Week
3 - Midweek Lenten Devotion - Forlorn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo2ZsAOlvEM
Let
us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together
I've got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner's pies
And we walked off to look for America
Cathy, I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America
Laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said, be careful, his bowtie is really a camera
Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat
We smoked the last one an hour ago
So I looked at the scenery
She read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field
Cathy, I'm lost, I said though I knew she was sleeping
And I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America
Writer/s: PAUL SIMON
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Peter
Denies Jesus – Luke 22:54-62
54 Then they
seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But
Peter was following at a distance. 55 When they had kindled a fire in
the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among
them. 56 Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at
him and said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it,
saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58 A little later someone else,
on seeing him, said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am
not!” 59 Then about an hour later still another kept insisting,
“Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.” 60 But
Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!” At that moment,
while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. 61 The Lord turned and
looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to
him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three
times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
This Lenten series will explore the human condition through the lyrics of Paul Simon and address the malady suggested by the song with the Gospel.
In our emptiness and aching what are we looking for? The American ideal of all people being created equal and equal justice under the law is being tattered as the wealthy and well-connected are above the Law. The commoner and person of color is discriminated against and even killed for innocent behavior.
Are you empty and aching for empathy and eloquence in an America bereft of civil discourse and respect? The pictures of our Capital under siege as former leaders had incited a mob leaves many to wonder if the center will hold.
Maybe in ‘looking for America’ we are looking in all the wrong places.
One can begin to imagine the emptiness and aching of the disciples as Jesus hung from the cross stretched out on wooden beams by an oppressive regime. The emptiness was all pervasive as their hopes were shattered.
If we are honest and open we are all searching for the deeper reason for our emptiness and aching in the face of disillusionment.
Peter is a case in point as he ran out empty and aching after denying Jesus three times. He bitterly wept.
How are we denying Christ by allegiance to the false hopes in America? Dare we remember that we are all capable of undermining and hurting each other for selfish reasons? Dare we remember that power does indeed corrupt us and that absolute power corrupts absolutely?
Like Peter we continue to deny - deny our sins, the sins of America – our sins: the caging of immigrant children in our name, the silence in the face of the lies from our leaders, the enabling of corruption by overlooking it, America’s original sin of building its economy on both slave and cheap labor. We, too, have thus denied the Christ – for we are to see the face of Christ in all peoples.
Our deeper emptiness and aching as individuals and as a country will only be addressed by the One who took on our personal and national sins and offers us a new way, a new heart through the journey of confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
Christ addresses us from the empty tomb with a new life that will indeed address our deepest emptiness and aching. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment