5th Sunday of Lent: Saying Yes to Holy Week
Bible readings from the Revised Common Lectionary: Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Psalm 51:1-12; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33
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In a few days, we must ask if our Lenten journey prepared us to embrace the Lord's passion, death, and resurrection. Have you deepened your heart's sincerity in understanding the struggles of the marginalized in your midst? Do you wisely analyze economic and social-service legislation so you can support projects that will empower people with living-wage jobs? Acknowledging your sinful attitudes and seeking change, have you offered repentant contrition to God and the human family?
In our sacred partnership, as God's people, we answer "yes" to these questions. The covenant is God's ways written upon our hearts. God's goodness washes away the guilt of past indifference to create a clear heart, open for the opportunity to become a transformed grain of wheat that will grow into the harvest of social change.
Your Lenten experience prepared you for the apprenticeship of Holy Week: passion to feel the suffering of those denied the necessities of life. Death to old ways of approaching social issues. Resurrection to be the hands and feet of Christ to work for compassionate justice. On our Lenten journey, we have learned not to love a life of self-centered, individual achievement; we seek to serve and follow Jesus.
Lenten action:
Other than the Bible, what book has offered you a prophetic message, sparking your passion about social justice? Share that book's message with someone this week.
Barbara Born, Ph.D., is a freelance writer and volunteer, with interests in urban public policy, the environment, peace, and social justice.
