Space to write, space to create and space to let the spirit speak.
Write Now!
This blog started as a 'Lenten Writing Project', where we wrote each day in Lent. Now that Summer is here, let's keep up the discipline of writing with a weekly writing challenge! A prompt will be posted each week and anyone is welcome to join in and post their writing here or participate just by reading it.
Every writer has their own special light to add to this blog and all of your writing offerings are appreciated, whether poetry, prose, essay, thoughts, lists or comments and encouragement.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Lenten Writing Prompt #35
Pick one of the 10 commandments and write about it - how does it resonate with your life, have you ever broken it, is it hard or easy to keep, does it seem fair, do you have experience working with people that do or do not keep it?
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
This is the one commandment that gives me the most trouble. The day should be a hallowed one, where are actions and thoughts show honor and respect to the Lord. It should also allow us a rest day from the work of the week. It rarely turns out that way these days. Sunday is our Sabbath day. We may go to church but sometimes we may not. Sometimes there are errands to run, home projects to complete, work brought home to attend to, housework that is never completed and various other tasks or diversions that vie for our attention. Do we spend the entire day resting? What exactly is meant by rest? What exactly is meant by work? Even if we are not working at our jobs there are still meals to prepare, children and others to take care of and homes that need maintenance work. How do we distinguish that which is work or that which is acceptable to do on the Sabbath? I read a book once that explained that honoring the Sabbath can also be a state of mind, a state wherein we are more aware of our words, our treatment of others, and the manner in which we honor God on His Sabbath day.
I do not want to take this Commandment lightly, yet I do not truly know how to follow it.
Thinking about this prompt led me to read through the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. Verse 17 reads as follows: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
You shall not covet. My dictionary definition says: “to desire wrongfully …” To want something for which I have no right.
Have no right? Then isn’t lying, stealing, or committing adultery really based in wanting something for which I have no right?
Could it mean that wanting something for which I have no right would even be putting that ‘thing’ or “power” before God, thereby breaking the commandment “thou shall have no other gods”?
Maybe coveting is the root of breaking all the commandments?
Gracious and merciful God, show me the ways in which I have desired anything that is not in your holy will. Forgive me, I pray. Help me to desire only that which you desire for me. In Jesus name, Amen.
Like a lot of people, I’ve been thinking and puzzling and sympathizing over the Trayvon Martin tragedy as it’s gained more and more national attention. Right now there are lots of difficult questions and only easy answers. With Trayvon dead, we’ll never get his side of the story, so maybe we’ll never find out what really happened. But the whole sad incident brings to mind one of the most memorable of the commandments: “Thou shalt not kill.”
What surprised me about the Trayvon Martin story is how easily one person was able to take another life and do it without the act being questioned (at least initially) and without repercussions (so far). How did a notion like “Stand Your Ground” (and whatever it’s called in the other states where it’s in effect), turn into an actual law? How easy would it be to carry out a hate crime or something akin to it (a grudge?) and hide behind that law? How did an everyday citizen get approved to walk around with a loaded gun? Why did he feel free to use it?
Back in my Catholic school catechism days we were taught not only about not breaking the commandments, and sin, but also about avoiding the “near occasion of sin.” In other words, if you don’t want to give in to temptation, stay away from it. Easier said than done, of course, especially if you enjoy playing with fire, but it’s valid advice.
I’m not naïve enough to think that many people are going to become less prejudiced and more informed and more tolerant as a result of Trayvon Martin’s death. But I hope it gives governments and judicial systems some awareness, some incentive to get rid of laws that spawn vigilante acts. I hope it lays bare in front of a national audience the irreversible consequences of acting with a gun. Gun groups say guns don’t kill people—people do—but if George Zimmerman (Trayvon Martin’s killer) had been walking around unarmed, the confrontation would have resulted in a chase, maybe, a confrontation, an argument, a fistfight, a broken nose, bruised knuckles. And Trayvon would have awakened the next morning to music or bird songs or his mother’s voice.
The law and the gun placed George Zimmerman in the near occasion of sin. From there, temptation came calling, and breaking that “Thou shalt not kill” commandment was a short and way too easy step.
