{"id":24859,"date":"2025-03-05T08:44:33","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T13:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24859"},"modified":"2025-03-05T09:27:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T14:27:54","slug":"24859","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24859","title":{"rendered":"Universal Sadness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tom Waits - Hold On (Lyrics)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h_1BrP0NLkM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As Christians begin to observe Lent, the forty days before Easter, Father Richard highlights lamentation as an essential aspect of our faith:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only one book in the Bible is named after an emotion: the book of Lamentations. Jeremiah is said to have written it to express grief over the people\u2019s exile from Jerusalem when they were invaded by the Babylonians in 587 BCE. But the book reads more like an <strong>expression of universal sadness over the human situation<\/strong>, or what is often called \u201cthe tragic sense of life.\u201d It\u2019s notable for an almost entire lack of anecdotes or clear examples. Elsewhere in the prophetic writings, we read references to specific rulers, kingdoms, and moments in history. Not here. <strong>This is universal sadness. It is an invitation to universal solidarity.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha expresses the devastation of grief and the longing for peace<\/em>:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>I wish I could wake up and find the electricity on all day long.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>I wish I could hear the birds sing again, no shooting and no&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; buzzing drones.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>I wish my desk would call me to hold my pen and write again,&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>&nbsp; or at least plow through a novel, revisit a poem, or read a play.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>All around me are nothing&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>but silent walls&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>and people sobbing&nbsp;<br>without sound. [1]&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Richard continues:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prophets, and Jeremiah in particular, <strong>invite us into a divine sadness about reality itself, more than outrage at this or that event<\/strong>. The language then changes from anger at \u201csin\u201d to pity over suffering and woundedness, yet still holds out for relief: \u201cI will restore you to health and I will heal your wounds, says YHWH\u201d (Jeremiah 30:17).<strong> Felt reality is invariably wept reality, and wept reality is soon compassion and kindness. Decisive and harsh judgments slip away in the tracks of tears.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an example of this \u201cslipping away,\u201d my mind recalls the Roman church\u2019s change in its official stance toward suicide, shifting from an emphasis on punishment to empathy for the person and family. I also think of Alcoholics Anonymous\u2019 recognition that <strong>addiction isn\u2019t a malicious moral failing but \u201ca sickness to be cured.\u201d Anger can\u2019t make such switches. Tears can.&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Has God changed, or have we just grown up enough to hear a grown-up God?<strong> Old Scripture passages of mercy and pity that once seemed sentimental or impossible begin to finally make sense\u2014and we suddenly notice their frequency, although they were always there. \u201c<\/strong>You had left in tears, but I brought you back. I guided you to springs of water by a smooth path\u201d (Jeremiah 31:9, Jerusalem Bible). This process of <strong>transformation by way of tears is largely hidden and unconscious, characteristic of the work of the Spirit.<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My belief is that tears, although they look like a mere emotive reaction, are much more: a deeply free action that many do not enjoy. <strong>They proceed from deep inside, where we are most truly ourselves. Tears reveal the depths at which and from which we care.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.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.bwjBWCg3dew8rJYXE8JGSEIepLnZi02KHlY2PG9mRhQ?\"><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/app-link\/post?publication_id=47400&amp;post_id=158373277&amp;utm_source=post-email-title&amp;utm_campaign=email-post-title&amp;isFreemail=true&amp;r=2dkj2&amp;token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozOTkyMzY2LCJwb3N0X2lkIjoxNTgzNzMyNzcsImlhdCI6MTc0MTE2NTMyNywiZXhwIjoxNzQzNzU3MzI3LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItNDc0MDAiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.4g7EtUuXnWxNCEim879Rgqvih9JD5HzPwEmcRvfm-iA\">Ash Wednesday&#8217;s Bad Piety<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">We&#8217;re doing it all wrong \u2014 at least according to the prophets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@dianabutlerbass\">DIANA BUTLER BASS<\/a>  MAR 5<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@dianabutlerbass\"><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td> &nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">TODAY IS ASH WEDNESDAY<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><br>We come to the most reflective, and most discomforting, time of the Christian calendar: Lent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the hard season. <strong>A time of repentance and repair.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ash Wednesday passage from the Hebrew scriptures is from Isaiah. Our Jewish friends read this same text for Yom Kippur, their holy day of repentance. The prophet\u2019s vision of true piety is shared by Jews and Christians \u2014 and is central to faithful living.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Isaiah 58:1-12<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Shout out, do not hold back!<br>Lift up your voice like a trumpet!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Announce to my people their rebellion,<br>to the house of Jacob their sins.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Yet day after day they seek me<br>and delight to know my ways,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness<br>and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>they ask of me righteous judgments,<br>they delight to draw near to God.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;Why do we fast, but you do not see?<br>Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,<br>and oppress all your workers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight<br>and to strike with a wicked fist.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Such fasting as you do today<br>will not make your voice heard on high.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Is such the fast that I choose,<br>a day to humble oneself?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,<br>and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Will you call this a fast,<br>a day acceptable to the Lord?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Is not this the fast that I choose:<br>to loose the bonds of injustice,<br>to undo the thongs of the yoke,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>to let the oppressed go free,<br>and to break every yoke?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,<br>and bring the homeless poor into your house;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>when you see the naked, to cover them,<br>and not to hide yourself from your own kin?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,<br>and your healing shall spring up quickly;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>your vindicator shall go before you,<br>the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;<br>you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If you remove the yoke from among you,<br>the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>if you offer your food to the hungry<br>and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>then your light shall rise in the darkness<br>and your gloom be like the noonday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Lord will guide you continually,<br>and satisfy your needs in parched places,<br>and make your bones strong;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>and you shall be like a watered garden,<br>like a spring of water,<br>whose waters never fail.