Eleventh Day of Lent - Love Songs

Song of Songs IV by Marc Chagall,
Musée national Marc Chagall in Nice, France

Falling in love is the most wonderful thing, especially when it is magically reciprocated.  The two lovers feed each other, and keep the flame alive.  How long can this fire burn?  Like the fire in an open hearth, it starts with light, sparks, flashes and risky clashes and explosions.  It settles down into a constant warmth, of mutually sustained energy.  The coal removed from the fire soon cools, but in the fire, the ardour is maintained.  When the source of the fuel is spiritual, it has that life that Jesus describes, as the 'bread of life', or the eternal spring of life giving water.  This satisfies for an eternity.

Listen! My beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. Song of Songs 2.8

PRAYER: My love for you is eternal, and grows just as  living things do.

Second Sunday in the Feast of Lent - Thinking in the Wilderness

 

The Wilderness in Israel

Time to think.  From Buber to Maslow, the highest western experience is 'self-actualisation'.  In eastern philosophy, this might be called 'attaining nirvana'.

From our account of Jesus in the Wilderness I read 'surviving victoriously'.  This is not easy.  It is hard work.  It involves endurance, but it also reinforces a sure foundation.  This includes a foundation of knowledge and certainty.  It involves building on what is already known and established.  It reminds me of the longer term hope and vision, that over rides present discomfort.  

PRAYER:  Thank you for what you have given me, which can never be taken away. 

Tenth Day of Lent - Solomon

King Solomon by Gustave Doré
Credit: fineartamerica.com

 King Solomon followed his father King David with the family's mix of 'Inspiration' and 'Perspiration'.  He was a wise ruler, but he was also flawed.  Decadent, and hedonistic, he was not a great role model for Christian virtue.  He demonstrated what unchecked power can lead to.  But we see the Creator using this king, and their creativity to bless the world.  Even today David and Solomon's words are chosen to celebrate the Lord in every church, every Sunday, and every day in between.

Bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits:

3 Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

4 Who redeems your life from destruction,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103

PRAYER: In the morning we praise and honour you.  At midday we lift your name high. As the sun sets we glorify your name and through the night we meditate on your Word. 

Ninth Day of Lent - King David

Le Roi David with the Artist, by Mark Chagall

King David was exceptional.  He had been trained in the desert with his sheep and his relationship with his Creator.  He learned to cope under pressure.  Sometimes we experience this strange form of training, preparing us for some other grander role.

We all know that David was not perfect.  The temptations for those with royal power are seen in failed celebrities everywhere.  We read that David knew that his Lord was with him, and above him.  Israel flourished under a just king, just as all countries do.  That's what you need, but the two rarely sit together.  

21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ Acts 13

PRAYER:  Under stress, I turn to you immediately.  Better to be with you before things get tough. 

Eight Day of Lent - Kings and Rulers

The Throne of Charlemagne
Aachen Cathedral
Credit: Mediastorehouse.com

It is my take that the Creator intended us  to live a life fully intergraded in the Spirit of the Creator.  Everyday we would have walked hand in hand with the author of all things, with access to all knowledge, wisdom, understanding and love.  But we found that difficult.  We are like someone who has a billion pounds in the bank, and forgets. 

So now we live our lives in a fog, with an awareness of the Creator, but no certainty (for the majority).  We crave the other comforts; pleasure, irresponsibility and control/power over others. If this were not so, we would solve all the problems of the world almost instantly.  There is no real reason why we cannot.

And so the people of Israel rejected the idea that the Creator would be their supreme king, and opted instead for Saul.  They were warned that they were choosing subjugation, and they chose that.

We too have this choice.

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” 1 Samuel 8

PRAYER:  You are my God and my King.  I worship you alone.

Seventh Day of Lent - The Law

Moses and the Tablets- Marc Chagall
Erica Meyerovich Gallery, San Francisco

The word 'Law' does not excite.  It feels cold and controlling.   But the Psalmist (119) says, "I delight in your laws, I write them on my heart."

Clarity and boundaries in relationships are also both healthy and liberating.  Young children, where the boundaries are unclear, appearing and disappearing, become insecure.  They carry 'floating anxiety', and this affects their behaviour and mood.  Relationships where there is jealousy and suspicion absorb negative energy and stress, leading to great unhappiness.   

Our Creator has given us clear boundaries.  The do's and don'ts. 

These were famously summarised (attributed to St Augustine) as "Love God and do as you please."

This is the beautiful law that sets us free, rather than constrains us.

20 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.  4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.  8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 “Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.” 18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

PRAYER:  I love your laws and have written then in my heart.

Sixth Day of Lent - Salvation from Slavery

St Augustine in the Slave Market in Rome.

 
The concept of slavery is abhorrent.  Yet humans seem to be doing this to each other for thousands of years.  Even today many people are restricted, controlled and lack access to justice.  How could a county like Britain condone and justify slavery?  It is an irony that the myth of England goes that it was in seeing slaves from Angle-land that St Augustine's heart was softened and this persuaded him to send missionaries to our God-forsaken cold damp corner of Western Europe. 

The story of the bible is one of 'being lead out of slavery'.  There is physical slavery, and there is spiritual slavery.  Which is more significant?  Jesus understood this and compared it to bread and water.  There is bread you will eat, and you will then be hungry again.  There is water that will refresh you, but only for a time.  There is spiritual bread, and water, that will fill you forever.  This is what we really need. Then all things are possible.

3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. 4 Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. 5 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey Exodus 13

PRAYER:  You have set me free, and all freedom emanates from this.  Thank you.