Here are the reflections for the 4th Sunday in Lent. We explore the Lectionary Readings for this Sunday and reflect on other bits and pieces of interesting information the net has brought to our attention.
Just as a seine net pulls up all sorts of things, some unexpected, so I think of this Seine Net Reflection post, as it grabs bits of information off the net.
If you would like to see a page with the previous reflections, you can follow this link.
The Lectionary Readings for today
Scripture Lessons for this Week: the 4th Sunday in Lent:
Numbers 21:4-9 ; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21
Reflections on the Scripture
As I mentioned last week, one of the books I highly recommend reading during the B Lectionary cycle is Ched Meyers. Binding the Strong Man. The other book I again highly recommend for this Lectionary cycle is Wes Howard-Brooks Becoming Children of God. Both books are well worth checking out and reading closely.
Putting this John Passage into Perspective
When reflecting upon last week’s Gospel text, I mentioned a bit about whom the Gospel is written, and some of the challenges that the community was facing. In particular, I talked about the “secret” disciples. This is what we have happening in this first part of Chapter 3.
I want to remind us that the Chapter and verse designations came much later in the life of the Bible. When originally written, there were no chapter and verses. So, when Chapter 2 ends with “many believed in Jesus name because they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus …” and Chapter 3 starts with “Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night [in secret] and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs apart from the presence of God.”
Do you catch that Nicodemus is an example of one who believes in Jesus because of the signs Jesus does?
Our reading from today, comes as part of the “dialogue” between Nicodemus and Jesus. Just before our scripture passage we have the famous being born again/above pun. Much of what Jesus is arguing about is for folks like Nicodemus to come out of hiding.
Being Lifted Up?
This kind of being lifted up is not what one would expect: lifted up on the shoulders of others, being exalted as King (like the Emperor). Rather this lifted up cares the significance of the cross, of crucifixion, but also of resurrection. And there is close ties with the passage from Numbers of the snake being lifted up. That the people might look upon that which has been harming them and be saved.
If one has no more fear of death by the state, then how can the state continue to threaten the people with death?
What other ways might looking upon the cross help to bring life to the people?
A Year of Various Forms of Lock-down
The last couple of days I’ve been reflecting upon what the last year has been like. A year ago yesterday, our Governor announced that schools would be closed to in-person learning. It was a year ago that we were trying to slow the spread of COVID-19 so that our hospitals were not overwhelmed.
We have been living with this pandemic for a year now. A year of turmoil as what could have been a community coming together for the common good got turned into a politicized power-play.
And yet, while there has been enormous pain this last year, there have been all sorts of creative ways to show compassion towards one another, and to step-up for others. Churches have found ways to organize food drives for food pantries. Most people have willing warn masks to protect others (and themselves). Who knew that we would all become adept at learning to Zoom? Or that we would have the time to pay attention to the less fortunate and/or victimized and rise up in support by taking to the streets in marches?
By rising up the “snake” in our midst, it has brought opportunities for healing work.
Where and how have you experienced grace this last year? Where and how have you been called to work for the common good? Where and how have you experienced the Reign of God breaking forth in your life, and the lives of others?
*A little side note: I became aware this past couple of weeks that the phrase “common good” actually has religious overtones. It was St. Thomas Aquinas who coined the phrase in talking about the ways that we are called to act with compassion/justice towards the larger community.
A Reflection on Economics
Last week I mentioned that Jesus reflects upon economics in the Gospel. I also mentioned that I would have more about economics this week. So, here we go.
A friend of mine talks about three concentric (or overlapping) circles: Economics, Environment, and Community. “Does the reign of God occur in the overlapping of all three circles?” he ponders.
I was reminded of this while watching the following introduction to Environmental Economics that you can watch.
http://https://youtu.be/h-DbYuuwjgQ
A Bill McKibben Quote for Reflection
In addition, I ran across this quote from Bill McKibben’s Deep Economy (published 2007) and was struck by the players he mentions that figured in the 2016 election cycle. But the larger ideas he is speaking about are really why I’ve posted this quote here. Enjoy pondering how we can connect with one another again. Don’t be afraid to ask: Is the Economy for People, or People for the Economy? What does each look like? How does this interface with the Reing of God? How are we called to live?
We’ve been well and truly sold on the idea of the individual; 55 percent of Americans under the age of thirty think they will end up being rich.* And if you’re going to be rich, what do you need anyone else for? You can see the political results of Looking Out for Number One in the deterioration of all the institutions of our common life. America, once the healthiest nation on earth, now ranks twenty-seventh, below all the nations of Western Europe and even countries like Cyprus and Costa Rica. Our public education system used to be the envy of every nation, but we now lag behind twelve of the eighteen developed nations in fundamental literacy skills; 16 percent of our fifteen-year-olds fall below standard educational benchmarks, compared with 2 percent of Japanese and 5 percent of Canadians. Modern environmentalism was invented in the United States – we pioneered everything from national parks to clean-air legislation – but an index prepared by Columbia University found that America ranked 51st of 142 nations in environmental sustainability. We have the highest percentage of our population in prison. Spending on public works, such as highways and bridges, is falling; more parks and libraries are closing than opening. The Economist recently tried to sum up all such measures into a single quality-of-life index. Even though America trails only Luxembourg in gross domestic product per person, it comes in thirteenth in total quality of life.** And that’s now. It would be hard to argue that any of these trends shows much promise for generations yet to come; in any case, the future is beyond the immediate scope of a hyper-individualized life.
