Isaiah 50:4-9

Palm Sunday – Year B

Isaiah 50:4-9

For Palm Sunday only two lections are listed. I am filling in the remaining texts from the Passion Sunday listing. I wonder why this is so, but not enough to get to the bottom of it.

Teachers know how to sustain weary students with a word of encouragement. Lest we take that too literally, words of encouragement are also symbols in action.

There is nothing that will disgrace a student whose ear has been stimulated by an encouraging word. They are as flint in their pursuit of wisdom, even to the point of entering a lion's den, as long as they can be in the presence of their teacher's word.

So ride on O students, come and look at what we thought we knew. Look around and see if there be any wisdom left. If not, ride on, again. Ride on with friends and fellow students and fellow teachers. Ride on, sustained and sustaining. Ride on to new community and new wisdom. Ride on without mourning, just ride on.
 

Mark 11:1-11

Palm Sunday – Year B

Mark 11:1-11

Humility is not prized in domination systems (sucking up in hope of finding the leverage for a coup, is).

We are talking planes of existence here that slide by one another with little to no contact. We approach Jerusalem (really the Temple) and make choices about the mode in which we will arrive – a beast of burden, not a charger of triumph.

Of course there are those who are blind to such a choice and still see the charger, even with a colt in front of their eyes. Here is a reverse case of the Emperor's New Clothes. Folks are not able to see humility for the log of domination in their eye. No mater how Jesus says he is not a Messiah in the military/economic/political sense, he is still so perceived.

When Jesus finally arrives at the Temple, there is nothing to see for one who has their eye set on a larger future. No matter how much Jesus looks around, it is too late, any glory once present, has faded.

What is your symbol of humility and non-violence in these days? Regardless of whether others recognize it or not, you will know what you are about.

What are we looking for in these days? Look around - its gone from the places we thought it might be and we are called to see a new manger. If its not where you are looking, head off with your friends to further build community.
 

hazelnut dream

Lent 5 – Year B

hazelnut dream

do it for me
  o priestly king
yes for me
  o kingly priest
high and lifted
  mysterioso
lift me high
  so o so high
and show me mercy
  baking it deep within
so o so deep
  to be never lost
so o so deep
  I'll never need ask
do it for me
  o priestly king
yes for me
  you kingly priest
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
a hazelnut dreams
dreams so deep
a cascade of generations
unmasked arise
from once and always roots
growing through this frail hand
down to magma's heart
bursting up to not burn a bush
flowing onward
"set free, set free"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
nuts o priest
nuts o king
I am not the least
o hear me sing
justice for not just us
mercy that all may see
creation in a hazelnut

Hebrews 5:(1-4), 5-10

Lent 5 – Year B

Hebrews 5:(1-4), 5-10

A priori problem: Every high priest selected to represent men and women before God and offer sacrifices for their sins . . . . Says who? Why is the sacrificial aspect of a priest the most important one?

How many high priests are in the order of Melchizedek? How many such mature priests came before and after Jesus' ordination? How is it that none of them are heard of as entries to temporal or eternal salvation? This seems, more and more, to be a preconceived idea that was wrapped around Jesus and no matter how helpful it was to some at the time, it has been more in the way than helpful in the long run.

Melchizedek, as priest and king, seems to be two things Jesus, in the gospels, had a great deal of trouble with. Now, in anticipation of Constantine, Jesus is officially powerful. But, I guess if God decrees it's OK, then I'll have to relearn everything – what a brave new world where learning to unlearn and relearn takes place by decree. Is aversion therapy the kind of learning we need if sacrificing priest (as a disciple this is our aspiration) are to deal gently with the difficult spots of life?

It may be that we'll have to start a new Christian sect – The Church of the Ancient Order of Melchizedek. Come, mature your faith through suffering now to achieve life later.

Wouldn't you know, someone beat us to it:
http://www.holisticwebs.com/workshop/ordination.html
http://www.melchizedekusa.com/order_of_melchizedek.htm
 

Psalm 51:1-12

Lent 5 – Year B

Psalm 51:1-12

Restoration is a good thing. If forgiveness is a way to such, how do our usual nice images of forgiveness match up with a chest-pounding culpa mea, purging draught of hyssop, and crushing of bones?

