Volume 1 Issue 30

A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.
--Jeremiah 31:15
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What did you give up for Lent? We are so early into our journey to the Cross that it probably wasn’t apparent yet that I had intended to give up commenting on the Bush Administration and its imperialistic obsession with attacking Iraq. Instead, I planned to limit myself to a strictly scriptural and theological examination of Jesus’ wilderness experience with the temptation of sin and evil and to let any possible implications be drawn by the readership. I managed sixteen days, but am compelled to declare that with last Wednesday’s attack by the United States of America the antichrist was unleashed upon the world in new and unprecedented ways. George W. Bush does not deserve the distinction of being regarded as “the Antichrist,” but the evil he represents must be recognized as being categorically antithetical to anything we know or understand to be true of the teachings and example of Jesus as the Christ.
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The following is taken from the Good Friday liturgy of The United Methodist Church, but no longer being bound by that or any other polity I am taking the liberty of offering it for our urgent and immediate prayerful meditation now:

THE REPROACHES
CHRIST’S LAMENT AGAINST HIS FAITHLESS CHURCH

O my people, O my Church,
what have I done to you, or in what have I offended you?
I led you forth from the land of Egypt
and delivered you by the water of baptism,
but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

I led you through the desert forty years and fed you with manna;
I brought you through times of persecution and of renewal
and gave you my body, the bread of heaven;
but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

I made you branches of my vineyard
and gave you the water of salvation,
but when I was thirsty you gave me vinegar and gall
and pierced with a spear the side of your Savior.

I went before you in a pillar of cloud,
but you have led me to the judgment hall of Pilate.
I brought you to a land of freedom and prosperity,
but you have scourged, mocked, and beaten me.

I gave you a royal scepter, and bestowed the keys to the kingdom,
but you have given me a crown of thorns.
I raised you on high with great power,
but you have hanged me on the cross.

My peace I gave, which the world cannot give,
and washed your feet as a servant,
but you draw the sword to strike in my name
and seek high places in my kingdom.

I accepted the cup of suffering and death for your sakes,
but you scatter and deny and abandon me.
I sent the Spirit of truth to lead you,
but you close your hearts to guidance.

I called you to go and bring forth fruit,
but you cast lots for my clothing.
I prayed that you all may be one,
but you continue to quarrel and divide.

I grafted you into the tree of my chosen people Israel,
but you turned on them with persecution and mass murder.
I made you joint heirs with them of my covenants,
but you made them scapegoats for your own guilt.

I came to you as the least of your brothers and sisters.
I was hungry but you gave me no food,
thirsty but you gave me no drink.
I was a stranger but you did not welcome me,
naked but you did not clothe me,
sick and in prison but you did not visit me.

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
(The United Methodist Book of Worship, 1992, The United Methodist Publishing House)
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Until next week…….Shalom!