Prufrock's Child

Pasqua: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

2010-04-04T10:28:00.001+02:00

Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed and many people came to him. They said, "Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true." And in that place many believed in Jesus.

Lord, I thank you for John who pointed the way to my savior. Lord, remember him - he who was righteous and who was greater than a prophet - and bring him into you kingdom. And may I learn from him to point faithfully to Jesus, regardless of my circumstances, knowing full well that my only hope is in you, the Lord, the Creator and Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the author of life and the one who raises the dead.

Holy Saturday: Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in the underworld?

2010-04-03T14:25:00.001+02:00

When John's disciples heard of it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

Good Friday: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.

2010-04-02T01:13:00.000+02:00

...John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

Lent, Day 38: the kingdom of heaven suffers violence

2010-04-01T19:02:00.000+02:00

These are remains from a church built around the 5th century AD on top of Masada. The window below where the apse would have been looks across the dead sea toward Herod's transjordanian palace - the place where tradition held he executed John the Baptist. In this way the monks would constantly look to and remember John, God's servant, greater than a prophet, who pointed the way to our Savior in both life and death.

And she came in immediately with haste to the king, and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." And the king was exceedingly sorry; but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard and gave orders to bring his head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.

Lent, Day 37: We played the flute for you and you did not dance.

2010-03-31T00:10:00.001+02:00

For when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will grant it.”…So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the baptizer.”

Herod kept John safe from Herodias’ desire to have him killed. Herod, however, could not keep John safe from himself. He compromised himself and his values, such as they were, for his base appetite.

It is ironic that the ascetic is killed by the one who cannot deny himself. Or maybe it isn’t.

Lord, please teach me (o how I tremble as I ask this) to deny myself.

Lent, Day 36: he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment that was to come

2010-03-30T23:54:00.001+02:00

For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for for you to have your brother's wife." And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so; for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him.

Note the difference between Herodias and Herod. She held a grudge against John and wanted him killed; he was afraid yet fascinated by John. While Herod would not release John, he kept him alive for, like a moth to the flame, he could not resist the light which held his attention even as it burned him. Of the two, who was the more evil? (They remind me of the religious leaders and Pilate who work together in imprisoning the Lord, but whose motives and attitudes toward Jesus were so different).

Lent, Day 35: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

2010-03-29T10:27:00.000+02:00

And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, "John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him." But others were saying, "He is Elijah." And others were saying, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old."
But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, "John, whom I beheaded, has risen!"

Mark begins his story of John's execution after the fact, with King Herod Antipas (son of Herod the Great) hearing reports of the wonders done by Jesus. Herod's conscience cuts through the surmises of everyone else to his own conviction, his own 'Tell-Tale Heart" saying it's "John, whom I beheaded, who has risen."

The story that then unfolds is as much about Herod's sinfulness as it is John's suffering. Perhaps this is the right way to enter into holy week – with a focus not only on the righteous one whose death points toward our Savior's death but also the sinfulness that brought about that death.

Why? Well, for one thing, my own tell-tale heart will not stop speaking about the sins I've committed (not to mention those I would if I could). Like Herod, what I hear in others comments, no matter how innocent or un-related, seems to bring me back to me and what I've done. I have the benefit of not being a king and not having these sins gossiped about throughout the land; indeed, I keep them well-hidden (or so I hope). But even was I cunning enough to hide them from everyone else, the one who saw Zacheaus in the tree and Judas dip the bread and Peter make his third denial, sees me and, alas, knows my heart. And as I cannot escape his gaze, I cannot escape the saddest reality, namely that my sinfulness results in his suffering and death.

Poor Herod, that he could not cry out with me, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."

Palm Sunday: With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession.

2010-03-28T16:30:00.001+02:00

As Jesus has his passion so did John. Indeed, Jesus' ministry began when John was in prison (Mark 1:14, "After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God.") The story of John's arrest and execution is told in Mark 6 and is set between the sending out of Jesus' disciples and their return with success stories. It's as if Mark wants us to see John's suffering both as pre-figuring Jesus' passion and as a counterbalance to the disciples' successes. John's fate epitomizes what Mark clearly believes; faithfulness to God results in suffering.

In light of Mark's gospel, I am this week reflecting on John's sufferings both to appreciate what our Lord experienced in his own death as well as what faithfulness to God may result in for anyone who might follow.

Lent, Day 35 – "John the Baptist had risen from the dead."
Lent, Day 36 – But he enjoyed listening to him.
Lent, Day 37 – She pleased Herod and his guests
Lent, Day 38 – John beheaded
Good Friday – Behold the Lamb of God
Holy Saturday – John's disciples bury John

Lent, Day 34: gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit

2010-03-27T21:15:00.002+01:00

Jesus began to speak to the multitudes about John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces. But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.' Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

Peter writes: As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven-- things into which angels long to look. Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Thank you Lord Jesus for John, for his willingness to be more than a prophet so that I, and all my brothers and sisters, might be born into the Kingdom through you.

Lent, Day 33:Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this

2010-03-26T22:19:00.002+01:00

John, in prison (I am focusing on his imprisonment next week), sends a question by his disciples to Jesus: "Are you the one who is coming, or should we expect another?"

A moment of doubt? A need for consolation in dire circumstance? A chance to again point his disciples the right way? I am not sure why John asks.

Regardless, it does allow us to again see what John lived for – not for himself but for the one who would come after him. And this one came not to scold or to destroy, but to heal and to repair.
"Go and report to John what things you hear and see; blind are gaining sight and lame are walking, leprous are cleansed and deaf are hearing, dead are being raised and poor are receiving the gospel. And blessed is he who does not stumble because of me."

(Pisano, Baptistery Door, Jesus answers John's Disciples)

Lent, Day 32: Grieve, mourn and wail.

2010-03-25T18:05:00.000+01:00

John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples do not fast also. Jesus responds, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast."

James writes: "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you."

(Today's picture is from western doors of the Battistero di San Giovanni in Florence and depicts John's disciples visiting him in prison.)

Lent, Day 31: it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me

2010-03-24T10:38:00.001+01:00

As John sees Jesus come into his ministry, John recognizes that his own work is at an ebb. "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30)

Where for John this statement sums up his role as the one who comes before, for us who come after this statement must not be discarded. Indeed, it should become our prayer as it is the only way that we can persist on the way of love.

In his science fiction book Perelandra, C S Lewis beautifully captures the manner in which the increase of the Lord is our own fulfillment. Ransom, the protagonist, encounters on Perelandra (Venus) an un-fallen planet and an un-fallen human woman. Lewis describes the aftermath of Ransom and the Lady's first sustained encounter thus:

As soon as the Lady was out of sight Ransom's first impulse was to run his hands through his hair, to expel the breath from his lungs in a long whistle, to light a cigarette, to put his hands in his pockets, and in general, to go through the ritual of relaxation which a man performs on finding himself alone after a rather trying interview. But he had no cigarettes and no pockets; nor indeed did he feel himself alone. The sense of being in Someone's Presence which had descended on him with such unbearable pressure during the very first moments of his conversation with the Lady did not disappear when he had left her. It was, if anything, increased. Her society had been, in some degree, a protection against it, and her absence left him not to solitude but to a more formidable kind of privacy. At first it was almost intolerable; as he put it to us, in telling the story, "There seemed no room." But later on, he discovered that it was intolerable only at certain moments--at just those moments in fact (symbolized by his impulse to smoke and to put his hands in his pockets) when a man asserts his independence and feels that now at last he is on his own. When you felt like that, then the very air seemed too crowded to breathe; a complete fulness seemed to be excluding you from a place which, nevertheless, you were unable to leave. But when you gave in to the thing, gave yourself up to it, there was no burden to be borne. It became not a load but a medium, a sort of splendour as of eatable, drinkable, breathable gold, which fed and carried you and not only poured into you but out from you as well. Taken the wrong way, it suffocated; taken the right way, it made terrestrial life seem, by comparison, a vacuum.

Lent, Day 30: He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.

2010-03-23T10:13:00.000+01:00

There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John;
this one came for a witness in order that he might bear witness about the light,
in order that everyone might believe through him.
That one was not the light but was to bear witness to the light:
the true Light, who enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
(John 1:6-9, my translation)

Lent, Day 29: you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked

2010-03-22T10:09:00.001+01:00

I received my Christian baptism more than 25 years ago but alas I do not remember the experience. I should point out that mine was a believer's baptism, not that of an infant, in case one might be tempted to say "duh" to this lament. I only remember afterward, being brought to my house by my friend Jack on his motorcycle. I remember this because I recall what it felt like to take the helmet off my head of wet hair.

