Sirach’s advice tonight was, “To whatever you choose - stretch forth your hands… To whatever you choose - stretch forth your hands…”
This “stretching forth of our hands”, this “reaching out for, is a basic human gesture. We see it in infants, early on, when they begin to reach out for what's in front of them - with their tiny little arms and hands - when they reach out for us to pick them up, to hold and embrace them, to feed and protect them. And once we begin this “stretching forth our hands,” reaching out like infants - we never stop! Even if illness, or old age, or some misguided sense of propriety, keep us from physically stretching out our hands - our hearts and our minds are stretching out all the time: for what we want, what we desire, for what we choose.
So, to what in this past week, did you and I stretch forth our hands? What did we, this past week, reach out for? What did we try to grasp? What did we grab for? What did we try to get a grip on? Get hold of. Glom onto...
Sirach raises the stakes here, saying that God sets before us - things to stretch out for - good and evil, life and death - and that we're called to reach for good over evil, and for life over death.
Those are serious categories to contend with. Sometimes we actually do have to choose between good and evil. Sometimes we might have to make life or death decisions. But much more often we face smaller challenges - the kind we meet day in and day out. The kind we met last week: the daily choices we made:
between telling the truth and lying,
between breed and generosity,
between playing fair and cutting corners,
between good, wholesome thoughts and lusty fantasies,
between foolishness and wisdom,
between honesty and fraud,
between arrogance and humility,
between what's truly beautiful and what's fake, and tawdry,
between kindness and meanness,
between welcoming others in and shutting others out,
between my being faithful or unfaithful to my spouse,
my friend, my word, my responsibilities,
between healthy entertainment and junk food for the mind,
between wasting my time and spending it well,
between building others up, or tearing them down,
between insulting others and praising others,
between gossiping and minding my own business,
between speaking a cruel word or speaking a kind word…
And those are just some of the many choices I made this past week that gave me the option of choosing
between what's good and evil,
what's wise and foolish,
what's right and wrong,
what brings me life and what eats at my soul,
between what enhances the life
of the people around me - or tears us apart.
No, not every choice I make is a life-or-death option - but everything I think, everything I say, and everything I do - does fall somewhere on the spectrum between what's right and what's wrong, what's good and what's evil.
Everything I think, and say, and do leads me ultimately, either closer to a greater life, to a deeper love of God and neighbor -OR- closer to a lesser life that weakens my potential for goodness, for becoming the person God made and called me to be.
It's Sunday night. Tomorrow will be Monday, then Tuesday, and then Ash Wednesday. And the beginning of Lent.
We might do well, all of us, to spend this Lent studying the kinds of choices we make in our daily lives. Even just becoming aware of the choices we make in our daily lives. Studying with the expressed intention of discovering which choices bring me life - and bring life to those around me – and which choices erode, eat away and tear apart the fabric of the human community in which you and I live.
Just this past week, Pope Leo offered a great suggestion for what we might give up this lent. Something besides, in addition to, meat on Fridays in Lent. Something to give up as part of our daily lives, especially in these tense and contentious times. Let me share with you what he wrote. He said:
I would like to invite you to a very practical
and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence:
that of refraining from words
that offend and hurt our neighbor.
Let's begin by disarming our language,
avoiding harsh words and rash judgment,
refraining from slander and speaking ill
of those who are not present
and cannot defend themselves.
Instead, let us strive to measure our words
and cultivate kindness and respect
in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media,
in political debates, in the media,
and in Christian communities.
In this way, words of hatred
will give way to words of hope and peace.
What will we choose this Lent? Will we choose to use words that hurt and offend our neighbor? Or to disarm our language - and cultivate respect and kindness. Will we continue to choose words, to engage in conversations, that tear us apart from one another? Or will we choose words and engage in conversations that cultivate patience, understanding, kindness - and the hope of reconciliation and peace?
Jesus, who laid down his life for us on the cross, offers his life again for us tonight, here at this altar, in the bread and the cup of the Eucharist.
We are invited here, at his table, to feast on that wisdom that nourishes us, and helps us to make good choices.
We choose wisely when we choose good over evil, truth over lies, the genuine over the counterfeit, the selfless over the selfish, the kind word over the cutting word.
Anytime we make less than a wise choice, we make a foolish choice… Anytime we make less than a wise choice, we make a foolish choice…
So pray with me, that you and I will “stretch forth our hands” and reach out for that wisdom, that goodness, that serves our God, and our neighbor.
Pray that we reach out for anything and everything that deepens our life in God, who is our greatest, our only, our one, true wisdom.
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