Meditation 234
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
The letter of Romans was written by the apostle Paul to be sent to a variety of communities, so he would be addressing those of varied backgrounds. In the target group there would be those who had grown up as Roman citizens, and who had been taught to sacrifice to various gods. There would also be those who were Jewish people who had been raised in the synagogue, and taught the stories of Moses, and to keep the law of God. To these Paul was saying that none of what they had done in the past would make them right with God. He told them that like Abraham that they could come to God by faith.
There was going to be some spiritual relearning going on for those who wanted to follow the way that Jesus had taught. As much as those early believers in Rome needed to relearn how to live lives of faith, so we on our Lenten journey find ourselves wanting to change, or give up, spiritual practices that do not being us closer to God. For example, we may have been taught that only prayers that we make up ourselves are the proper way to talk to God, that written prayers are vainglorious repetition, and then we find a beautiful prayer with beautifully written petitions that helps us to meditate on the qualities of God. Or conversely, we may be been raised in a tradition that favoured lovely organized worship with pageantry and use of visual symbols, only to find joy in the spontaneous worship at a campfire. During Lent we are encouraged to find ways to draw closer to God, whether they are part of our tradition or not.
The professor Lucy Lind Hogan, who wrote for Working Preacher, tells the story of a change of behaviour that can be lifesaving. She said that those of us in North America were taught as children to look left then right to check for traffic before we cross the street. This is because drivers drive on the right-hand side of the road here. In Britain children are taught the opposite as cars drive on the left-hand side of the road there. Checking for traffic in the right way can save your life. Out of concern for tourists, she says, at some intersection in London the words “look right” are stenciled in large white letters on the road. New habits are not easy to learn, and we need reminders, such as the caution to “look right” to be able to incorporate new practices in our living.
One of the things that was new for all of the first readers of Romans was the role of Abraham. Paul wrote that by faith we are all children of Abraham and therefore we are recipients of the promise given to Abraham that rests on grace. To the Jewish believers this would be ludicrous because they knew that they were part of the genealogy of Abraham and took pride in how this set them apart from others. They were children of Abraham by birth not by faith. For the Roman believers this would be equally ludicrous because they were proud of their heritage which followed other traditions. In the letter to the Romans, Paul says that we are all part of the same family by faith. We are given life in God and are part of the heritage that was promised to Abraham.
In our Lenten journey we would do well to “look right” to be able to learn something new to help us in our walk of faith.