Lent day 28

Today is the day of the Spring equinox, the first of the two occasions in the year when day and night are of approximately equal length. The sun is at its zenith, exactly overhead, on the Equator.

The orderly passage of time, with all its in-built variations due to the irregularities of heavenly bodies and their orbits, has a constancy and consistency in which human beings find security an refuge in the vast cosmos of which earth is but a tiny part. Space, time, matter and energy are all God's essential gifts in creation.

"Yours is the day, Yours also is the night; You have prepared the light and the sun. You have established all the boundaries of the earth; You have made summer and winter." (Psalm 74:16)

Nothing about the created order is without meaning and purpose, even if it's sometimes difficult to understand what it is. All time and all eternity belong to God.

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing ... " (Eccl 3:1-8)

Signs of Spring growth are evident all around us. It is indeed a favourable time for sowing seeds or planting. In the Promised Land it's time to pray for the blessing of fertility that comes with the rain

"Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field." (Zech 10:1)

It's a time to celebrate the power of the Creator's action that restores beauty to the landscape and songs of joy to the hearts of his children, whose lives are also being renewed.

"The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God." (Is 35:1-3)

It's a time when love and desire are re-awakened in many creatures, but above all for humankind.

"For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land." (Song of Songs 2:11-12)

It is a time to renew one's courage and confidence in God to face up to endeavours or challenges that have ended in failure or which remain uncompleted

"Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped ... " (Is 35:4-6)

Because it's the season so strongly associated with renewal, it's is when the story of the Exodus from Egypt is set, and when the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus takes place. When Jesus is seen transfigured by Peter James and John, it's just before he sets off for the last time to go to Jerusalem.

"And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure (Greek = Exodus) which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." (Luke 9:30-1)

The coming of Spring can lead to pain as well as to joy. But, as Job responded to his wife when she criticised him for not complaining about his misfortunes. 

"Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10)

      

Lent day 27

In this era, of technological advance exploration of the universe by astronomical methods has revealed objects of awesome beauty beyond anything previously devised by human imagination in far distant places. Rather closer to planet earth, however, the more local spectacle of an eclipse of the sun is now enjoyed by billions of people. It's a matter of interest, fascinating not just to scientists but to the public at large. It's a far cry from how eclipses were perceived in biblical times.

Cosmic darkness in the mind of the prophets was a sign of the approaching Day of the Lord, when all humankind would be called to give an account of itself in the face of divine judgement. He who caused light to shine before bringing all things in being, would cause darkness to return.

"And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud And the moon will not give its light.(Ezekiel 32:7)
"For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light." (Isaiah 13:10)

The advent of darkness would be an occasion of fear and trembling, not only for people but also for the cosmos. The prophet Joel makes much of this, apparently drawing on the eclipse experience, but going further speaking of all consuming darkness, twice mentioning the disappearance of starlight.

Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness. (Joel 2:10)
"The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. (Joel 2:31)
"The sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness." (Joel 3:15)

No stars are visible if there's a mist on a moonless night, and in the absence of artificial light, sky and land merge, the horizon disappears. Such disorientation arouses great fear and a sense of complete vulnerability in all who rely on landmarks and other visual clues to know if they are safe or not. 

Like the prophets of Israel, Mark and Matthew speak about the coming day of the Lord and the end of the world in dramatic terms. Whenever it will happen, it will be preceded by upheaval, conflict and dramatic environmental changes, all heralded by eclipse imagery.

"In those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give light" (Mark 13:24)
"But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29

The Letter to the Hebrews urges readers to heed and obey God's voice, citing Psalm 95:7b-8a

"We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, as has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." (Heb 3:14-15)

See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, at that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." (Heb 12:25-6)

The sound and content of what God's voice utters has such immense power that it has an impact on the whole of the created order. While these passages present a very anthropomorphic image of the divine, the writer was not so naive. The utterance of God's voice is the Word through which all things have the being, their meaning and purpose.

The darkness at noon that envelops the crucifixion of Jesus is not directly associated with an eclipse or any other natural phenomenon, but from the darkness Jesus utters the prayer of the persecuted man on the verge of death from Psalm 22:1. 