"Easy," I say, But then, I read the World News and look at my budget to help out. It doesn't fit in.
Do I live my life remembering those who starve on the streets' or quietly at home? No.
Do I tithe and recycle, support LWR and bi-cycle? No.
Do I take care of my self and share my social wealth? No.
-Do not kill-
To me, keeping the 10 Commandments is like standing in the line of a ride at a county fair. A ride that has a sign which shows how tall you must be to go on that ride; only you never quite measure up. But, measuring up is not what they're really for. The 10 Commandments are there as a mirror, to remind us that we are imperfect humans, who need God in order to be whole. God has already taken care of the measuring up part, through Jesus, our Saviour. He measured up for all of us, and paid the price, so that we can all get in. s.h.
Most of the 10 commandments make simple plain sense to me. Stealing and killing are illegal. Who wants to go the the slammer, the big house - not me.
Adultery, perhaps a momentary buzz but hurting someone you love and the shame would kill me, literally kill me.
Honoring my parents and observing the Sabbath - I've got good parents and I love church - so - making them commandments seems silly.
Coveting there's the weak spot. I mean you can covet some pretty cool stuff - cars, homes, jobs, fame, fortune, experiences and lots more. It doesn't help that I have a good, no a great imagination. There's no law against coveting. My culture sort of encourages it - look at this...., wouldn't this... be nice, how cool would you be with this....., real men have.......... What's the difference between coveting and 'having a goal'?
The difference for me is 'does that desire keep me from being content and being alive where I am right now? When my future steals from my present, or when my hope takes away my gratitude - then I have given away the gift of life in the here and now. then it's time to get reconnected and drop the coveting. Again.
Well put, Larry. Right now I'm coveting David Letterman's suit, even though I rarely wear suits. My goal is to do less coveting, and I find attaining that goal gets easier with age. A lot of the things I used to covet I already have, or have had, or simply don't care about (for example, I find that I'm not coveting one of those $50 photos of Newt Gingrich and me). In some cases my goals/resentments/envies have changed. Once upon a time, I coveted other guys' ability to dunk during a basketball game. Now I just want to watch a basketball game, preferably on a big screen TV. So I guess the covetousness is still there, but I'm working on it.
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." and we learned "for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain."
"What does this mean? We are to fear and love God so that we do not use his name superstitiously, or use it to curse, swear, lie, or deceive, but call on him in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving." Martin Luther (need I say?)
My son came home from Confirmation one night and informed me that "Pastor Bob says it's okay to swear." I knew there was more to it than that, as well as Pastor Bob probably knew he'd be asked about what was said.
The rest of the story was that "taking God's name in vain" is about how we live our lives.
That, of course, makes keeping this commandment more difficult than just being careful about the kind of language we use. And, like RuthAnn said about the coveting, when you break any of the other commandments, you are taking the Lord's name in vain.
Yes, I confess, I have not lived up to this expection all the time even though I refrain from cursing most of the time, and could even become smug about it. But Jesus said we should not use the name of anything in swearing an oath, which takes in all the words commonly substituted and the words we, as teenagers, thought would keep us sin-free on this one. "Oh, Glick!"
Bearing the name of Christian is not a burden, but it definitely is a responsibility. I am supposed to be showing by my actions that I do believe the best way to live is as Christ taught and showed. By my own efforts, I fail daily to always speak and act with the kindness and love which I receive from God. And the end of the day, there is a tap from the Holy Sprit, and thankfully, grace that gives me encouragement to try again.
And so, I pray again tonight. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Keep my foot of self ordained righteous indignation out of my big mouth and my new heart attuned to joyful service. Amen.
