Mark of Cain

Genesis 4:1-16 (NRSV)

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.’ Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.’

 Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out to the field.’ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.’ Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.’ And theLord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

This has never been one of my favorite Bible stories.  Serious destruction happened both within and without the church over the millennia because of the terrible racial assumptions made by the "mark of Cain" in this text.

Instead, I see the mark of Cain as a wonderful sign of God's promise of grace.  For those who tend to think of God in the Old Testament as somehow meaner or stricter or more vengeful than the God of the New Testament (as if they were separate entities!), this text I believe puts that to rest.  At least it does for me.

Yes, God punishes Cain.  But then what?  The mark is given as protection.  Cain's life is spared and this mark of grace will shield him from the same fate he gave to his brother Abel.

The mark of Cain is a mark of promise.  Not one of separation by race or color or creed or any other such boundary we impose. 

I think always of the mark of Cain on Ash Wednesday when I receive my ashes.  It also reminds me of the sign of the cross that was placed upon my head at my baptism.  That marks defines me and shows that I have a God who claims me and loves me and wants me to return over and over even in all of my brokenness.  God's mark shows to whom I belong. It reminds me of my sin and yet also of hope.

Gracious God, I have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.  Remind me always to see that mark on others as well rather than the false marks of separation that we so often use.  Amen.

Happy Lent?

1 Kings 19:1-8 (NRSV)

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 

from:http://scienceandfaithmatters.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/trees-of-israel-broom-tree/

Scripture has a long tradition of 40 day journeys in the wilderness.  Moses, Elijah, Jesus.  Elijah's journey here evokes strong compassion.  He's tired.  He's done what God has asked of him and it has sent Jezebel after him with a vengeance.  It's enough to make him want to lie down and die.

Like Jesus, Elijah gets a visitor during his 40 days.  Like Satan did with Jesus, the Angel here offers Elijah sustenance.  Only the tone is very different, isn't it?

Is our time in Lent one of being in a Wilderness?  In some ways, yes, I think so. I certainly used to think so, but in perhaps a different way.  Lent had the earmarks for me of Jesus' temptation story in the wilderness.  It seemed an endless time where everything I wanted was a temptation that I couldn't or shouldn't give in to.  A wilderness of misery waiting for Easter to come.

But now?  Now Elijah's story hits marks in ways that have transformed the time of Lent for me.  Elijah is broken, and I admit there are times when thinking of my own brokenness becomes exhausting.  Life can be exhausting.  

Lent for me now is more like this broom tree - a patch of green in a wilderness that offers shelter and hope and renewal.  The spiritual practices and disciplines of Lent no longer seem for ways to avoid temptation or even doorways into temptation.  Instead they feel like balm for healing.  

The wilderness metaphor for Lent still exists for me, but rather than the period of Lent being the wilderness, now for me I see it as the broom tree and as balm from the wilderness of my own sin, my own brokenness, my own sorrows.  Lent is a time of healing and hope and rest.  It is a means to connect to God in fresh and new ways.  

Earlier this week, I heard someone, perhaps half joking, say to someone else "Happy Lent!"  Historically, that would be almost a ludicrous thing to say.  But this time I heard it and I realized that Lent is a time of happiness for me.  It has become my favorite season on the church calendar.  A time of healing and hope and also a time of anticipation for Easter day.  

Happy Lent!

God of new beginnings, walk with me this Lent providing me the sustenance I need and the time and place to spend with you for cleansing and healing.  Amen.

Faith revealed

Romans 1:16-17 (NRSV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’

i just read this verse again recently with one of my confirmation students.  We were discussing how Luther began his journey toward the Wittenberg Cathedral doors and his moment in history.  This was one of the verses we read as being crucial to that defining time.

It's a text of freedom.  For Luther it was freedom from the view of God he had previously had as a harsh judge who could not be satisfied.  Freedom from the angst and the fear that had caused Luther many a sleepless night.

In these few words though is still a reminder to us that faith is something to be lived by.  Faith isn't something we create or do, rather it is who we are.  Our trust in God is a living thing that frees us.  It frees us from worry and condemnation.  

Faith is revealed through faith for faith, Paul says.  Faith breeds faith.  The faith OF Jesus Christ becomes our faith IN Jesus Christ.  It grows and develops and matures and reveals and moves between us and in us.

Faith perhaps is still a word that we wrestle with because it somehow has gotten tangled up with other words.  Words like believe or positive thinking.  Faith is not a mental exercise.  It is not knowledge.  It is trust.  The trust a small child has in a parent to love and care for them.  It is the thing that propels us, not something we propel.  It is how we live.

The word Gospel means "good news," so this faith - this being made righteous through our living faith is good news, saving us not simply for a future "then," but also as a way to live now in freedom and hope.

Lord of hope, enliven my faith that it may be a witness to your infinite mercy,  Amen!

Beginning

Romans 1:1-7 (NRSV) Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul also loves a good run-on sentence! In the midst of this run-on of a greeting, however, he lays out his theology and prepares his readers for what will come in his letter.  In this short few verses Paul declares Jesus's Son-ship of God; declares his foretelling by the prophets; connects him by blood to King David; describes Jesus' work as being the source of grace and apostleship that his followers will use to bring faith to gentiles; and lays all of that power as being intimately tied to the resurrection from the dead. In Lent we are watching as Jesus moves now toward that Resurrection.  A journey that will bring us from the midst of pain and reflection and darkness into glory and celebration and light.  Like those who Paul is writing to in Rome, we are also called to be saints.  Saints, who as Luther reminds us, are also paradoxically sinners. But sinners who have be claimed and freed. Lent is a time of waiting and hoping and reflecting.  It is a time of fasting and forgiving and confessing.  It is a time of cleansing and strengthening and awakening. As we wait for the day of resurrection, remember Paul's greeting.  A beginning of a great letter, it is also a fitting beginning to our time of Lent.  Though we think of Lent as time of darkness, the light is coming and in fact we know has already come.  We have already been set free, but in this time, we remember perhaps what it is like not to be free.  We rest and wait in hope for the resurrection to loose those bonds. Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  Lord have mercy.  Strengthen us while we wait and help us to remember that we are saints called into your love and service always.  Amen.