"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt 27:45-6)

Quotation of this phrase draws attention to Jesus' sense of God-forsakenness, yet to listeners well versed in Hebrew scripture, it is moment of eclipse, for this Psalm that plumbs the depths of inner darkness re-emerges into the light of trust, appealing to God for deliverance and praising God for his grace in vindicating his people and delivering them from their tribulations - eventually.

"I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him;and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.

For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard." (Psalm 22:22-4)

The final book of the New Testament scriptures, contains an extensive detailed working out of the Day of the Lord. Its strange literary style has some of the characteristics of prophetic oracles and visions disguising a message of victorious hope and endurance in the face of persecution. Its Greek name Apocalypse means 'from what is hidden', a disclosure of secret knowledge of God's ways.

It is not the only 'apocalyptic' text to emerge from a violent era of political pessimism and social upheaval, but it rises above despair in its affirmation of the victory of the resurrected Christ over sin, evil and the power of death - a victory of ultimate significance for both heaven and earth. Once more the motif of eclipse is linked with environmental catastrophe, conflict turmoil and suffering.

"I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood " (Rev 6:12)

"The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way." (Rev 8:12)

But at the end of story envisioned by John the seer, un-eclipsable light in all its fullness returns, with the re-creation of heaven and earth in which humankind and God will dwell together eternally.

"There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever." (Rev 22:5)
  

Lent Day 26

After the severest of pruning in late winter, the first leaves appear on the grapevine, as Spring warmth returns to bless the earth with signs of new life.

For Hebrew people, to sit under the shade of one's vine and/or fig tree was a common expression of living in peace and well being - of shalom. 

"Each of them will sit under his vine And under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid, For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken." (Micah 4:4)

"'Do not listen to Hezekiah,' for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern " (Is 36:16)

The flourishing of the vine was a symbol of the divine blessing of peace and prosperity.

"Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine Within your house, Your children like olive plants Around your table." (Psalm 128:3)

God promises to protect his faithful children's vines and fruit from pestilence and disease. 

"Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the LORD of hosts. (Mal 3:11) 

When the desert wandering Hebrew tribes entered the land of God's promise, many settled down and cultivated the land as well as keeping animal herds. Natural vines provided some fruit for free, but the labour of well managed cultivation produced great abundance, yielding a harvest for both eating and drinking. The vine became a symbol of God's blessing, both in creation, and in the liberation of his people from bondage in Egypt. It appeared in decorative art in both secular and sacred settings.

"The LORD then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the LORD. 'Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop " (Lev 25:1-5)

"For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey " (Deut 8:7-8)

The withering of the vine, so ready to flourish in the toughest of circumstances, is seen by the prophets as a curse upon those who failed to keep their covenant with God, in these and half a dozen similar verses in which it is a symptom of environmental catastrophe due to war or drought.

"I will surely snatch them away," declares the LORD; "There will be no grapes on the vine And no figs on the fig tree, And the leaf will wither; And what I have given them will pass away." "(Jerem 8:13) 

And it will come about in that day, that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a thousand shekels of silver, will become briars and thorns. (Is 7:23)

The vine becomes a symbol of God's people and their land.

"You removed a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground before it, And it took deep root and filled the land." (Psalm 80:8-9)

"O God of hosts, turn again now, we beseech You; Look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine, Even the shoot which Your right hand has planted" (Psalm 80:14-15)

"For a nation has invaded my land .... It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white." (Joel 1:7)

Isaiah's parable of the vineyard imagines God as the vine dresser and the vineyard as the land and people of Israel, whose unfruitfulness  reflects their unfaithfulness towards Him.

"Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones."  (Is 5:1-2)

Jesus draws directly upon the imagery in this parable, in telling a parable of his own (Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19), in which God is the vineyard owner who entrusts it to tenants that betray him in order to deprive him of the benefit of his fruitful investment in time and effort. Its message is that God ultimately cannot be cheated of what is rightfully his. It is important in understanding meaning of the passion of Jesus, as it is just about to unfold.

