Lenten Reflection - 2/14
This morning, as I was getting the kids off to school, NPR news was on in the background. Oscar Pistorius, olympic and paraolympic hero, was reported to have been arrested under suspicion of killing his girlfriend. My boys looked at each other and they looked at me. How could I find words for this? How could an athlete so recently praised as a hero to anyone burdened with limitations (which all of us are, in some way) have fallen so far?
In Lent we are reminded that it doesn't matter how fine your reputation is or how good you are at what you do. Everyone is broken and therefore prone to sin. It feels very sad to me to hear that someone I have greatly admired has perhaps been involved in perpetrating domestic violence - a sin I find particularly troubling. It reminds me once again, as I have been reminded so often lately, that the world is very broken, and that any of us might succumb to our most uncontrollable human weaknesses.
In this morning's reading in Deuteronomy, the Israelites, God's chosen people, are told that "God wasn't attracted to you and didn't choose you because you were big and important - the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. God did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise God made to your ancestors." (Deut. 7:7,8a)
God can indeed stoop down into our most broken places and free us from slavery to our worst impulses. And "God keeps this covenant of loyal love with those who love God."
Loving our reputations, our possessions, our power, our control, our perceived safety, our own desires or anything else more than loving God and God's good, orderly direction leads to nothing but trouble. That goes for you, for me, for celebrities, athletes, politicians, kings - Everyone.
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Want to follow along with the daily lectionary readings this Lent? They can be found HERE. Scroll down to the section that is headed Daily Office and Daily Eucharistic Lectionary to find the readings for each day.
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