There is a strain of our tradition that indicates these confessional penances are necessary preludes to forgiveness, that we won't receive said forgiveness if we have not been sufficiently abased.

There is a strain of our tradition that substitutes Jesus' humiliation and passion for our own, paving the way for us to be redeemed and without which restoration would not be possible.

There is also a mystical strand that can visualize no amount of suffering, even Jesus', to atone for the slightest of relational breakages. There is here an ever-present possibility of a translation from wherever we are to someplace incomprehensibly better, beyond what just bringing us back to ground zero could never imagine. Heart change is heart change, not a tit-for-tat game.

Given these broad strokes, it is 2 to 1 against Jesus or followers of that model to prevail in the market-place of ideas. The actions-have-consequences crowd have too difficult a time with the joy of salvation being available beyond the mechanics of some holy economy.

The strains requiring recompense for the past before moving ahead are powerful enough to lead mystics to hide away. It is time for our mystical side to cry out, "Ollie, ollie, oxen free – y'all come, it's time to move on.
 

Jeremiah 31:(27-30), 31-34

Lent 5 – Year B

Jeremiah 31:(27-30), 31-34

We will know G*D through forgiveness (31:34). This is the most powerful image in this passage.

The first part of this pericope talks about not having sins passed on to the generations, but each generation and person having immediate feedback or consequences for behavior that is harmful to them and others and creation. This sounds idyllic, but taken just a half-step further leads to greater constraint and self-censorship. To connect behavior to consequences too strongly and quickly may make us obedient puppets but loses the living nature of G*D and ourselves as Partners.

It doesn't take much immediate correction, like an electrified fence, before we shy away from even coming close to it. It may no longer be active, but our past experiences with it have effectively kept us from pushing the boundaries of life. Pavlovian responses, even in the supposed service of G*D are more detrimental than helpful.

So how does G*D's heart become our heart, and vice versa? It comes through the beating process of trial and error and forgiveness received and forgiveness given and trying again. So we stand and walk, so we ride a bicycle, so we build community. Let's get to the heart of the matter – loving kindness revealed in many ways and forgiveness is near the top of its revelatory presence.
 

John 12:20-33 (34-36)

Lent 5 – Year B

John 12:20-33 (34-36)

Ya gotta love this strange Jesus.

Philip and Andrew (in excited unison): Hey, Jesus there's some folks looking for to join up!

Jesus: So? I'm about to die, here. Tell 'em to consider their own death, that's the short course. Invest your life in death, and alakazam, ipso facto, and zoomazoozi here is eternal life in the midst of what was thought only regular ol' life.

Once started, like an easily distractible professor (or one who works by providing all manner of strands until folks can begin weaving some of them together), Jesus mutters on about what a troubled soul he has (oy vey, such trouble has my soul seen!), how he'd just as soon, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, avoid such trouble.

After a moment of high humor and thundering angels where Jesus gets brought up short when asking for a revelation of glory with a revelation that glory was already present (remember that death–eternal-life thing) so get on with living.

Of as much interest as these little gems is the assumption that a Messiah must last forever and keep us in that forever. Such a boring assumption when faced with the excitement of a death–eternal-life connection. No wonder Jesus went and hid away.

What did you think you were signing up for? Forever? Nah. Ain't exciting enough. Try the short course instead, it'll take you much further – right into a paradise of now.
 

look and raise

Lent 4 – Year B

lift your serpent
lift a glass
lift it high

look at mud
look at glory
look it in the eye

see a past
see a hope
see re-al-a-tie

raise a curtain
raise a light
raise some clar-a-tie
 

Ephesians 2:1-10

Lent 4 – Year B

Ephesians 2:1-10

To be rich in mercy is to look around, see what's down, and raise it up.

Mercy has been shown to us and we have grown.

Mercy has been shown by us and we have grown.

I believe this is something to be boasted about. Seeing ourselves as worthy of mercy and able to do works of mercy is no small thing.
 

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Lent 4 – Year B

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

The redeemed or freed or those who can peek through those lenses of beauty and belovedness know a gift of perspective on issues that runs alongside them. They are not particularly surprised when consequences come nipping at their heels, when delays of healing occur.