John proclaims Jesus as God's Son and one of his great symbols in the 'I AM' sayings is that of the vine, with its different layers of meaning. There are echoes of the above parables, and an indication of the purpose behind God's judgement.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit." (John 15:1-2)

Then Jesus suggests the vine as a symbol of inter-relationship between himself and his disciples. Outside of this relationship with God in and through him, there is no fruitfulness, only condemnation to destruction.

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned." (John 15:5-6)

As one who had seen Jesus' ministry right through and lived long to reflect on his teaching and the meaning of all that he had witnessed, John's message is uncompromising.

"Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." (1 John 5:12)

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them. (John 3:36)

The essential relationship in the vine of parts to the whole, as in any fruit bearing plant or tree is a constant reminder to all of our utter dependency upon God for our existence and all it contains.
       

Lent day 25

St Paul refers on several occasions in his letters to the church as the Body of Christ.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? (1 Cor 6:15)

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Cor 12:27)

He argues that the diversity of functions and parts of the human body, necessary to sustain life for the whole person, provides a defining image for the nature of relationships binding individual believers together in the community life of the church. 

The word 'member' as used of body parts is the same used for each person who belongs to the church by baptism. They are not described as initiates or adepts or illuminati, or clients, or subscribers, or recruits but members of a body that can pray and feed together at a meal in common, transcending all barriers of class, culture or race.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:28)

"For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread." (1 Cor 10:17)

Later in this letter, he develops the idea of members' mutual interdependence further 

"But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary." (1 Cor 12:20-22)

In other letters he elaborates this, speaking of the unique gifts members receive from God. 

"So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us." (Rom 12:5-6)

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people" And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ," (Eph 4:7, 8, 11-12)

Paul also speaks of the church as the body of which Christ is the head, bearing the ideas both of authoritative leadership, and intelligent mind. He belongs as part of that of which he is head, or the head.

"And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the first-born from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy." (Col 1:18)

God the Father has "put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." (Eph 1:22-23)

Paul criticises religious people from a variety of different faith backgrounds for beliefs and practices derived from the teachings of gnostic sects comparable with 'new age' beliefs of today that put occult knowledge and wisdom before knowledge and love of God in Christ for

"not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God." (Col 2:19)

Each believer has a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, inseparably linked to others who believe and confess faith in him in their membership of his body, the church.

Christ is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. (Col 1:5)

The image of the whole of the Body of Christ is the visible humanity of Jesus as he made himself known in his earthly life among us. God created human beings "in his own image and likeness" (Genesis 1:27) That includes the gift of creative freedom, and infinitely rich diversity of our individuality, which makes everyone recognisably human to each other. The identity of the whole and of each member is one and the same.

The image of humankind as the flock of which the Lord is the shepherd is as accessible as it is familiar in scripture, yet consider this difference. The flock of birds or the flock of sheep move as one in their response to their environment, each interconnected with the other, and acting as a group as they have evolved to perform out of self-protection. Each creature is much more like the other than it is a distinctive individual. How they function together as flock is not how they may function separately. There is no 'typical' sheep or bird that describes the way the whole functions. 

The conscious exercise of will inhibits human beings from the kind of collective activity shown by a flock. This may be for better or for worse. Freedom brings responsibility, disagreement, creative tensions and conflicts. Natural Instincts can help or hinder, relationship with the divine author of existence is what enables humankind to go above and beyond the given, to learn and grow, adapt and reconcile in creative ways.

The unique humanity of individuals and the collective humanity of the church is described in the same way, identified with Christ - the archetypal human being who is in us, with us, and binds us all together in a common identity, bearing the divine image.  

"One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." (Eph 4:6)

Lent day 24

This morning's second lesson from St John's Gospel brought this image to mind, taken at Pembrokeshire sheep dog trials a couple of summers ago.

'Therefore Jesus said again, "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.' (John 10:7)

"I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance"(John 10:10)

Here it's just a test of skill for shepherd and dog to persuade timid creatures to enter and stay in a small enclosure. It's one aspect of what's needed to care for domestic animals and protect them from predators throughout the world. 

