Lent

March 2, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Exodus 20:1-17

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder. 

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. –Exodus 20:12-17

As I read through these, I thought our society ignores most of these, even those who take great pride in identifying us as a Christian nation. My sense is we may do our best at honoring our parents, but the other sins listed here seem to be passe’ in the USA. For example,

Approximately 245,000 deaths in the United States in the year 2000 were attributable to low levels of education, 176,000 to racial segregation, 162,000 to low social support, 133,000 to individual-level poverty, 119,000 to income inequality, and 39,000 to area-level poverty*. These data are for 2019 pre-COVID. I wonder how many of these deaths would have been avoided had we responded to Jesus’ call to feed and clothe the poor. Are we murderers for not addressing these issues?

Greed, envy, and lying are norms to some. Stealing is OK if you do not get caught, whether shoplifting a candy bar or cheating people on the stock market.

We tend to pick on actions as sins that do not remotely relate to anything we might do while we strongly condemn others for being involved in them.

During Lent we might want to take a hard look at these Ten Commandments and see where we are guilty directly or indirectly.

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts and eyes tote broadened meaning of these commandments. Forgive us from following our culture rather than yours. Guide us to your path.  Amen.

*https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/how-many-us-deaths-are-caused-poverty-lack-education-and-other-social-factors

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.