Pastor Hugh's Monthly Meditation
Click Here for Other Meditations
THE POSSIBLE IMPOSSIBILITY?
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE
Lent can seem totally overwhelming at times. Our lives are so busy, already. And the idea of having to take on one more task, no matter how beneficial it may promise to be, can seem too much to handle. Adding more discipline to our overly burdened life can seem too much to bear.
What is more, Lent is partway over. If we haven’t started our Lenten disciplines by now, why bother?
Click on image to see a larger view of Schnorr’s “God Shows Abraham Stars”, in a separate window.
The reality, however, is, first, that the discipline to which Lent invites us is not about adding another layer upon an already too-full life. Rather it is about undertaking a kind of life-saving triage—discerning that which draws us closer to God from those things that push us away, and saying “yes” to the former and “no” to the latter. It’s not about adding more. It’s far more radical and important than that. It is about turning our lives around and over to God.
The second reality is that it’s never too late to start.
The challenge for most of us is that we don’t really want this kind of change because we don’t really think it’s all that necessary. Our lives may be busy and chaotic, to be sure, but their our lives, and we can do with them what we want. We’re basically OK the way we are. And besides, we tell ourselves, the kind of change we might want for our lives is impossible to realize. The personal obstacles we face are too big. Right?
Years ago I volunteered at the Augusta Mental Health Institute in Augusta, Maine. I remember a patient there whose name we’ll call Jerry. When Jerry was on the outside, in the “real world,” he would succumb to binge drinking and would end up destroying his life, health and relationships with alcohol. Evidence of this was the fact that Jerry was missing about half of each foot. Years earlier, during the winter while he was drinking heavily, Jerry had passed out outdoors and by the time he was revived, he had suffered so much frost bite on his feet that half of each had to be amputated.
Jerry found out that I was planning to enter the ministry. In a moment of candor, Jerry told me that he had no need of God and thought it a sign of personal weakness in those who did. “My life has been quite fine without him,” he told me. Since I was volunteering in a state facility, it would have been inappropriate for me to try to convince him otherwise. But, oh, how his inability to discern his own reality has haunted me ever since.
Are we any different? When we shun the disciplines that lead to the life God has for us, it’s as if we are trying to convince ourselves, and others, that we are fine the way we are. Perhaps its the loss of control we fear, or the unknown of the disciple’s pilgrimage that we avoid. To this we can only offer this promise: the payoff for our efforts will be nothing less than new life.
But to the second question—that the kind of obstacles we are facing are too big even for God to do anything about—I point you to Abraham. Yes, the Abraham.
The lesson for the 2nd Sunday in Lent introduces us to a childless Abram (he was yet to be called “Abraham”) who encounters God in a vision. In that vision God shows Abram the stars in the sky and tells him that his descendants would be as numerous as they. “Impossible!” we might have said, had we been there. Abram was too old to have children and his wife Sarai was far beyond child bearing years herself. Why would God torment poor Abram with such an impossible promise?
But this is where faith comes in—faith that not only clings to a promise that is given, but then steps out in obedience in the power of that promise. It was this kind of faith that opened Abram and Sarai to God’s righteousness, to his grace and to the possible impossibility of his promise. And it is this same faith—trust that bears fruit in obedience—that we are called to as well.
Too late to start such a journey of faith? Never. Will our lives really be different if we do? Yes, if we journey by faith: trusting and obedient faith.
But here’s a catch: we can’t do this alone, and that brings us back to Lent and the disciplines that we are called to embrace . . . together.
During our 6-1/2 week journey through Lent, St. Paul’s is offering a number of opportunities for people to grow in their faith: from Sunday worship, Wednesday Evening Prayer, Wednesday morning Bible studies, and a Sunday Evening video series. All of these events are offered to serve one common purpose: to grow disciples of Christ. And it is this growth of faith that we do best when we do it together.
If you haven’t yet made up your mind about participating in one or more of these Lenten opportunities, do so now. It’s not too late to experience that which God makes possible: new life.
Hugh R. B. Haffenreffer
Pastor
March 2007
ABOUT THIS MONTH’S ARTWORK
The print on the first page of this Epistle is by the German Lutheran religious painter and designer, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, and is entitled “God Shows Abraham Stars.” It depicts that moment in Genesis 15:5 where we read, “[God] brought [Abram] outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’”
Born in 1794 in Leipzig Saxony (Germany), Schnorr began his instruction under his father Hans, a draftsman, painter and engraver.
At the age of 24 Schnorr became part of a group of religious painters known as the Nazarenes. He spent some time with them in Rome, rejecting the trends that modern art was taking and embraced earlier romantic styles.
Later in life, following a visit to London, he was commissioned to design over 200 woodcuts portraying Biblical scenes. His compositions, while often crowded and chaotic, are extremely inventive in his approach to his subject. His “God Shows Abraham Stars” is one of these prints.
What stands out to me, as I study this piece, is how Schnorr captures the awe-inspired moment. Abram seems to be cowering as he receives God’s promise. As a Lutheran, perhaps Schnorr realized that we grow in grace when we walk humbly with God.
HRBH
Click Here for Other Meditations
|
