“Whoever Serves Me” by Wayne Miller

“Whoever Serves Me” by Wayne Miller

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the LORD.  All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31:33-34

Create a clean heart in me, O God. Psalm 51

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Hebrews 5:8-9

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.  The Father will honor whoever serves me. 

John 12: 25 - 26

Piety

Abba Father, thank you for coming into the center of my very being, as Father Richard Rohr describes: the divine unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in me and moving through me.  Thank you for the gift of yourself, the gift of your acceptance and forgiveness of me with all my failings and missteps and evildoing.  Thank you for making it possible for me to understand the words of Jeremiah from all those millennia ago.  Thank you that you remember my sin no more – day after day after day.

Study

Sam and I are participating in a rather brief (7-session) Jeff Cavins survey course of the Bible (mostly the Hebrew scriptures).  As we “helicopter” over his Bible Timeline, looking at the major events and characters and places of three millennia of our heritage, one thing consistently stands out.  We are very good at messing up a good thing.  It was emphasized in a cycle that Cavins called SIN / SERVITUDE / SUPPLICATION / SALVATION / SILENCE, where we keep lapping the same track, falling away, suffering for it, calling out to our Loving Father, accepting and – for a time – celebrating his discipline and salvation.  Then, we kinda get lazy again, our prayer turns to silence, and we fritter it all away as slaves to our next worldly master.  From which, of course, we call out to Abba, who forgives our evildoing and remembers our sin no more.  Sound familiar?

But just as I can truly despair of ever breaking out of the cycle, I know with equal certainty that our God never abandons me and is forever just behind me with open heart and arms, waiting for me to turn around (metanoia) and fall into his forgiving and accepting embrace.  Knowing that He knows me so completely and accepts all the bad and good that I am, gives me the courage and will to know and accept myself, and offer myself to Him as a conduit of His Love to His Kingdom.  There’s a lot of people out there I don’t know how to Love, but I know enough to ask Him to inspire me with the Love that He has for them, to give me a glimpse of how He Loves them.  And then I can be Jesus’ servant in this world.  And know eternal salvation through obedience to Him.

A wonderful young Franciscan priest, Father Dan Horan, wrote a book and blog called “Dating God,” where he characterizes a vibrant prayer dialogue with God very much like dating (for those of us who can still remember that far back).  Dating is awkward and messy and full of needs and expectations, and it progresses at a stumbling pace.  However, dating can lead to a joyful, intimate, nourishing, everlasting connection if we just don’t cave in.  I think I’ve been dating God all my life, sometimes informal prayer, sometimes in liturgical rituals, sometimes in the quiet, and sometimes in the strangest, most chaotic places.  I’ve felt his presence, spoken questions and gotten amazing answers, shouted in anguish and anger and utter joy over the situation of the moment. And He was always there.  I was never alone.

Action

When Jesus manifested Himself to people, healing their hearts and their bodies, they just couldn’t stop telling everyone about Him.  For years, I thought a Christian was someone who had all the right scripture verses memorized and could give you the perfect encouraging quote – verbatim – for any crisis you were experiencing.  And I’m a flop at verbal memorization.  But I’ve learned that the good news of the miracles in my life is easy to share.  And living a daily piety overwhelms me with examples of God’s Loving presence.  And I have brothers and sisters with the courage and wisdom to recognize and share their experiences of the Father in their lives.  Together we provide God ample variety of voices and personalities so that He can be heard throughout His Kingdom. 

Thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for surrounding me with the Love and the Touch and the Voice of our Beloved Trinity.

De Colores!