I wonder if I would have remembered my baptism more if the water had not been warmed. On a less significant day from around the same time of my youth, I recall stepping into the icy cold water of the Kern River; it took my breath away and indeed that may have been the first time I had ever been in cold river water. (I grew up near the southern California beach and the summer waters at the coast there are not all that cold.) Perhaps all my forbears who were baptized in a similar fashion were use to "cold" water and so found the physical experience simply normal.

Maybe especially so the water of the baptistery should not have been warmed. Maybe in a way, such luxury suggests that I am better than or more deserving of comfort than my forebears. At the least it points to the different world and the different standards to which I am accustomed.

Perhaps this is also why, when the Baptist says "I baptize with water but one is coming after me who will baptize you with the Spirit and with fire," I am at something of a loss to appreciate the difference. A product of my culture, I am neither accustomed to judgment (fire) or to ecstasy (in its truest sense, i.e., Spirit).

Come to think of it, if the water had been too warm, I would have remembered that too.

Fifth Sunday of Lent: I am not fit to carry his sandals

2010-03-21T17:27:00.000+01:00

In this, the penultimate week of Lent, I am going to focus on comparisons between the ministries of the Baptist and the Christ. John's ministry is not simply to baptize the Lord but to point us toward him. To do this, John must point away from himself.

Day 29 - "I baptize with water but he baptizes with fire and Spirit"

Day 30 - "He who comes after me was before me."

Day 31 - "He must increase, but I must decrease."

Day 32 - "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers,...but yours eat and drink."

Day 33 - "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

Day 34 - "Among those born of women, none is greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

Lent, Day 28: "I am the Lord's Servant."

2010-03-20T21:19:00.001+01:00

Always a best man, never the groom.

John stands there as Jesus comes up out of the water and the Spirit comes down out of the heavens and he hears God say, "You are my beloved son."

Years in the wilderness. A solitary life lived on the barest of means. Then, when he could be with people, he can speak with them of only judgment and a need for repentance.

Finally, one approaches who is different; this is the one for which John had truly been preparing. In baptizing him, John finds his greatest moment. God's response: "You are my son whom I love." Yet these words are for Jesus and not for John. John's raison d'etre was someone else's acclamation.

John is certainly a better man than me; I think I would be frustrated that God had not spoken to me, had not at least dropped "oh, and you too, well done you." However, this is Lent all over again, the season of 'not about me,' and John is my very necessary example once again.

John reminds me of the angel Gabriel who came to the blessed Virgin, saying "Hail, favored one, the Lord is with you." I keep a picture of that annunciation on my wall in my office. It sits right above the seat where students usually sit when they visit and reminds me of my role in their lives. "I am Gabriel telling you that God is doing something amazing in your life." Gabriel's image reassures me of the great task I've been giving as a professor of Holy Scripture as well a the humble reminder (again, very necessary for me) that I am only the messenger. I must not get in the way of what God is doing; I must not make the task that has been given me about me.

Lord, when, like John, I hear you say, "You are my beloved Son," help me not to be jealous but to be content that I have heard, that I know and that in some way I have assisted you to say it.

Lent, Day 26: and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit

2010-03-19T17:33:00.001+01:00

Lent, Day 26: I want to know Christ

2010-03-18T22:29:00.000+01:00

According to the fourth evangelist, John didn't know Jesus until he baptized him (John 1:31, 33). Yet Luke, and a myriad of Renaissance artists, would have us believe that from infancy on, John knew Jesus and pointed to him.

Perhaps there is a difference between where John and Luke got their information about John the Baptist. Or perhaps, the Baptist is admitting that until Jesus was baptized and the heavens opened and the dove descended, he didn't comprehend who Jesus was and what he, the Baptist, was involved in. Indeed, even if the fourth gospel doesn't know what Luke knows, I think it is true that John comes to see Jesus in a completely different light right at the baptism.

The heavens opened. The dove descended. God spoke. And John was a witness to it all.

It is one thing to think things, to hold views, to have an abstract or theoretical faith. It is something else entirely to come face to face with the reality of what one believes, to see its truth and to encounter its realness. To know it. To know Him.

Where has your faith been made real for you? I've not had John's experience, to be sure, but I've had moments. After my dad died, the way Christian people surrounded me - I still feel the sense of being buoyed I had those days, and in that feeling I knew the reality of what I believed. The impromptu birthday party I was a part of in St. Petersburg, Russia, where a group of us sat in a small student flat and feted the pre-teen daughter of one of my students. What fellowship we had that evening. It was an epiphany for me. The day Shelly told me that she would love me and support me even if I didn't finish my dissertation, a statement which freed me like nothing else to finish. God's voice, pure and simple; his gracious voice.

I knew God before these moments; but I experienced him in these moments, and my knowledge became real.

In my observing Lent, God, please help me to let go of the things that prevent me from knowing you, from experiencing and relating to you. Let me count all things as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing you, Christ Jesus, my Lord.

Lent, Day 25: the dawn from on high will break upon us

2010-03-17T21:29:00.000+01:00

"when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened...."

"If the sky can crack there must be some way back/for love and only love"
- U2, "Electrical Storm"

Lent, Day 24: Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and head as well.

2010-03-16T23:57:00.000+01:00

As when Jesus came to Peter to wash his feet and Peter said no, so when Jesus comes to John to be baptized, John says no. "John prevented him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?'"

Both Peter and John stop Jesus, or try to, out of a conviction that they better realize what is best for them. (Peter made a habit of standing in Jesus' way, from his calling, to his naming, to his denying, to his refusing [to do what was unclean].)

It is obvious that Jesus knows better than them . And is obvious that he knows better then me, at least it is up until I think he doesn't. I feel the need in the light of this story about John stopping Jesus to investigate the areas where I refuse Jesus - whether it is when he seeks to serve me or to have me serve him. I have to be careful because in either case (John's or Peter's) their reasoning seems more appropriate than Jesus'; probably that's true in my own life as well.

Lord, when these moments arise, let me trust you and your words, "You do not understand what I am doing now, but later you will understand."

Lent, Day 23: Let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.

2010-03-15T11:54:00.001+01:00

Jesus left his family and his work as a carpenter in Nazareth and travelled to the wilderness of Judea to be baptized by John.

I wonder if another aspect of John's preaching in the wilderness is that it made it so that coming to see and listen to him was a decision in itself. One notices how everyone from the crowds to the religious authorities had to make the trek to the wilderness to hear John; only those who wanted to hear (regardless of their motives) heard and only those who wanted to be baptized (regardless of their motives?) were baptized.

John's message of repentance is a call to decision. I wonder what Jesus thought about as he made the trip away from Nazareth to the Judean wilderness. Did he consider the building projects he left unfinished (or did he finish everything he set out to do as a carpenter)? Did he contemplate how this decision changed his relationship with his mother and his family? How he'd no longer be there with them but they, if they would see him, would have to come to him since "the son of man can have no place to lay his head"? Was he thinking of what he would do afterward, the healings, the exorcisms, the returning of children to their parents from death? Was he drawing up plans for his disciples and how he would teach them? Or did he see, already, on the far horizon, the hill with three crosses? Did he know that immediately after his baptism he would be whisked away into the wilderness himself?

I think Jesus at least knew that his life was going to change, that he was going to do what he had been sent to do. He knew he was fulfilling his God-given purpose.

John's submitting himself to God's purpose facilitated others finding their purpose in life, even and especially our Lord. Like deep calls to deep, so lives of purpose resonate with other such lives. This is the importance of my church community, where I allow others to fulfill their purpose by serving me and where I live out my own calling with the encouragement and instruction of their examples. It is also the importance of my being faithful to God in what I do as a husband, father, teacher, scholar, colleague, etc. My decision to give God all of me influences others more and for the better than my refusals to submit to him ever could.

4th Sunday of Lent:

2010-03-14T20:57:00.001+01:00

This week I will contemplate John's baptism of Jesus. In his letters to the Christians in Rome and at Colossae, Paul describes Christian Baptism as as a death ("we were buried with him by baptism into death," "you were buried with him in baptism"). In Jesus' case, his baptism begins his own march toward his death. To be sure, coming into this world was the beginning of his earthly progression, but in his baptism he owns this fate for himself as human adult. If Bonhoeffer is correct that when Jesus calls a man, he calls him to come and die; so for himself, when Jesus officially responded to God's call, he was coming to die.