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-13 (NRSV)

Yet even now, says the Lord,
   return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 
   rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
   for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
   and relents from punishing. 


What does it mean that God wants us to rend our hearts?  It is easy to picture the rending of clothing - almost every film about Jesus has the image of Caiphas tearing or rending his garment as Jesus is brought before him.

But our hearts?  To rend is to split apart or in pieces by violence.  

To actively break our own hearts?

Our heart, God knows, is already divided and to return to God with a full and complete heart is going to mean a civil war within ourselves.  It means acknowledging the brokenness already there.  It acknowledges the shell around our hearts that needs to be broken open for God to use our flesh and blood. 

It perhaps is ironic that it is the times in my life that I've thought I was the most together that I was not: that it was a veneer covering the brokenness underneath.

Lent is upon us and we have a chance to return to the Lord our God.  To begin a slow turning back.  To be marked today or tonight with ashes, acknowledging God's claim on us and our need for forgiveness.

To begin to heal our hearts and lives.

Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  Lord have mercy.  We are broken and in need of your healing.  We humbly repent.  Pardon us and heal us through your son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.


Lenten Ideas:

There are many ways to move through Lent in supplication and repentance and healing.  Fasting is the the tradition we are most familiar with.  Perhaps if you have never done this, this is something to try this year.  

Perhaps instead (or in addition!) you might want to add a spiritual practice: read through one or more of the books of the Bible: the Gospels perhaps, or Paul's letter.  Follow the Passion narratives of the Gospels.  Read through the Prophets in the Old Testament.

Find a another book of faith to read.  Richard Rohr, Anne Lamott, Kathleen Norris, Thomas Merton, or Henri Nouwen are authors who can guide your spiritual life.  Or read through The Cloud of Unknowing.

Add a Lenten devotional to your daily prayer life.

Take on a ministry at church you have been considering but haven't been sure enough to dive into year, perhaps a Bible Study or Lenten worship service (beginning tonight with the Ash Wednesday service).  Perhaps helping with your youth or social ministry programs.

Help out in your community - at a food bank or a school perhaps.

Add a new form of prayer into your life.  Contemplative prayer or Lectio Divina.  Spend more time in prayer and meditation.  Use silence to explore your brokenness and healing.

Take time to journal your thoughts and wishes to God.  One thing I'll be doing this year for Lent that I've found rewarding is a "gratitude list."  Each day writing something down - something different each day - that I am grateful for.  Journal this or perhaps hopes and dreams or fears or prayers.

Pray for those who are on your congregations prayer list.

Make more space in your daily life for sacred time with your family and friends.

Write poems.

Silence

1 Kings 19:9-13 (NRSV) At that place (Elijah) came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"  The sound of sheer silence.  Have you ever heard it? It seems here that that silence must have been deafening to Elijah.  It was enough to move him out of his hiding place and face God.   Silence is often deafening to me.  I tend to be prone to insomnia and rapid and distracted thoughts, and often silence itself seems to swallow me up.  It's when the thoughts move most rapidly. Like Elijah, I always tended to look for God in big places.  I'd see God in the wide expanse of ocean or the howling wind. Yet, Elijah was perceptive and discerning enough to know that it was in the silence where God dwelled. We live in a time where silence itself has been swallowed up by the myriad of stuff in our life.  There is a low hum of noise almost everywhere. I've found that when I've created a time of silence each morning - begun to train my thoughts in that time with focus and prayer, that I've also begun to notice things that I hadn't before.  God indeed in the silence.  God in the quiet moments asking what I am doing. It's hard if it isn't your custom.  If silence makes you squirm as it did - and still often does - me.  But it is also rich with promise, pulling us into God's presence.   A prayer I've learned that helped me on that way is following.  It requires some focused breathing.  Breath in and out a few times deeply and try to time this prayer as a whisper on your breath: Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am. Be still and know. Be still. Be.

Statement of faith

Acts 7:30-34

 ‘Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him [Moses] in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, “Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.”

This comes from the long sermon - or statement of faith - from Stephen right before he is stoned to death.  Stephen traces with his words of faith the Jewish history from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph through to Moses and then David and Solomon.  He uses the law of those who would condemn him to show how they have missed the important thing - the righteous holy one, Jesus - as well as the heart of the law.

It's quite a statement and is met with anger and rage - the kind that leads to Stephen's murder.  

And it makes me think of those who have come since Stephen and spoken of their faith with passion and conviction, only to be met with a similar fate.

It also makes me think of myself living in a time and a place where the stakes aren't life or death and yet when it comes to sharing of my faith, I don't always manage to summon the same conviction as Stephen.

We aren't all Stephen, but I think we can learn from the gift Stephen shared.

Stephen died displaying a faith that depended on God in life and in death.  We aren't all called to die for that faith, or even share it as eloquently.  But what and how would our lives look if we lived lives filled with the promise of that faith?  If we lived our faith as if our lives depended on it?

God of faith, our lives depend on you.  Move us to live each moment in gratitude and abundant life.  Amen.