<html><body><div>I tried to send the second part but it was rejected.</div><div><br></div><div>Here's part 2 a</div><div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Take whatever is causing you most
grief, said God. Raise up in front of you the image or the picture of the
person or situation who most torments you and tries to damage you and destroy
you. See that it has not the power it or the people imagine it has.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Just as the people of the Old and
New Testament periods seemed to find their lives threatened and diminished so
often, so God reminded them that wounds and death were not to be the so-called
be-all-and-end-all of existence. First, healing <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><u>CAN</u></b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>DOES</u></b>
come. Not every time, we know that, at least in the sense that illness can
continue to eat away at our bodies. But the second part of the equation is that
even when this part of our lives comes to a close, so the fullness of life
becomes apparent beyond all that tries to pretend that death <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>IS</u></b> the end.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Just as medical professionals’
working under the sign of a snake or snakes can bring comfort and reassurance
in the midst of pain and confusion by helping us to look at and address what’s
going on in our lives, so Moses, Jesus and Paul all call us to confront what is
evil and what is destructive. Our faith teaches us that ignoring what’s going on
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>WON’T</u></b> bring relief. The
snakes will <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>ALWAYS</u></b> be there
until we deal with them in the Name of God, and call them out for what they
are.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Both in terms of religion and of
life in general, we’re living in a time when it can be so easy to give in to
the darkness, to think that darkness all around us will win, to think that
goodness, and justice, and mercy, and love will be overwhelmed. Even in this
point in Lent, it can be tempting to think that the “Alleluias” of life and
hope will not return. So the church, in the wisdom of its tradition, inserted
into the liturgies for this day the call to rejoice, to be confident. “Lighten
up!” is our expression that may be overused and less than helpful often. Yet <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>THAT’S</u></b> what we’re about on this
“Fourth Sunday in Lent”, called Rose Sunday.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The somberness, the bleakness of
Lent, if so we feel it, is disrupted. We rediscover the power of looking at the
snakes. We claim the belief that, no matter who or what is pressing on our
ears, and our eyes, and our hearts, and our minds, God’s grace <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>IS</u></b>, and always <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>WILL</u></b> be, sufficient to help us
address and overcome everything that can be so poisonous to our lives, our
congregations, our societies.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><br></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><br></span></p>
</div></body></html>