Lent - Day 36

       Think about life., think about spiritualities and diets and exercise regimens, dance moves and music, society in general, and you will find everything has a latest craze. What is en vogue? What new truths have really been portrayed in whatever the latest fashion is that seems to have captured the imagination of so many?

        However our imagination or penchant for new and exciting things goes, there are immutable truths out there. There are many Holy books that try to convey truths about humanity, the universe and our Creator. Many of them contain stories of a great deluge. For all the translations and interpretations of Hebrew and Christian Scripture, there are truths there. The sacredness of life, welcoming the stranger ( dare I say illegal immigrant? ) in our midst, loving yourself, others and God, all are truths. Forgiveness might be a universal virtue more than a truth but that too seems a constant. What else can you think of? Our penchant to sin perhaps?  All interesting points for sure.

       Yesterday and today we recall two holy men who ran afoul of religious authorities, not unlike Jesus himself, for not following the status quo, those in power religiously or politically. I ran afoul of the Roman church for 'confessing' proudly but without fanfare that I am gay and wished to live life celebrating that God given aspect of my nature.  I also asked to be released from my marital vows which they granted in absentia somehow. The point though is that we all run counter to whatever is the correct way of life is at one time or another in our life. We may live in a time that celebrates women or we could have been born a woman in the time of Jesus when women were mere chattel.

        Running counter does not change immutable truths though. We always wind up playing with the cards we are dealt with. What we choose to do with our 'hand' is where we celebrate, elevate or denigrate both God and ourself. The truths don't change even when it is not popular or even recognized.  We may be born to be a prophet or prophetess to a cause that is integral to who we are.

        Like holy William Law, celebrated today, I cannot officially preach, baptize or otherwise exercise my ministry in the ( Roman ) church. That does not excuse me from  being the best person I can as God created me. It is not an excuse not to minister, not to preach ( albeit mostly on these pages ) and it certainly does not excise me from trying my hardest to emulate Christ and His teachings in my daily life. 

        For popularity, lack thereof and immutable truths and callings, we pray. 

 Daniel 3:14-20,24-28

Nebuchadnezzar said to them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?’

 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defence to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.’

 Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace to be heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.

 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counsellors, ‘Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?’ They answered the king, ‘True, O king.’ He replied, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.’ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!’ So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counsellors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunicswere not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them.Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.