Yesterday certainly felt the way many of us think Lent should feel: wafting of breezes with the promise of spring as the temperature helped our snow from last weekend melt. Such weather helps us to go through the period of quiet reflection this time of year is supposed to bring. The world was not quiet, however, as we joined with Israeli forces to not just block the possibility of a nuclear threat but to take down a government.
A colleague of mine who was born in Iran and raised as a Christian saw her father shot because he refused to renounce his faith. Rather than making her more staunchly a Christian, she turned her anger and bitterness at all faiths because, in her estimation, religion is the cause of violence and death.
How the deaths of Khamenei and some of the county’s leadership will play out for the future, we really don’t know. We do know that we’ve been down a similar path before and the outcomes were not so good. As we struggle with mixed feelings and concerns for the future, let us pray that our quasi imperial actions do not lead us down the road to Rome, for the outcomes there were not so good.
Prayer for the Day
Startled how the world comes crashing into our time of Lenten reflection,
We struggle to focus our thoughts, our lives on the Season;
Shaken by images of burning buildings and destroyed schools,
We are caught off guard and unsure how to respond.
Help us, O Holy One, to refocus our thoughts and lives on you,
For we feel the earth shifting beneath our feet.
In the name of the One who steadies us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
In the current state of affairs, we no longer know what's for the best and what's for the worst”
José Saramago, Portuguese novelist, from Death with Interruptions (1922-2010)
And the truth is inconvenient. For those who want something to hold onto, life is even more inconvenient.”
Pema Chodron, from When Things Fall Apart
In my distress, I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help.
From the temple, God hard my voice and my cry reached God’s ears.
Psalm 18: 6