“What, giving again?”
I asked in dismay,
“And must I keep giving
And giving away?”
“Oh no,” said the angel,
Piercing me through;
“Just give until God stops
Giving to you!”

The text of this passage has woven through our Spiritual Life Commission’s programs for many years now but never has it seemed to apply more an Annual Theme than it does this year.  Once again, we include this writing for ourselves and for you as a meditation and a part of our journey through Lent.

 And God Said Go

And God said “Go!”
And I said “Who, me?”
And God Said, “Yes, you!”
And I said, “But I’m not ready yet
And there is company coming,
And I have a family to care for;
You know how tight my schedule is.”
And God said, “You’re stalling.”

Again God said “Go!”
And I said, “But I don’t want to.”
And God said, “ I didn’t ask you if you wanted to.”
And I said “Listen, I’m not the kind of person to get involved in controversy.
Besides, my friends won’t like it and what will the neighbors think?”
And God said, “Baloney!”

And yet a third time God said, “Go!”
And I said, “Do I have time to?”
And God said “Do you love me?”
And I said “Look, I’m scared.
People are going to hate me and cut me into little pieces.
I can’t take it all by myself!”
And God said, Where do you think I will be?

And God said, “Go!”
And I sighed, “Here I am, Lord; send me!”

The Lent of 2012 finds me a year older and living at a new address.  I’ve sold my Columbia pioneer home of 44 years and moved in with my daughter, son-in-law and their dog.  Their lovely large home provides me with my own apartment.

My physical health, courtesy of my Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors is superb.  However, I have been diagnosed with MCI – mild cognitive impairment.  What’s that?  Simply stated, I’m a bit forgetful and tend to repeat myself.

But none of these diagnoses are leading me to neglect the Christian disciplines of daily prayer, Bible reading and regular church attendance.  God does not accept excuses!

Finally, I recall an event of long ago.  My children, then ages 7, 5, 3 and 1 had just been checked by a very no-nonsense British female pediatrician.  She pronounced them, blessedly, sound of mind and body and her parting words to me were “Press on.”

My parting words to all who read this Lenten message?  “Press on!”

According to the Old Testament prophet, Micah, the LORD requires us (simply) “To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”  Micah 6:8, that is chapter 6, verse 8.

According to our catechism (“An Outline of the Faith” in The Book of Common Prayer, 1979, beginning at page 846), God’s requirements are a little more complicated.  In the Old Covenant (in the Old Testament of the Bible), God requires us “to be faithful; to love justice, to do mercy, and to walk humbly with [our] God.”  [Emphasis added.]  “God’s will for us is shown most clearly in the Ten Commandments, … the laws given to Moses and the people of Israel….  From these commandments we learn two things: our duty to God, and our duty to our neighbors.

Our duty to God … is to believe and trust in God;

I.     To love and obey God and to bring others to know him

II.     To put nothing in the place of God;

III.    To show God respect in thought, word, and deed;

IV.    And to set aside regular times for worship, prayer, and the study of God’s ways.

Our duty to our neighbors is to love them as ourselves,
and to do to other  people as we wish them to do to us;

V.    To love, honor, and help our parents and family; to honor those in authority, and to meet their just demands;

VI.    To show respect for the life God has given us; to work and pray for peace; to bear no malice, prejudice, or hatred in our hearts; and to be kind to all the creatures of God;

VII.  To use all our bodily desires as God intended;

VIII.  To be honest and fair in our dealings; to seek justice, freedom, and the necessities of life for all people; and to use our talents and possessions as ones who must answer for them to God;

IX.    To speak the truth, and not to mislead others by our silence;

X.    To resist temptations to envy, greed, and jealousy; to rejoice in other people’s gifts and graces; and to do our duty for the love of God, who has called us into fellowship with him.

The New Covenant (in the New Testament of the Bible) “is the new relationship with God given by Jesus Christ, the Messiah, to the apostles; and, through them, to all who believe in him …..Christ commanded us to believe in him and to keep his commandments.  Christ taught us the Summary of the Law and gave us the New Commandment.  The Summary of the Law [is] You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind….  You shall love your neighbor as yourself….  The New Commandment is that we love one another as Christ loved us.”

Too, God’s requirements of us have been stated in other ways in both the Old and the New Testaments.  Here are some examples from the New King James Version of the Bible (1982).

In the Old Testament:

Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.  Isaiah 1:16-17.

Do’s–truth, mercy, and knowledge of God; don’ts–swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery.  Hosea 4:1-2.

In the New Testament:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit…, those who mourn…, the meek…, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…, the merciful…, the pure in heart…, the peacemakers…, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake….  Matthew 5:3-10, see also Luke 6:20-23.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”   1 Corinthians 13:13.

All right, here is your self-test

1. Who was Micah?

2. According to Micah, what does the Lord require of us?

3. What is the short name for “An Outline of the Faith”?

4. In what book can that Outline be found?

5. What one thing does that Outline add to Micah’s requirements?

6. According to the Outline, what old laws show God’s will for us?

7. The first part of those laws shows our duty to whom?

8. The second part of those laws shows our duty to whom?

9. The Old and New Testaments of the Bible are also known as the Old and New (______)?

10. What is the (one word) key to Jesus Summary of the Law?

11. Do you know what speech of Jesus told who was “blessed”?

12. Do you know who wrote the first epistle to the Corinthians?

13. What three gifts are identified in that epistle?

14. Which is the greatest of the three?

15. Do you know what an epistle is?

For extra credit, consider how An Outline of the Faith (above) has modified the Ten Commandments.  See Exodus 20:1-17 (and Deuteronomy 5:6-21).