This is important to Lent because it is a season of putting ourselves to death (as, again, in Colossians, "put to death the earthly parts of you"). It is also important because in this baptism of Jesus John finds his singular purpose; he ushers the Lord into his ministry, into action. The wilderness, John's much longer Lenten season, had prepared him for precisely this. John is a forerunner, an examplar for me in what I hope to accomplish this and every Lenten season, indeed, every day; to bring Jesus into action in my world through my own service to him.

Lent, Day 23 - Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee (Mark 1:9)
Lent, Day 24 - John prevented Jesus (Matthew 3:14)
Lent, Day 25 - the heaven was opened (Luke 3:21)
Lent, Day 26 -"I myself did not know him" (John 1:33)
Lent, Day 27 - the Spirit descending like a dove
Lent, Day 28 - You are my Son, whom I love

PS - I regret the tardiness for Days 21 and 22 [they are posted under their intended, not actual, dates]. This series has been a blessing to me and it is the primary thrust of my Lenten observance. I do appreciate your patience (even if the only reader is me) and promise to do my best to keep on time with future posts.

Lent, Day 22: And the mutlitudes asked, What then shall we do?

2010-03-13T23:14:00.001+01:00

When confronted with John's stark command to bear fruit or die, people respond pleadingly, "What shall we do?" John answered: "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." To the tax collectors who asked this question he said, "Collect no more than is appointed you." And to the soldiers he said, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation and be content with your wages."

It's worth noting that John's time in the wilderness did not leave him with a misanthropic spirituality. Rather than tell people how they must go into the wilderness, leaving all wealth and its distractions behind, he tells them to care for others, to show fairness and to foster relation relationships.

Lent should put us in touch with the generosity of God, not detach us from it. Again, as always, this season is about laying ourselves down before God and before others (see my earlier post on Isaiah and true fasting). The offering we make is not one that celebrates our sufferings but celebrates how our self-denial turns into the giving of our selves to God and to others.

(Wise men bring gifts to the Christ child.)

Lent, Day 21: Even now the ax is at the root of the trees

2010-03-12T23:58:00.000+01:00

It is somewhat ironic, I think, that the first (hopefully the only) day I missed in my Lenten blog series is the one I had given the tentative title: Produce fruit or else. John warns his listeners, "every tree that does not bear good fruit is thrown into the fire." Jesus himself says, "No branch can bear by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." And then a few moments later, he says "If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned."

Lent, Day 20: the very stones would cry out

2010-03-11T23:03:00.000+01:00

Entering the Lenten wilderness to receive the testimony of John against us is very difficult but necessary for repentance. The only way out of the wilderness is through it. The only way to receive John's offer of forgiveness and to receive also his charge against me, that I am an offspring of vipers.

If I'm accused, I immediately seek to defend myself. I am good at arguing my case (there is only person I ever really get into arguments with and I think she would agree with this). Perhaps I'm too good; already on the defense, I don't listen as much as prepare my next move. John is quicker than me. He first accuses me of my sinfulness and then, before I can say it, he anticipates my best defense, the "it's not what I've done but who I know" argument.

He says "Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham."

Partly, what John does here is prevent me from claiming my Christianity, my 'being saved,' as an excuse. Who I know should change how I live.

But knowing God is not about me, it's about God. As John puts it bluntly, God doesn't need me. (This seems perhaps harsh to say, However, I think it is true. It's what C S Lewis recognized, as he was coming to faith, when he said that it was better for heaven to exist then for him to get there.)

Though God does not need me, he wants me. But for him to have me, I must have him. To have him, I must accept that I don't need me either. I need God. Learning to leave me for him is repentance and repentance bears fruit.

Lent, Day 19: Anyone who chooses to become a friend with the world becomes an enemy of God

2010-03-10T23:59:00.001+01:00

In Luke's Gospel, John calls all who come to see him a "brood of vipers" (in Matthew's, he only says this to the Pharisees). The difficulty with John's preaching and with Lent is that it forces us to see ourselves in a harsh light; even more difficult is that light is generally truthful. Repentance means accepting that we aren't who we should be doing what we should be doing.

Lent, Day 18: John's Baptism was a Baptism of Repentance

2010-03-09T22:05:00.000+01:00

When I was a graduate student I researched the Greek terms 'metanoia' and 'metanoeo,' usually translated "repentance" and "to repent," respectively. What I found surprised me and altered my earlier understanding of the concept. I had thought, because of how I heard the word used and came to use it myself, that repenting meant simply to stop doing what you are doing. Perhaps it also meant to feel bad about what you had been doing. What I found (and I can provide you a bibliography, if you want, which includes an interesting doctoral dissertation by a fellow ND alum)...er, anyway, what I found was that the word involves this turning from something bad but also involves a turning to something good. It is a turning to as much as a turning from. I used to think of John as coming to tell people simply to stop sinning when he told them to repent; he was, but he was also telling them to turn toward God, to do what God would have them do.

I suppose I should think of Lent the same way. It is not simply a fasting from but a turning toward. There is a humility and self-denial involved, but it is the humility and self-denial that hopes and trusts that God will restore and exalt us into his presence.

(Today's picture is of a baptism in the Jordan River that I recently witnessed.)

Lenten Interlude

2010-03-09T09:21:00.000+01:00

A year ago today, Shelly had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from her kidney. I give you thanks, God, for your tender mercies which you rain down upon us.

Lent, Day 17: And what did you go to the wilderness to see?

2010-03-08T19:04:00.002+01:00

If you live it, they will come.

Simon Stylites ended the remaining years of his life standing (!) on a pillar more than 40 feet above the ground.

And people came to see him.

Anthony moved further and further into the desert of Egypt.

And people came to see him.

Mother Theresa lived among the most destitute of this earth, a human wilderness, in Calcutta.

And people came to see her.

John, wearing a camel hair tunic with a leather belt, eating bugs to atone for the honey he also ate, lived in the trackless region around the Jordan.

And people came to see him.

A life lived in the absence of excess, indeed in the pursuit of want, seems an odd draw for crowds. Perhaps it is because it is so abnormal they come to watch what makes little sense. More likely, there is something in the asceticism of these people that resonates with us, even though (maybe especially because) we are not capable of really emulating it. What is interesting is that in their abandoning the wealth and ways of the civilized world, people like Theresa, Simon, Anthony and John found an authority and credibility with people of that world; they talked, or perhaps just acted, and people listened.

The novelty of asceticism has slipped to its near non-existence in our own time. I wonder, if we are not getting our wisdom from those who battle with the desires of the world then from where is it coming? And what kind of wisdom is it?

3rd Sunday of Lent: I have come down to deliver them.

2010-03-07T14:10:00.002+01:00

Luke tell us that the Word of God came to John in the wilderness and then "he went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." This week we will explore John's preaching.

Day 17 - Presentation is Everything (Camel skin, locusts, wild honey, etc.)
Day 18 - John's Baptism (Repentance)
Day 19 - Since flattery gets you nowhere..."You brood of vipers"
Day 20 - What's the difference between a stone and a child of Abraham?
Day 21 - Timber! (Produce fruit or else.)
Day 22 - Then what shall we do?

Lent, Day 16: those who wait for the Lord, will gain new strength

2010-03-06T22:55:00.001+01:00

I've suggested that I think John was in the wilderness to prepare himself for his service to God. As we shall soon see, his stern call for repentance has a hardness he learned in the desert. Still, what is the end result of being in the wilderness for John? Was he resigned to his task? Or was he ready and raring to go? From his youth, John was set aside for a purpose and now the time had come. After waiting, learning, praying, John was about to fulfill the purpose God had ordained for him since before he was in his mother's womb.

Ready, Set, Go.

Lent, Day 15: Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

2010-03-05T08:28:00.000+01:00

A traveling day. Even though we prepare ourselves by the wilderness for serving God, God is not absent. Also from the Scalzo cloister, here is another non-biblical depiction of John and Christ meeting in the wilderness while youths. To prepare ourselves for serving the Lord, we must recognize him when he comes. To do this, we are dependent on his coming near to show himself to us even in our preparatoin. Thank you for coming to me, Lord, in all the ways and through all the people you do - please open my eyes to see you more.

Lent, Day 14: prepare the way of the Lord

2010-03-04T22:43:00.002+01:00

We recently visited Qumran in the Judean wilderness, just by the north west shore of the Dead Sea, where are the ruins of some type of Jewish sectarian community that practised rigorous purity rituals as well as strident preservation and attention to the Jewish scriptures and related writings. The site is most famous for yielding the literary remains of that community, the well known Dead Sea Scrolls found in 11 nearby caves.

