I guess I’m not an expert on what’s “appropriate” for Lenten
meditation, BUT I was struck by the grace of our God that seems woven
throughout today’s readings. Just to
pick up two threads:
From Ezekial 39:
25 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy
on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name. 26They shall forget* their shame, and all the treachery they have practised
against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to make them
afraid, 27… 29and I will never again hide my face from
them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.
The peace of forgetting my shame… truly a joy that I do not
merit. Forgetting my shame: sounds easy,
feels hard. Feels impossible to earn
“forgetfulness”; feels impossible to work myself up to forget, whatever I do it
seems just to twist me back to thinking about my shame again. My sin, I suppose. How to accept this graceful gift of
forgetfulness?
Maybe Paul’s words for today are a nudge for me along this
path.
From Phillippians 4
…for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. 12I
know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any
and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going
hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13I can do all things through him who
strengthens me.
Just be content with what I have？ Sounds so easy, sounds like one of those
Lenten suggestions, you know, Matthew 11 stuff:
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. Sounds so easy; feels so impossible. Gotta remember that graceful bit about “through
him who strengthens me”.
Grace: I’m know it’s there, woven in the fabric of the Lent
season, woven in the fabric of creation.
Wonderful stuff, the grace of God.
Is there an easy way for me to respond?
Like one of our Saint Francis Prayer Shawls, maybe all I need to do is
wrap it around my shoulders.
Will
Ames
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