Friday of the Fourth Week in Lent

We have a guest contributor. For the 6 year old philosophers, Walter, and me this is great. We are heading down the home stretch and this wonderful contribution gives us a needed rest. We have a lot of ground to cover in these last weeks. Enjoy!

“Just Being There”




In a “First Person” article, a lawyer recounted being asked after a lecture what his most important achievement had been. He told the audience about a legal victory, yet the true answer, he wrote, was “just being there” with a childhood friend and his wife as they mourned the death of their infant child.



Logic told the lawyer that there was nothing he could do to help at the hospital. He had no expertise in medicine or counseling to share. His friend was surrounded by family and thus certainly had love and moral support. The only reason why the lawyer was there was no other way existed to return the car keys his friend had left at the tennis court where they had been playing until family unexpectedly arrived to rush him to the hospital.



The lawyer arrived at the hospital just as his friend was telling waiting family that his son had died. The distraught father saw the lawyer and invited him to join his wife as they said goodbye to their son. Few words were exchanged, yet as they left the friend thanked the lawyer for “just being there.”



I have pondered this story for more than a decade from different angles. Today I am struck that perhaps the most important aspect of Christ dwelling within us is the comfort of the Spirit “just being there.” How reassuring this presence of love, compassion, guidance, forgiveness, and hope is.



Help me, Lord, to acknowledge and give thanks for your presence and to practice “just being there” for others.

The Fifth Thursday of Lent

"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us." Black Elk

Black Elk was a Souix medicine man who was at the Battle of Little Bighorn and was wounded in the Massacre at Wounded Knee. In his later life, his writings and insight into Native American ritual and spirituality were very important advances in our understanding of Native American culture. My guess is that he probably had a lot of influence on the hippy movement in the sixties as well, but Dad can tell you more about that. This is from the book Black Elk Speaks.

Today, I am meditating on this single idea. God, the Great Spirit, dwells at the center of everything. Nothing begins or ends, nothing lives or dies, nothing at all exists without God. Therefore, the best way to find the peace that you seek, is through God. In this way we can realize that God is a true part of each of us. This gives me a feeling of great courage and faith. Understanding that I am a part of the universe of souls so to speak, can eliminate the doubt and loneliness that accompanies times of trial.

Dad said yesterday, "You are not alone." This is also the key message from Black Elk, and the surest way to find, the first peace.

Walter

Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Lent

“ You are not alone.”

At he end of the latest Harry Potter movie, Dumbledore reminds Harry that he has friends and more importantly “he is not alone.” Bad times are coming but Harry is not alone.

As children, as young adults, as adults, and in the very end of our lives we fear being alone. We live in a self-absorbed society, but we still fear being alone. We make mistakes fearing being alone. We make life decisions because we fear being alone. I can make a list that would take us to the “moon,” about decisions we make based on this one fear -- being alone.

And at the same time despite all our efforts, each of us feel, at times, very, very alone.

Perhaps that is why we read about Christ’s cry “why have you forsaken me.” It is the most human and feared of emotions. For many, worse than physical pain is the fear of “being alone.” Maybe it is that emotion that Christ had to endure, more than physical suffering, before we could be totally redeemed.

Again, I do not have the answers.

However, if I have any answer during Lent it is this. “We ( you, I, us ) are not alone.” If there is any message that we can glean from the Bible it is “we are not alone.” Maybe each of us is called this Lent to bring this message to our fellow human beings when they experience bad times –”you are not alone.”

Webb

The Fourth Tuesday of Lent

"And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." The Gospel of Luke

It is worth note, that for all of its use in literature, art, and discourse throughout history, the only time Jesus says the word "paradise" in the bible is when speaking to the criminal on the cross. For me, it gives the word a much deeper and more poignant meaning.

