FROM THE PULPIT
O
ne of the people I love to read is Fred Buechner. He has the ability
to follow the command of the great American poet, Emily
Dickinson, and look at the world slant. When you look at the world
slant, then you offer yourself the opportunity of seeing things from a
different, and who knows, better perspective. I have to confess, then,
that for Lent one of the things I won’t be giving up is plagiarism! I’m
very happy to offer you some of Fred Buechner’s thoughts on the
meaning of the season of Lent. I hope you find them useful.
In many cultures there is an ancient custom of giving a 10th of each
year’s income to some holy use. For Christians, to observe the 40
days of Lent is to do the same thing with roughly a 10th of each
year’s days. After being baptised by John in the River Jordan, Jesus
went off alone into the wilderness where he spent 40 days asking
himself the question what it meant to be Jesus. During Lent,
Christians are supposed to ask, one way or another, what it means
to be themselves.
If you had to bet everything you have on whether there is a God or
whether there isn’t, which side would get your money and why?
When you look at your face in the mirror, what do you see in it that
you most like and what do you see in it that you most deplore?
If you had only one last message to leave to the handful of people
who are most important to you, what would it be in 25 words or
less?
Of all the things you have done in your life, which is the one you
would most like to undo? Which is the one that makes you happiest
to remember?
Is there any person in the world, or any cause, that, if circumstances
called for it, you would be willing to die for?
If this were the last day of your life, what would you do with it?
To hear yourself try to answer questions like these is to begin to
hear something not only of you are but have both what you’re
becoming and what you’re failing to become. It can be a pretty
depressing business all in all, but if sackcloth and ashes are at the
start of it, something like Easter may be at the end.
Best wishes
Scott
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