Some think John may have been part of this community for a time as they too had gone into the wilderness to prepare a place for the Lord (they were highly critical of how the Jewish establishment in Juerusalem practiced the faith). They even read Isaiah 40:3 as a mandate for them, but put the emphasis differently.

For the Gospels, Isaiah 40:3 reads: A voice in the wilderness is calling "Prepare the Way of the Lord."

For the Qumran community, the Isaiah passage reads: A voice is calling "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord."

The differences are probably many but I want to focus on one possible difference important for Lent. Lent is a symbolic withdrawl, a figurative going out into the wilderness in order to prepare for the coming of the Lord. Unlike the Qumran community, our expectation is not that we are making a place in the wilderness that is suitable for the Lord to come to us - ours is not a retreat to a more suitable environment for God. Rather, it is about making ourselves more suitable for service to God where ever he'll send us. We turn to the Lenten wilderness for what it does to us to make us more available, more useful for God.

Lent, Day 13: the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness

2010-03-03T11:02:00.001+01:00

The Judean wilderness was John's training ground, his school yard. There is some speculation about what he did there (see tomorrow's post), but it is clear that the wilderness shaped who he was as much as what he did. In the Judean wilderness, there are streams of water and moments of life, but there is much more of what we might call nothingness then of anything else. Yet this is where the Spirit sent the Lord after his baptism, and this is where John found his preparation for prophecy. Why?

"Oh God, you are my God; I shall seek you earnestly; My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you, In a dry and weary land where there is no water."

Lent, Day 12: a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline

2010-03-02T18:53:00.001+01:00

This image comes, again, from the Chiostro della Scalzo (it's by Il Franciagio and dates to c. 1519). It represents a scene not captured in the biblical gospels, namely Zacharias blessing John in his childhood. I notice the juxtaposition between Zacharias' almost sterness and Elizabeth's tenderness, perhaps even sadness. In between is the prayerful acceptance of the young John. When the prophet finds out he is a prophet, it must be that the he is born again between sterness and sadness, between conviction and compassion.

The whole scene reminds me of what Paul wrote Timothy: "I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." Timothy's religious life is a mixture of his mother's and grandmother's faith and of his spiritual father's zeal. Together, this nexus renders him equipped for the hard road laid out for him by God , providing a spirit not of timidity but of power, love and self-disicpline.

This is what I need to recall for Lent - that God is serious in calling me to renounce my sins and turn to follow him. And that God is loving, giving me his Spirit to enable the power, love and self-discipline necessary to make that turn and to live for him.

Lent, Day 11: I have stilled and quited my soul

2010-03-01T19:57:00.003+01:00

When you know God has designated your child to be a great prophet who will serve Him with his life, how do you proceed in raising him? Of course, we could easily ask the same question regarding the parenting of John's Cousin but I think maybe we should even ask the question for us who parent children born under less austere signs.

I've spent the last two days traveling from Florence to Heidelberg with Shelly and our four boys, each a fascinating world of his own. The terrain we've covered on our trip included grand imaginations, fierce tenacity, abundant information, and lots of engergetic explosions - I think the countryside might have been enjoyable as well.

I'd like to say that in all of this I soaked up every moment up, was exemplary in patience, and offered only gentle inspiration. Alas. Still, after 13 years of stumbling-in-the-dark parenting, I think I've learned that the art of knowing when not to do something is as important (if not more so) than the urge to do as much as I can.

I wonder if, as John grew up, Zachariah and Elizabeth found themselves perplexed at how to proceed in their task. Maybe, like me, they would at times just stop, and say, "I'm not sure I know how to proceed, or even if I should; he's yours more than mine, please take his hand and mine. Please."

The Second Sunday of Lent: wait for the Lord

2010-02-28T00:09:00.000+01:00

This week's Lenten reflections are on John's youth, with Luke 1:80 as the inspiration: "And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel."

Day 11 – And the child kept growing

Day 12 – and became strong in the spirit

Day 13 – and he was in the wilderness

Day 14 – wilderness?

Day 15 – wilderness!

Day 16 –until the day he publically appeared to Israel

The reflections will be more concise because I'll be traveling.

Lent, Day 10: for he has visited us

2010-02-27T13:00:00.002+01:00

For today's reflection I offer first a quotation, then an image, and finally a translation.

The quotation comes from Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations from Frederick Buechner and is the Feb 27^th reading:

    "A wedding. A handshake. A kiss. A coronation. A parade. A dance. A meal. A graduation. A mass. A ritual is the performance of an intuition, the rehearsal of a dream, the playing of a game.

    A sacrament is the breaking through of the sacred into the profane; a ritual is the ceremonial acting out of the profane in order to show forth its sacredness.

    A sacrament is God offering his holiness to men; a ritual is men raising up the holiness of their humanity to God."

The image is of the apse of San Miniato al Monte, a church just across the Arno on a hill overlooking Florence. For over a thousand years, monks there have been daily worshipping God. Last night we made the trip up to worship with them – we worshipped silently, guided by their chants. As we sat in the cold crypt (slightly warmed by two small electric heaters), a floor below the apse, I relished our momentary participation in a thousand years long ritual.

Finally, here is my own translation of Luke 1:68-79.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

for he has visited us,

he has redeemed his people,

he has raised up a horn of salvation for us

        in the house of David, his servant,

(as he spoke long ago through his holy prophets)

salvation from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us

to show mercy to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant,

an oath which he swore to our father Abraham,

to enable us, once delivered from our enemies,

to serve him,

without fear

            in devotion and righteousness

                in his presence

                    all the days of our lives.

And now, child, you yourself will be called

Prophet of the Most High

    for you will go before the Lord

        to prepare his ways,

        to grant knowledge of salvation to his people

            by the pardoning of their sins

        because of God's compassionate heart

            by which the dawn of heaven visits us,

giving light to those who reside in

darkness and the shadow of death,

to lead our feet into the way of peace.

Lent, Day 9: all these things were talked about

2010-02-26T01:26:00.001+01:00

And fear came over all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him.

John was born into a world that hummed with excitement over his birth. His was a story his parents and their neighbors were anxious to see play out, since clearly 'the hand of the Lord was with him.'

One of the beauties of the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts (really, a 2-volume work) is how they celebrate the playing out of God's plan. The center piece of the unfolding of that plan is its involvement of people, from our Lord, to his mother, to John, to the apostles, to the Jewish leaders, to the crowds. While it is God who carries out his plan, his plan is about human beings and involves them, whether in their cooperation or in their resistance. He uses what they give him.

All of life is charged with the presence of God, a God who is active in bringing about his will. Unfortunately, we aren't usually aware of this; perhaps we've forgotten it after millennia of trying to go it alone, or perhaps we actively avoid accepting God's presence in spite of nagging suspicions. However, when we are aware of God's presence, when events (like those surrounding John's birth) alert us to God actively working in the world, it is a marvelous awareness. It is even more marvelous when we realize that God's activity is not only among us, but is about us and includes us.

Lent, Day 8: he began to speak

2010-02-25T00:01:00.000+01:00

At least 9 months of not talking. There was obviously some kind of communication between Zechariah and Elizabeth, but no talking. Not since Gabriel had left him dumb at the temple.

What would happen to you if you couldn't speak? Practically speaking, since I don't know sign language, I can envision lots of negatives. I would not be able to work (though I am sure some of my students might like the idea of me being mute). I would not be able to help as much with parenting. I wouldn't be able to say "I love you" to my boys or to my wife, at least not in the way I'm accustomed.

Still, there might be some good in my not talking. I find I use talking to hide my feelings as much as to express them, and to cover areas where I have uncertainty or feel inadequate. What's more, I find talking keeps me from listening – I even sometimes talk so I don't have to listen. Not being able to speak might cause me to listen more, might help me to value an honest word shared carefully as opposed to words used too liberally and for ill gain.

It might be that if I couldn't speak (or spoke less at least), I might have something of substance to say when I did speak.

Zechariah spent many months watching and listening and wondering (and, again, performing some domestic responsibilities). When his son was finally born and he signed off on the name Elizabeth was putting forward, Zechariah suddenly found his voice…"Immediately, his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God."