It is a gift of perspective that makes all the difference. To see, both desperate situations and outs that are mysterious enough to be connected with G*D, is a blessing. It is also a gift worth pursuing, a skill set worth developing.

G*D, source of trouble and source of solution (who needs Satan or Seraphim when G*D's at work), is quite a song and quite a singer. I hope you appreciate this kind of music of the spheres as it is so prevalent in life. May you help G*D sing well.
 

Numbers 21:4-9

Lent 4 – Year B

Numbers 21:4-9

The Lord gives and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Serpents were sent and bit and many died. Artisan Moses was sent and the power of the serpents was abrogated.

Sympathetic magic, yes, but what else? Surely it can't simply be a one-to-one correspondence or we would have folks sticking a dollar or a stock option on a stick to recuperate from being bit by the invisible hand.

- - - - - - -
Why have you brought us out here? To die?
Sure, have some death! Surprised it didn't come from thirst?
Ouch! Got us there.
Tell you what, I didn't bring you out to die.
So?
So, here's another surprise. Moses, what do have you been doing?
See, a sky snake, not one in the grass.
- - - - - - -

Is the bronze snake antidote over the past or antecedent to idolatry (2 Kings 18:4)?

If the pattern is snake, snake lifted, snake idolized – how does Jesus fit into that and is the danger of his being lifted that he will also be idolized?

Looking at this story raises additional questions about both/and. Who are the fiery, poisonous seraphim disguised as snakes and why are they flitting through this story. Did they also attend Jesus in the wilderness? How about being with Adam and Eve at a tree as well as guarding a gate back in? Were they holding the memory of all this within an ark, a promise?

Might they be a helpful clue about needing to look more deeply than the surface – to see life and its consequences and its hope in the wriggly and the static? Perhaps the bronze serpent helped folks see the angelic host even in the snake that bit them and in that deeper view find the resources to go on. What art work helps you see past the surface?
 

John 3:14-21

Lent 4 – Year B

John 3:14-21

From Destroyer to Protector – go Kali Serpent Christ!

"In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And, because of her terrible form she is also often seen as a great protector." [good ol' Wikipedia]

Kali is sometimes described as darkness, as Ultimate Mother. Christ moving over the face of the dark deep is also known as Ultimate Word. Playing here could take up the rest of the day.

Moving on, the new Wesley Study Bible notes, "'So loved' does not mean 'loved so much' but 'loved in this way'; that is, God's love is giving and purposeful – to rescue and give life."

A question for this week is how we understand our having been loved enough to be lifted up as a sign of that love available to others. Though rescuing and giving life are modes open to fatigue, may you travel into your countryside with a gift of baptism – identifying beautiful, beloved people and helping them see that about themselves.

In the destruction of sin a newly birthed saint emerges.

Here is a "Wesleyan Core Term" from the new study Bible: "New Birth: When John Wesley listed the four most important doctrines found in Scripture, new birth was included. The others are original sin, justification by faith, and inward and outward holiness (see Notes, Preface to the OT, ¶18). The inclusion of new birth reveals a very important theme in Wesley's theology, and in all theology that calls itself Wesleyan. Martin Luther, Of course, proclaimed that we are saved by faith alone and his theology of justification became the heartbeat of all Protestantism. But there is a key difference between justification and new birth in Wesley's theology. Not only does Christ forgive us for past sins when we accept him as our savior, he also gives us a new life – a new life to live differently. Not only does Christ deal with the guilt of our sins, he also deals with the root problem that causes us to sin. In Wesley's scheme, new birth is the beginning of the holy life, the beginning of sanctification."

In what way have you been loved; in what way will you love? Will this be a new birth for you or a new birth reaffirmed?
 

Reading Backward Helps Us Read Forward

Lent 3 – Year B

Reading Backward Helps Us Read Forward

John 2:13-22

After Jesus was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered what he had said some three years earlier. From this resurrection they believed the scripture quoted and the Word of G*D that Jesus had become for them.

