Monthly Archives: February 2013

“Jesus has come – will you welcome him?”

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O'CollinsExperiencing Jesus by Gerald O’Collins, SJ; Chapter 3 – “Encountering Jesus”

O’Collins begins his third chapter, “Encountering Jesus,” with two vivid images taken from classic novels. The first image, taken from Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago, is of the depressed and dejected young Lara sitting in a church considering the complete emptiness of her life. The second image, taken from Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, is of the powerful completion of Charles Ryder’s gradual conversion. Both images invite us to use our imaginations in our search for the presence of God in our world. Both images also share a journey of sorrow or questioning that is broken through by the gentle hand of God, reaching out in ways that are most needed at the time, most needed by the person searching for answers. O’Collins use of these images helps us to consider how it is that Jesus is present to us in our daily lives, and especially present to us during our Lenten journey.

O’Collins presents a scriptural example of the presence of Jesus in the life of Levi (Matthew) the tax collector. Despised in their time, tax collectors were agents of the Roman state that prospered through their exploitation of others and their abuse of the powerless. Yet, it is to one of these despised tax collectors that Jesus comes and calls to a new life of discipleship…and Levi responds to Jesus’ call. Simply said: Jesus has come, Levi has a new life in Christ. O’Collins presents a threefold theme of conversion by representing Jesus’ call in this way: “I have come to call Levi; I have come to share the divine presence; I have come to invite you all to a profound conversion of life.” (p. 35) Jesus has come, and as we open ourselves to the love of Christ in this holy season of Lent may we each be aware of the powerful images of God breaking into our daily lives.

“Fleet of feet and of great patience – Eric Liddell”

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eliddellThe second half of winter is nearly always a test of patience; as the longer days of late winter tease that warmer weather is just ahead, the days of February refuse to yield the biting cold of winter. On this twenty second day of February I watched the morning weather report, predicting more accumulating snow with some sleet and ice thrown in for good measure. No worries, our church calendar gives us a gift this morning – the remembrance of Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell. Few of God’s children can boast of having quicker feet, greater patience or the capacity to surrender personal comfort and safety for the good of others like Liddell. His accomplishments on the athletic field and in the missionary field are impressive, and his devotion to his family and those he served throughout his life are quite impressive as well (more information – Eric Liddell Centre). But as I walk my Lenten journey through these cold winter days, I am strengthened by Liddell’s example of strength and perseverance. As we remember him today we pray from the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) Isaiah’s words are beautiful and inspiring, but the paradox of the words should not be lost: in waiting there is strength, and as we wait we will be able to fly, to run and to walk without losing the strength the LORD has given. It seems to me that these words of paradox describe Eric Liddell and exemplify his steadfast faith in God – he was one of the fastest men of his time, yet he showed great patience as he served God through his missionary work. I pray that we all may patiently wait for the LORD and then serve without hesitation when called…no matter the weather!

“God whose strength bears us up as on mighty wings: We rejoice in remembering your athlete and missionary, Eric Liddell, to whom you gave courage and resolution in contest and in captivity; and we pray that we also may run with endurance the race set before us and persevere in patient witness, until we wear that crown of victory won for us by Jesus our Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” Collect for the remembrance of Eric Liddell, February 22nd

“Spending some personal time with Christ”

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O'CollinsExperiencing Jesus by Gerald O’Collins, SJ; Chapter 2 – “Jesus the Meaning”

As we continue our journey through Lent, the second chapter of O’Collins’ book challenges us to consider our personal relationship with Jesus. O’Collins begins the chapter with a brief story of Augustine, a fourth century Christian of great renown, and his ill-conceived plan to wait for his teacher, Faustus, in order to learn all the secrets of life. Augustine was convinced that Faustus’ arrival would make all things known and his life’s plan would unfold clearly from the knowledge obtained from his insightful teacher. Faustus did arrive and impart his knowledge to Augustine, but everything in Augustine’s life was not neatly explained as he had thought. Life is a journey of unfolding truths, gained through experiences revealed to those with open minds and open hearts. The people of Nazareth struggled with this truth, as they rejected Jesus’ ministry among them as simply the works of the familiar carpenter. Although their actions may surprise us, we too can be guilty of trying to domesticate Jesus or suffer from over-familiarity with the powerful news of the Gospel…happily nodding to ourselves, “yes, I know that story and its lesson quite well.”

