Lent 2: “in
my heart”
President Jimmy Carter gave us one of the all-time
favorite lines when he granted an interview to Playboy magazine. He mentioned he might have “lusted in his
heart”.
That pretty well sums up our attitude for that
“so-called” deadly sin: lust.
What’s the big deal? “Just appreciating the scenery.”
In fact when we trip over the trail-hazard of “Lust” on
our Lenten wilderness walk, it hardly seems important. We pick ourselves up, regain our composure
and set off again. There are scarier
things in this wilderness. Surely that
minor-demon can’t cause much trouble.
After all, it’s only a “problem” for those with a
puritanical attitude – people who clearly don’t know how to have fun at all –
people who are “goodie-two-shoes”.
Of course if we pay attention to life in general, we know
that the vines of entanglement will only get more pronounced. We know we have been caught in a web of
deception for lust does have the power to dehumanize, to demean, to diminish
God’s beloved daughters and sons. We
know also that we remained silent far too often and for far to long about the
insidious nature of this demon of our modern life. We know that lust’s power has been for
generation unto generation.
We live in a time when stories of rape, sexual
harassment, domestic violence, sex trafficking are front-page news in our major
newspapers, not just the grocery store tabloid.
The “Me Too” movement assumed a prominence few people would have ever
expected. Major celebrities have had
their careers aborted. Plenty of people
have spent time apologizing for behavior – and also minimalizing actions as “no
big thing”.
God, known through the prophets of old, called to people
of Israel to be a light to the nations – to let justice roll down like water
and righteousness as an ever flowing stream.
God, made known in Jesus of Nazareth, confronted evil as he saw it and
cast it aside so that those who were oppressed could be free.
The evil that is lust actualized is very real. It touches so many lives of those whom we
know. Although the most visible
consequences happen to women, men also have been victimized by the evil whose
infancy was that seemingly unimportant vice called lust.
We meet this demon in our Lenten wilderness and we know
we have to make a choice. Do we follow
the temptations proposed by “lust” or do we follow Jesus?
If we say we follow Jesus then we are choosing to make a
lifetime of standing up against the injustices oppressing women.
·
We can neither
put women on unrealistic pedestals nor can we silence them
·
We must begin
teaching our children to respect one another
·
We will need
to listen as science gives us information we did not learn when we were young
about gender, sexual orientation, how our bodies are formed
·
We will need
to learn the discipline of not sharing the lewd joke, the lusty comment, the
“locker-room” talk
·
We will need
to learn how to value our own bodies so that in turn we can stop glamorizing
unrealistic and unhealthy ideal images
·
We will need
to realize that good ideas and creative thinking is not gender based
·
We will be
asked to challenge those systems that pay women less for the same amount of
work
·
We will be
forced to evaluate some government policies and laws
·
We will need
to look at the scope of global sex trafficking, name it as the slavery it is
and work to end it.
·
We will need
to consider pornography and how much our society dare ignore its implications
·
We will need
to say that healthy dating and strong marriages do not include date rape or
domestic abuse.
·
We will need
to advocate for our children so that they are not victimized by sexual abuse
Our society has been entangled by the work of lust
unleashed. Some have fallen, caught in
their own actions. Our Lenten encounter
asks us if we can be Christ’s healing touch in these circumstances. Some have been trampled as victims of sexist
attitudes and misogyny. Our Lenten
encounter asks us if we can confront these forces of evil and lift that burden
from their lives.
May our walk though the wilderness this Lent lead us to
become agents of hope and healing and examples of compassionate listeners.
Grace and
Peace
Rev. Clara