(Photo: My son Paul singing praises on the sea of Galilee)

Lent, Day 7: His name is John

2010-02-24T00:34:00.000+01:00

When our twins were born, we knew that we would name them Paul and Samuel. We envisioned having them together right after they were born, seeing them and deciding which would be named which. However, because of complications with breathing, the first baby was whisked away immediately. An hour and 14 minutes later, the second baby was born, seemingly healthy, so we thought it would be just a few minutes until they would be together and we could name them. But while the first baby proved fine, the second was himself whisked away to the Neo-Natal intensive care unit because of low blood sugar. It would be 36 hours or so before Shelly would meet him. We wanted to be all together for the naming so delayed the event as long as possible. However, the hospital staff did not like referring to the boys as Baby A and Baby B and so finally we relented and named our boys though one was temporarily in absentia.

To properly care for our babies, the hospital staff needed to know who they were, to say their names as they changed them, cleaned them, gave them medicine. It was important to their service. For us, we wanted to see them together to discern who was who. Somehow, however, immediately upon naming them, they were who they were and we have not doubted ever that Paul was Paul and Samuel was Samuel.

Elizabeth's baby was born into a world that had strong traditions of naming. It was clear to all at his circumcision that he should have a family name, even his father's name. While Zechariah sat by (holding the baby?), mute, Elizabeth said "No. His name is John." Confused at her breach from tradition, those present turned to Zechariah, expecting him to see it their way. 'But he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And all of them were amazed.' (Luke 1:63).

Just as his purpose was pre-ordained by God, so was the baby's identity. He wasn't going to be what his family or his community would make of him, but what God had determined for him. Perhaps this should be true for all of us but the difference is that from the outset everyone knew John was God's person.

As I follow John this Lenten season, I want to learn from his story that my identity comes from God. God may use my family, my community, my world to forge who I am (or he may not) but he – not others and not myself – has the final say on who I'll be.

Lent, Day 6: Blessed is the fruit of your womb.

2010-02-23T00:01:00.000+01:00

After the baby leaps in her womb, Elizabeth herself greets the Mother of our Lord, the first of myriads upon myriads to say "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb." Mary receives not enough attention among my fellow Protestants, she who was the first to receive Christ by faith and to bring him into being – she in this way is not only the mother of God but also our mother in faith (cf. 1 Cor 4:15 for the precedent of parental language).

Today, though, I want to focus on Elizabeth's statement about Mary's baby. Can you imagine an expectant mother saying to another expectant mother, your child is blessed above my own? However, Elizabeth does not lesson her love for her son by recognizing the greatness of Mary's child. Rather, when our love for the Lord is foremost, all our other loves are elevated. Indeed, John's life finds its meaning in the Lord, as do all our lives and the lives of our most cherished loved ones.

And the Lord is worthy of our devotion since he faithfully redeems what we surrender to him, whether it is ourselves, our children or our world entire.

Lent, Day 5: he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born

2010-02-22T09:01:00.001+01:00

Like Jeremiah, to whom God said "before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart," and like Paul, who says that God "set me apart from birth and called me by his grace," John was born for a purpose. His exists for the purpose of preparing the way of the Lord. What is more is that he has the presence of God's Spirit to empower, sustain, and direct him to accomplish his calling. When she receives a visit from her cousin Mary, newly with Child, Elizabeth feels the baby in her own womb leap. Even there the baby knows his purpose.

I've been pondering this fact for several days and until tonight was at a loss what to say here. But once again being part of a college community blesses me. Tonight, in our villa worship, we were led in a devotional that focused us on the need to live our lives by faith and not by our own efforts. Recalling one of our Holy Land guide's anecdote of how Herod the Great built his "Herodium" palace to demonstrate he could move a mountain, tonight's speaker talked about how in her own life she is tempted to spend all the effort of Herod (or rather, his slaves) in moving mountains rather than having the mountain moving faith that Jesus spoke of. She cited examples of such faith like David (a shepherd boy whose city we recently visited and whose form, immortalized by Michelangelo, is just a few blocks away from us now) and of Solomon (who as a boy said to God, "Speak, for your servant is listening" and as an adult saw to it that "none of God's words fell to the ground" and in so doing judged Israel justly and ushered them faithfully into the era of the Monarchy). But then she, as good speakers do, got me with this: God has intentions such as these for people such as us. She rightly spoke of the room she and her peers were in as holding incredibly, history making potential…if we will be faithful. Perhaps some of us gathered might move a mountain the tedious way, a la Herod. But in reality, it is only by faith that we move the mountains that matter, as our Lord taught us, "Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing."

The Spirit that filled John in utero and thereafter is the very same that works in our lives now. May we be like John and yield to that Spirit to sustain us, direct us and empower us to accomplish all God intends for us.

(Thanks C. for the devotional thoughts and permission to draw from them here. The picture today is of Eliot playing with sand against the backdrop of the Caesarean aqueduct. Like Herodium, Caesarea was one of Herod's grandiose building projects.)

The First Sunday of Lent: "whoever clings to me I will deliver"

2010-02-21T09:01:00.001+01:00

This next week I will continue to focus on events leading up to and culminating with John's birth (all taken from Luke 1).

February 22 – In the womb yet with the Spirit

February 23 – Blessed is the Fruit of your womb

February 24 – "No. He is to be called John."

February 25 – And his mouth opened immediately.

February 26 – People were talking.

February 27 – Benedictus

The third full week of Lent, I'll reflect on John's growing up. For the fourth week, the focus will be on John's teachings and baptisms. The focus for the fifth week will be on John baptizing the Lord. In the sixth week, I'll consider differences between John's ministry and Jesus' ministry. Between Palm Sunday and Easter, the focus will be on John's death and burial.

Of course, all of this is subject to change. I am writing this for myself but I hope it's a blessing to anyone who reads it. I welcome any comments or questions you have. .

Lent, Day 4: …he will be a joy and a delight to you…

2010-02-20T09:01:00.002+01:00

The first thing that Gabriel tells Zachariah about John is that "he will be a joy and a delight to you." I marvel that Luke includes this in his account, since it seems to have little to do with John's role as the one "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Yet John is not just the one who prepares the way for Jesus, he is also the answer to his parents' prayer, and with his coming Elizabeth exclaims, "the Lord has done this for me…he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people." John the Baptist is also John the son of his parents.

God works his plan so that not only does John bring back many of the people of Israel to their God but John blesses and fulfills his parents' lives.

Yesterday, Isaiah told us that true fasting involves caring for "our own flesh and blood." In the midst of the Lenten season, and at other times, I find myself becoming distracted from my loved ones by my earnest pursuit of spiritual development. I need to recall that my family is God's gracious gift to me, that they are my joy and delight, my honor, and (in ways I cannot fathom) part of God's salvation plan. However I pursue God, it must be through my family life and not apart from it.

Lent, Day 3: your light will break forth like the dawn

2010-02-19T09:01:00.000+01:00

Zechariah prophecies of his son: "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."

Lent is a time for fasting and as such it's a novelty in our world. So far as I can tell, willingly depriving ourselves is generally rare in the affluent circles I walk in. We think too much of ourselves to deprive ourselves and look to fasting as outmoded and medieval. We are too enlightened and our world too advanced. Why fast when we have all we need?

But, still, for some of us, we attempt fasting because we've heard that it will strengthen our relationship with God – but even here we must be careful to fast properly. The Israelites fasted to gain God's attention ("Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?"). One thing they apparently didn't fast from was themselves, to disastrous ends: "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high." This is the peril of fasting and seasons of fasting like Lent; it and they can become about us, rather than about God. When this happens, we are back where we started, if not worse.

So what then? The secret of not making it about ourselves is making fasting about others, about God (of course) but also about our fellow human beings. So the prophet Isaiah teaches us: "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I."

Lord, I call to you; Lord, in your tender mercy, set me free from myself by helping me to serve you and to serve others. Help me embrace the irony that in giving up myself for Lent and for always, I will be saved from darkness to bathe in your glorious light.

