“When I say God, it is poetry and not theology,” declared the great Unitarian minister and social activist the Rev. John Haynes Holmes.
I agree. Poetry is the language of God and, for me, the language of meditation. I’m not very good at meditation and I find that reading poetry helps me. Hence the inclusion of some of my favorite poems in my meditations during this Lenten season.
These last 8 weeks, I have been asked to meditate on portions of A Practical Christianity, written by Jane Shaw. This meant that I had to read carefully what she said and then think about it. It meant taking ideas which I had previously formulated for myself, clarifying them, and then applying them to different topics discussed in the readings. It meant taking Lent more seriously than I had ever done before. It has been a rewarding experience.
I’m not sure how many of my readers would agree with what I have said. I would welcome a discussion. Over the years, I have presented some of these ideas to friends here at Christ Church and, several times, been asked why I come to church at all. Above all else, I believe in following Jesus. Maybe that is why I keep coming. I also believe in the mission and the community of Christ Church and, like the cricket mentioned in Song of the Builders, feel this is the best way for me to help change the universe.
Song of the Builders

On a summer morning
I sat down
on a hillside
to think about God -

a worthy pastime.
Near me, I saw
a single cricket;
it was moving the grains of the hillside

this way and that way.
How great was its energy,
how humble its effort.
Let us hope

it will always be like this,
each of us going on
in our inexplicable ways
building the universe.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Why I Wake Early)

As I look back over my reflections from this Lent On-Line Daily Series, I see one very common theme – love. Definitions of love, where we see love in the world, how we understand God’s love in the world, and how to share our love with one another. And while there are many messages Shaw conveys through her book, I’m brought back to a line in the introduction that “it is this that draws us into Christian community – not the desire to become a body of like-minded people compelled to believe and do exactly the same thing, but to become a group of diverse women and men who care about transforming themselves and the world by love.”

And I have to say that participating in this Lent On Line as a writer has been a very interesting and challenging experience. I remember how nervous I was to write that first reflection. To know that people not only at church but in my life-at-large would be reading it…But what a greater Lenten discipline than to force myself to think about my “practical Christianity,” and ways I can live into the message of Christ – to love God and to love one another. It has truly made this Lenten season mean more to me, to truly be transformative, than any other.

As I reflect upon our Lenten journey this year, I am drawn to the theme of this particular day in the season—Maundy Thursday. The term comes from the Latin mandatum, which is the first word (in the Latin translation) of Jesus’ commandment to his disciples given at the Last Supper, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” [John 13:34, NRSV]

I believe that this is the heart of Shaw’s message in her book, A Practical Christianity. Essentially, her meditations focus on the profound love of God and how we apply that in our interactions with the world. Despite the limitations of our human nature—physical, emotional, and mental—God’s love can transform us, and, in turn, we can help to transform others.

Too often, I feel as if our Lenten disciplines do not focus on this chance for transformation. They seem too self-focused and do not actually affect our interactions with one another. However, Shaw reminds us, “At the heart of the Christian message is the injunction to embrace our common humanity, to prove by our actions that the stranger is our family. This requires a fierce love, a determined love, in the face of a society that fosters fear and prizes individualism.” [Page 95, Chapter “Love”] My hope is that this faith community can grow into this kind of love—and become the community that God is calling us to be.

“Give your mind and will to living in harmony with those truths which you do see.”
Jane Shaw wrote these words in her introduction to A Practical Christianity.

Yesterday at our Clergy Renewal of Vows Service, Bishop Mark Hollingsworth preached an excellent sermon that encapsulated what I have come to learn about myself this Lent through reading A Practical Christianity and engaging our online meditations.

He spoke of Thomas Beckett and King Henry II and of their great love and support of each other. Over time this relationship deteriorated because Beckett was caught between two loyalties; one to his King and the other to his God. After a great inner struggle Beckett ultimately choose God over his king and he paid for that choice with his life. But Beckett died with integrity because he had given his mind and will over to living in harmony to the truth he knew, which was the way of his faith.

This same tension that Beckett experienced exists for those of us who desire to follow Jesus, but live in a world that does not see that goal as being of any importance. Like all of us I am continually finding myself in circumstances that compel me to make decisions that demand I choose between the world and Jesus. I admit that the temptation is always there to choose the world’s ways because doing so just about always makes my life easier.
This Lent has seen a shift in me. Maybe I am just getting old and care less what other people think about my beliefs or how I live my life. That could be a part of it and not a bad collateral benefit of getting old. “When I am old I shall wear purple!” But maybe I have also come to see the sacredness of giving my mind and will to live in harmony with the truths that following Jesus teach me.
Shaw writes, “The point of this book is to help imagine how Christian practice can transform our lives.”
Through turning more consciously to God with you through our Lenten journey, I believe that transformation of life is underway. I hope the same is true for you as well?