Lent 4 - Jeremiah 31: 31-34 and John 12: 20-33 Detail of Image from A Sanctified Art
A few weeks ago, one of the youth of our congregation expressed that he wanted to read the Bible more and asked, “What would I recommend?” I shared a Bible with him and we talked about three possibilities of where to start. Of course, you could begin with Genesis and Exodus—great and ancient stories of faith. You could begin with the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke & John—the good news of Jesus. You could also pray the Psalms. I’m aware of at least one other member reading the Psalms this Lent—the book that Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the Prayerbook of the Bible. The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 31.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.
11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
13 For I hear the whispering of many—terror all around!—as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.
14 But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
16 Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.
Last Sunday, when I shared with the children the book about a child witnessing the death of George Floyd, one asked me, “Why did they kill him?” All I could say in response in that moment was, “That’s a very good question.” And I’ve thought about her question all week.
Why did they kill him?
There are always “responses,” theories, ideas (sigh… aren’t there?) as to why bad things happen. There are stories and counter-stories and trying to find the truth of the “why?”
But so often, there are no real answers to our hardest questions. Especially when someone dies… especially when it is an enemy. Or someone who turned out to be an enemy. Or when death is the enemy. So often, there are no real answers to our hardest questions.
There is only being changed… and praying that as we encounter tragedy, injustice, actual evil, that we still remember the themes of Jeremiah who proclaims this truth from God—
You keep breaking relationships, but I keep making them…until the day when our connection will be so deep and so good that I will be part of who you are. Written on your hearts.
There is only being altered by our creating God… the same God who causes a single grain of wheat, planted deep in the good soil of earth, to multiply into so much more than it was before it was planted.
As Jesus begins to imagine his own impending death, Jesus admits, “Now my soul is troubled.” It’s so very human, so very understandable, not to want to go through the known and unknown aspects of death—pain, anxiety, uncertainty, suffering, grief—but Jesus keeps focused on what the fruit of death will be… that in this death, the ruler of this world is driven out.
The crushing power of death is overturned by the power of love and solidarity and transforms death completely into new life.
I think this may be why Jesus describes the pain and suffering and crises of this life not as an end but a beginning. It may look like and feel like death, but to Jesus, it’s the “beginning of the birth pangs.” (Matthew). Something new is being born… something that will last forever.
Lauren Wright Pittman is the artist who drew this beautiful cover art inspired by Psalm 31.
The person who feels like a broken vessel is in the very center of this beautiful mandala. Bent over in grief. The artist describes how she wanted to make it better for the grieving person but stopped herself because, as she describes, “when I’m experiencing grief myself, I just want someone to sit with me in the unresolved, jarring, unsettling space of it all. I want someone to acknowledge and see the wrongness, the ugliness of grief—to see my shattered self and situation for what it is and not try to tape it back together for just a little while…”
She goes on, “As I drew layer after layer, I had to sit in the brokenness with the psalmist and experience…”
“What resulted is an overall flower shape that I wasn’t expecting. I think the message in this is that if we allow ourselves to grieve before God, to really open ourselves up to the difficult inner work that it takes, then that’s where true and profound growth happens… the broken vessel in the middle becomes the seed and center of a blooming flower.”
Isn’t this what we hope for ourselves… alongside our enemies…
That somehow all the grief and brokenness could be the seed that dying, could grow into something beautiful, new, blooming… and finally, bearing fruit.
Steven Charleston, who wrote the book we are using for reflection on Wednesday evenings, also writes daily reflections on Facebook. Here are two of his reflections from this week:
We all have carried our burden of grief. We have all know the weight of worry, especially for those we love. We have struggled to make a difference in a world that seems so far beyond our control. And yet, here we are, still together, [still singing, still watching in wonder]… We trust the Spirit and live into that trust each day. Life can make us hurt. Love can make it better.
There are no favorite children in the household of the Spirit. All creatures are beloved in the sight of their creator. While humans may true to pretend otherwise., while they may want to be the chosen ones, the fact is the Spirit does not love some of us more than others. We are all loved and forgiven equally. The Spirit is perfect love and perfect love could not do otherwise.
And so we pray again with the psalmist for the Spirit to keep up this work of changing everything that is broken, grieving, all that makes us enemies…
12 I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
13 For I hear the whispering of many….14 But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
16 Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.
And we sing again with St. Patrick to keep becoming more and more connected with God—Creator, Christ and Loving Spirit—
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity by invocation of the same,
the Three in One and One in Three.
Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity by invocation of the same,
the Three in One and One in Three.
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