Hebrew Testament Text for 3rd Sunday in Lent, 15 March 2020

Exodus 17:1-7        From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Reflection        Is the Lord among us or not? As it was with our ancient Israelite ancestors, this seems to be the default question when we find ourselves wandering in the wilderness of Sin, when life tosses us a curve ball, or a coronavirus.

How do we proceed from COVID-19 to hope? How do we ride out a roller coaster stock market? How do we face armed guards in Walmart doling out toilet paper? How do we submit to social distancing? How do we brave the grave uncertainties of our time without succumbing to fear? In short, how do we endure?

Let me suggest, in this time of great unsettlement,  moment to moment we must choose in which direction we will walk.  Like Jesus, do we turn our face to Jerusalem, consent to our suffering and put our faith in God with us declaring, “Not what I want but what you want?” Or do we join the ancient people of God in the wilderness of Sin, anxious and testy, quarreling among ourselves, looking for someone to blame? 

Decades ago during a retreat with the late Thomas Keating, the Cistercian monk responsible for bringing the practice of Centering Prayer out of hallowed  monastery halls to the general public, I asked Keating about suffering. This gangly six foot six inch tall man threw back his awkward arms and exclaimed with the glee of a giggling two year old, “Welcome, welcome, welcome!” Keating taught, it is in welcoming our suffering that it is redeemed. **

We find the crowning example of welcoming or consenting to suffering on the night that Jesus shared his final Passover meal with the disciples. After supper Jesus took Peter, James and John with him to a place called Gethsemane, “Then he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’” (Matt 26.38-39)

Many of us are “deeply grieved, even to death.” Anxiety pumps our blood and our imagination finds no place to rest. We want to throw ourselves onto the ground and plead, “O God, make this stop! I don’t want coronavirus. I don’t want my loved ones to contract COVID-19.” Of course we do not. But are we willing to stay with Jesus face down in the dirt?  Are we willing to go the next step and submit (which by the way, means endure) are we willing to consent with Jesus, “yet not what I want but what you want?”  

Ours is not a religion that promises if we follow the rules and do everything right, check all the boxes, pay our pledge and say the right prayers, nothing bad will happen to us. Frankly, that is magical thinking. Ours is a religion that asserts, bad things are likely to happen even to good people but do not be afraid because God is with us, right in the midst of our suffering. Knowing God is with us gives us the strength and courage to endure. And the place in which we are most likely to meet God is face down in the dirt when we surrender saying, “Not what I want but what you want.” Or in Thomas Keating’s words, “Welcome, welcome, welcome.”

Covid-19 is spreading. As of March 11th there are nine cases in Arizona. Mindful measures to stop its spread have cost many their hourly wages, have kept elders confined, students out of school and parents out of work. We are anxious, deeply grieved and must choose. Do we turn our face to Jerusalem, put our faith in God with us saying, “Not what I want but what you want?” or do we join the ancient people of God in the wilderness of Sin, anxious and testy, quarreling among ourselves, looking for someone to blame? 

** To learn more about Welcoming Prayer, a method of consenting to God’s presence and action in our lives,  click on

https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/welcoming-prayer

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Gospel text for Passion Sunday 20 March 2016

Luke 22:39-46        He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’ Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.’ [Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.] When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’

Reflection       It is human nature to react and meet violence with violence. We are hard wired to protect ourselves. That is why when the disciples see Judas preparing to betray Jesus they ask, “Should we strike with the sword?” Should we counter-attack?  Jesus is unequivocal. “No,” but the sword has already injured the ear of a slave. Then Jesus responds in the extreme; Jesus touches and heals the injured slave’s ear. The kingdom of God does not operate according to the same rules of engagement as the kingdom of humanity.

The disciples do not understand this because, instead of following Jesus’ instruction to, “Pray that you may not be tempted,” they fall asleep, which is to say, they are unconsciousness. The question before each of us is, “Are we asleep or are we praying that we “won’t give in to temptation?” Are we praying to align our will in the will of God? Are we open to receive the spiritual strength to live in accord with God's rules of engagement? Or are we like the disciples, unconsciously reacting and willing to preemptively strike out against those who threaten or betray us?

Here’s the thing. It is down right painful to avoid the temptation to react to anger with anger or violence with violence. It takes an enormous amount of discipline forged of continual turning to God in prayer to resist the ways and temptations of the world. It is only in the grace of God, represented by the angel from heaven that strengthened Jesus in his fevered prayer, that we too can offer healing, forgiveness and peace to our world held hostage by fear mongering, power-hungry, self-serving individuals and institutions. 

The time is now to wake up and pray for the strength to align our will in the will of God and live according with God's rules of engagement.  Unless we stay awake and pray we will be swept into the sea of violence and the peace and reconciling power of God’s Spirit  that flowed through Jesus will fail to continue to flow through us. The kingdom of God depends on us and we depend on prayer so "Pray that you may not succumb to temptation."

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