Remembering, the disciples finally connected Jesus' Resurrection with his Physique and Word. Both the disciples and the religiously observant missed a metaphor connecting temple with body, settling on the 46 years it took to build the temple rather than imagining the 6 days of creation, much less a day of resurrection. At last they could appreciate how Jesus responded to their opening bid for an external sign (temple) by raising them an internal one (body).

Now the disciples recognize the zeal needed for Jesus to live well while facing his consummation – how it was that Jesus was able to see and act when the idolatry of sacrifice commoditized secondary rules and pretended they were primary. So, after taking the time needed to plait a tool to visualize his word, Jesus loudly explained, "Get your stuff out of here and stop turning everything into a shopping mall!" while spilling coins from upended tables, stampeding animals and loosing birds to flippity-flop-and-flutter forth, and chasing money-changing loan sharks to and fro.

All this occurred as status, obliviously quo-ed, neared the presence and echo of Passover freedom returned and neared the presence and anticipation of Resurrection freedom already walking in from the wings. All this occurred from a missed metaphor.

In remembering, the disciples could see Jesus trusting himself to live free while not trusting those lookers-on who had yet catch the breadth and surprise of metaphoric living. Finally, the disciples saw how distrusting they had been and they took another step toward believing they, too, were temples of freedom, metaphors of life.
 

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Lent 3 – Year B

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

If we only deal with the prescribed verses we end up with propositional statements about G*D and Christ, devoid of connection with us – other than how good they look in comparison to us. OK, OK, G*D's awesome and Jesus is too.

A much greater mystery is opened in verses 26-31 – not just some perfected group who are "The Called", but such frail flowers as you and me are also awesome. Remember we are going to be able to boast that, as part of the "not", we have a part in "reducing to not" things that are. This koan is worth the pondering.

This pericope uses highly loaded language. G*D again is born in humble dwellings – in your life and mine. That which was lost is found, that which is but straw draws gold to it. And, boast away, something wonderful occurs in this partnership – this embodiment of G*D and divinization of us.

Go ahead, boast away.
 

Psalm 19

Lent 3 – Year B

Psalm 19

What if creation around us is telling the glory of G*D and we have our nose stuck so far inside our economic fears that we can't smell anything beyond decay?

What if time is telling the glory of G*D and we are so caught in fearing a future better, but different, than our modicum of control of the past that we can't experience anything but the disorientation from riding a centrifuge repeating itself ever more quickly?

What if fear is telling the glory of G*D and we are so caught in little preoccupying fears that we miss the mystery of the blessing of fear focusing us and moving us beyond our fears?

What if we miss these gifts and are only left with our errors? Well, we will have missed a gift of being able to act from the basis of resurrection and new life. We will have missed our opportunity to let kings know they are naked and to run idolaters of money and institutional survival far enough out of their comfort zone for them to catch a glimpse of life beyond their usual accumulated patterns of control and power. We will have missed the joy of simply doing what is helpful for the time and space we have available to us.

"What if" can lead us to "what now" and herein we find revival. Go ahead, make your day -- be glory.
 

Exodus 20:1-17

Lent 3 - Year B

Exodus 20:1-17

Today's appended quote from Wordsmith triggered thoughts about fulfilling previous understandings by recasting them: "All men -- whether they go by the name of Americans or Russians or Chinese or British or Malayans or Indians or Africans -- have obligations to one another that transcend their obligations to their sovereign societies." -Norman Cousins, author, editor, journalist and professor (1915-1990).

If we expand the nationalities named to religious groupings - what are the obligations we have to one another that transcends our obligation to our own perspective, our own "decalogue"? Regardless of where we come out in that balance, simply raising this question honors the progressive nature of life.

Exodus 20:1-17

Lent 3 – Year B

Exodus 20:1-17

By what standards will you be known, will the community you are a part of be known? What are the criteria by which you would be willing to risk breaking a rule for which you are known?

Most of us are members of several communities that are not on the same page about the details of membership. This can be confusing. It can make chameleons out of us. It can also allow us to leverage one against another to help broaden the base from which we engage others.

An informative exercise is to list the various communities you belong to from blood/adoptive family to formative high school/college years to employment to nation to religion to environmental niche to . . . . Then indicate what the standards of each group are and what enforcement mechanisms are employed.

