February 5, 2012

     One of my favorite novels is The Color Purple. In it there is a scene where two young women – Celie and Nettie, who are sisters – play in a field of purple flowers and sing a pat-a-cake song to each other.
     “Me and you must never part. Me and you must have one heart. Ain’t no ocean, ain't no sea, keep my sister away from me. Me and you must never part. Me and you must have one heart.”

     These words of promise expressed in a childhood game become a covenant of love that lasts a lifetime. Even when they are separated and when life becomes almost unbearable, these words of promise become a source of hope and strength.

     The Lenten season invites us to hear anew these same words that God also sings over us. In Genesis 17:7 Yahweh speaks to Abraham at tender age of ninety-nine,
     “I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generation, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”

     “I will be their God,” Yahweh declares. It’s an everlasting covenant, a promise, initiated by the Holy One, which encircles each generation in love. It’s a promise with no end. Even when Israel wanders away from God, God does not forget God’s covenant but continues to entreat them to come back to their first love. The fourth century Bishop Augustine of Hippo reminds us that, “our souls are restless until they find rest in thee.”

     Lent is a season of drawing near to God, but not only this. It is also a time of drawing nearer to one another as disciples of Christ. It is a season of reflection and focus upon our relationship with God (the vertical axis of the cross) but it is also a time of:

*    nuturing relationships
*    preparation for baptism
*   reconciliation or healing, and
*   readying ourselves for a significant step of discipleship and ministry (the horizontal axis of the cross).

     During lent we affirm God’s covenant with us, collectively, and commit ourselves anew to deeper relationships with Christ and with one another. Intentionally focusing on these relationships, we are able to better partner with and support others on their own spiritual journeys.

     John Wesley penned this powerful Covenant Prayer below that I hope will be your meditation during these days of Lent.
     I am no longer my own, but thine.
     Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
     Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
     Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low by thee.
     Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
     I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
     And now, O glorious and blessed God,
     Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
     And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen. 

With love, Pastor Davidson