Lent, Day 2: if you love the Lord your God and walk in obedience…

2010-02-18T14:31:00.003+01:00

John stands in the Judean Wilderness preaching to the crowds and then at the Pharisees, an investigatory delegation of which had just arrived. In the midst of referring to these supposed paragons of righteousness as a Brood of Vipers (was this an old Essene vs. Pharisee rivalry bubbling up?), John tells them to Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

I am struck by the order "produce fruit." The production of fruit requires the good soil of repentance; indeed, repentance is all we can bring to the process, repentance and a life lived in penitent righteousness. As St. Paul tells the Corinthians, he planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but only the Lord made it grow. The Lord gives growth and so he is the ultimate source of the fruit (with the Lord as its head, 'the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow" [TNIV]

But when we deal with God and the growth that he gives, we must also deal with God's timing. Ours is not the God of short term profits and he provides the fruit how he wishes, when he wishes. Today's image is from the Chiostro dello Scalzo in Florence, one of a set of monochrome frsecoes by Andrea del Sarto and Il Franciabigio painted in the early 1500s for a lay group of men devoted to Florence's Patron Saint. The set tell the story of the life of the Baptist and today's js the first, depicting the annunciation to Zechariah as he ministered in the temple. Luke sets up this encounter thus:

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

Barrenness, the ultimate and for many the most frustrating absence of fruit. Yet God, in his time, brings from this righteous couple tremendous fruit ("among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist," says our Lord).

In Deuteronomy, Moses sets before the people a choice, life or death, and tells them that if they choose life, if you love the Lord their God, and walk in obedience to him, then they will live and increase. There is no timetable on when our repentance and our righteous deeds will bear fruit, or if we'll even know it when they do. All we can do is choose to obey.

I am struggling to remember that my task is the obedience, His is the increase. I am challenged by the example of Zechariah and Elizabeth who were faithful without any assurances (at least, until the angel showed up but then Zechariah suddenly wasn't so resolute); I am challenged by their faith and by the tremendous way God honored them.

Create in me a pure heart, O God

2010-02-17T10:09:00.000+01:00

Sojourning for a time in Florence, Italy, I've decided to offer up my second annual observance of Lent on this blog with photographs (I've taken) that accord with themes shaped by this city's patron saint, St. John the Baptist. The Prophet Joel gives voice to the divine plea, "return to me with all your heart," and Paul the Apostle implores us, "Be reconciled to God!" How do we do this? How do we return to God? How do we become reconciled to him? Surely it is by listening to John's call: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near!" and "Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him." John teaches us that the ability to return and to be reconciled to God begins not with us but with God and his drawing close; we ready ourselves not for what we will do but for what God will do. So it is with Lent – we fast and pray not to make ourselves more capable but to make ourselves more ready for what God will do on Good Friday and on Easter Sunday. John prepares us for the coming of the Lord by his preaching and his example – he is the original Christian ascetic. So, for this Lenten season, I for one will contemplate John's life, with the help of Florentine art and sites, in the hopes that his spiritual patronage will perhaps extend to me as well, by God's grace.
(Photo of Fra Angelico's "Crucifixion with Saints" at the Musei San Marco, crop of John the Baptist.)

Breathe on Me, Breath of God, and Give Me Peace

2009-06-01T00:14:00.003+02:00

When my friend Ron H. and I were hiking, I saw this and knelt to take a picture of it. "Look how something so beautiful could come from something so ugly," he said. Only then did I look past the beauty of the petals to notice the (frightening) ugliness of the stems.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (John 20:19 TNIV)

Easter Sunday: Go quickly and Tell!

2009-04-12T09:01:00.004+02:00

"The Resurrection, which proclaims that matter and spirit are mysteriously conjoined, is the ultimate key to who we are. It confronts us with an extraordinarily haunting story."

A N Wilson, "Religion of Hatred: Why we should no longer be cowed by the chattering classes ruling Britain who sneer at Christianity," Daily Mail.

Holy Saturday: Wake Up, Dead Man.

2009-04-11T09:01:00.000+02:00

Jesus, Jesus help me
I'm alone in this world
And a f***** up world it is too
Tell me, tell me the story
The one about eternity
And the way it's all gonna be

Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man

Jesus, I'm waiting here boss
I know you're looking out for us
But maybe your hands aren't free
Your father, he made the world in seven
He's in charge of Heaven
Will you put a word in for me

Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man

Listen to the words, they'll tell you what to do
Listen over the rhythm that's confusing you
Listen to the reed in the saxophone
Listen over the hum of the radio
Listen over sounds of blades in rotation
Listen through the traffic and circulation
Listen as hope and peace try to rhyme
Listen over marching bands playing out their time

Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man

Jesus, were you just around the corner
Did you think to try and warn her
Or are you working on something new
Is there an order in all of this disorder
Is it like a tape recorder
Can we rewind it just once more

Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man

U2, "Wake Up Dead Man" (Pop)

Good Friday: the punishment that brought us peace was on him

2009-04-10T09:01:00.001+02:00

Lent, Day 38: ouk eimi

2009-04-09T08:17:00.003+02:00

Whether it is Judas' kiss or the disciples abandonment of their master en masse or Peter's thrice stated "I am not him," our Savior's last day was ushered in by the betrayal of his disciples. True, the Jewish leaders were bent on getting him and the Romans were more than complicit, but it is the turning away of his disciples, his friends for whom he lays down his life, that sits most uneasy with me.

Especially Peter's. Peter said he would follow the savior to the grave, even brandished a sword and with it removed an ear at Jesus' arrest. However, once Jesus was in custody, Peter would not own him. In John's Gospel, Peter expresses his betrayal with the simple denial, ouk eimi (Greek; literally, "I am not"). This seems somewhat ironical, for when the soldiers first came to the garden and asked for Jesus, the Savior stepped forward and said ego eimi (lit. "I am").

Lent, Day 37: I looked for sympathy, but there was none

2009-04-08T09:01:00.001+02:00

Lent, Day 36: God's weakness is stronger than human strength

2009-04-07T09:01:00.000+02:00

Lent, Day 35: she has done what she could

2009-04-06T09:25:00.000+02:00

Palm Sunday: they took palm branches and went out to meet him

2009-04-05T09:02:00.000+02:00

Lent, Day 34: by his wounds you have been healed

2009-04-04T09:01:00.002+02:00

Lent, Day 33: by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil

2009-04-03T09:02:00.000+02:00

"Dada, where is Satan?" Eliot asked me tonight. "I don't know," I said, "down here on earth somewhere. . . but don't worry, Jesus has vanquished him."

First, it's not good to have your five year old ask you a question like this the same day you just lectured on Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison (1 Pet 3:19) in your upper division religion course, since your filters are likely to be poorly adjusted and you end up saying something scarry as hell and just dumb like "he is somewhere down here on earth" and using the word "vanquish." God forgive me and protect him from my words. (He fell asleep shortly thereafter; I'll let you know if he wakes up screaming in the middle of the night.)

Suffice it to say, I've been thinking a lot about Satan and how Jesus has vanquished him. I know that he has, but I can't figure out why I don't live like he has - why I still give into my sinful desires, why I still want to be in control and yet know full well that I'll crash the car the moment I'm behind the wheels. How do I let Jesus vanquish me?

I'll start here, with a prayer: Lord Jesus, set me free and take me to you. Please.

Lent, Day 32:Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD.

2009-04-02T09:01:00.001+02:00

While at the end of the pilgrimage, the pilgrims rest, others remain attentive since the Lord they serve neither sleeps nor slumbers and the needs of the pilgrims are - in this life - never ending. I am grateful for those who ministered on our behalf and those who still do, and I say to them (to name a few, to Dale, George, Charles, Amy, John, Mike, Dan, Jack, Sam, Pete, Mark, Shelly and Dave), "May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of Heaven and Earth."

Lent, Day 31: How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!

2009-04-01T09:01:00.000+02:00

The psalmist continues in this song of ascent: "It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore (Psa 133:2-3, TNIV)."

Since it is a psalm trading in similes, I offer a photographic simile ("God's people living in unity is like...") with the point being that such unity is a blessing (as these sea lions and one odd sea bird might attest). We are singing these psalms of ascent (120-134) in our pilgrimage to Zion...the Zion where Jesus will be enthroned upon his cross (so my last entry) and the new, heavenly Zion where we worship our Lord Christ together. Together - heaven is not about us as individuals receiving unique rewards but rather about us as God's family living with each other and him in his radiant, loving, eternal glory. We taste that eternity now whenever we live together in love.

Lent, Day 30: let us worship at his footstool

2009-03-31T09:01:00.001+02:00

The LORD swore an oath to David, a sure oath that he will not revoke: "One of your own descendants I will place on your throne." (Psalm 132, TNIV)

Lent, Day 29: like a weaned child with its mother

2009-03-30T09:01:00.000+02:00

My heart is not proud, LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed myself and quieted my ambitions. I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore. (Psalm 131, TNIV)

5th Sunday of Lent: If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?

