Lent

March 26, 2020

Scripture Reading: Romans 8:6-11

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Those of us who are sheltering at home as a result of the covid 19 virus, both to avoid getting or spreading it to others, are discovering time to delve into projects or interest that we had placed on the back burner because of our busy schedules.  The need for such and abundance of caution, the new key phrase for our times, coincides with Lent and might be a good idea for each of us to consider on what “flesh” are we concentrating that is keeping us from living in the Spirit of God?

First, I think we need to recognize that living in the flesh is not just referring to the culturally unacceptable behaviors with which most of us are not involved anyway. Yes, we do need to review all things in our lives that separate us from God, but we live in a fantasyland if we think we are above what Paul uses the word flesh to describe. Our very pride that makes us think we are better than others meets that test. We are getting a good lesson in that as we realize daily that viruses do not discern a difference among classes or races or ages.

So, we might start with analyzing our priorities. Is growing wealth a consuming factor in our lives? How about what we wear and how we look? There is a difference in good habits and addictions although they may act similarly. Regular exercise is a good habit; devoting most of our time to exercise to the detriment of other responsibilities is not good. Losing ourselves in video games or television or social media or me spending hours delving into my genealogy may be destructive if they become more important to us than our relationship with God. Same goes for alcohol, drugs, food, etc. Centering in God will contribute to a more abundant and fruitful life.

Prayer: Lord, during this time while we lie fallow, nourish us in the fertile food of your Spirit and help us get our priorities straight. Amen.

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.