At the beginning of our Lenten discussion, Dad asked us what it would take for to be able to say "all in well." Depending on your definition of the word, we might also take this to mean "what would it take for you to be in paradise?" Dad used that word yesterday to describe his feelings in the precsensne of his assembled daughters. He probably should have also added that it was NCAA tourney time as well and he could always flee upstairs tot he TV when things got to "Oprah" in the living room. History has defined "paradise" as two distinct places. The Paradise of the garden of Eden and the Paradise of Heaven.

But maybe Paradise isn't just a place. Perhaps we can achieve that paradise on earth as well. Jesus told the criminal on the cross that today he would join him in paradise. Is it possible that what Jesus meant was that by achieving that communion with him, by coming that close to God and asking for his help, saying "remember me." That this was how the criminal joined Jesus in Paradise. Is merely being that close to God the way to find paradise on earth?

I, of course, have no answer at all to any of this, but it is worth mediating on. How can I come that close to God? Has God already shown me a path to paradise? Maybe it's in the asking not the answer? Jesus isn't just speaking to the criminal on the cross, but to all of us who ask him to "remember me."

"The wind is old and still at play
While I must hurry upon my way,
For I am running to Paradise" W. B. Yeats

Monday in the Fourth Week of Lent

Our greatest Glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. -- Confucius

No Cede malis sed contra -- “Yield not to misfortunes but surmount them -- Hubbell Motto

Today’s meditation is dedicated to George Mason’s basketball team. First they had to beat two teams from last year’s final four — Michigan State and North Carolina. Then this Sunday they faced the Number One ranked team in America — Connecticut. They were 12 points behind and clawed back. They were finally ahead but a last second missed free throw and a shot at the buzzer tied the game. Not many believed they could overcome their fall, their misfortune, of missing the opportunity to win the game in regulation. It was time to quit, to walk away with their heads held high. Except something inside them told them to get back up, to rise again and overcome misfortune. They did. Not easily. Not without last second anxiety, but they achieved glory. Glory at least on a human scale.

One year before the “game of the century” a local Arkansas Baptist church had on its drive-by bulletin board the following:

“ Glory on earth is fleeting, nevertheless BEAT TEXAS!”

We all fall. We all experience misfortune. From a leaky pipe to life threatening illness, minor misfortunes seem major, and major catastrophes seem overwhelming. A southern expression is -- I was “knocked to my knees.” I do not know its origin, but perhaps it means that the only thing that can bring one comfort during that time is to ask for God’s comfort.

I love the image of people coming to Christ asking for comfort, and his words “Rise, your faith has made you well.”

As a child we find comfort in the arms of a parent, later in life we find comfort in the arms of a friend or loved one. Yet, when we believe there can be no comfort we find comfort in the grace of God. He holds us like a parent, and then gently gives us a hand to rise again.

“Glory on earth is fleeting, nevertheless congratulations George Mason!”

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Every day I find it more and more difficult not to give in to cynicism. To lose patience and faith in the greater good of those around me, whether my fellow man or even some who are close to me. It seems as if everyone has an agenda these days, nothing is done without an attitude of quid pro quo.

Even my children are not immune. "Please go clean up your room" is met with "why now, what do I get for it?". Sometimes even the most common place of tasks, "Please put on you socks?" is an adventure in negotiation that can last all morning.

And so it is even with God. I am more impatient with God more than I care to admit. I often look around and say, when is it my turn? When will some luck or good fortune come my way. On larger scale I ask God, how much longer are you going to let this last? whether it is Iraq or Darfur or global warming or any number of abuses of humanity and environment by man, I ask God. What is you plan? How can this possibly be happening?

CS Lewis wrote "What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, What does it matter as long as they are contented?"

But he goes on later to say "Since I have reason to believe, nevertheless, that God is Love, I conclude that my conception of love needs correction."

So on even the most difficult days, when my faith is tested, and my understanding of God's love is misguided, I must simply ask for God's patience and forgiveness. And I hope that one day I will come to a greater understanding of his Love.

Walter