2009-03-29T09:01:00.000+02:00

Here we have St. Hedwig, a baroness who gave generously of her wealth to the poor. She also practiced mortification. seeking virtue through radical asceticism. Insisting on walking to worship barefoot through the snow, the baroness leaves a path of bloody footprints (top). In the lower left, she beats herself, and in the lower right, her attendant apparently helps with the spots she couldn't reach.

Frankly, I don't get it. Still, she's right about one thing - our sinfulness is a dreadful horror and it weighs us down.

So the psalmist cries, "Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord,...if you Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you so that you may be feared."

I marvel that we should fear God not for his wrath but for his forgiveness.

Lent, Day 28: but they have not gained the victory over me

2009-03-28T08:01:00.000+01:00

Lent, Day 27: Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!

2009-03-27T08:01:00.001+01:00

Lent, Day 26: Like arrows in the hands of a warrior.

2009-03-26T08:01:00.001+01:00

my sons and their friends

The psalmist says that unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor, do so in vain. And then he says, "Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court."(Psa 127:3-5 TNIV)

Unless the Lord builds the house, I think as I consider my own sons. Surely this pilgrimage to the cross is not for myself alone, nor do I make it alone. I am part of a family formed and sustained by God - my efforts to surrender myself are all the more important, for the more I do, the more he can do.

Lent, Day 25: Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev.

2009-03-25T08:01:00.001+01:00

This river, which flows through Chiloquin, Oregon, has as its source the waters of nearby Crater Lake. From somewhere beneath that lake, the near-icy waters flow miles underground to springs near Chiloquin, surface to form this stream, with waters so cold they preserve logs (look closely and you can see them) felled years before.

The psalmist sings of the streams of the Negev which flow after winter rains, temporary torrents that bring a tremendous amount of water but for only a brief time. The restoration they bring is vital but variable, which helps to make his point. For a time, they (the Israelites) had languished, just as the Judean wilderness, but God had restored them in a flood of gracious love. Now, the psalmist looks anew for this restoration, trusting that as God has provided in the past he will again. He likens it to the rhythm of sowing and harvesting, a rhythm our culture no longer remembers. When they have gone through their winter food supply and the seeds that remain must be planted rather than eaten, regardless of the hunger pains, they sow in sadness, trusting that the joys of the future harvest far surpass what would be only momentary surfeit of hunger.

The pilgrimage we are on to Good Friday, to die with Jesus, requires the assurance that somehow God will restore us, that while we now sow with tears, we will soon reap with joy.

Lent, Day 24: As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forevermore.

2009-03-24T08:01:00.002+01:00

Lent, Day 23: We escaped with our lives like a bird from the fowler's snare; the snare was broken and we escaped.

2009-03-23T08:01:00.002+01:00

If there is one activity in nature I'd like to do it is this - skim along the water as these birds are doing.

The 'snare was broken,' the psalmist sings, and 'we escaped.' Ours is a life lived from deliverance - we are set free from sin, from anxiety, from destiny, from appetite, from need, from so much. But we are set free for God, not for nothing and not for ourselves, but for God; and only in his love are we truly what we should be, are we free to take flight.

4th Sunday of Lent: I rejoiced when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."

2009-03-22T10:40:00.003+01:00

The Old North Church in Boston, Mass.

Lent, Day 22: as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress

2009-03-21T08:01:00.000+01:00

Lent, Day 21: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

2009-03-20T08:01:00.001+01:00

The arch of Titus erected to commemorate the Roman defeat of the Jewish Rebellion. A relief on the inside of the arch depicts the plundering of the Jerusalem temple:

Lent, Day 20: he who keeps you will not slumber.

2009-03-19T08:01:00.001+01:00

Psalm 121 speaks of the Lord who is ever vigilant, "he who keeps Israel will neither slumber or sleep," and how he intervenes to keep pilgrims safe on this journey and every journey, "the Lord will keep your going out and coming in from this time on and forevermore."

We begin our pilgrimage in a quest for peace amidst people who are not always peaceful (Ps 120). Given this, it is a boon to have on our side one who attends to us at all times, guarding us from others and from ourselves, especially in that he is all powerful ("My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.")

Let us draw close to him, for he is faithful and he will receive us in love and mercy.

Lent, Day 19: Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.

2009-03-18T08:05:00.000+01:00

Today's image and the next 14 are inspired by the Songs of Ascent (pss 120-134). These psalms were song by pilgrims en route to Jerusalem; I hope as we make pilgrimage with Jesus to Good Friday, they will sustain us.

At this church, which abuts a cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia, several men were executed by communists in, if I recall correctly, the 1920s. The church fell into disrepair, though now the Orthodox church is raising money to restore it.

Lent, Day 18: I am the way, the truth, and the life.

2009-03-17T15:48:00.000+01:00

Over a year ago, I went on a personal retreat at Franciscan center here in Malibu, Serra Retreat. They have a beautiful garden that includes a labyrinth which I walked one day. It was a beautiful experience, though at one point it became frustrating. If you study this picture of the labyrinth long enough, you might guess why.

Anyway, when I came upon this frustration I had to decide upon two choices. In the end, it matters less what I chose then the attitude I had as I progressed. One can only take so much control of one's spirituality; at some point, we must simply trust that Jesus will not just find us a way, but is himself the way.

...let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12)

Lent, Day 17: he has prepared a city for them (updated)

2009-03-16T08:09:00.002+01:00

(from St. Petersburg, Russia)

I have no digital pictures from our life in Michigan - I did not own a camera until a year or two after we returned to southern California. I found the areas we lived in beautiful (we lived in the suburbs for a couple of years and in the country for a couple of years; I worked on a beautiful campus near a picturesque little town). However, I found southeastern Michigan maddening. Bloated and then adrift from its fortunes being intertwined with the auto industry, as that industry began to wane the cities around Detroit had become lost in a mixture of nostalgia, decay and a kind of confusion that comes from having material resources without knowing knowing how long they'd last. Would the auto industry revive? If not, who could come in and breathe the hope of future productivity and liveliness into this region?

The city of Detroit itself was an extreme version of its neighboring cities. Ran by a good ole boy network of politicians whose rhetoric thrived off resentement toward the perceived success of the cities and counties surrounding Detroit and whose actual motives seemed to me more concerned with self-preservation, the city remained reliant on guilt offerings of the auto industry, on the federal and state government (which pumped money into Detroit to keep the Democrat political machine going - a million votes, even if dwindling every year, is worth a lot to a governor who is battling the Republican interests in the rest of her state), and on gambling casinos - a horrible taxation upon its own citizens (taking from them more than money). Perhaps they had no choice, with no worthwhile source of income on the horizon which could actually contributed to the longevity of the city or the well-being of its people.

I have good friends who still live there and I do care for the place, but it was maddening place - and perhaps a frightening portent of a future that we should work hard to avoid.

I offer this reflection after having looked at this (admittedly one sided) pictorial from Time Magazine. Let us pray for the peace of that city, while we make our pilgrimage to a city not made with hands.

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them. (Heb 11)

3rd Sunday of Lent: I will make you a pillar

2009-03-15T08:06:00.000+01:00

If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. (Rev 3)

Lent, Day 16: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

2009-03-14T08:07:00.001+01:00

Close up:

While I am not partial to the doctrine of transubstantiation, St. Gregory's vision reminds me that our communion service and worship in general must be more than a formality, that our Christian life thrives only as we come back to this reality: Jesus died a cruel death for us. There may be no easy explanation why but there should be no difficulty in accepting that this is the center of what we confess. If it ceases to be the center, our hope becomes senseless.

Lent, Day 15: Hoping against hope

2009-03-13T20:08:00.001+01:00

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, "It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you." He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead-- and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. (Heb 11)

I look at Abraham's hands in this picture - the way he holds his son's face with his left, covering his eyes, and the way the angel holds his right hand, and how the knife falls from it. I marvel and recoil at Abraham's faithfulness. The mystery of our faith is the conviction that God is more important than anything or anyone and the irony of our faith is that only when we believe this can we truly love everyone and accomplish anything.

Lent, Day 14: "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"

2009-03-12T08:07:00.000+01:00

This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever. (John 6)

Lent, Day 13: we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up

2009-03-11T08:01:00.000+01:00

Nebuchadnezzar said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set at nought the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God." Daniel 3

Lent, Day 12: So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

2009-03-10T08:01:00.002+01:00

Lent, Day 11: Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.

