 "God created you from dust and to God you shall return." I'm sure those aren't exactly the right words, but it is what I say to parishioners and visitors alike as I place slightly too oily ashes on their foreheads or hands.
Growing up, Lent was a Catholic thing, by which I mean everyone in our community was engaged. The three protestants in my elementary school classroom showed up on-time on Ash Wednesday, and we waited for our ash marked friends to show up after church. Our cafeteria served meatless lunches. I knew that Lent was about fasting although we called it "giving up for Lent." What I didn't know was that Lent has three penitent activities: prayer, fasting, and charity. Interesting that I didn't know the charity component! (Although I remember now that my church's "Bunnies for Bolivia" fundraising was during Lent.) What is really interesting is that in 1966 Pope Paul VI in chapter III of the Apostolic Constitution, changed the approach to fasting. Where economic well-being is prominent, the pope writes that the church witness of asceticism is important. Where people live in poverty, however "it will be more pleasing to God the Father and more useful to the members of the Body of Christ if Christians—while they seek in every way to promote better social justice—offer their suffering in prayer to the Lord in close union with the Cross of Christ." Essentially, everyone engages in prayer, but people with excess should practice Lent with asceticism and charity, while those without enough should simply offer the suffering they already experience as their penitence. And that everyone should, as part of their Lenten practice, “promote better social justice.” I encourage congregations to focus on what they can do for justice during this Lenten season. Instead of giving something up, consider doing one action every day to protect people who are trans, to protect people who are immigrants, or to protect the environment. Choose something that helps maintain our social safety net. Imagine that your act of penitence this season could be to protect the people in our nation. Subscribe to my blog!
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 The Lukan version of the transfiguration (Luke 9:28-36) is unique among the gospels in at least two ways. (Check out Andrew's Version by Andrew McGowan for background information for your sermon.) Luke emphasizes that Jesus is at prayer, and includes Jesus' conversation with Moses and Elijah about his exodus. Although sometimes translated as "departure", the Greek definitely implies the connection to Moses freeing the slaves in Egypt.
The transfiguration is followed by Jesus healing a boy by rebuking an unclean spirit (Luke 9:42), and then in 9:44 predicting the passion: “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands.” What does it mean to think about the connection of the passion to the Exodus story? To imagine that Jesus' journey is only toward crucifixion is to end the story of exodus at the sea of reeds. Exodus does not end in the wilderness, but in the continued life of the people in promised land. Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension is a journey toward the church--the body of christ--doing God's work in the world. Which returns us to prayer. In Luke 5:16, 6:12, 9:18, and 11:1 Jesus turns to prayer before and during significant events (McGowan). Prayer is not a private spiritual discipline that Jesus engages to be removed from the world, but rather is preparation for being in the world. It is connection to God that keeps Jesus going. How much more so we must turn to prayer to maintain our connection to God! Jesus' public ministry begins with a proclamation of the year of the God's favor, as evidenced by good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed (Luke 4:18-19). His earthly exodus is one that ushers in a church called to continue the proclamation of God's Kingdom. In times like these, when the future for the oppressed seems impossible, we remember Moses leading the exodus, and Jesus standing firm against the powers-that-be. We must focus on bringing about exodus for the oppressed, departing out of violence of oppression and into God's promise. We do that with prayers to keep us connected to God, and with action to be God's hands and feet in the world. We do that with Jesus, the anointed, guiding us, and the Holy Spirit giving us the power and courage to act. To subscribe to my Newsletter Click Here.  I’m so angry I want to protest what is happening.
Protests are a tough subject. They accomplish many things. They make our reactions to what is happening more visible to the public. They sometimes get helpful publicity for an important issue. They feel wonderful in the moment, to be with people with similar views, to feel the energy of the crowd, to feel that we are taking action. Protests are dangerous. At the women's march in 2017 I lost my mother in the crowd, which was as terrifying as anything I've experienced to date. Sometimes people take advantage of the chaos to engage in violence against buildings and, less often, against people. Sometimes the powers-that-be respond with excessive force, either by accident or as a way to show they can't be moved. But a small number of protests have resulted in deaths, arrests, fires, and damage to vehicles, businesses and buildings. Sometimes, protests make a difference. The powers-that-be intentionally communicate that they don't make a difference, in an attempt to keep us from engaging in them. But Kennedy was constantly worried about Vietnam War protestors. The young adults who died at Kent State made visible the unchecked power of the police. The use of attack dogs and water cannon in response to the non-violent civil rights protestors brought many moderates to recognize the violence of the segregationists. The woman killed in Charlottesville showed the violence inherent in the mythology of the preserving Confederate icons. In Walter Wink's book The Powers That Be he offers many examples of authoritarian governments overthrown by non-violent protests. I am not going to tell oppressed people that they must not be violent when the powers-that-be are using violence all the time--both in the moment with shootings and beatings, and the slow violence of poverty, lack of access to health care, deportations, misnaming, and more. At the same time we should recognize that research suggests that non-violent protests have the most impact. Gandhi's idea of non-violence was explicitly to drive the powers-that-be to react violently, to show who they really were, and to publicize that. But effective non-violent protests require people who are willing to risk being hurt and being killed. Usually the risk is small. I'll admit that I want to engage in protests where old folk like me are out front, so that any violence that happens is hurting those of us who have already lived a full life. I'll also admit that I'm willing to be shot, but I'm no longer willing to take an 8 hour bus ride to the protest, walk several miles, and take the bus home the same evening. I just don't have the stamina. So I'm in the weird place that I'm willing to take the risk of death, but not the risk of sore feet or lack of a good night's sleep. Churches already engage in protests of the most mild sort. We take part in the march against hunger, in the Mother's Day Peace event, in Pride Celebrations, and other gatherings of that sort. We may not consider them protests, but they are making public the issue we care about, and are gathering people in a way that builds our commitment to these issues. It's worth a discussion in your congregation. Is this something we are willing to protest about? Why? Why not? The most important book on Non-Violence is The Powers that Be: Theology for a New Millennium by Walter Wink. This is based on his extensive academic research, but is written for ordinary readers and is well suited to congregational discussion. Order Wink at Bookshop.org Here are opinions from social scientists about protests--should we do them? Do they work? And more from several different view points. Social Scientists on Protests |
My ThoughtsFor my organized thoughts, see my book Five Loaves, Two Fish, Twelve Volunteers: Developing Relational Food Ministries. In this spot are thoughts that appear for a moment--about food programs, mission, church, building community, writing, and whatever else pops into my head. History
March 2025
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