Lenten Reflection 3/21

 

MSNBC's website has a story today about a straight A student in Los Angeles - a girl only 14 years old and in the 8th grade - died of inhaling computer dusting spray.  She'd taped her nostrils shut and was huffing the spray in her bed after school.  The story reports that there has been an increase in inhalant abuse among teens lately.  This girl's parents say they believe this was the first time the girl had tried it, but it is clear that they had very little knowledge of inhalant use, and seem unaware of how kids her daughter's age know all about it - including details about which inhalants leave a better aftertaste, which give the best high, etc.  "I am positive my daughter did not realize that this had the potential to kill her," the mother said.  My stomach lurched reading this story.  Finding your daughter dead in bed with a can in her mouth would be probably my worst nightmare.  I cannot imagine how those parents feel.

The story says that 1 in 4 teens report having tried inhaling something before the 8th grade.  This statistic stuns me.  I think about the headache I get and how ill I feel around paint fumes and the idea of intentionally inhaling a lot of fumes literally doesn't compute for me.   I have a hard time believing that any kid is unaware that huffing chemicals is really, really dangerous, poisonous and potentially lethal.  I wonder if perhaps the danger of the activity actually has something to do with its appeal.  These parents, according to the report, did "all the right things."  They had no guns in the house.  Prescriptions medicines were under lock and key.  There was no alcohol in their home.  Clearly these parents understood that substance abuse is epidemic among kids and they felt they needed to take precautions against it.  It sounds to me like substance abuse had been talked about in that home.  It is certainly talked about in the schools.  There are public announcements on TV and computer.  Everyone who's ever heard of it knows that huffing can be deadly.  But someone who wants to get high will find a way to get high, whether that's with vodka or drugs, cough medicine or computer cleaner. 

The gospel today explores actions and words.  Jesus was a congruent figure whose words and actions matched.  None of us can claim that kind of congruency in our lives.  We do things that are not in line with what we say.  We say things that are not in line with what we do.  We go ahead and do things we say we don't or wouldn't do.  Jesus' message to the Pharisees is that his life is congruent with God.  All his words and all his actions are only what he receives from God, who he calls his Papa.  "He is in me; I am in him."

There are so many things in this world that are not congruent.  Finding your honor student daughter dead in bed from substance abuse is not congruent.  Choosing to huff computer cleaner even though you know it's dangerous is not congruent.   Judging that family or that child for this simply horrible incident is also not congruent, because there but by the grace of God, go I.

In all things, this is what we most need.  The grace of God.  The grace to hear the shepherd's voice and not to reject it, but follow it.


Today's readings: Jer. 26:1-16; Rom. 11:1-12; John 10:19-42
Elsa is praying the daily readings and praying the news and blogging about it on the weekdays of Lent.

She is reading The Message translation this year.

Signposts

After a long, trying winter, today I finally got back into the woods today for a beautiful walk by the river.  I noticed that the mountain bikers had recently repainted the blazes on the trees.  I know the trail well, but there are places where bikes have made alternate paths, so it felt good to have strong, clear blazes to follow.  After all, it had been a while since I'd walked the trail.

And I was thinking about how we always need signposts in life, even when we're travelling down a road we've been down before.  I remember as a child, on the familiar trip to our summer home, I always looked for the same office building along Route 128 with the mirrors along its roof.  When I saw it, I knew we were headed to New Hampshire.  There were other landmarks along the 2 1/2 hour route, each one assuring me that we were getting closer to our destination.  This reminds me how each year during Lent, we hear the same weekly prayers and consider the same readings, and then during Holy Week, we participate in the same rituals each year.  The familiar words and liturgies are like signposts, like blazes, assuring us that we're on track and that we're moving closer to the promise of Easter.

Signposts also remind us that others have travelled this path before us.  The blazes on the trees in the woods tell me that I'm not the only one that cares about and travels on this woodland trail.  It is wonderful that someone took the time to make it possible for me to venture forth into the woods that first time with blazes to lead me.  If no one marked the trail, people who've never been there before would not be able to learn the way.  So, marking the trail is an important responsibility.  If those of us who love the trail don't create trailmarkers, no one but us will be able to enjoy it, and once we're gone, the path will no longer exist.

The same is true for church. Those of us who have a strong connection with church no longer need blazes to find our way here. We don't need signposts to find our way around the building and we don't need instructions in the bulletin about how to follow the liturgy. But if we care about church enough, we'll want it to be for others, not just ourselves. So we need to create clear blazes for those who are less familiar with the way. If we tend to our signposts, just like the mountain bikers tend the blazes in the woods, the path can become a favorite journey for others yet to come.

Today on the trail was one of those times I was strongly reminded that the most important people for the church are the people who haven't found their way there yet.  (Just like it's frequently repeated that the newcomer is the most important person in a 12 step meeting.)  We're not in the business of creating a club for insiders.  We're called to go out into the world and to put bright and clear blazes on the trees everywhere we go.  Or or maybe more accurately, we're called to be living, walking blazes ourselves - so that who we are and what we do can help show the way for people who haven't found the way yet.