 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Sunday, March 6 The First Sunday in Lent Psalm 91  We’re weird about language! But Why? If you pull out a calendar and count, you’ll see there are only 40 days of Lent – but only if you exclude Sundays. Sunday is always a feast of the Resurrection. It is never appropriate to treat it like any other day. It is not, technically, a day of Lent – but a day that falls in Lent. So if you picked up your Girl Scout cookies this week and have been carefully not eating any extra sugar – Enjoy some tomorrow! On the other hand, for many people it is actually harder to keep a Lenten fast from chocolate, or sugar – or anything else – if Sundays are exempted. If that’s you, and the discipline of physical fasting is important either in itself or in solidarity with those who are poor, or otherwise forced to do without, then put them in the freezer and save them till Easter – when everyone else’s will be long gone!  Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, abides under the shadow of the Almighty. He shall say to the Lord, “You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God in whom I put my trust.” Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your habitation, There shall no evil happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over you,to keep you in all your ways.They shall bear you in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the adder; you shall trample the young lion and the serpent under your feet. Because he is bound to me in love, therefore will I deliver him; I will protect him because he knows my Name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I am with him in trouble; I will rescue him and bring him to honor. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation. When you read the part in italics, you recognize it as a challenge by “the devil.” And yet, you also know that it’s both true – and untrue, even for Jesus. God did not spare Jesus. Humans suffer – believers and unbelievers alike. And yet we still say this psalm, Jews and Christians, and we still believe it. On some level we know that no matter what happens, God is with us in trouble, does bear us up, does protect us. So Jesus answered: “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” How do you hear that in your own faith journey? |
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