#4 Honor Thy Father and Mother What is this? “We are to fear and love God, so that we neither despise nor anger our parents and others in authority, but instead honor, serve, obey, love and respect them” (taken from Luther’s Small Catechism) I struggled with this commandment my whole childhood because I was such a sassy child. Really. Like, Mom had to carry a hotel-sized bar of soap in her purse for my mouth. However, when both of your parents hold the additional authority – besides being parents – of being your pastor AND your Sunday School Superintendent, it is irresistible to try to buck the system on a regular basis. I had a first-hand view of how a pastor is a real person that gets angry or frustrated, can be wrong or even have geeky hobbies (sorry Dad – Ham Radio is under the category of ‘geeky’…but to even things out, I will admit my embrace of Rennaisance Faire in my 20’s. There - we’re even). Pastors are people in an authority that seems mysterious and other-worldly to many, but they are in fact just real people. I guess I did really respect my parents underneath it all though. And definitely love them. But I never had a blind obedience, like this commandment seems to be asking, for those in authority.
This commandment brings up many interesting questions and caveats for me as I apply it to everyone rather than just my small microcosm. Who “counts” as mother and father…The person who raised you? Birthed you? Or the person who nurtured you? Can a community of friends stand in for ‘mother and father’ or does a person have to honor and love abusive parents if they have them? What about one’s church family? What if this commandment is really saying to honor the mother/father side of God and affirms that God is beyond gender? This commandment seemed so black and white as a kid: my parents may be unfair at times, but I had to honor them, or risk breaking a commandment. Now that I am a parent, I can see it more as: your parent wants the best for you and is doing the best they can – there are countless things that you will never notice that they do and give up for you. They wiped your butt every time you pooped. They cleaned up after you when you were sick. They prayed over you. They carried you in their body. They fed and clothed you, and loved you, even when you as you took it for granted. Knowing and honoring this parental kind of unconditional, yet complicated and imperfect love, makes fertile soil to understand God’s love for us. Pursuing this honor of your mother and father is a way to understand why we honor God. Now I am on the other side of this commandment as a parent (as well as a simultaneous ‘child’). I am great friends with both of my parents and I also have two daughters of my own, who are giving me a well-earned run for my money in the sass department. The task of putting on that mantle of authority is the other side of the hurdle of this commandment – wearing it with love and understanding and learning how to…well, be an adult. Also, honoring the mother – the authority figure – within myself is a difficult discipline as well.
And now you know why mothers "bless" their children with the infamous "I hope you have one daughter/son just...like...you." And so you (and I) did. And it was good. s.h.
by Pat Mason
ReplyDelete“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
This is the one commandment that gives me the most trouble. The day should be a hallowed one, where are actions and thoughts show honor and respect to the Lord. It should also allow us a rest day from the work of the week.
It rarely turns out that way these days. Sunday is our Sabbath day. We may go to church but sometimes we may not. Sometimes there are errands to run, home projects to complete, work brought home to attend to, housework that is never completed and various other tasks or diversions that vie for our attention.
Do we spend the entire day resting? What exactly is meant by rest? What exactly is meant by work? Even if we are not working at our jobs there are still meals to prepare, children and others to take care of and homes that need maintenance work. How do we distinguish that which is work or that which is acceptable to do on the Sabbath?
I read a book once that explained that honoring the Sabbath can also be a state of mind, a state wherein we are more aware of our words, our treatment of others, and the manner in which we honor God on His Sabbath day.
I do not want to take this Commandment lightly, yet I do not truly know how to follow it.
Thinking about this prompt led me to read through the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. Verse 17 reads as follows: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
ReplyDeleteYou shall not covet. My dictionary definition says: “to desire wrongfully …” To want something for which I have no right.
Have no right? Then isn’t lying, stealing, or committing adultery really based in wanting something for which I have no right?
Could it mean that wanting something for which I have no right would even be putting that ‘thing’ or “power” before God, thereby breaking the commandment “thou shall have no other gods”?
Maybe coveting is the root of breaking all the commandments?
Gracious and merciful God, show me the ways in which I have desired anything that is not in your holy will. Forgive me, I pray. Help me to desire only that which you desire for me. In Jesus name, Amen.
Like a lot of people, I’ve been thinking and puzzling and sympathizing over the Trayvon Martin tragedy as it’s gained more and more national attention. Right now there are lots of difficult questions and only easy answers. With Trayvon dead, we’ll never get his side of the story, so maybe we’ll never find out what really happened. But the whole sad incident brings to mind one of the most memorable of the commandments: “Thou shalt not kill.”
