Peter
knew how to turn. That’s why he is a model for us on Ash Wednesday, a day that calls us to turn in a new direction.
I mean Peter’s famous vision of a sheet descending from heaven filled with all the animals he was—by law—forbidden to eat (Acts 10: 1-48). A voice from heaven says, “Rise, Peter, and eat.” The observant Jew replies, “No, Lord, I’ve never eaten anything unclean.” Thankfully, heaven did not give up on kosher Peter. The sheet came down again, and a third time, and the voice said, “Do not call unclean what God has called clean.”
Peter knew what was “right”—he could prove it from the Torah, his Bible. Yet this vision completely flips the polarities of his mind. The voice speaks into being a world beyond his imagining. And Peter turns, walks into God’s ever-evolving, ever widening circle of love and acceptance. Soon God would tear down the wall between Jew and gentile, slave and free, man and woman—all unthinkable to the old Peter.
Peter’s dramatic pivot into a larger, more spacious world can be ours as well. Lent doesn’t have to be a cramped twisting into smaller and smaller cells of self-righteousness. (After all, Lent means lengthen!) We can only do this by grace, so pray to meet the God beyond your old god; pray to find God in people and places you thought were off limits to the Almighty, and then turn, turn, turn.
Since I stopped drinking in 2012 I have honestly kind of forgotten about Fat Tuesday and giving stuff up (though a former co-worker used to give up Brussels sprouts every year 😂). I gave up texting one year and drove my kids absolutely nuts because I would call them everytime they texted me 😂. People seem to have incorporated adding things in lately (service, exercise, prayer, etc) which I like. But I love that you bring up that Lent means lengthen (news to me) and the concept of “praying to meet the God beyond your old god; praying to find God in people and places you thought were off limits to the Almighty, and then turning turning turning.” Gonna try that, thank you David – it was wonderful to see and hear you on Sunday. Get some gray hair would you?!
That giving up Brussels sprouts—that’s classic! I think people in recovery from addiction really have a different view of these Lenten practices. They know from experience what it’s like to choose life every day —and turn away from dying, everyday. That ain’t Brussels sprouts.
Thanks for kicking off my Lent with Peter. It’s a wonderful start to the walk.
Glad you’re on the Way with us.
David, I love the labyrinth, black-and-gray-and-white, hard-stoned and lava-like, turning and turning. Eager to take turns with you this Lent.
Yes—I like that image too. Feels like a lot of daily life…so many twists and turns, and so many choices to make each day.
So good to be starting out this lengthening period with these meditations. Thank you for doing this David.
I am naturally inclined to seek an “answer” to the questions of life but have found, with the help of you and others, that for me the seeking does not end in an answer. Seeking has changed from a task to an attitude and has “lengthened” from a search to a new way of living and thinking. I thought I would find spiritual peace in the certainty of an answer but was surprised to find peace in humble uncertainty and wonderment.
Yeah–we seek certainty, but the longer we’re on this path the more we realize that that’s not the goal–at least not in the second half of life. Then what we really crave is wholeness, just an ability to contain and accept everything as from God. That’s that “humble uncertainty and wonderment” you so beautifully end with.
Oh thank you for this ‘turning’ perspective, David! Metanoia….and dear, faithful Peter as a model of transformation….”putting on a different mind”….helps me realize how I remain a “work in progress.”
Yes–this is very much metanoia, that putting on a new mind, as you say–or downloading a whole new operating system. In this Ash Wednesday post I didn’t want to use the traditional–and mistaken–translation of metanoia, “repent,” because that word is so bankrupt–doesn’t begin to convey the deep sense of transformation that happens in true metanoia. Thanks, Robin, for that insight.
That Peter on the Rooftop passage has always been one of my favorites! And loved your Valentine’s Day story. Perfect. Wishing you and Pam a Happy Valentine’s Day to a very great, and happy couple!
Thanks, Kay—and happy Valentines Day to you and Michael!
May we discover the “off limits” places and people where we avoid looking for God. I don’t think we always know we do this. I tend to look in the usual places, although I have recently prayed to recognize God working/speaking/loving more. (Like when you look for a specific car on the road…and then you see them everywhere.)
“(Like when you look for a specific car on the road…and then you see them everywhere.)” We’ve all had that experience. And that kind of mindset can lead us to spiritual sightings as well–yes.