Lent is a season that particularly calls us to prayer and action in specific and personal ways. The lenten road is a journey that must be made with great intimacy and with personal intentions toward Jesus and all that Jesus invites us to be. O’Collins captures the intimacy and intentionality of Lent with the following words: “What ultimately matters is the ‘felt’ knowledge of our own experience…It is the same with our experience of Jesus. We experience him for ourselves or not at all. We pray to him ourselves or not at all. No one else, not even the dearest or closest person in our life, can take our place here. We do our praying to and our experiencing of Jesus personally…When Jesus knocks on our door, it is we who must open it to him. Here we cannot say to another person: ‘Please get up and see who is at the door of my heart.'” (p. 26) O’Collins’ insight is true for Lent and it is true for the days beyond Lent, when we continue to experience our ongoing and unfolding relationship with Jesus and with others. Throughout this holy season of Lent, let us renew and refresh our desire to seek Jesus in the grace given to us each day. The personal experiences that shape our lives and draw us into deeper relationships are forged through our desire and our commitment to our common life together.

“If I only had a holy Lent – finding God in the sacred wilderness”

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Lent I (Luke 4:1-13)  02/17/2013

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A few weeks ago Carol and I went to see the movie, Lincoln. As we sat in our seats waiting for the movie to begin, we of course were required to watch several minutes of previews of coming attractions. I often use the time before the movie starts to settle into my seat, turn off my phone, and generally prepare to enjoy the movie rather than watch the previews; but in this instance the preview of the coming movie, “Oz, The Great and Powerful” really caught my attention. The possibilities of creating the magical world of Oz with all the technology that Hollywood has available today is startling…and the preview also reminded me of watching the popular movie “The Wizard of Oz,” filmed in the late 1930’s. The characters of that classic movie are familiar to many of us; and their hopes and dreams are probably familiar to us as well. The scarecrow was certain he would have a better life, “if he only had a brain.” Dorothy apparently agreed with the scarecrow, singing along, “Why, with all the thoughts you’ll be thinkin’, you could be another Lincoln, if you only had a brain.” (that was not in the Lincoln movie, by the way) The Tinman’s life would be just fine, “if he only had a heart.” And the cowardly lion, well, he would be king of the forest “if he only had the nerve.” The lion is quite sure that if he was given some nerve he would be “as brave as a blizzard;” and we all know something about blizzards, don’t we? I can relate to the small group of dreamers on the Yellow Brick Road; in fact, just a week ago I remember having a few wishes of my own: if I only had a big snow blower; if I only had a truck with a plow; if I only had a ticket to some place warm and sunny. The desire to wish for that one powerful, yet elusive thing in our life can be very tempting indeed; the hope that everything will be just right if we only had that next big thing. Continue reading →

“Beyond Ash Wednesday”

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O'CollinsExperiencing Jesus by Gerald O’Collins, SJ; Chapter 1 – “What’s it all about?”

Ash Wednesday marks the start of the holy season of Lent; a journey of 40 days (not counting Sundays) that ends with the glorious, powerful and life-saving resurrection of Christ. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, it’s still just the morning after Ash Wednesday and the brilliance of Easter Morning seems very far away. Gerald O’Collins begins his Lenten reflection book with a chapter titled “What’s it all about?” The “it” O’Collins refers to is the subject, and the exploration, of the chapter rather than a mysterious and confusing pronoun (I always tell my kids, “use a proper noun before using a pronoun!”); and the “it” is not simply Ash Wednesday, but all that Ash Wednesday hopes to point toward as we begin our journey of Lent. And the journey begins with a funny smear of ashes on your forehead, should you so choose. O’Collins’ first chapter makes a clear point, however; should you not choose to have the ashes smeared across your forehead, the meaning remains and envelops your journey as well. What is that meaning?

The complicated answer is that there are so many meanings it would take a lifetime to approach the truth of it, but that seems like a cop-out. So, let’s take up the matter of the ashes again and focus our attention there. O’Collins makes a blunt point of it: “Ash on our foreheads shows what we are: people of dust and destined to die.” (p. 12) He continues to make several points of mortal life, points we know all too well – life if fragile, life is transient, life happens in the midst of the mighty cosmos, but life is sacred and God given; and this last bit about life trumps all the others. We head into Lent knowing that life is not always a box of chocolates (yes, Forest Gump’s mother said that) but we have been given our lives through the grace and love of God, which means that our life, our fragile mortal life, has a depth that transcends the fragility that appears on the surface of it. Lent’s journey is about exploring the depth of life so that we might appreciate, maybe even understand a bit of the abundant love that we have been given from the One who gives everything through love.