ReplyDeleteWhat surprised me about the Trayvon Martin story is how easily one person was able to take another life and do it without the act being questioned (at least initially) and without repercussions (so far). How did a notion like “Stand Your Ground” (and whatever it’s called in the other states where it’s in effect), turn into an actual law? How easy would it be to carry out a hate crime or something akin to it (a grudge?) and hide behind that law? How did an everyday citizen get approved to walk around with a loaded gun? Why did he feel free to use it?
Back in my Catholic school catechism days we were taught not only about not breaking the commandments, and sin, but also about avoiding the “near occasion of sin.” In other words, if you don’t want to give in to temptation, stay away from it. Easier said than done, of course, especially if you enjoy playing with fire, but it’s valid advice.
I’m not naïve enough to think that many people are going to become less prejudiced and more informed and more tolerant as a result of Trayvon Martin’s death. But I hope it gives governments and judicial systems some awareness, some incentive to get rid of laws that spawn vigilante acts. I hope it lays bare in front of a national audience the irreversible consequences of acting with a gun. Gun groups say guns don’t kill people—people do—but if George Zimmerman (Trayvon Martin’s killer) had been walking around unarmed, the confrontation would have resulted in a chase, maybe, a confrontation, an argument, a fistfight, a broken nose, bruised knuckles. And Trayvon would have awakened the next morning to music or bird songs or his mother’s voice.
The law and the gun placed George Zimmerman in the near occasion of sin. From there, temptation came calling, and breaking that “Thou shalt not kill” commandment was a short and way too easy step.
--Dave Patneaude
Lenten Prompt # 35 Tuesday March 27 2012
ReplyDeleteCommandment #6
-Do not Kill-
"Easy," I say,
But then, I read
the World News
and look
at my budget to help out.
It doesn't fit in.
Do I live my life
remembering those
who starve on the streets'
or quietly at home?
No.
Do I tithe
and recycle,
support LWR
and bi-cycle?
No.
Do I take care
of my self
and share
my social wealth?
No.
-Do not kill-
To me, keeping the 10 Commandments is like standing in the line of a ride at a county fair. A ride that has a sign which shows how tall you must be to go on that ride; only you never quite measure up.
But, measuring up is not what they're really for. The 10 Commandments are there as a mirror, to remind us that we are imperfect humans, who need God in order to be whole.
God has already taken care of the measuring up part, through Jesus, our Saviour. He measured up for all of us, and paid the price, so that we can all get in.
s.h.
Most of the 10 commandments make simple plain sense to me. Stealing and killing are illegal. Who wants to go the the slammer, the big house - not me.
ReplyDeleteAdultery, perhaps a momentary buzz but hurting someone you love and the shame would kill me, literally kill me.
Honoring my parents and observing the Sabbath - I've got good parents and I love church - so - making them commandments seems silly.
Coveting there's the weak spot. I mean you can covet some pretty cool stuff - cars, homes, jobs, fame, fortune, experiences and lots more. It doesn't help that I have a good, no a great imagination. There's no law against coveting. My culture sort of encourages it - look at this...., wouldn't this... be nice, how cool would you be with this....., real men have.......... What's the difference between coveting and 'having a goal'?
The difference for me is 'does that desire keep me from being content and being alive where I am right now? When my future steals from my present, or when my hope takes away my gratitude - then I have given away the gift of life in the here and now. then it's time to get reconnected and drop the coveting. Again.
Well put, Larry. Right now I'm coveting David Letterman's suit, even though I rarely wear suits. My goal is to do less coveting, and I find attaining that goal gets easier with age. A lot of the things I used to covet I already have, or have had, or simply don't care about (for example, I find that I'm not coveting one of those $50 photos of Newt Gingrich and me). In some cases my goals/resentments/envies have changed. Once upon a time, I coveted other guys' ability to dunk during a basketball game. Now I just want to watch a basketball game, preferably on a big screen TV. So I guess the covetousness is still there, but I'm working on it.
