False and True Worship
Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments; they want God on their side.
“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day and oppress all your workers.
You fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your needs in parched places
and make your bones strong,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
Isaiah 58: 1-13 NRSVue
This is Ash Wednesday in the Christian liturgical calendar, the beginning of the 40 days of Lent. This was an observance once associated with Roman Catholics who wore what we Protestants thought was a bizarre smudge of black in the shape of a cross on their foreheads. And they had this weird practice of fasting during Lent --ugh. Now it is commonplace for other Christian expressions to observe Ash Wednesday and Lent, even evangelical churches.
I looked at the reading for the day and found this passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah about the true practice of fasting which is not just making a show of abstinence. I included it all here because it is such a powerful call to compassion, mercy, dignity for the down-trodden.
These are gloomy times when nations are growing increasingly authoritarian and xenophobic. It is acceptable to harden hearts and show contempt for those who are suffering. The yoke of oppression is foisted upon migrants, the elderly, the poor.
Today I am thinking of Bishop Mariann Budde who a few weeks ago appealed for mercy to those on the margins, invoking the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. In her Sermon in the Cathedral she bravely looked to the most powerful person in the world and said:
Now I grant you that unity, in this broad, expansive sense, is aspirational, and it’s a lot to pray for – a big ask of our God, worthy of the best of who we are and can be. But there isn’t much to be gained by our prayers if we act in ways that further deepen and exploit the divisions among us. Our Scriptures are quite clear that God is never impressed with prayers when actions are not informed by them. Nor does God spare us from the consequences of our deeds, which, in the end, matter more than the words we pray...
Let me make one final plea, Mr President. Millions have put their trust in you. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families who fear for their lives.
And the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in our poultry farms and meat-packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shift in hospitals – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes, and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques and synagogues, gurdwara, and temples.
Lent can be a time for quiet reflection and penitence. Perhaps this year it can be a season for making our voices heard and to be Christ's light in the darkness. The Isaiah passage begins: Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
In whatever ways we can let's walk the Lenten road of mercy, knowing that we find our way to Resurrection Hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment