Making Lent About More Than Just Hot Crossed Buns
I was raised in a Protestant tradition, and never had to give anything up for Lent. Then I married into a Catholic family, but ever the rabble-rouser, I opted to find ways to add to the betterment of the world rather than giving up something as mundane as chocolate. OK, that's probably an oxymoron.
One year I wrote a letter each day to some newspaper or government official, advocating for one cause or another. Another year I made it a point to compliment someone each day. One year I did give up meat -- permanently. Lent was the excuse to make it look legitimate in the eyes of the family critics.
Last year my big effort was to touch my blog in some way each day, since I'd been finding it so difficult to find time to blog. Some days I actually wrote a post; other days I simply added a video, but I found some way to try to make it more attractive and interesting and less stale.
Last year a friend gave up Facebook. That gave me a thought. How about if I spend 40 days using Facebook as a place for good? This year I decided to post a quote each day from the Bible on how we are commanded to serve the poor. I'm not particularly religious at this point in my life. My heart wants to believe there's a place on the other side where we'll see all our loved ones again, but my head says...otherwise. But I think there is a great deal of truth in the Good Book regarding how we should live our lives in the meantime.
So why pick biblical quotes? I have the Republican presidential candidates to thank for that. Throwing religion in our faces as a way to oppress people while hiding their money offshore so they don't have to pay taxes on it and contribute to the public good, or spending more at Tiffany's than on charitable contributions. I spent fifteen years in Protestant Sunday School -- where they give you a Bible as soon as you are old enough to read to learn, and from that day on you spend each Sunday morning in Bible study -- and "by their fruit I can recognize" a wolf in sheep's clothing. In my church, I was raised to use the Bible to find the good in people. To see that the widow's mite was worth more in God's eyes than the purses of silver from the rich and mighty. That the little people not only count, but are blessed. And we are called to serve the poor. The least among us.
I am going to post on Facebook on a daily basis for 40 days what GOD has commanded us to do. And it is not to turn our backs on the poor. Not to say they don't matter. Not to say "too bad" to someone whose son is dying of cancer. Not to hide our money so we don't have to pay into the system that provides for rehab for the brave soldiers who were grievously wounded fighting a war that never should have been started.
The interesting thing about all this is that I will run out of Lent before I run out of Bible verses that talk about our obligation to the poor. Long before I would run out of verses that say that hate and intolerance are Christian values. Actually, Jesus did seem to clearly dislike and be intolerant of the rich and the politically well connected. He threw the money changers out of the temple and comforted lepers and beggars. His best friends were tax collectors and prostitutes -- the pariahs of his day. I'll bet he'd be standing hand in hand with homosexuals today, advocating for their right to live their lives without being metaphorically stoned by those who are not without sin.
That is a lot to say to in order to simply introduce my collection of verses from this week.
Luke 4:16-21. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read... "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He appointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD... Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Luke 6:20-21. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.
Luke 3:11. And [John the Baptist] would answer and say to them, "Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise."
Prov. 22:9 He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.
I see all the poverty and suffering in this world and wonder why we have to listen to Republican presidential candidates debate about whether our current president is a "true" Christian. That is not for them to decide -- according to the Bible, it is up to Jesus to judge the quick and the dead -- and how presumptuous of them to attempt to decide it for the rest of us. Let us instead talk about how to alleviate suffering. How to feed the starving. To clothe the naked. To comfort the sick. But this crop wants them to just go out and get a job and stop complaining. They utter God's words without following what He has commanded us to do. Which takes me to Matthew 7:15-23:
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
One year I wrote a letter each day to some newspaper or government official, advocating for one cause or another. Another year I made it a point to compliment someone each day. One year I did give up meat -- permanently. Lent was the excuse to make it look legitimate in the eyes of the family critics.
Last year my big effort was to touch my blog in some way each day, since I'd been finding it so difficult to find time to blog. Some days I actually wrote a post; other days I simply added a video, but I found some way to try to make it more attractive and interesting and less stale.
Last year a friend gave up Facebook. That gave me a thought. How about if I spend 40 days using Facebook as a place for good? This year I decided to post a quote each day from the Bible on how we are commanded to serve the poor. I'm not particularly religious at this point in my life. My heart wants to believe there's a place on the other side where we'll see all our loved ones again, but my head says...otherwise. But I think there is a great deal of truth in the Good Book regarding how we should live our lives in the meantime.
So why pick biblical quotes? I have the Republican presidential candidates to thank for that. Throwing religion in our faces as a way to oppress people while hiding their money offshore so they don't have to pay taxes on it and contribute to the public good, or spending more at Tiffany's than on charitable contributions. I spent fifteen years in Protestant Sunday School -- where they give you a Bible as soon as you are old enough to read to learn, and from that day on you spend each Sunday morning in Bible study -- and "by their fruit I can recognize" a wolf in sheep's clothing. In my church, I was raised to use the Bible to find the good in people. To see that the widow's mite was worth more in God's eyes than the purses of silver from the rich and mighty. That the little people not only count, but are blessed. And we are called to serve the poor. The least among us.
I am going to post on Facebook on a daily basis for 40 days what GOD has commanded us to do. And it is not to turn our backs on the poor. Not to say they don't matter. Not to say "too bad" to someone whose son is dying of cancer. Not to hide our money so we don't have to pay into the system that provides for rehab for the brave soldiers who were grievously wounded fighting a war that never should have been started.
The interesting thing about all this is that I will run out of Lent before I run out of Bible verses that talk about our obligation to the poor. Long before I would run out of verses that say that hate and intolerance are Christian values. Actually, Jesus did seem to clearly dislike and be intolerant of the rich and the politically well connected. He threw the money changers out of the temple and comforted lepers and beggars. His best friends were tax collectors and prostitutes -- the pariahs of his day. I'll bet he'd be standing hand in hand with homosexuals today, advocating for their right to live their lives without being metaphorically stoned by those who are not without sin.
That is a lot to say to in order to simply introduce my collection of verses from this week.
Luke 4:16-21. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read... "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He appointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD... Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Luke 6:20-21. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.
Luke 3:11. And [John the Baptist] would answer and say to them, "Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise."
Prov. 22:9 He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.
Rooftops in Addis Ababa. We live in a world filled with people who need our help and compassion,
not recriminations about their poverty being their fault.
I see all the poverty and suffering in this world and wonder why we have to listen to Republican presidential candidates debate about whether our current president is a "true" Christian. That is not for them to decide -- according to the Bible, it is up to Jesus to judge the quick and the dead -- and how presumptuous of them to attempt to decide it for the rest of us. Let us instead talk about how to alleviate suffering. How to feed the starving. To clothe the naked. To comfort the sick. But this crop wants them to just go out and get a job and stop complaining. They utter God's words without following what He has commanded us to do. Which takes me to Matthew 7:15-23:
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
Amen! Beautiful. (And I gave up meat for good at Lent in 1986. It only kept my critics quiet for 40 days.)
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