Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

The March 18 lectionary reading from the letter to the Hebrews invites us to remember that the Word of God is living and active rather than a flat script on a page. However, the image of a two-edged sword piercing and dividing does not bring an initial sense of comfort. 

Today’s meditation from Episcopal Relief & Development’s 2011 Lenten devotional uses some powerful phrases such as circumcision of the heart, and Jesus stripping away our pretenses. This brings to mind the process of heart bypass surgery. Arteries that are blocked from carrying life must be bypassed so that we may continue living as fully as we can. A surgical procedure that is intrusive and somewhat violent in the short term is actually life-giving in the long run. 

In essence, fullness of life is imparted to us through a circumcision of the heart as God bypasses arteries that are many times clogged with our own intentions and agendas.

I recently saw an example of this when the mission team from The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, Texas, worked in the little village of La Linea, Honduras. 

The mission team came with a plan to build smokeless stoves so that the people could cook more safely. When the team arrived, their plan needed to be bypassed. Consultation with the village leaders helped the team to see that repairing and extending the simple bridge running through the community would be more life-giving.

Titus Presler, in his book Horizons of Mission, has pointed out that the difference between doing for other people, and working with them in partnerships that fulfill their agenda rather than our own, is an issue with which the church still wrestles. Addressing Millennium Development Goal number 8, Develop a Global Partnership for Development, sometimes involves a circumcision of the heart, a stripping away of our pretenses as we interact with the living, active word of God. Trust and obey, the words from revival hymnody referenced in this meditation, provide focus as we face the challenges that come.

The assurance that we are not alone and will have what we need can be found in the final verses of today’s reading:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but we have one who is in every respect been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16).