Our commitment to this hyper-individualism allows us to tolerate, and even celebrate, inequality so gross that it’s almost as much farce as tragedy. The gap between the rich and everyone else is not a cause for concern, but for celebration; its beneficiaries are often hailed as our exemplars. Trump! In 1973 the CEOs of large corporations earned thirty-five times as much as the average worker; now they earn two hundred times as much.*** “Sometime in the late 1970s,” observes the journalist Jim Lardner, “our economy began to … send most of its rewards to those who already had the most. The result is a concentration of income and wealth that is not only higher than it has been since the 1920s, but higher than that of any of the world’s other populations.” And the further result is that the more and more Americans no longer live in the rich world; instead, they struggle to get by.****
It’s hard for most of us to really take this in. We’ve believed for a very long time that America stands tallest among nations. In 2003, Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, was offering his usual oblique testimony to the Congress about the state of our economy. Accustomed to deferential treatment, he was doubtless surprised when Congressman Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, challenged him. “I think you just don’t know what’s going on in the real world,” Sanders said, offering statistics about inequality and insecurity among Americans. Greenspan replied, in the way that has shut up most of us, “Congressman, we have the highest standard of living in the world.”
“Wrong,” said Sanders. “Scandinavia has a higher standard of living.” Indeed, it does, as do many other European countries and Japan – places were individualism is less hyper.
For a moment, Greenspan was at a loss. “Well,” he finally said, “we have the highest standard of living for a country our size.” Which is true, since the only more populous nations on earth are China and India, and Indonesia and Brazil follow us on the list.*****
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McKibben, Bill. Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. Holt, 2007. pg. 102-4.
* Pete Engardio, “Nice Dream If You Can Live It,” Business Week, September 13, 2004.
** Laza Kekic, “The World’s Best Country,” Economist, http://www.economist.com/theworldin/internationl/displayStory.cfm?story_id=33722495&d=2005; “Quality of Life in the U.S. and Progressive Politics” (August 7, 2005), http://www.dailykos.com
*** Frank, Luxury Fever, p. 33
**** James Lardner, “What’s the Problem?” in Lardner and Smith, In-equality Matters, p. 15
***** William Blum, “Letter from America,” Ecologist, October 2003.
Reflections for Woman’s History Month
The Urban Sketchers You Tube channel has a podcast type talk (but with drawings). This week, they are exploring the topic of “Victorian Women Sketchers.” So, I thought it might be of interest (as I also share some of my sketching on the blog) to include this as a topic of interest. Maybe there are some of you who also enjoy sketching and would enjoy reflecting upon this topic. Enjoy.
http://https://youtu.be/hXEypRXYsEs
A Spiritual Practice
This week I’ve decided to focus Ignatius Loyola’s The Daily Examen.
Ignatius Loyola wrote The Spiritual Exercises in order that Jesuits (and the rest of the church) could learn practices that he found helpful for his own spiritual growth and maturity. Ignatius believed these practices to be gifts of God available to all. I don’t believe that Ignatius was the only person to have developed a practice like this, and there have been others that have been similar since. However, I thought I would start with his as a way to create some reflection.
Reflection is the idea behind the Daily Examen. One of the few rules that Ignatius had for the Jesuits was to practice the Examen twice daily (at noon and the end of the day). His Examen consists of five steps that are basically prayed in order, the entire process lasting from 15-20 minutes:
- Become aware of God’s presence.
- Review the day with gratitude.
- Pay attention to your emotions.
- Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
- Look toward tomorrow.
The point to stress, is that this is really more about attitude than method. It is asking God for help in looking at our day from the Divine perspective. We might play the day like a film looking to see where we felt God’s presence, where we had some short comings. Were there specific moments when we moved toward God by our actions and non-actions? Where there points where we moved away from God by not acting, as well as acting? Are there specific things to ask for guidance about? How might we cooperate with God’s Reign tomorrow?
If you do a google search on Ignatius Examen you will find lots of sites to help you with the process.
I hope this is helpful to get your started.
Blessed be
Currently I’ve been reading Roger Barnes The Dinghy Cruising Companion
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A Word About The Links
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Amazon Links
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Ched Myers. Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus.
Wes Howard-Brooks Becoming Children of God
Roger Barnes The Dinghy Cruising Companion
Bill McKibben. Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future.