2009-03-09T08:02:00.002+01:00

So the older boys are in Cotillion and currently learning to dance and interact with young ladies. On Friday night, I got them there just in time (trying to tie Paul's tie as he was getting into line). After going to Costco and the pharmacy, I returned and waited for them to finish. Samuel came out and related how he had gotten cookies and punch for a young woman and himself (this is part of the program and happens at each meeting; the young woman is whomever he is dancing with immediately before they break for snack). He was halfway through his cookie when he remembered his Lenten fast; he said he rushed to the bathroom to spit out the cookie. When he returned, he told the girl he had a near death experience in almost eating something sweet and forgetting Lent.

Paul said he decided to forgo the cookie but did drink the punch.

I am not quite sure whether to be impressed by Sam's commitment or to make it a teachable moment about grace. I do know that this was the first time I had taken them to Cotillion and not stayed to watch; I wish I had stayed this time - the look on the girl's face must have been priceless.

Lenten interlude: O Lord, You Know My Heart

2009-03-09T07:24:00.004+01:00

2nd Sunday of Lent: Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

2009-03-08T09:01:00.000+01:00

This beautiful church building in St Petersburg, Russia, was built in 1809. Under communist rule, it was oddly enough the State Museum of Atheism and Religion. Orthodox services resumed in the 1990s.

I wonder what Christianity will look like here in North America 100 years from now. More immediately, I wonder what my Christian faith will look like 20 years from now.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. 18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"; 20 and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile." 21 So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-- all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

Lent, Day 10: lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension

2009-03-07T09:01:00.001+01:00

Serra Hands to Heaven
Originally uploaded by evanscoxfamily

To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, do not refuse to hear me, for if you are silent to me, I shall be like those who go down to the Pit. Hear the voice of my supplication, as I cry to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary. Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who are workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors, while mischief is in their hearts. (Ps 28)

Lent, Day 9: Do not lead me into temptation.

2009-03-06T09:01:00.004+01:00

The boys and S. decided to give up sweets for Lent. This has proven not to be the easiest (and so, perhaps, all the better) decision. On the way to worship Sunday morning, S. was prepping the boys for how to handle the donuts offered between class and worship proper (oddly these donuts usually have a huge pull on the boys). When Eliot seemed discombobulated that he would not get donuts, Shelly wondered whether aloud but (we thought) in code whether Eliot was old enough to understand Lent. To their credit, the older three boys began to plot where else in the church building they would be and what else they could do at that time not to be tempted. When we arrived at the church parking lot and I turned off the van, Eliot leaped from his seat and said, excitedly, "I'm too young to understand Lent so I get to have donuts."

My mischievous angel (see the halo?)

PS - Do Sundays even count for the Lenten fast?

Lent, Day 8: "in your light do we see light"

2009-03-05T21:01:00.000+01:00

I love the way the (natural) light illumines this graveyard and I recall the words of the psalmist:
"For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light."
Or the fourth evangelist:
"In him was life and that life was humanity's light, and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it."

Lent, Day 7: "Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet"

2009-03-04T09:01:00.001+01:00

Tony Woodlief is an author (a booklet on raising boys) and a columnist who has written for, among others, the Wall Street Journal and National Review Online. Mr. Woodlief lives with his wife in Kansas on a farm where they home educate their four boys. You can read his blog here. Recently, he was interviewed about parenting by the authors of the "Start Your Family" blog (link takes you to the interview). I found the following especially insightful advice about parenting, especially this season where we pour ourselves out to be filled with Jesus.

When asked how having children affected his marriage, he responded: "We probably wouldn't be married right now if not for our children. There comes a point in some marriages when you face the reality that you both would probably be happier without one another. These children remind you—or at least they should remind you—that marriage isn't, as Gary Thomas rightly notes, about your happiness. The Perfect Marriage fantasy is a lie promoted by secular society, and too often parroted in subtle ways by churches. Your marriage is an institution of sanctification, and children are the natural fruit of that God-ordained path. And the secret is, the greatest happiness lies along this path of self-sacrifice. You will definitely have more opportunities for immediate gratification if you remain childless. And you will also never know the fear that only parents can understand. But you will experience the greatest joy, too, which springs from a self-sacrificing love that draws us closer to one another and to our God."

Lent, Day 6: "I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet."

2009-03-03T09:01:00.003+01:00

One story: a women at the cross, rescued by His love and now witness to His execution. Swallowed in grief, she is alone - and the painting catches her, staring at his wounds. What is she thinking? Is she praying? Is her gaze her prayer?

I took the top photograph of a painting at the Getty Center; the bottom photo I took at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. While they tell the same story, they are also two different stories? One swoons before the fallen Lord, in a kind of curtsy, unwittingly honoring Him who has been so dishonored. The other falls into His wound, losing control and decorum, desperate to be with Him regardless. One story, two perspectives; one Savior, two different ways to him.

Lent,Day 5: And David prayed unto the Lord...

2009-03-02T09:01:00.001+01:00

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to thy steadfast love,
according to thy abundant compassion
wipe out my transgressions.

1st Sunday of Lent: Lord, to whom can we go? You alone have the words of Life.

2009-03-01T09:02:00.003+01:00

For today's Lenten perspective, I offer you two podcasts from the Hugh Hewitt show (episode one, episode two). Mr. Hewitt interviews Bill Lobdell, erstwhile religion editor for the LA Times. Mr. Lobdell became a Christian and then was blessed with the opportunity to report on stories on religion for the LA Times. In the process of examining both positive and (very) negative stories about religions, Mr. Lobdell lost his faith. All of this is set forth in his book, Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America-and found Unexpected Peace. The first episode covers this story in a very engaging and thought provoking way for it challenges us who believe to see the potential harm of our immorality and our irrational rationalisms. (What makes the episode even more interesting is that Mr. Hewitt, a person of faith, and Mr. Lobdell, now a self-described atheist, have been and remain very close friends.)

Interspersed through the first and occupying much of the second episode are phone calls from Mr. Hewitt's listeners. I found these phone calls to be as challenging, perhaps even more so, but for an entirely different reason. It strikes me that an observance of Lent is to ponder these calls and to contemplate the manner in which people (mostly respectfully) attempt to persuade Mr. Lobdell to believe. They seemed to believe that his loss of faith was an irrationality and that he could be argued back into the fold. Most attempt to use apologetics (e.g., Lee Strobel type arguments). I could help but wonder if he lost his faith because he was trying to be too rational (Mr. Lobdell puts a lot of emphasis on what science can prove about, for instance, the (empiracle absence of) benefit from religion.

What would you say to him? I have to hope I would say something more, but all I could think to do was to say something less. I am reminded of, and worried by, Job 42:7: the LORD said, "My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right...."

Lent, Day 4: Our God is a Consuming Fire

2009-02-28T09:01:00.002+01:00

I asked my friend C, who is Roman Catholic, whether she was able to make it to the Ash Wednesday service on campus (sponsored by the Catholic Student Association). She said she could not make it then and then shared this (quoted here with her permission):

I took Grace and Stefan to the 7:30 pm Mass at OLM [their local parish]. When Stefan heard that he had to go to church for this 'ash-head thing' as he put it, he was petrified. I finally figured out why. After he received the ashes he said, "So there was no fire with the ashes!?" in a tone of surprise and great relief. He then promptly fell asleep on the pew and didn't wake up until this morning.

Lent, Day 3: "Neither do I condemn you."

2009-02-27T09:01:00.001+01:00

Why don't I listen,
when he tells me
"Go, and sin no more"?

"Without forgiveness, nothing."

2009-02-26T09:01:00.001+01:00

Out of the depths,
I cry unto you, O Lord,
O Lord, hear my prayer.
If you, Lord, should mark iniquity,
who could stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
so that you may be feared.

from Ps 130, de profundis

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near--

2009-02-26T03:22:00.007+01:00

In observance of Lent, I have determined to offer up prayers in pictures [I've taken] and occasional reflections in words. I entrust these words and images to God our Savior; may they be a blessing and may they lead us to leave behind the sin that so easily entangles.
______________________________________________
"Whatever there is around you or inside you that could be ground for presumption, throw it away from you. Let God be your whole presumption; let your neediness be for him, that you may be filled with him; for whatever else you may have without him will leave you still more profoundly empty." St. Augustine, on Ps 86 (Enarrationes ad Psalmos)

Boys at the Beach

2009-02-21T19:06:00.002+01:00

Pablo

2009-02-21T19:03:00.001+01:00

A Published Photographer...of a sort

2009-02-08T07:28:00.001+01:00

This photo has made it into Schmap's Boston Guide (see below)