faith

Hypocrisy of Faith; Deciphering God’s Will in an Election Year
By: Lanni Alecia Lantto

Here it comes.
He is going to say it soon. The intentions. This is usually where my heart starts skipping beats. Okay, alright, this happens every week, just breathe.
"We pray for the sick and those afflicted with addictions, that they may come to find peace in your loving arms."
"We pray for our men and women in the military and for their swift return."
No one else around is moving. For the most part, aside from some small children, the congregation stands erect, their faces forward, pale and solemn. They repeat in unison, "Amen".
So far so good. But, it's coming I know it is…
"We pray for an end to abortion. That the sanctity of life be preserved."
If my toes could curl in these shoes they would. My head flops forward and my hair dangles over my mouth as I mutter, "…and an end to killing of innocent life in war". The person to my left shifts their eyes in my direction. I don't actually see this but I sense it.

Sermon: Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A 2008
The Community Church of Wilmette
March 2, 2008

Psalm 23
John 9:1-42

Free to See

The thing that is most surprising to me is this:
The man who had been blind since birth,
the same man who had been begging outside their walls
for years,
their neighbors’ son,
is someone that they did not recognize.

All this talk about sight, gaining it, healing it, and,
for the Pharisees at least, losing it,
and it is so easy to miss this simple little point:
Before Jesus had come along and healed the man
no one knew who he was. And no one cared.

I love a trial scene as much as the next guy,
and this one in John’s gospel is pretty famous
all things being equal. Someone who has received
grace is being blamed for it…being blamed for being healed.
He was healed on the wrong day.
And he wasn’t supposed to be healed at all.
It was not supposed to be possible.
No one had ever done it before.

And this presents a familiar problem for the Pharisees.
It’s familiar to me at least. I hear old complaints in my mind.
Doesn’t he know his place in society?
Doesn’t he know that he’s not supposed to get better?
Doesn’t he know how to stay anonymous?
And why won’t he tell us who is to blame?
Who sinned? This man or his parents?

This is the trouble with some types of blindness.

Where have I been lately? Time flies and I didn't even realize it had been more than a week since my hide and hair had been seen here...

The Obama national campaign has done descended on Texas and I have been amazed. See, the county I live in isn't just red in a red state, Collin County would show up on that blue state red state map as scarlet. Richest little county in Texas. Where Democrats go to learn how it really feels to be disenfranchised. How do I describe this?

Oh! A story. I love stories and this one is true. I love true stories best of all. See, it was like this. My husband and I went in to vote early for one of the national primaries, not that it really counted, I'm thinking that was when I voted for Bill Bradley even though he'd already dropped out and all. But nonetheless, we went to vote, you have to vote in a primary to participate in the election night precinct convention. Two-tiered primary, we call it the Texas Two-Step and national campaign workers call it a nightmare.

In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and acclaimed world wide for her work among the poor, outcasts, diseased and cripples in Calcutta, yet she wrote, "Where is my faith?...Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness. ... If there be God -- please forgive me."

In the just released, 'Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light', a compilation of her letters to friends, superiors and confessors, the world now knows she still had doubts about her faith when she died in 1997 at the age of 87.

Prophetic messages delivered by prophet-like people make us squirm.

We don't like "in your face" challenges, especially when they call us to task, suggest that we change and/or do things in a completely different way.

Recently, a note from SoJo mail, the list serve for Sojourners magazine and community, shared this quote with everyone:

"There is no dearth of Christian service today. But because much of it is service without prophetic compassion, it is powerless to bring about a radical change in individuals and society." Vishal Mangalwadi, quoted in "Cry Freedom", by Charles Ringma.