This leads to the extension to verse 20 – our desire to have some force between ourselves and the various standards as a way of developing plausible deniability should we be caught not living to the letter of one of the rules and regulations.

What have you developed as a universal ethic that grows out of your various communities? Is this a lowest common denominator ethic that can see you through any of their variations? Is this something beyond them that brings a question or challenge to their way of making a business out of relationships? Another way to ask this question is whether you are part of the priestly function or the prophetic?
 

John 2:13-22

Lent 3 – Year B

John 2:13-22

This week the pericopes have been extended by a couple of verses, following the format of TextWeek. There is hardly a time when an extension doesn't help with a better setting or view of consequences. So, this passage will proceed to verse 25.

John's scene in the temple takes place early in Jesus' ministry (note the difference between the length of his life and ministry as, believe it or not, there is life beyond officially demarcated ministry). Imagine how your interaction with the world would have been different if you had prayerfully taken on the economic/religious powers early in your career.

I expect that you and I would have come closer to living with Joe Hill and Mother Jones, with Paul Robeson and César Chávez, with Dorothy Day and Clarence Jordan. While unrecognized at the time, our life would live on (Joe Hill: "I never died," said he, "Good luck to all of you.").

Even with an earlier intentionality, I expect we would have come to the same economic impasse as our current situation – eternal vigilance does wane, temptation is persistent – but we would be in a better position to deal with disappointment in our magical thinking regarding invisible hands.

The extended three verses remind us not to entrust ourselves to the prevailing ethos. When you stop to think about it, you, too, know what is at stake and how far officialdom falls from that. Make what you can better without an illusion of getting some fame or benefit accrued to you.
 

Messiah rid me of Messiah

Lent 2 – Year B

Peter claims Jesus is Messiah - - - Peter defines limits for Messiah.

One way out of this eternal dilemma is to listen in to a paragraph by Matthew Fox in his now out-of-print book, Wrestling with the Prophets:

- - > It seems to me that religion's future is not in religion as such. Religion has to learn to let go of religion. As Meister Eckhart said in the fourteenth century, "I pray God to rid me of God" in order to rediscover the spirituality that is at the heart of any living, authentic, and healthy religion. Spirituality is the praxis of the heart, the praxis of our living in this world. It means dealing with our inner selves and not just living on the level of our outer selves. < - -
 

Romans 4:13-25

Lent 2 – Year B

Romans 4:13-25

So many promises yet to be fulfilled and so little time, seemingly.

In the in-between-time of promises you are holding on to and their fulfillment are two key understandings. First that our engagement with our basic promise-base is active. There is no suggestion that G*D messed around with Sarah in the same way Mary has been talked about. Apparently Abraham and Sarah were still participating in coitus at 99 and, hopefully, enjoying it. Having made themselves available for a child, even against all known odds, is active faith (as well as fun). May you keep up with your promises by putting yourself in a position to catch them when they come by – and don't forget that active faith is fun.

Second, this interesting phrase of "hoping against hope". In the Hymn/Poem we now know as Jesus, Lover of My Soul there is a verse left out of the current UMHymnal. See what you think about how returning that verse and its hope against hope might change the hymn and your life.

In Temptation by Charles Wesley

Jesus, lover of my soul,
  Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
  While the tempest still is high:
Hide me, O my Savior, hide
  Till the storm of life is past,
Safe into the haven guide,
  O, receive my soul at last!

Other refuge have I none,
  Hangs my helpless soul on thee;
Leave, ah, leave me not alone,
  Still support and comfort me:
All my trust on thee is stayed,
  All my help from thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head
  With the shadow of thy wing.

Wilt thou not regard my call?
  Wilt thou not accept my prayer?
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall!
  Lo! on thee I cast my care!
Reach me out thy gracious hand
  While I of thy strength receive,
Hoping against hope I stand,
  Dying, and behold I live!

Thou, O Christ, art all I want;
  More than all in thee I find:
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
  Heal the sick and lead the blind!
Just and holy is thy name;
  I am all unrighteousness;
False and full of sin I am,
  Thou art full of truth and grace.

Plenteous grace with thee is found,
  Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound,
  Make and keep me pure within:
Thou of life the fountain art;
  Freely let me take of thee,
Spring thou up within my heart,
  Rise to all eternity!

