Serious thoughts on Lenten Disciplines

Pieta, by Michelangelo
"So God loved the world..." John 3:16
"Despised and rejected of men..." Isaiah 53:3

The onset of Lent should, I realize, summon me to a deeper introspection and more mature examination of my own shortcomings.  But there is new life all around me, and I find it hard to concentrate on those things to which our Holy Mother the Church calls me.  Sitting in front of me in the seed propagator are 72 tomato seedlings, 72 peppers, and 30 eggplant starts.  The green house is nearly full of early spring crops, and this afternoon, I moved cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, and chard from the greenhouse into the large double cold frame on the south side of the ornamental garden.  The hens are laying every day now, and Ashley is teaching my grand daughters to care for baby chicks in the same way that I taught her so many years ago.  My new pup is growing and will be coming home soon, and the greatest gift of all, grandson George Ambrose, rests safe and secure with his family on their sheep farm just a few miles away.  The daffodils and crocus have sprouted, and blooms should come early this year.  Yes, there is new life all around, and it is hard to think seriously about sin and the various shortcomings that sometimes plague me.

But the ever present reality of sin in our world is always there, in spite of my other preoccupations.  Just thirty years after the landmark court case Roe-v-Wade allowed legal abortion to become widespread in the US, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva have published an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics (February 23, 2012) entitled "After Birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?"*  It is just another illustration of how far western culture has drifted from her traditional moorings in the Bible and Traditions of the Christians and the Jews.  As more and more courts and legislatures (and churches) in the US, Canada, France, and the UK equate marriage and civil partnership, the sacramental understanding of marriage as  a creative reflection of the very character of God (explained so elegantly in traditional editions of the Book of Common Prayer and in Roman Catholic moral theology) is relegated to the dustbin of antiquarianism by ever increasing portions of our society.  The persistent and deadly assaults on Christian communities in South Asia and North Africa, and the deafening silence of the western press and churches regarding the same, is well documented, and provides further illustration that as Hal Lindsey once wrote, "Satan is alive and well on planet Earth."

Yes, even when I am surrounded by beauty and hope, I am called by God to consider the reality of how we humans so often "miss the mark" of God's blessed plan for our lives.  And that is perhaps why in Lent I must overcome the blessed distractions which surround me and choose to contend with the reality of evil in our world.  To delude myself by denying what is all around me for the sake of my own happiness is both selfish and anti-Christ.  God calls me, he calls all Christians, to squarely and honestly see the inequities and shortcomings of ourselves and of our world, and to cry out in prayer and in our actions for that deliverance of which he is the one true source. 

Might we all in this holy season of Lent consciously choose to look beyond our distractions, however wonderful and holy they may be, and see a world suffering for want of knowing our Saviour Jesus Christ.  Might we acknowledge our own participation in the culture which allows and sometimes encourages that suffering and evil which is the result of our rebellion against God.  And might we with humility commit ourselves to implement, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, the ushering in of the kingdom of God through obedience to the Scriptures as understood in that Holy and Received Tradition which is the Orthodox Faith of Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  AMEN.


*see Touchstone (January-February 2013) "Nursery Crimes" by Burnell F. Eckardt, Jr for a thoughtful discussion of the article in Journal.

"I Love Baby George"

"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." So says the Bible.  So many times, children have been used by God to show me the depths of Holy Wisdom.  I was recently playing with grand daughter Margaret, aged four, and out of the blue she said, "I love baby George."  She then went right on with her play.  She was talking about her brother, who God willing, will be born in a little over four months. 

 Her statement started me thinking about the sacredness of human life, and in particular the life of the unborn.  It is my understanding that throughout human history, there have been schools of thought and individuals who have justified, sometimes reluctantly, and sometimes without remorse, the destruction of a human child either before birth or shortly after birth.  On paper, and from a distance, some of the arguments advanced seem to make some sense in a sad sort of way.  They seem ever so practical, or designed to allow the taking of an unborn or newborn life as the lesser of several evils, or to reach some greater good for the individual adults, or families, or societies concerned.  I have even heard some say that it would be better for the child when certain medical or environmental situations exist.  But whatever the arguments for taking the life of an unborn or recently born child may be, the Church has always stood against abortion and infanticide.  The consistant position of our Holy Mother the Church makes real sense.  If we truly believe that every human being is made in the image of God, we should do all we can to preserve and protect human life, especially when it is at its most vulnerable and defenseless. 

Along with my grand daughters and their parents, I pray for Baby George.  I don't know what he will be like, but I know that he is wonderfully made in the Imagio Dei, the image of God himself; and that Jesus Christ died and rose again that George might be reconciled to God the Father and live forever.  I know that a wonderful part of my daughter and son-in-law's marriage is that they model for all who know them the relationship between Christ and the Church, and that they have been favoured by God to participate with him in the act of creation.  Baby George, along with his sisters, is the proof of that.

With all my being, I hope and pray that all who read this, should they be faced with the reality of bearing a child, will choose life for the child, whatever the situation may be.  I know that there was a time in this country when maternal mortality was a significant possibility for many women, but thanks to the blessings of medical science, that is seldom the case these days in America.  Much more often, the decision to abort is made because of the impact a pregnancy or child would have on a career, or on a relatinship, or for some other reason.  I cannot imagine baby George being killed for such a reason.  Somehow, we would find a way for him to be welcomed, and loved, and treasured- however difficult it might be.  Might we all pray, and work for the day when every child will be carried to term, and every child loved, and nurtured, and provided for, and valued as a gift of God.