Good Friday Devotion

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two,

from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.  Matthew 27:51

Patterns

By

Paul Simon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GTmN7Fhv6o

The night sets softly
With the hush of falling leaves
Casting shivering shadows
On the houses through the trees

And the light from a street lamp
Paints a pattern on my wall
Like the pieces of a puzzle
Or a child's uneven scrawl

Up a narrow flight of stairs
In a narrow little room
As I lie upon my bed
In the early evening gloom

Impaled on my wall
My eyes can dimly see
The pattern of my life
And the puzzle that is me

From the moment of my birth
To the instant of my death
There are patterns I must follow
Just as I must breathe each breath

Like a rat in a maze
The path before me lies
And the pattern never alters
Until the rat dies

And the pattern still remains
On the wall where darkness fell
And it's fitting that it should
For in darkness I must dwell

Like the color of my skin
Or the day that I grow old
My life is made of patterns
That can scarcely be controlled.

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul Simon

Patterns lyrics © Paul Simon Music

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ.

During Holy Week we will continue our Lenten Series of exploring the human condition through the lyrics of Paul Simon and addressing the malady suggested by the song with the Gospel.

Pastor Scott W. Gustafson posits a fresh approach to interpretation of the Scripture in his book Biblical Amnesia.  He contends that the human condition can be best described by the pattern of domination.  The Divine calls humankind into a new relationship away from patterns to partnership ways.  God is out to break our patterns of domination through covenants and interaction as partners.

Simon’s lyric aptly describe the human condition.  Those born in a certain zip code or of a certain color are given a pattern to follow and it is almost inevitable that one follows such environmentally and systemic patterns.

If you are a male of color you will be stopped more often by the police.  You will be watched in clothing stores.  A black clergyman entered a local upscale clothing store and was followed throughout his time in the store.  The store clerk was embarrassed when asked by the customer why he was being followed. 

Imagine being born on a Native Reservation in the USA and the pattern that sets up for your life.  The existential reality is that each of us is trapped by patterns and caught up in the domination system.

No longer is politics about serving the common good, but rather maintaining power at any cost even taking away the right to vote in a democracy.  Unilateral power has taken the place of communal power as the dominator system thrives on maintaining oppressive patterns.

Jesus was part of the patterns of the Empire of his time.  Patterns of Roman oppression thrived as people knew their place and kept their place.  Slaves remained slaves, women remained property, indigenous peoples had to be controlled, born into privilege you did everything to maintain your privilege, if you were ill or disabled it was your fault or your families fault and thus you were caught in the pattern.

Christ broke open all those patterns: healing the sick, uplifting the marginalized, eating with sinners, championing the place of women, crossing ethnic barriers.  And in his passion breaking the domination of the cross.

After Christ – the cross evolved into a symbol of divine love and ultimate sacrifice overcoming death itself.  From his ‘throne’ on the cross Christ announced a new way:  “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  To the Persian thief he announced:  “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”  By the way paradise is a Persian word.  Was Christ being inclusive of other evolving faiths?

So on this dark Friday we recognize the patterns on our walls.  And now the curtain of division has forever been torn open.  Those patterns do not have the last word because Christ has ended those patterns and brought us into partnership with the Divine.  Amen.