I'm late in posting for last week. My apologies! Last week was a full, wonderful, long and holy week. So apologies for not getting this posted sooner.
I mentioned this in my sermon, but I've been focused (bordering on obsessed) on the idea of covenant. You can't step into the Scriptures appointed for Lent and not be. The Hebrew Scripture or Old Testament is filled with some of the most prophetic and vivid images of God and humanity wrestling with what it means to be in covenant relationship with each other. Covenant, as understood in the Biblical context is something deeper than just a written contract--it involves God and promise and humanity. And then Jesus comes along and takes it to the next level, the deeper level, himself becoming the new covenant. Covenant isn't something to enter lightly and it's not something you just leave.
Yet we live in a time and age when it's easy to walk away from each other. Marriage is as disposable as our paper cups. Heck, even Baptism some times feels like something that you can just abandon. How often do we baptize a child and then never seem them or their parents again? Of course, the promise with Baptism is that even when we walk away, God does not as we are marked as Christ's own forever (and there ain't nothing you can do about that).
How do we, in 2012, understand covenant as it is presented to us in Scripture? How do we understand God's promises, God's covenants with us in this day and age? What does it mean in this time to enter a covenant relationship, such as Baptism, or Holy Union or Marriage and make promises in the name of God, to enter a covenant relationship? The comment section is open!
