Today is the day after Presidents day - Shrove Tuesday - Tomorrow Lent begins. Here is more from 1 Peter, chapter 2 verses 11-12 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge. It is the first word of this piece that gives substance to the rest. The saints of God in Christ, Jesus, are called Beloved. That shingle that hands from our doors - that cross traced on our foreheads with ashes tomorrow and with oil from the time we were baptized calls us out as aliens within our world. Beloved is not merely a what we are called by the one God who sees us as just that - it is also the very center of who we are and who we become each and every day. The 'beloved' can and do live in every place and time. We will not be identified by the words of people who want to be seen as special or privileged. We will be identified by the life that comes from being grounded in a love for us that is forever - without end. I would submit that as a people who are called beloved, we become a people who look out at those around us and we are gifted to see that they too are beloved - even if they cannot see it in themselves or even if they have been push down and pushed out and left for the trash heap of humanity. Beloved is the way. It is a way that will distinguish us - not up on stage but right in the middle of the things of the day that long for expressions of love to break the cycle of brutality and lies and the ways of a world that attempt to dominate and rule over others. Well - I only commented - for a bit - on one word. And yet, it will shape that which is to come. Connection: This is another one of those reflections when I have to remind myself to breath and hear these words before I open my mouth in reaction to that which is going on around me. "Beloved" take a breath - remember you baptism. Now, speak and act as you stand on that beloved foundation. This is not at all easy. And yet, for us - all of us - it is necessary for our our lives and for the lives of others. In the middle of what is so common, O God, you take up some clay and make a beloved creature and breathe into us the hopefulness of your loving Reign. Now, we ask, teach us to breathe as heirs of your Reign. Amen. |
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