DeleteThe Lord's Name
ReplyDeleteby Marlene Obie
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."
and we learned "for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain."
"What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God so that we do not use his name superstitiously, or use it to curse, swear, lie, or deceive, but call on him in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving." Martin Luther (need I say?)
My son came home from Confirmation one night and informed me that "Pastor Bob says it's okay to swear." I knew there was more to it than that, as well as Pastor Bob probably knew he'd be asked about what was said.
The rest of the story was that "taking God's name in vain" is about how we live our lives.
That, of course, makes keeping this commandment more difficult than just being careful about the kind of language we use. And, like RuthAnn said about the coveting, when you break any of the other commandments, you are taking the Lord's name in vain.
Yes, I confess, I have not lived up to this expection all the time even though I refrain from cursing most of the time, and could even become smug about it. But Jesus said we should not use the name of anything in swearing an oath, which takes in all the words commonly substituted and the words we, as teenagers, thought would keep us sin-free on this one. "Oh, Glick!"
Bearing the name of Christian is not a burden, but it definitely is a responsibility. I am supposed to be showing by my actions that I do believe the best way to live is as Christ taught and showed. By my own efforts, I fail daily to always speak and act with the kindness and love which I receive from God. And the end of the day, there is a tap from the Holy Sprit, and thankfully, grace that gives me encouragement to try again.
And so, I pray again tonight. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Keep my foot of self ordained righteous indignation out of my big mouth and my new heart attuned to joyful service. Amen.
#4 Honor Thy Father and Mother
ReplyDeleteWhat is this?
“We are to fear and love God, so that we neither despise nor anger our parents and others in authority, but instead honor, serve, obey, love and respect them” (taken from Luther’s Small Catechism) I struggled with this commandment my whole childhood because I was such a sassy child. Really. Like, Mom had to carry a hotel-sized bar of soap in her purse for my mouth. However, when both of your parents hold the additional authority – besides being parents – of being your pastor AND your Sunday School Superintendent, it is irresistible to try to buck the system on a regular basis. I had a first-hand view of how a pastor is a real person that gets angry or frustrated, can be wrong or even have geeky hobbies (sorry Dad – Ham Radio is under the category of ‘geeky’…but to even things out, I will admit my embrace of Rennaisance Faire in my 20’s. There - we’re even). Pastors are people in an authority that seems mysterious and other-worldly to many, but they are in fact just real people. I guess I did really respect my parents underneath it all though. And definitely love them. But I never had a blind obedience, like this commandment seems to be asking, for those in authority.
This commandment brings up many interesting questions and caveats for me as I apply it to everyone rather than just my small microcosm. Who “counts” as mother and father…The person who raised you? Birthed you? Or the person who nurtured you? Can a community of friends stand in for ‘mother and father’ or does a person have to honor and love abusive parents if they have them? What about one’s church family? What if this commandment is really saying to honor the mother/father side of God and affirms that God is beyond gender? This commandment seemed so black and white as a kid: my parents may be unfair at times, but I had to honor them, or risk breaking a commandment. Now that I am a parent, I can see it more as: your parent wants the best for you and is doing the best they can – there are countless things that you will never notice that they do and give up for you. They wiped your butt every time you pooped. They cleaned up after you when you were sick. They prayed over you. They carried you in their body. They fed and clothed you, and loved you, even when you as you took it for granted. Knowing and honoring this parental kind of unconditional, yet complicated and imperfect love, makes fertile soil to understand God’s love for us. Pursuing this honor of your mother and father is a way to understand why we honor God. Now I am on the other side of this commandment as a parent (as well as a simultaneous ‘child’). I am great friends with both of my parents and I also have two daughters of my own, who are giving me a well-earned run for my money in the sass department. The task of putting on that mantle of authority is the other side of the hurdle of this commandment – wearing it with love and understanding and learning how to…well, be an adult. Also, honoring the mother – the authority figure – within myself is a difficult discipline as well.
And now you know why mothers "bless" their children with the infamous "I hope you have one daughter/son just...like...you."
ReplyDeleteAnd so you (and I) did. And it was good.
s.h.