Secondary to this second point, Hope can be easily spoken of and that kind of hope is more of a wishful thinking. I hope against this kind of hope. Hope that is bone-deep is helpful to rub up against and is more against me than I against it. If it is a honing contest, I will be sharpened by this deep hope and made dull by the wishful stuff. Depending on orientation, hoping against hope is mysterious or exactly what is needed.
 

Psalm 22:23-31

Lent 2 – Year B

Psalm 22:23-31

Verse 29 brings an interesting contrast between translations.

"To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him." (NRSV)

"All the power-mongers are before him – worshiping!
All the poor and powerless, too – worshiping!
Along with those who never got it together – worshiping!" (The Message)

"All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship:
all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him:
and none can keep alive his own soul." (KJV)

"All who are rich and have more than enough
will bow down to you, Lord.
Even those who are dying and almost in the grave
will come and bow down." (CEV)

I'm not enough of a Hebrew scholar to discriminate between these and so I'll just let them talk to one another for awhile more.
 

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

Lent 2 - Year B

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

I'm intrigued with the difference in tone between the English translations of verse 1c.

"I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless." (NRSV)

"I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt!" (The Message)

In the first case we are to be blameless, either as a result of walking before God who's got an eye on you and so the result will be blameless living, straight-and-narrow living, or simply being in the presence of God will be transformative and blamelessness becomes ingrained and you automatically get your wings.

In the second we are to live life to the hilt. Martin Luther's dictum to "sin boldly" might fit here. Also applicable is John Wesley's, "go on to perfection" (where perfection is not a static perfected-ness, but a dynamic holistic, integrated living). Basically we are mates of Wonderful Life Clarence, Angel Second-class, still working in the messes of life and adding our own.

The one thing this covenant is missing is that of being blessed to be a blessing, from the covenant in Chapter 12. That wider view has here been limited to simple biology of passing on a gene pool that will have authorities in it (huzzah). Oh, yes, there is also the matter of getting circumcision and land along with the covenant. (Read the elided material.)

What has changed the dynamic of blessing to be a blessing, living life to the hilt, into a property transaction, a being blameless? To investigate this change will be helpful Lenten reflection material and also give some insight into the greed (at all levels leading to our current economic mess) that desires more and more while claiming we are uniquely blameless and so are entitled, covenantally, to get more and more.
 

Mark 8:27-38

Lent 2 – Year B

Mark 8:27-38

This longer reading better sets the stage than simply picking things up at verse 31. Beginning even earlier there is a story of a healing of a blind man whose gradual regathering of sight brought him to clarity of vision. Even here Jesus asks that no big deal be made of this event, that the one with new sight should stay out of sight.

Who do people say Jesus is? Well, for sequestering a visionary, crazy might be among the descriptors. Whether this or a prophet or a messiah, Jesus is still proposing anonymity.

In this moment of quiet, with nothing apparent at stake, Jesus teaches about life and life renewed and life eternal. Peter, honoring the quiet takes Jesus aside to, in one form or another, say "no" to some aspect of "life".

Jesus is not willing to honor this Petrine tactic because something, apparently, is at stake – another testing? Peter is seen as a tester, a satan (not necessarily the big Satan [note: this smaller case satan is usually how the U.S. is described, not as the big Satan]) and publicly revealed in that role.

We have all too often experienced that to lose one's life through crucifixion or other collateral means it has been a meaningless loss. We have plenty of experience of folks being gone and it signifying nothing. This taking up one's already lost life is a rallying cry. On what other basis than a larger vision would one risk seeming to be irrelevant? This strange call gives Peter a second chance to go a next step with his Messiah, his strange already lost Messiah. Peter will travel to the Transfiguration (which comes next in Mark, except we covered that two weeks ago – so the scripture that comes after has already come before [shades of Baptizer John's confusing talk about Jesus]) still being a bewildered satan (as aren't we all?).

Will you respond to such a strange rallying cry that calls for your commitment even to the point of being inconsequential? This is a Lenten question worth looking at. Even if we aren't quite up to it in the moment, hang in there with the question, transfiguration, like Brigadoon, can appear out of time and just in the nick of time.