From early times larger human settlements were built inside protective enclosures with a gate to control comings and goings. The Promised Land was seen by nomadic tent dwelling Israelite herders looking in from the outside like this

"All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages." (Deut 3:5)

In blessing Abraham for his fidelity and obedience, God declares

"In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies" (Gen 22:17)

The gate is synonymous with the city it protects. Whoever possessed the gate controlled the city. 

The gate, or the open area outside it, is a place where citizens gather to socialise, hear public announcements, administer justice, do deals. It is a public court where the king can meet both inhabitants and visitors.

"Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment." (Deut 16:18)

Traders gather here and markets take place. Elisha prophesies the resumption of economic activity after a famine in these words

"This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." (2 Kings 7:1)

 

For the safety of inhabitatants gates were closed and guarded between dusk and dawn, as the Israelite spies discovered when visiting Jericho, one of the most ancient cities of the Mediterranean world, already established over 3,000 years earlier.

"At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left." (Josh 2:5)

When a city was sacked in battle, or died from economic and social decline, its gates and walls were the casualty, as the returning exiles from Babylon discovered.

"They said to me, (Nehemiah) "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire." " (Neh 1:3)

The returnees, under Nehemiah's leadership rebuilt Jerusalem's walls and gates, and also restored regulated trade, closing the gates at night and on the Sabbath day of rest.

"After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed. I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do. I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them.” "(Neh 7:1-3)

The status of a gateway and gate was enhanced by carvings in bronze or precious metals. Jerusalem before the destruction of the Temple in AD70 had a Golden Gate and 'gate called Beautiful'. Gates and doors within the Temple precinct were ornately decorated, objects of great value in their own right. The ultimate expression of urban value and status is given to the heavenly Jerusalem that descends to earth, where God and his people will dwell together eternally.

Its walls are made of a rare and costly building stone, its foundations embedded with precious  gems. and it has a dozen gates.

"The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone.... The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass." (Rev 21:17,-18,21)

It's a far as one can get from a simple shepherd's rustic enclosure. It's an outward sign of the infinite value of the creator's love for his children, restored from the ruinous effect of sin by the self-sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. He who is 'The Gate', the means by which we meet the Father, was taken outside the gate, beyond the city wall in suffering and death, before life in all its fullness could be restored.

"The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we have no enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come." (Heb 13:11-14)

 

Lent day 23

"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." (John 21:25)

The idea of 'the book' as a primary unit of organising written material, regardless of what medium the words were recorded upon, goes back 4,000 years. The impulse to record all kind of things - legislation, history, business, political deals, story, poetry and music, then order them for later reference is a remarkable universal  feature of human creativity. 

The first creation story in Genesis is not as ancient as the second, or other bible texts, but its structure in speaking of divine activity proceeds from simplicity to complex diversity reveals the orderliness of the story teller's mind. God speaks in a coherent way in making all things. Humanity's ability to make meaning and create order by God's gift of life and thought comes into being at the end of a process that begins with nothing but chaos.

"The earth was a formless void, and darkness covered the face of the deep" (Gen 1:2)

Order begins with the birth of light at God's command. All else follows from this First Word.

"And God said : 'Let there be light'; and there was light." (Gen 1:3)

Memory and oral tradition came first and remained prominent. Not all ancient cultures a thousand years before Christ embraced keeping written records.  Yet for many they provide a point of reference in case of dispute. Scribes and priests literate and skilled in the arts of writing had special status and authority in every organised society, even if words retained for many an awesome, magical power.

Hebrew culture was remarkable in the number of people other than scribes that could read the written word for themselves, if not write. The 'Tanach', the Hebrew collection of books which embraced the Law, Prophets, and other Writings, was accessible to those who were not necessarily priests and scribes. Those who read could interpret, express an opinion, debate with others. The words 'it is written' played a special part in all discourse about spiritual issues, most memorably with Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew's Gospel:

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' (Matt 4:4)

Jesus said to him, "It is written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test'. (Matt 4:7)

Jesus said to him, "Away with you Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him'". (Matt 4:10)

This is in response to the Adversary quoting scripture three times putting Jesus to the test. It is a remarkable warning about the need for reality testing in using scripture to make a point. The story of Jesus' ministry and personhood is laced with quotations from the Tanach. In proclaiming Jesus and interpreting his atoning work to contemporaries, the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews quotes Psalm 40:7

"Then I said, 'Here I am --it is written about me in the scroll -- I have come to do your will, my God.'"

