Pondering Discomfort: 28 February 2010

"The Lord is my light and my salvation."
Psalm 27:1

Winter is a "drier" time of the year - not much appears to be happening in the way of nature's activity outside my windows. Oh yes, we've had some snow storms, ice and rain, strong winds. But the past few months the liveliness and abundant activity of animals and birds in this rural, natural habitat has diminished greatly. Even the all too abundant cloudy days of this season contribute to its feeling of dryness - a desert sort of time of the year. And it becomes uncomfortable - the waiting for spring with all its warmth, refreshing rains, and the reemergence of a more colorful landscape filled with a myriad of colorful plants and birds.

So too it is with this season of Lent - a desert time of watching and waiting, a time of withdrawing into our hearts and the very core of our being to reflect in deep and meaningful ways on our life and the meaning the sacred holds for us in our lives. And the searching of our hearts and taking an honest account of ways we may have not lived true to who we are intended to be - caring, compassionate, giving, loving people both individual and collectively as societies - can be uncomfortable too. Perhaps it should be uncomfortable, even disturbing...

Today's news is flooded with distressing stories: a massive earthquake in Chili early this morning along with the threat of wide-spread tsunami destruction, an already devastated Haiti bracing for another blow as the income from their rice crops is threatened by the exportation of "cheap" rice from the U.S., yet another story of child abuse and torture as a baby and toddler in California have been found bound and gagged with head and face injuries, acts of racism against African American students at the University of California in San Diego, child sex abuse scandal by a Pediatrician in Delaware, and the recent stories of clergy sex abuse in Ireland. These last few are all too vivid examples of the devaluation of human life by some in our society and...we should feel uncomfortable and disturbed! These heartbreaking stories should cause us as a society, as a community, to reflect and dialogue on the value of human life, the values we hold and to strive to be good and faithful people working for justice and peace in compassionate and caring ways.

So too church officials, across many denominations, are uncomfortable and disturbed as they lament the vast decline in attendance at worship services. One commentary alleges this is happening because some people have "turned away" from their faith. I wonder...could it be more a case of people being driven out/made to feel they no longer belong because of some "transgression" as defined by the church leadership, or find the turn toward more conservative structures and restrictive rules and regulations and obligations for them really have little or nothing to do with living as faithful servants of our Sacred Creator? Perhaps our churches are half empty week in and week out not because people have lost their faith. Perhaps might it be more a matter of faithful and faith-filled people who continue to hold onto faith and belief in the Almighty One, as the psalmist proclaims, "The Lord is my light and salvation" while finding sacred meaning and connections and spiritual nourishment outside the structures of the institution as well as (for many) within it?

There are indeed a great many things to ponder during this desert time of Lent - in our lives, in our communities, in our world, in our faith, in our churches, in our very way of being. We know from lived experience that spring will indeed will arrive and "new life" will once again delight our eyes and ears and perhaps our hearts and spirits too. In the silence of our hearts, if we take the time to truly listen, we will come to hear the Holy Whispers of the Sacred One who constantly abides in and within us giving us strength and guiding us with abundant love and graciousness.

Peace on the Journey.