“Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom” (James 3. 13)

It is hard sometimes to know who to trust. Equally it is hard to know the motivation of our hearts and the hearts of others. Do we or they speak and act from a place of true selflessness, or do we all want to gain something from our actions and words? It is important to remember that we are called to discern and listen to the voice of the wise in our communities and to learn from them, thus becoming gentle and wise like them. Whom do you know that is truly wise?

“But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us” (2 Corinthians 4. 7)

What is this treasure that we read of? And what are the clay jars? What image does this verse conjure up for you? The author of 2 Corinthians, St Paul, is referring to human vulnerability and God’s power. And the very humbling fact that God trusts us as humans to be his voices and his channels of love in this world, despite our fragility and weakness. The treasure is God’s grace, the clay jars are human life.

‘The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!"‘ (2 Samuel 18. 33)

This has to be one of the most tragic verses in the whole of the Hebrew Bible. David’s third son Absalom (literally meaning ‘father of peace’), dies at the hand of Joab, and King David is heartbroken. Absalom was of course far from perfect - he was vain and self-obsessed, but he was a human with attractive and not so attractive qualities. In these days of pandemic, we mourn the loss of so many people, each of whom were precious to someone else. They now rest in God’s arms.

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth…Then the Lord said to Noah, "‘Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation” (Genesis 6. 11 & 7. 1)

It is far from easy to read the first of these two verses without feeling utterly ashamed. There is of course some measure of truth in the statement about corruption and violence. What is experienced in humankind now, has always been a fact of life. Greed, corruption, violence. But the second of these verses bring to mind the hope that exists despite the dark side of existence. God recognizes the righteousness in each of us and the story of the covenant with Noah prefigures the deep sway of time towards restoration and perfection and away from negativity.

‘Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?’ (Isaiah 40. 12)

Despite the precision of scientific measurements and the beauty of pure mathematics, the sheer magnitude of the universe and our place within it is quite hard to fathom. To consider ourselves as beloved of God within such an infinite universe should prevent us from becoming too arrogant. Perhaps such a verse should be offered to each world leader?

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‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me’ (Matthew 10. 40)

It is hard to interpret these words easily at the moment. How do we welcome others when we are not allowed to socialize, or see each other in any meaningful way? However we manage to work through these social limits for the sake of the common good at the moment, we will need to re-calibrate our approach to hospitality and openness, post-pandemic. This verse will help us prepare for that in the future.

‘For even if we sin we are yours, knowing your power; but we will not sin, because we know that you acknowledge us as yours’ (Wisdom of Solomon 15. 2)

So often we keep making the same mistakes, over and over again. And we really do become very bitter with ourselves about it and we take it out on ourselves and others. But the truth of the matter is, even though we keep committing the same sins repeatedly, we still belong to God. He is merciful and forgiving. A few years ago during Pope Francis’s Jubilee Year of Mercy, a lovely image became associated with it. It shows Jesus holding the sinful human, like a lost sheep, rescuing us from harm. The human and Jesus share one eye. No explanation needed…

MERCIFUL LIKE THE FATHER

“How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal.” (Lamentations 1. 1)

This past year has forced many of us to think and reflect about isolation and about how our streets have gone from extremes of silence to moments of blithe busy-ness. The reality of course is a constant fear of desertion, of collapse of livelihood and the desire for survival in what is to come. Sometimes all we can do is pray that relief will come soon

“Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb be named me” (Isalah 49. 1)

So often at the moment we have to shout to be heard. We use social media to exclaim our opinion, and it is often misunderstood or un-nuanced. But the only thing that matters is that you know and everyone knows that you are precious to the Lord.

Every weekday (Monday-Saturday) in Lent, I shall be posting a single verse of scripture followed by a very short thought relating the verse to the context of our lives at the moment. I have decided to do this for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, I find it personally hugely helpful to intensely reflect on a short portion of scripture, often a verse only, and consider deeply the meaning of that verse for me. This is of course a form of monastic sacred reading, lectio divina, where we ‘dwell’ with a phrase and ruminate on it for an extended period of time. Out of this period of reflection comes deep challenge, but also deep comfort. And so I thought I would offer it to others. It is of course dangerous to take only a verse or two of scripture out of context like this, but for the purposes of lectio divina, it can be a hugely transformative experience and in fact lead us to desire to know more of where that verse comes in the narrative of Holy Scripture and thus can lead to a deeper understanding of scripture for our faith.

Secondly, scripture has to compete with a lot of other words at the moment, and so a short snippet is likely to ‘stay rooted’ more easily than a lengthy passage.

Thirdly, this is part of my Lenten discipline: to offer to others some fruit of my own daily work.

My prayers and blessings for a transformative Lent

Fr Christopher