But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life    Jude 20, 21

     We Americans...are we a lost cause? Is it really still possible for us to have a deep, life-changing Christian faith...a peaceful, personal, persistent and profound relationship with our Savior? I don't mean to insult your certitude but just think of all the commotion and temptations that surround our consciousness like Indian warriors around a wagon train. Our society bombards us 24/7:

• Websites like MSNBC provide literally dozens of instantaneous links to news stories happening anywhere around the globe.
• FIOS and Cable TV now have hundreds (not dozens of just a few years ago and not a dozen of our childhood) of channels that contain music and entertainment and sports and movies and game shows...and yes, a few Christian programs.
• Our malls and shopping centers and restaurants choke us with advertising, especially around the holidays. The Christmas "season" begins in October and has evolved into a harangue of frenetic material and entertainment activity.
• Our jobs demand more and more from us as technology quickens the pace of every process and communication to expand the limits of efficiency.
• And Transportation lends a hand to the frenzied pace by loading roadways and train stations at rush hour to the bursting point.

     In this hectic society that we have created and even embraced, the focal point of our thankful gaze is often only given a passing glance and, in many respects, the cold shoulder. The demands of the day cause our attitudes and speech, not only of ourselves but of our Christian brothers and sisters, to approach levels of meanness that would have been shocking to our Christian heroes of the past, those members of family or friends or fame that seem almost to have completely vanished from the American scene. Sarcasm, cynicism, gossip; I know it's difficult to soar with eagles when you work with turkeys, but upon closer introspection, to which flock do we ourselves belong?
     Lent may be our last best hope. A 40+ day period of prayer, repentance, almsgiving and fasting, is there any better opportunity for Christian Americans to hit the Pause button and deeply, peacefully reflect on our spiritual lives? And I don't mean, "Gee, what should I give up for Lent?" The contemporary interpretation of this fasting has taken on the ridiculous scope of items such as "giving up video games". Come on!! Give it all up for a change. Or better yet, "take" something up for Lent:

• Write a note to a friend
• Do a secret good deed every day
• Visit an elderly or shut-in person
• Make a donation to a food pantry (a can a day keeps hunger away)
• Help someone do their taxes (Yuck! - the supreme sacrifice)

     In these cases it is better to "taketh up" rather than to "giveth up". So let's take Lent very seriously...because it is. Can we please unplug our ear buds and listen to our inner souls for just a few weeks? Only then can we build ourselves up in our "most holy faith" and in so doing, catch a glimpse of the type of followers that Jesus died for us to become. We Americans are not a lost cause, but you have to join the search party

Dear Heavenly Father,
In this most reverent period of Lent, help us to contemplate the magnitude of your Son's sacrifice and how it impacts our busy, harried, stressful lives. As Jesus fasted in the desert 40 days, guide us with the help of your Holy Spirit to fast from our modern distractions. We ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Contributed by Donald
Sunday March 8, 2009
Liturgical Year B Week 15
Sunday Gospel Readings:
Second Sunday in Lent