Monday, February 22, 2021

Monday in the First Week of Lent

Julie Cook

The Collect of the Day

Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully increase in us your gifts of holy discipline, in almsgiving, prayer, and fasting; that our lives may be directed to the fulfilling of your most gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Readings: Leviticus 19:1–2,11–18, Matthew 25:31–46 & Psalm 19:7–14

The passage in Leviticus begins by the Lord saying to Moses, “Say to all the congregations of the people of Israel, You shall be Holy, for I the Lord your God am Holy.” We are to be Holy? That is daunting! Holy? What does Holy mean? Being Holy is to be set apart, dedicated to the work, service and worship of God. The rest of the Leviticus reading as well as the reading in Matthew gives up a full picture what being Holy looks like.
I just finished reading the book, “Just Mercy”, by Byrne Stevenson, a Harvard Lawyer who works with people on death row, some convicted unjustly. A statement Byrne made will stay with me forever. He said, “each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” I think he is saying we are more than we know, for the Creator, the Holy, dwells in it’s creation. How do we live into the more, the Holy. What blocks our way?
Lent offers us a time to seek answers to these questions, to seek the Holy. It is a time to find our own wilderness place, a prayer chair, a quiet time or a walk in nature. It is a time to live into our own Holiness by seeking and listening to the Holy.

A few lines from our Psalm for today have become my prayer this Lent;
“But who can discern their own weaknesses?
Cleanse me, O Love, from
all my hidden faults.
Keep me from boldly acting in
error; let my fears
and illusions not have dominion
over me!
Then shall I become a beneficial
presence,,
freely and fully surrendered
To you love.”
(“Psalms for Praying” by Nan C. Merrill.)