A New Day Is Waiting In Lent

“The plans of the mind belong to mortals, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

All one’s ways may be pure in one’s own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

(Proverbs 16:1-3 NRSV)

With Presidential Primaries and Caucus’ bearing down upon us in every form of media available, I have become increasingly dismayed by those from whom we have to choose and the manner in which they present themselves. Fear, paranoia, distrust, half-truths, accusations and flat-out pandering to triumphant isolationism have become the hallmarks of far too many of the candidates. It would seem that each works unceasingly to perfect the fine art of lifting oneself up upon the backs of others, all the while convincing those upon whose backs they stand and make their living that it is only with them (that particular candidate) at the helm of the ship that the American people have a chance of negotiating these treacherous seas of domestic and international leadership . . . and the American people are the ones being drowned by their hyperbole. None of them, if elected, can alone deliver what they are promising, nor should they try, yet that does not deter them from making the assertions or catapulting new promises each day. Such is the way of those whose plans are only for themselves and their ego. Such is the way of the human tongue unbound by any Heavenly conscious and maybe that is what is troubling me most: There is little commitment to the way of the Lord outside the boundaries of their own parochial definitions of how ‘being faithful’ is defined. That is scary.

Such is the way we come to fear our neighbor, to be paranoid about who might come into our neighborhood – much less our country, to distrust anyone who looks ‘different’ – whatever that may mean, to spout mean-spirited half-truths about the traditions of others without any critical understanding of either them or their tradition, to accuse others of being ‘violent, blood-thirsty, savage or stupid’ – all the while hiding behind weapons of mass destruction and armies of others who fight our battles for us, while suggesting that if the American people stopped taking care of others we could really take care of ourselves – as if that is something any of these candidates or their vocal supporters have spent a lot of time actually doing, other than in a photo opportunity.  There is, indeed, much about which one can be cynical these days and much which could drive one to despair for our nation and our world. Yet, the word of God calls us to something more . . .

We are called to commit our work to the Lord, allowing the Lord to establish our plans. Hmmmmm.

Such is the reason the St. Paul U.C.C. faith family Lenten Journey is focused on coming to understand our Muslim sisters and brothers utilizing the Living the Questions curriculum, “The Jesus Fatwah: Love Your (Muslim) Neighbor as Yourself”.  It was Jesus who said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

(Matthew 22:37-40 NRSV)

Jesus’ Fatwah (judgment, legal opinion or imperative) is not just to be exercised in relationship to those with whom we feel comfortable: It is for the person of another color, a different ethnicity, another nationality, differing sexuality, even of another faith. Jesus articulates these commandments as complete in their nature and within the realm of God’s expectation of us to live them. We can either live into them from the basis of understanding and compassion that our Baptismal faith requires or we can do it based on the stereotypes others cast for us in the wilderness of our existence. We can choose to dwell in the waters of blessed new Life or in the desert filled with the scorpions of our own device, yet how we choose is the distinction between committing our work to the Lord or claiming our own judgment and wisdom as the imperative.

I, for one, am tired of the fear-mongering regarding so many others, so it is that this faith family will spend some time dispelling the myths around those whom, increasingly, we are being told to fear. Come and share the journey of understanding regarding those who are our sisters and brothers of the Muslim faith. Come and hear from Islamic and Christian scholars who, both, desire to do the work of the Lord. Come and claim for yourself the choices you have to make, the people to whom you will listen, the manner in which you will live and the faith you will embody. Come and dedicate your work to the Lord . . . all of it, not just the comfortable traditional stuff. Come . . . and walk with way with Jesus and His commandments. Lenten Blessings!