At the heart of the story of their sojourn in the wilderness, the people of Israel, through the ministry of Moses, received the Commandments from God at Mount Sinai in an encounter of awesome majesty, as Moses later reminds them, following a complete breakdown of orderly relationships and the first iteration of the Commandments being broken and lost. 

"The LORD wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me." (Deut 10:4)

There is an element of loss and recovery in this story which is reflected in the later post exile story of the rediscovering of the Book of the Law. In the history of God's chosen people there were period of social, political and cultural decline when reference to their written history all but disappeared from common life, only to be found and revisited as part of their regeneration as God's people

"Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD." He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him ..... he informed the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king." (2 Kings 22:8-10)

Books here took the form of a scroll of parchment - book and scroll are interchangeable. When the significance of what it contained was realised by the community hearing a public reading, it re-awakened the desire to worship God.

"Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.…" (Ezra 8:5-6)

"He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law." (Nehem 8:5)

Prior to the Exile, Jeremiah recorded his prophetic oracles - words dictated to him by God - divine challenges to the status quo, seen as subversive, to be suppressed. But he knew the power of the written word, he wouldn't give up, and ordered his scribe Baruch to re-publish.

"Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up." (Jer 36:28) 

Loss and renewal. Jesus, proclaimed by John to be God's living Word is lost to humankind by his crucifixion, regained by resurrection. The promise of the Spirit will thereafter enable his disciples not to forget him or his teaching.

"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." (John 14:26)

Even if the books, on which Christian faith relies utterly, are mislaid or lost, as Jesus said with his ministry coming to its climax in his Passion.

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (Matt 24:35) 

Jeremiah some seven centuries earlier, at a time when the society he was part of was breaking up due to invasion foresaw that, important though the sacred books and the record of truth would always be, a greater more personal bond binds God to his children.

"This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." (Jer 31:33)

    

Fouth Sunday of Lent

Today, Mothering Sunday is also known as 'Laetare Sunday' after  the first word of the Latin Introit Antiphon in the Mass of the day.

"Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation." (Isaiah 66:10)

Traditionally it was an occasion when the rigours and restrictions of the Lenten fast were eased,  family reunions were held, visits to the parish mother church took place, and the faithful celebrated their origins and the people who mothered them materially, spiritually.

Although this is not the proper readings for the day, this brief appreciative halt brings to mind this passage, exhorting disciples to remain steadfast in faith, following their Lord's example.

"Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrew 12:1b-2)

Joy and fulfilment are born of gratitude. It's not the other way around. Gratitude requires effort to express appreciation for gifts received. That's why the church whenever it celebrates the Lord's Supper prefaces its great eucharistic ( = thanksgiving) prayer.

Lift up your hearts / We lift them up unto the Lord

Let us give thanks unto the Lord our God / It is meet and right so to do.

We leave the feast with joy, because we have expressed gratitude in this way, something learned from the great Hebrew tradition of prayer.

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High: To show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness in the night season." (Psalm 92:1-2)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is gracious; for his mercy endures forever" (Psalm 118:1)

It's there in the teaching of Jesus. When one of ten healed lepers returned to give thanks, and in many other situations he is seen giving thanks to God. The very word blessing means the action of giving thanks for something or someone.
 

"Jesus asked, “Weren’t all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Didn’t anyone else return and give praise to God except this outsider?” (Luke 17:17-18)

St Paul continued to share with his gentile readers all he had received from Hebrew spiritual tradition, and from Jesus.

"Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Col 3:17)

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Phil 4:4)

Lent is a time to take our spiritual life more seriously, a time of repentance for sin and pardon in spite of sorrow for being sinned against, but returning to the fullness of right relationship with God is above all, cause for great joy, and true happiness.

"Those who sow in tears will sing when they reap." (Psalm 126:5b)