his book, In Memorium said the following about such a possibility for peace.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
The wonderful singer, songwriter, and artist Alana Levandoski has a lovely version of the poem. She always gives me hope when I hear her sing this song. Ring Out, Wild Bells This is my prayer for each one of us.
Self-knowledge and self-love are the fruit of knowing and loving God. You can see better then what is intended by the great commandment to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.” Laying our hearts totally open to God leads to a love of ourselves that enables us to give wholehearted love to our fellow human beings. In the seclusion of our hearts we learn to know the hidden presence of God; and with that spiritual knowledge we can lead a loving life.
Verse of the day
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
– Luke 4:18-19
Voice of the day
Imagining Jesus as apolitical is itself a political decision — and it is a decision that aligns with politically and financially powerful interests.
– Josiah R. Daniels, “What ‘He Gets Us’ Ads Get Wrong About Jesus”
Prayer of the day
We’re grateful for a Savior who wasn’t afraid to flip tables and callout the powers of his day, even at the cost of his life. Remind us of what your son stood for and align our vision with his heart for a more just world.
“Our imaginations have been dulled into believing the inevitability of violence. We have come to think that only violence will either make us safe or prevent the bad guys from harming us and those we love. This is a lie. It is a lie in the first place because violence does not end violence; it only creates endless cycles of violence.”—Emmanuel Katongole
Verse of the day
If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?
– James 2:15-16
Voice of the day
Where local powers disrupt and dissect communities, the church can partner and facilitate places of rest, respite, and care for people experiencing homelessness. Churches can be champions of housing, care, and ethical treatment of unhoused communities year-round.
– Kevin Nye, “Woe to You, Los Angeles”
Prayer of the day
Truly you say to us Lord: faith without works is dead. May the world know your people by the ways we radically embody your love through tangible action.
A bird or a flame. Traditionally, these are the most common images used as metaphors for the Holy Spirit.
The ornithological metaphor is usually traced back to Luke 3:22 when, at Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan, we are told that “the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.” The latter, more pyrotechnic metaphor is traced to Luke’s New Testament sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, and its account of Pentecost. Along with a “strong driving wind,” we are told that the apostles were in a locked room when “there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them” (Acts 2:3).
— Read on www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/beyond-birds-and-flames-lets-think-holy-spirit-jazz-music
“Contemplative practices become ways to cope with a relentless world of work and busyness. Poetry and yoga get squeezed in between all the other things we need to do.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE, Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
Are your contemplative practices another activity you have to squeeze into your packed day, or do they mark the slow and intentional rhythms of life?
Verse of the day
For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
– Matthew 16:26
Voice of the day
For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.
– Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (1946)
Prayer of the day
Transcendent God, hone our commitments to causes greater than ourselves; may we not worship the idol of success.
“War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.”—John F. Kennedy
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