March 21-22
“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
-Matthew 6:16-18
(Please read through the scripture three times using lectio divina.)
Reflection
The above scripture is a good reminder that our Lenten fasts are not to impress others or even ourselves. We fast out of devotion to a good and loving God.
This week we will fast from reading over-represented voices (e.g. white and male) and for reading under-represented voices (e.g. people of color, women, non-Western).
To introduce this week, today’s reflection comes from James H. Cone’s book The Cross and the Lynching Tree.
“Like Reinhold Niebuhr, whom he studied in graduate school, King believed that the cross was the defining heart of the Christian faith. Unlike Niebuhr, his understanding of the cross was inflected by his awareness of the lynching tree, and this was a significant difference. While the cross symbolized God’s supreme love for human life, the lynching tree was the most terrifying symbol of hate in America. King held these symbols together in a Hegelian dialectic, a contradiction of thesis and antithesis, yielding to a creative synthesis.
In considering the subject of God and the problem of race in America, King reflected that God’s love created blacks and whites and other human beings for each other in community (thesis). White supremacy was the sin that separated them in America and in much of the world (antithesis). God reconciled humanity through Jesus’ cross, and thereby white supremacy could never have ‘the final and ultimate word’ on human relationships (synthesis). God’s reconciling love in the cross empowered human beings to love one another—bearing witness with ‘our whole being in the struggle against evil, whatever the cost.’ Thus, blacks and whites together were free to create the American Dream in society and the Beloved Community in our religious life.” (71)
Action (Engage)
As we engage in “social distancing,” can we see this as a “desert” time in which we give ourseleves more fully to our Lenten practice?
Reflect on the Previous week: were you able to do something concrete for the poor? If not, is there someone feeling isolated whom you could reach out to by phone?
Plan for the upcoming week: The early church bridged the Gentile-Jewish divide in the ancient world. As we seek to live out Jesus’ vision for a new community, this week we will focus on bridging racial divides. To promote that, all of the reflections this week will be from people of color.
If you wish to take this practice deeper you might choose to fast from reading over-represented voices in order to read under-represented voices. Here is a list of 100 recommended books.
The goal of this week is to love across racial lines. If you have trans-racial relationships, think of how to give support to one of those friends this week. If you don’t have such a relationship, consider what the Spirit might be prompting in you. Are there relationships either of solidarity or difference that God is calling you to invest in?
