Meditation Moment in Lent, Day 15, Give Up, Take On, Pray '24

March 1, 2024 ~ 3rd Friday in Lent

 

What exactly IS The Christian Ideal? 

     If you Google the phrase What is the Christian Ideal you'll get directed to a variety of sites and among the first five in the list is to the Chesterton* quote and untold numbers of sermons about "it." One Biblical reference that showed up was 1 Peter 2:18-25.** If that is the only part of the Bible I ever got to read, I don't think it would draw me in to a Christian life! In its time, the writer was speaking to chosen pilgrims in the diaspora in Asia Minor who were suffering persecution. I’m glad I wasn’t living then and there, although, we must remember that millions are living in similar conditions today. How confident are you of defining The Christian Ideal to others? Something as in, "Well, of course it is..." How would you define it as a way of life? Why does Chesterton say it's difficult? What if (when?) you stray from the Ideal? What does it mean to you to think of yourself as, and say to others that you are a Christian?

Jesus, Beloved of God,
     You are the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of God, the Son of Man. We are the Christians who have signed on to follow You, to live our lives as You have taught us. You did give us all we need to know in Matthew 22:33-40*** which is pretty clear:  Love God with everything we have and love everyone ~ friend, not friend, and stranger ~ as if they are ourselves. Sounds easy but as I have said to You before, more than a few times and probably will again, that if we can really do that, we've pretty well covered the original 1-10 list. Well, I quietly admit, what You already know, that there are days when I'm not loving anyone very much especially myself. And there are many other days when I watch to see how I measure up with the ways other Christians appear to be following You. That can be discouraging on a variety of levels. So, for today, I'll give up looking around to see what everyone else is doing, and take on the "trying" again part a little more diligently. I'll pray to find my path through Your words that define The Christian Ideal. When I hit a bump or two or have a cranky day, I'll leave a message for myself to work on remembering to pray again and more often. Oh, and I'll also remember you’re your message of  Love is believers and non-believers alike can love others as if they were themselves. What a better world that would bring!  amen.

^*G.K. Chesterton [1874-1936] born in London and baptized as an Anglican, studied art and literature harboring a desire to be an artist. He fell into journalism and then began to write in earnest penning more than 80 books, hundreds of short stories, and more hundreds of poems.  He's widely known for his Priest-Detective Father Brown character, which, dramatized for television, still plays on PBS in the US. A lay theologian and philosopher, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922. Poet, playwright, political commentator, literary and art critic, he was known for his wit and humor and use of paradox. His faith was deep and his practice devout enough to warrant a telegram of condolence from the Pope "To the English People" at his death. Just one more of his innumerable quotable quotes that feels quite contemporary: The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected. 

 

^**1 Peter 2:18-25: ¹⁸ Slaves, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only those who are good and gentle but also those who are dishonest. ¹⁹ For it is a commendable thing if, being aware of God, a person endures pain while suffering unjustly. ²⁰ If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do good and suffer for it, this is a commendable thing before God. ²¹ For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. ²² “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” ²³ When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵ For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

 

^***Matthew 22:34-40: ³⁴ When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵ and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷ He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

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