Third Sunday of Lent

Call to Confession

This Sunday, at 10:45 worship, we will be singing two short songs reflecting a southern, African-American Spiritual tradition. I chose these songs because I find them soulful and true-to-life. Though the words are quite simple—“You better min’ how you talk”—the theology is deep: we are accountable for how we live our lives, for what we say and how we say it. That is the lesson we will read in Luke 13:1-9.

You’d better min’ how you talk,

you’d better min’ what you talking’ about,

You got to give account in de Judgment, you’d better min’!

You’d better min’ how you shout,

you’d better min what you shoutin’ about,

You got to give account in de Judgment, you’d better min’.

Confession

Lord I’m bearin’ heavy burdens, trying to get home.

Lord, I’m climbin’ high mountains, trying to get home.

Lord, I’m standin’ hard trials, tryin’ to get home.

I chose this spiritual song as a confession after hearing news about K Latzka’s diagnosis of lung cancer. I felt a bitterness toward God for all of the cancer-stricken people I have known. The more angry I became, the more people I included in my diatribe against God. Then there was silence. Then I remembered a guy named “Job” from the Bible who said “I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul (Job 7:11)…for the arrows of the almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me” (Job 6:4). Mmm, I could hear the spiritual rising up inside me… “bearin’ heavy burdens…climbin’ high mountains…standin’ hard trials.” “Tryin’ to get home.” I am not sure how you are handling this news about K or other difficulties in your own life. Maybe you console yourself with “It is what it is” as you pack the additional burden onto an already heavy load. I turn to God in confession: “Lord, as a reasonably faithful man I suppose by now I should be able to put things like cancer into proper perspective…but I can’t. This stinks, to put it plainly.”

Assurance of Forgiveness

Will there be an assurance of God’s love? What form will it take? Will I understand why cancer exists? Will I hear what the man Job heard from God, something along the lines of “You can’t possibly fathom what is at work here…but I love you anyway!”? The very possibility of hearing a word of grace makes me crave worship-I can’t wait until Sunday to hear God’s assurances.