For five years, I lived on the bank of a small Canadian river. For someone who had always been a city-dweller even as a child, it was rather like being at camp twelve months a year. The river’s calm waters led us to name our cottage “Stillwaters” because like the psalmist God had led us to them.
— Read on abbeyofthearts.com/blog/2019/03/27/monk-in-the-world-guest-post-beverly-dame/
‘No one is an island’ is a phrase that has been echoing round my mind for a while now. It echoes through all the talks, votes, rifts of Brexit; it echoes in the tragedies of shootings and hatred; it echoes through the rumblings of every division about land, about borders, about sovereignty and empire; it echoes in every felt change of ecosystems and climates.…
No one is an island – Godspacelight
— Read on godspacelight.com/2019/03/31/no-one-is-an-island/
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
As I consider these pots
I think of the Potter and the Clay
Mold me and make me, after Thy will
I also think of the cracks in the pot
That’s how the light shines through
Lord, take us and use us, we pray
Make us instruments of your peace
Make us instruments of your mercy
Make us instruments of your reconciliation
Make us instruments of your grace
Now, as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
This picture from our trip to Santa Fe holds a lot of meaning if you simply sit with it for a while. The Psalm for the Fourth Sunday in Lent (Psalm 32) talks about Confession and Reconciliation or Forgiveness. Are we “fenced in” by our past and our failings or are we liberated by forgiveness. I will invite the congregation at Presbyterian Community Church of the Rockies to sit with this picture as they continue to walk this Lenten journey.
Confession… that concept was one of the rubbing points (to put it mildly) between the Roman Church and the Reformers Back in the 1500’s. What had happened during the Reformation was a matter of corruption of a solid faith concept. Confession, Penance, and Reconciliation had become a matter of paying to get out of Jail (okay, Purgatory) and also to pay for the sins of your deceased relatives to get them sprung from Purgatory!
When Jesus taught about this concept in Matthew’s Gospel, he said the following: If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. (Matthew 18:15)
The whole purpose of confession was to reconcile one’s self with God and with one’s neighbor. Sadly, in Jesus’s day, it had become a matter of buying the correct sacrificial offering in order to save yourself. The ones who made the money on this scam were the religious elite… just like the problem with the religious elite during the Reformation!
So, what does this have to do with the reading from the Psalms? In the opening verse of Psalm 32 we read the following: Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. (Psalm 32:1)
Do you see anything about buying forgiveness in these words? It is about forgiveness! In Jesus’s day, the concept of Atonement, was all about reconciling the people with their God. At-One-Ment to be specific. To be reconciled and restored, to be made one with God.
Confession was all about the restoration of a right relationship with God and with one’s neighbor. It was about restoration, not salvation in the Pearly Gates, Streets of Gold, and Jeweled Crowns vision that many folks have today.
Again, as the Psalmist says: Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:5) Forgiveness, Restoration, Wholeness…
A good friend of mine who is a Catholic Priest (and now Bishop) once told me years ago about the difference between Catholics and Protestants. Mike, he said, Catholics go to Confession (which was transformed by the Second Vatican Council from a dark Confessional to an across the table conversation between the Priest and the Parishioner) which is free while Protestants pay a whole lot of money to a therapist!
There is a certain amount of reformed and theological logic to that statement. To regularly review one’s life with God and/or with a Spiritual mentor is a good thing. It helps us to stay on track. I know from personal experience the blessing that such a relationship can be. It can transform a life from one hemmed in by barbed wire like the picture above to a life that is freed from that barbed wire as the Spirit transforms us and leads us in the direction which we are called to go.
Then we can, in the words of Psalm 32:15, Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
A part of our Lenten journey is to reconcile ourselves with God and with one another. Perhaps that is something we should focus on not only during Lent, but every day of our lives. Dear reader, will you join me in this journey?
They call us to stop and ponder
They encourage us to reflect and to pray
They invite us to simply Be Still
Eventually, they call us to cross them
Sometimes crossing into the unknown
Yet even when crossing into the unknown we aren’t alone
For You, O Lord, Creator, Christ, Spirit, are with us
Your light shines before us
Your Saints walk with us
You cover us with your presence
We are pilgrims on this journey
Yet we are not alone
Encourage us as we continue along life’s journey
Lighten the way
And as we journey
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
A day of reflection
A time to write a final paper
A time to simply be still
A time to spend with dear friends
A time to make new friends
A time to simply be still
A time to simply be
Now, as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
“The desert offers a silence where we can hear the still small voice of Love. Hosea 2:16 says ‘I will allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak to her heart.’ Another translations says ‘I will speak tenderly to her.'”
— Polly Burns Dreaming of the Sea – A Women’s Discernment Journey through the Story of the Selkie: An Online, Self-Study Retreat
Well said, Jake, well said! And how often do I fall into this trap — “…they took it upon themselves to say who was in and who was out of the God club.”
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
As I ponder the wonders of your creation, Lord
As I consider the intricacies of what you have made
As I give thanks for many blessings
As I give thanks for a couple who exchanged vows today
As I prepare for sleep
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
Jose Roberto Segovia Benitez, a U.S. Marine who was honorably discharged, is being held at the I.C.E. Processing Center in Adelanto, California. Jose has been diagnosed with PTSD/Traumatic Brain Injury and is being denied adequate medical treatment and all of his benefits that are awarded to every U.S. veteran for their service.
— Read on veteransforpeace.salsalabs.org/jose/index.html