For further thought, how do you like to think about God’s requirements of you–in a way that is simple and easy to remember, as in Micah, or in a form that is detailed and requires study, as in An Outline of the Faith?

The last portion of Micah – “walk humbly with your God” – ran through my mind in January when I was in the mountains of the Dominican Republic.  I joined the local women in cleaning the church for “three kings day” / Epiphany service.

First of all, there may not be reliable electricity in this area, but there is much water and that day it was available through the local water system of pipes that brings it from a spring miles away AND as rain coming down “by the bucketfuls!”  Which was good since the favorite local household tools are the “escoba” (brooms) and “trapeador” (string mop) to be used with MUCH water, “cloro”, and soap.  The energy that went into sweeping and washing not only the concrete floors, but also the louver windows, the walls, and some of the furnishings !  And this was after the women had done their own housework, walked up or down the mountain/hill (in the mud) to get to the church and still had household chores to do when they returned at the end of the day.  And, I felt really wimpish as they easily picked up buckets of water (that I could barely carry) and wrung out those mops as if they were dishcloths!

For me, the thrilling part of the day was the music and chatter and just good and loud and animated camaraderie.  They were not just doing hard, manual labor, they were celebrating community and the resources they had been given!!  For Magoli, Maria, Magalina, Anna, and Clarisa, the cleaning, like the flowers they placed in the side chapel and before the statue of “Nuestra Dama de Paz” was an offering of humble thanks to God for all his love and for walking with them up and down the mountain everyday.

Ernest Hemmingway was challenged to write a short story in six words.  His response: “For sale: Baby Shoes. Never worn.”  A quick check on the Internet finds many sites and videos devoted to similar six word stories in many forms.  The Christ Church middle and high school youth and adult leaders completed a similar challenge at the beginning of 2012, but they were asked to look ahead to the New Year and write something that pertained to their journey into the New Year and beyond.  We share those six word stories with you now, and encourage you to develop your own six word story for your journey through this Lenten season.

Give me your sins, be absolved.

Peace, be still.  Listen for God.

Let the haters be your motivators.

To be great you must practice.

Your life, you play the soundtrack.

If you lose, get over it.

Never give up, till the end.

Make it count, with no regrets!

Go hard.  Be bigger than life!

Cool Story Bro, tell it again!

When I’m gone, who will notice?

Just another story; another six words.

Everyday you should live your dream.

Humanity, challenges constantly make us grow!!

Move forward.  Memories aren’t far away.

Look up, you might miss something.

To see new roads, walk more.

Spontaneous, no, determined sometimes.  Keep Trying.

There is always room for mistakes, mistakes made.

____________________________________________________

(Space for Your Six Word Lenten Story)

What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Hands who touched the leper, touch my wounded heart;

Hands who healed the blind man, heal my aching soul;

Hands who cured the lame, mend my disjointed life;

Hands who embraced all life, enfold me in your peace.

Lord, merely touch and heal, cure and forgive.
This is my prayer to thee, my Lord;

Give me strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows;

Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service;

Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might;

Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.

And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.

Rabindranath Tagore,  1861-1941

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?   To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.   Micah 6:8

This June I will celebrate the 50^th (yes, that’s “fiftieth”) Anniversary of my High School Graduation.  My High School was an Episcopal girl’s boarding school in Peekskill, New York run by The Sisters of St. Mary.  We came to St. Mary’s, quite literally, from far and wide.  We graduated and dispersed back across the country and beyond.

I had never considered that one day a full half century later we would gather once again.  Nothing less than sheer genius and relentless determination on the part of a few very resourceful classmates led to finding every single one of us.

Just as Jesus was most pleased when he gathered the sheep who had strayed the farthest from the fold, we cheered loudest as each connection was made, as each of us was reunited after fifty years of living our very individual and seemingly unconnected lives.

You may well ask what this has to do with a Lenten Meditation focused on our Micah theme.

After the endless reminiscences we began to listen, still across e-mail, to the stories of our lives.  The written word is often so much more penetrating than the spoken word.  We have our share of stories, our victories and our losses, our celebrations and our deepest sadness and our thankfulness for this time that God has given us because surely His hand is in the reuniting of this small band of ladies.

Indeed, He has shown us what is good.  It is the willingness to take the time and to listen for the heart of each person we encounter because each time we find it, we discover a sister or a brother.  Time, sometimes fifty years of time, teaches us to walk humbly with open eyes and open hearts.

I have discovered that each one of their journeys is my journey too.  The details may be different but there is just one path.

Walk humbly with your God.

 — To be in relationship with others.  Sharing thoughts, dreams, hopes, aspirations, desires, accomplishments, disappointments, love, joy, and to offer comfort and care in time of need.

— To encourage others, to share enthusiasm for life and God’s goodness.

— To pass on knowledge and faith to future generations.

— To avoid inflicting hurt, either intentionally or by a lack of sensitivity or awareness of others.

— To be grateful for beauty in nature, art, music.  To be appreciative of family, friends, health, shelter, and education.  To realize the abundance of God’s creation.

— To be co-creators and workers for His Kingdom.  To work well with others.

— To ask for forgiveness.

— To respect the Personhood of others and to realize that we are made in God’s image.

— To share our resources, time and love.

— To focus on others, not self.

— To pray, getting to know our Lord and to prepare ourselves for an eternity with Him.

Join us on March 3 for our Annual Lenten Quiet Day. This year’s theme is Stretching with God Through Lent and will encourage each participant to engage God’s help in moving beyond the Comfort Zone. Child care will be provided for those who need it. So we can best plan and prepare for children, please RSVP via email to the Spiritual Life committee or on the sign-up sheet on the table in the Narthex.

Our program begins with a light breakfast at 8:30 AM and concludes with Eucharist at Noon.