Old Testament: Joel 2:1-2,12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12
New Testament: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
Psalm 103 or 103:8-14
“Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made…” Book of Common Prayer p.264
So begins the collect appointed for today. All God has created, every creature, the air we breathe the water that sustains our life, the earth under our feet and all that grows from it: God does not hate any of it. And that includes all the people that would be easy for me to hate.
So as we begin our Lenten journey, in the midst of a presidential election process that is heating up, how can we keep a Holy Lent?
The tradition is to fast. What I choose is to fast from hate. That, for me, will require staying in the prayer of contemplation and resting in God’s all encompassing love. For if God hates nothing Godself created, then who am I to harbor hate? But contemplation without right action is at risk being self-serving. So for guidance, I turn to the passage from Isaiah for today.
“Is this not the fast that I choose, to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry…” (Isaiah 58:6-7a)
The easy part of this is to share bread with the hungry. St Andrew’s does this well. St. Andy’s Pantry and Community Kitchens offer opportunities to volunteer or donate. But I am going to encourage you to go further and address the systems of injustice that creates hunger in a land of abundance.
Just yesterday, a delegation of folks from St. Andrew’s went to our state capitol for Alabama Arise Lobby Day. Network with Martha Jane Patton for ways you can get involved in correcting the unjust policies and laws that perpetuate poverty and hunger in our state. Grater Birmingham Ministries not only offers a food pantry and clothes closet, but works for justice in our local political systems. They are also an Alabama partner for the Poor People’s Campaign working nationally to give voice to the marginalized and to change our national policies that perpetuate injustice. These are but a few of the organizations that are working to confront and change unjust systems.
So join with me to hate nothing that God created and fast to “loose the bonds of injustice.”
The Rev. Dn. Gerri Aston
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