Thursday, April 2, 2020  (today’s lectionary)
God said to Abram, “Your name is now Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations.” (Gen 17) … and unlike the likes of us, “God remembers his covenant forever. Look to the Lord in his strength.” (Psalm 105) … Jesus called out the Pharisees and Scribes and compared himself to them: “I do know him and I KEEP HIS WORD. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.”
This is important, David. Doing the right thing just because it’s the right thing is really the most important ethical principle in your life.
So I don’t, even SHOULDN’T worry about results. Especially results that are favorable somehow to me. What matters is doing the Right Thing. That’s what Spike Lee thought too, and so many others.
Not say the right thing, or think the right thing, but DO the right thing.
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Friday, April 3, 2020  (today’s lectionary)
Hear those whispers, “Denounce!” My friends are on the watch for my missteps. But the Lord knows those miscreants will stumble at last in unforgettable confusion. Just let me watch, Lord, just let me witness your vengeance.” (Jeremiah 20) In my distress I called out and cried out and you heard me even from your temple. (Psalm 18) … and Jesus in his silence says to his Father, “Are you listening? These men hate me, these men hate you.” But still, many began to believe in Jesus.
Jesus’ constant conversation with his Father was paying off. It was saving him from death, day after day. It was leaking out to the people, and they began to believe in him. What is this man? How can he do this things?
It was Richard Rohr who pointed out the different responses of Jeremiah and Jesus to his persecution. Jeremiah entertained bitterness and desired revenge. Oh, how he wanted to witness the comeuppance and killing (perhaps) of his former friends now turned enemies. Jesus, on the other hand, continued until the end to do two things: heal everyone who asked and insist that his listeners turn toward their Father, in repentance and freedom.
Of course I was listening. The Father speaks out even now.
And of course I knew you were. Still, Father, in this place of confusion and conflict I felt alone. And talking to you was the only way I could rise above that loneliness.
Jesus talking to his Father, even now. Always since the creation of the world, that very sweet conversation goes on and on and on. Even as I foolishly imagine the Holy Spirit as something like Tinker Bell, sprinkling Holy Spirit Dust on everything, Jesus continues to talk with his Father. How the Holy Spirit gets involved I’m not sure. I love to imagine it though.
Come on now, She says. We all have work to do. Enough of this talk, let’s spread out and do some healing here.
The Holy Spirit swings up in sweet heavenly flight over the heads of those nurses, those doctors, those technicians in the operating rooms, those careful helpers in intensive care. Thousands die, but many more thousands live, and they are sprinkled upon, every one. Holy Spirit Dust is not meant for any race or gender. It does not distinguish even between the quick and the dead, because our “dead” is not God’s dead. That dust dries on my skin and makes me whole. And it dries on the skin of the man who just died, and makes him whole. We are not as far apart as we think we are.
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