March 2025 - From The Pastor's Desk

“They Grumbled”

I write this remembering one of Kelly’s (my wife) repeated statements for this time of year, “Oh that’s right. It’s Lent!” As I sit to put these thoughts on paper (figuratively), I see Lent on the horizon. This year it begins for us on March 5th.

At this time of year, I contemplate what the season demands of me. It is forty-six days of reflection and contemplation. You might say, “But Mike, Lent is only forty days, not forty-six.” To which I would reply, “That is correct, but I count the Sundays too. Sundays are a day off from our Lenten observances of fasting and prayer and are intended for our time of worship of God. A long time ago, I stopped thinking of Lent as a forty day relinquishing of chocolate or coffee or wine. That happened for me when I realized that at the end of those forty days I go right back to the chocolate or coffee or wine. It no longer seems that those are what Lent is about.

So, Kelly's comments come from my emotional state during Lent. I get a bit edgier, possibly a little less compassionate, definitely a lot bothered by life and the state of our world. It becomes a bit more difficult to connect with the reality that compassion is not something I give up during Lent. Lent has become for me a time of reflection and honesty as to whether the expression of my public faith matches my private reflections.

Another confession. I am really being provoked by Luke this year. I am connecting to the teachings of Jesus I find in Luke. I am really seeing just how tough those teachings can be. I am feeling the chafe of the yoke these teachings place upon my shoulders. I was deceived into complacency by the angels and shepherds and the baby in the manger. I didn’t connect what came before and after to be a story of the challenge to liberate in a second Exodus of sorts. I forgot that Mary pondered the words of her current prophets that Jesus would cause the fall of the mighty and suffer for it.

What follows the mystery of the Incarnation is real life. Jesus goes on the proclaim in his hometown synagogue that he has been anointed to bring good news, to the poor, the ill, the imprisoned, the occupied. For that message he nearly died at the hands of his hometown crowd! Its then that we begin to see that Jesus is constantly challenging the status quo that he had grown up with, which he saw as keeping people oppressed, not by Rome only, but by the leadership of his people.

For the past two Sundays, we have been treated to Luke’s Sermon on the Plain. Though we may be more familiar with Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, Luke has Jesus meeting people face to face for the sermon (I can relate to that). Jesus, the Troubler, gives blessings to the poor, the hungry, the sorrowing. Then he gives the Woes to the rich, the ones with full bellies, the rejoicing, the popular. It is almost as if there is another round of complacency coming. Just when the poor, hungry, sorrowing, and abused are thinking that someone has come to change their life situation, Jesus flips the script.

Jesus goes on to exhort his disciples and the crowd to love their enemies, do good to those who hate them, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. That doesn’t sound like Jesus is going to change anyone’s life situations! He goes on to speak about forgive and you will be forgiven, don’t judge unless you want to be judged. And the clincher, be merciful, as God is merciful even to the ungrateful and the wicked. Wow!

This sermon challenges me on many levels. What I thought at first was a sermon to convict the wicked ends up condemning me for my eagerness for divine vengeance. What I thought was a one-sided sermon turns out to be both/and. It is about those people I see as not very Christian and me who thinks of himself as very Christian. It is about what I give coming back to me. I should not be surprised when I receive hate for giving hate. Man, Jesus just couldn’t let me off the hook!

These, and many more like them, are my Lenten reflections. Just when I think I have things figured out, Jesus flips the script. Just when I think that Lent can be about chocolate and coffee and wine again, it turns out to be about how my public faith expressions need to be a reflection my inner expressions.

I am to really forgive, not condone, the sins of those who oppose me if I hope to receive forgiveness in return. I am to love, not like, those who hate me for my Christian expression if I hope to receive love. It is as if whenever I encounter someone with whom I do not agree I am to hold up a mirror between us. Perhaps it will be in our seeing our true selves and the consequences of our actions that Jesus will be able to heal our spirits and souls.

I never have said I love Lent. I have come to really appreciate it though. Won’t you come with me as we approach Lent?