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;<br>you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>you shall be called the repairer of the breach,<br>the restorer of streets to live in.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>On this Ash Wednesday, my heart is broken and every shred of hope I once had is gone.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m&nbsp;<em><strong>not<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;well. My soul is sick. I see nothing but greed, destruction, lying, inhumanity, and evil all around.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If anyone tells me that I came from ash and will return to it, I may well laugh in their face. Or cry and never stop. I just hope I don\u2019t hit the priest. Because \u2014&nbsp;<em>read the room, people<\/em>&nbsp;\u2014 we\u2019re standing in ash up to our knees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a brutal Ash Wednesday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There. I said it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve prayed so much in recent months that I can\u2019t tell you how much I\u2019ve prayed. Literally face on the ground sobbing prayer. I\u2019ve taken cues from <strong>Anne Lamott\u2019s famous dictum that there are three kinds of prayer \u2014 help, thanks, and wow <\/strong>\u2014 by occasionally yelling (I\u2019m not kidding) \u201cHelp, help, help!\u201d in a loud voice when we sit down for dinner.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shouting help is really not bad, especially when compared with prostrate wailing. I\u2019ve become an expert at the HELP prayer. On rare occasion, I\u2019ve made it to \u201cthanks.\u201d But wow? Nope. None of that. One out of three isn\u2019t bad, is it?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, the last thing I want or need right now is Lent. I\u2019m nearly Lent-ed out already. I\u2019ve been Lenting for months.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Honestly, I\u2019ve got questions for God. Like: Why? Why is this happening? Why don\u2019t you stop this? What kind of God would allow these amoral, corrupt men to purposefully hurt and destroy the good work, dignity, and lives of so many truly decent people?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m making a lot of noise down here praying and fasting \u2014 and you, God, don\u2019t seem to be doing your part.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enter Isaiah the Prophet on this Ash Wednesday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most historians and biblical scholars believe that this text was written&nbsp;<em>after&nbsp;<\/em>the Jews returned to Jerusalem from having been enslaved in exile for fifty years by the Babylonians, sometime around 540 BCE. They came home to, well, not much. A ravished homeland in ruins. There\u2019s a lot of hard work ahead. Where is God in the midst of all this mess?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They probably think they are doing the right things \u2014 after all, they are praying and fasting. But God didn\u2019t seem to be helping. God was silent:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Why do we fast, but you do not see?<br>Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hear echoes of my own prayer: <strong>HELP DOWN HERE! WHY AREN\u2019T YOU PAYING ATTENTION? WHAT HAVE WE GOT TO DO TO GET SOME ASSISTANCE? WHERE ARE YOU?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a pretty surprising divine answer. God\u2019s not the problem. Instead of blaming God, the prophet criticized them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,<br>and oppress all your workers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight<br>and to strike with a wicked fist.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Such fasting as you do today<br>will not make your voice heard on high.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Is such the fast that I choose,<br>a day to humble oneself?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,<br>and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Will you call this a fast,<br>a day acceptable to the Lord?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ah, can I take it back? Maybe I\u2019m sorry I asked? <strong>If all my praying, sobbing, self-humiliation, and wailing won\u2019t work to change things, what will then?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>God demands a different kind of fast.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Is not this the fast that I choose:<br>to loose the bonds of injustice,<br>to undo the thongs of the yoke,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>to let the oppressed go free,<br>and to break every yoke?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Historian Amy Oden describes it thus, \u201cThe fasting acceptable to God is <strong>a daily fast from domination, blaming others, evil speech, self-satisfaction, entitlement and blindness to one\u2019s privilege. The fast that God seeks calls for vigilance for justice and generosity day in and day out.\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A daily fast from domination?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sounds nice. But maybe a bit vague. Overly theoretical. Perhaps a little too Walter Wink or Dom Crossan. Can we have some specifics, God?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If you remove the yoke from among you,<br>the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>if you offer your food to the hungry<br>and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>then your light shall rise in the darkness<br>and your gloom be like the noonday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If\u2026then. If\u2026then. It\u2019s like a to-do list.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do these things. Then, I\u2019ll give you strength. I\u2019ll water your souls.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>But: You have to do it.<\/strong>&nbsp;<em>Your<\/em>&nbsp;ruins will be rebuilt because&nbsp;<em>you<\/em>&nbsp;laid new foundations.&nbsp;<em>You<\/em>&nbsp;will be repairers of the breach.&nbsp;<em>You<\/em>&nbsp;will restore the streets.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>God doesn\u2019t say that God will do these things for us. We will do them. God says that we must. We must build, repair, and restore.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hey, wait a minute. I\u2019m a Protestant. We don\u2019t believe in works. We believe in grace. We can\u2019t be saved by what we do. We believe in letting go and letting God. That sort of thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Isaiah says: \u201cIf\u2026then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Up off the floor. Stop sitting around sniveling about sin. You are part of the solution. Get to work and do something about injustice. Overthrow the domination system. Stand up to evil. Feed the hungry. Care for the suffering. Don\u2019t beg for a miracle or a magic fix. Just do it. Spiritual wellness and social justice are intimately entwined. Indeed, spiritual wellness depends on doing the work of justice.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If\u2026.then\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s the piety God wants. Thus says the prophet. That\u2019s the acceptable fast.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Welcome to Lent. Let\u2019s do this thing<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Christians begin to observe Lent, the forty days before Easter, Father Richard highlights lamentation as an essential aspect of our faith:&nbsp;&nbsp; Only one book in the Bible is named after an emotion: the book of Lamentations. Jeremiah is said to have written it to express grief over the people\u2019s exile from Jerusalem when they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24859"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24859"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24866,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24859\/revisions\/24866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}