Friday of the Third Week in Lent

As soon as the Israelites left Egypt, a reality hit them. Getting out of Egypt is one thing, getting Egypt out of you is another thing entirely. We read about this throughout Exodus. The water was not pure, there was no food, etc.

How many people do you know who have gotten out of a terrible situation, but can not get over it. A bad relationship or marriage, a codependent situation, an abusive situation, a failed career, the list is as long as we want to make it. I have friends who quit playing football 40 years ago, but still are playing. I have friends who were physically or verbally abused who finally got out, but still can’t get over the abuser. I certainly have my share of “Egypt's.”

We read Exodus to remind ourselves that although God got angry, displeased, and chastised Israel he did not abandon them. When the water was bitter, God provided pure water. When there was no food, God provided manna. Whatever the burden, God provides us with the means necessary to face life’s challenges.

Remember -- “ The Good Lord doesn’t give you a load you can’t toke.”

Webb

P.S. Words from the 8 year old philosophers:
Mom: Does God ever speak to you?
Jake: Sometimes, at night he talks to me.
Dad: What does he say?
Jake: Usually he just says to stop watching Sports Center and go back to sleep.

Wednesday of the Third Week in Lent

You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread, for on this day I brought your companies out of the Land of Egypt: you shall observe this very day throughout your generations as a perpetual ordinance. -- Exodus 12:17

Why did leaven remind the Jews of slavery? Because just as yeast "puffs up" the bread, so do our egos inflate ourselves. When we think we are the be-all and end-all of the world, we inevitably become slaves to our own desires. Instead of leaven working in us, we can have heaven working working within us. But we have to get out of our own way. We have to shift our focus from feeling good to doing good. And trickiest of all we have to to learn to love ourselves without worshipping ourselves. The leaven -- whatever you want to call it, will call to us from time to time. Let us call to God for the strength and wisdom not to heed it.

Webb

The human spirit is the Lamp of the Lord, searching every inmost part. -- Proverbs 20:27

In other translations the the words “human spirit” are changed to “soul.” Isn’t this passage using either translation what Lent is about? It is not about giving up chocolate or cheesecake, but searching the hidden corners of our mind and soul for those parts of us who in the words of Jack Nicholson, “ ... deep down at places you don’t talk about at parties....”

Once we shine the Lamp of the Lord in those corners we learn to rid ourselves of what we find. We house clean. Then once we have removed it; we burn it. We decide, with God’s help, not only to remove it from our innermost, but to remove it from our lives forever.Easier said than done? “You bet your booties Granny.” ( Am I the only one who is old enough to remember Sugar Bear?)

In the Hebrew tradition before Pesach begins one is instructed to remove all of the chametz from one’s house. The ritual is performed with a candle and a feather. This Lent, all we need is a feather. Once we shine a light on our what separates us from God, he will use a feather to rid us from it forever.

Webb

A Note From Caroline

Dear Dad,

I thought I might take a little time this morning to respond to one of your Lenten messages. They are VERY good this year. You must have been doing some serious soul searching.One of the comments you made in today's meditation reminded me of a little blurb heard on NPR yesterday. You wrote, One of the things that Lent encourages us to do is to take a good hard look at ourselves. When we do, we realize that we could always be gentler in our ways, in our reactions with others. Most often though we are too harsh and hard hearted with ourselves.

I was driving into work yesterday after what has been a pretty tough couple of weeks at work. We have been busy, very busy, at work and things have been frenetic. Jeremy was out of town so I had spent the night at a friend's house so I wouldn't get scared. I was quietly chastising myself for being such a wimp about staying home alone. I was anticipating the day ahead, trying to steel myself for a day of edits and well meaning, but pervasive, criticism of my work. I was, as is typical, recollecting that I had not been to the gym in too long and had actually put shoestring onion rings on my sandwich the night before - so bad for me (but delicious!)! I was regretting having already cheated, a few times, on my Lenten promise to not eat sweets. I only live 8 minutes from my office .... it is amazing the amount of self-loathing I can squeeze into such a brief commute.

Then, on NPR, one of the cool voices stated that yesterday was the 40th anniversary of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, the beloved show of my childhood. An interviewee came on the air and said, "I am a successful man in my 40s and it still feels so good to hear Mr. Rogers's kind voice reassure me that 'He likes me just as I am.' " And then the radio played a real clip of Mr. Rogers (who was no doubt tying or untying his shoes) saying, "I like you... just as you are."

He says it slowly and with such simple intonation as to make me actually believe it. And it brought me to tears.Hearing those words of my childhood reminded me of something so simple and basic to the Christian life that it is the first thing I seem to forget. That God Loves Me ... just as I am. As a child that message washed over me, from Mr. Rogers to songs as simple as "Jesus Loves Me."

Hearing my parents say they loved me as a child I often thought, "yeah, duh." Because I was a child, I was imbued with a since of being loved that permitted me to take that message for granted. And it seems to me that every year of my life I regress further and further away from that childlike state.Someone once said to me, "Treat yourself as you would someone you love without any judgment, like a child." This is exactly what Mr. Rogers did and exactly why he was so wonderful to hear. This doesn't mean we get to do or have whatever we want, but maybe just be a little more compassionate and understanding with ourselves. Don't say anything to yourself that you wouldn't say to a child. "Caroline, you may never ever get a two page motion right" - is what I say. But maybe what I should say, is what I would say to a child, "I know it is frustrating, but think how much you are learning. You will get it right sometime, I promise."

It sounds corny, I admit it, but Mr. Rogers was corny, and it turns out we may still need to hear the things he said to us and the way he said them.Lent is a confusing time. We are supposed to become closer to God by sacrificing, by giving something up or taking something on, and yet that act alone, for many of us, promotes the very guilt and self-criticism that I don't think is consistent with the message that God Loves Us, just as we are.

Notably, when I told Jeremy last night my thoughts about Mr. Rogers and God described above, he responded, "Does this mean we can eat sweets again?" I said "no," but I remain unconvinced that God really cares whether or not I eat sweets. And I am not all together sure that he would not see my "sacrifice" as anything other than an absurd way to blame him for more self-criticism. Maybe the way to be closer to God this Lenten season is to become more like him - not just by being better to others - but by being better to ourselves. By, as you said, softening our hearts. Remembering that if God lives inside our hearts - how miserable it must be for him to hear us be so hard on ourselves! Let's try loving ourselves today as God does, just as we are, and just as he did when we were children. I think we believed it then and we were better for it!