Lenten Journey: Engaging yourself

     What a spectacular reading from  Isaiah today ( 58:1-9a ), I encourage you to read it.  How bold Isaiah is to challenge the temple elite as Jesus did, perhaps it's why he met the same fate as Jesus, an early death.  Isaiah speaks of what kind of fasting God truly wants and it is not the obnoxious, omnipresent lamentations of the religiously fervent and devout. These are the same people who are scrupulous at Sunday services who are overt in their acts of personal piety, bends, bows, beatings of the breast, hands raised to the sky - until they verbally assault someone in the vestibule of the church or mow someone down on their way out of the parking lot.

      God asks a different kind of fast, an active, vibrant and offertory fast of social action, liberating, loving action.

      Here's a thought. Jesus embraced his humanity to the full. He was born normally, was raised, loved, played, and grew into a normal man with friends and perhaps even a lover or two. Who knows. The point is, he embraced his humanity to the full.  It would seem a spectacular idea to embrace our own humanity, our own unique, God created, humanity.

     So as we ease into Lent, read verse 6 from  Isaiah 58,
                                                           
                                                             Is not this the fast that I choose:

                                                             to loose the bonds of injustice,

                                                             to undo the thongs of the yoke,

                                                             to let the oppressed go free,

                                                             and to break every yoke? 

But here's the twist, here's the real thought, gear it to yourself with the same fervor any religious zealot might. Be generous with yourself, lavish yourself with love, acceptance and work fervently to free yourself from the things that hold you back from being the fully loved and fully engaged human that God created you to be. Embrace your humanity as Jesus embraced his.

     This is a lifetime effort for sure but making the decision to try and do this is an admirable goal for Lent. By all means, also try to engage Isaiah 58:6 in the world in every way you can see and are called to. But first, for now, engage yourself. Set yourself free and fly.