Lent Day 32 March 29, 2012

Lenten Reflection for Day 32

Date: Thursday March 29, 2012

Author: John Harris

Bible Passage: Exodus 20:5–6 (NRSV)

⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Reflection: “Faith of our fathers (and mothers!), living still/ in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword./ Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy/ whene’er we hear that glorious word./ Faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to you till death.

Kathleen Norris reveals that she “rediscovered” her “Christian inheritance” during her stay at a Benedictine monastery and that she had used her writing as a substitute for her religious heritage. I began to wonder. What have I used in my life, unwittingly, for a faith substitute, and who, in my life has led me back into “the paths to which I should go.” Like every Christian, I have had “dry” periods where my faith has flagged, usually at “me” centered times when I have had family, health or job issues. And I must say, the discipline of attending regular church services just did not seem “relevant.” Rather than reading scripture and meditating on the “Word,” I would go off on these tangents of Eastern religions, existentialist (and not Christian existentialists, either!) philosophy, and transcendentalism. My Mother, the patient person that she was, would invariably remind me not to use the books as a substitute for faith and to give Christianity a chance. Later on, my local church pastors, members of adult Bible study groups, and eventually my wife would provide “the flowing streams” that help me out of these spiritual “dry” periods.

When talking about our “Christian inheritance,” I immediately think of DNA. And, I guess, because of my background and the influence that Christian saints (my Mother and all those pastors and church members who have influenced me) have played in my life, starting as a small child at that baptismal font, I have the DNA of faith in my chromosomes. I guess that when my parents and Godparents stood up for me at my baptism, not only did I have their genetic make-up, I received that DNA of faith when I became a “child of God”. I really do have the “Faith of our Fathers (and Mothers!) in my blood.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, as a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you. Through you death and resurrection, we have inherited the promise of eternal life. Sustain us with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence. Amen