Offering Grace

(Note: We are very fortunate to have guest blogger, Kristen Walker, contributing today. Kristen is the Spiritus Christi Young Adult Minister as well as the co/founder of Flower City Noire Collective, a Black and Queer led charitable org in Rochester. Thanks for sharing your gifts with us so freely, Kristen!)

From today’s gospel, we read: Jesus said to his disciples: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

When meditating on today’s reading I found overwhelming evidence to support the reality of interconnectedness in our daily lives and that these verses can be used to support a major shift in the ways in which we interact with each other.

My work is at the intersections of Spirituality, Racial Justice and Black Feminist Theory that are a place of great power, curiosity and inspiration for me, and it is with that lens I invite you to consider the challenge, opportunity and affirmation of todays text.

The Lenten Season is a wonderful time to get curious about our faith ,renew our hearts and to clear space in our spiritual minds. There is something about these verses in Luke that is refreshing to my spirit. These verses affirm a way of life that is relational and restorative, which is part of God’s dream for the world as it demonstrates a causational relationship between others and ultimately ourselves that calls us in a little closer during this season. 

In Lukes’ writing Jesus is instructing folks to follow the Father in showing mercy to one another, that is, to exercise grace when we have the power to punish, and the challenge of the text and of Lent is to be more Christ-like on our journeys and to operate in our divinity and humanity simultaneously. 

But some days, like today are tough, when we consider the state of our world and of our City. 

Where is the grace in our punitive justice systems?

Where is the grace for Black and Brown Refugees detained at our borders? 

Where is the grace for poor folks?

Where is the grace for unhoused folks? 

Where is the grace for folks who don’t look like us or are outside of our Socioeconomic Status?

Admittedly, there are challenges in our contemporary context due to systemic social strongholds rooted in oppression, but these challenges do not negate the instruction to follow the Father, to follow Jesus and to live these verses.

The text illuminates how our interactions with others are so connected to our own lives. Forgive and you will be forgiven Stop judging and you won’t be judged Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.

Do you hear Jesus calling us to be peacemakers? 

Do you hear the call to restorative practices? 

Do you hear the call for compassion and empathy? 

Do you hear the call to forgiveness?

There is a direct correlation between our output to others and what we receive as a reward. I’m reminded of the Zulu proverb UBUNTU, which further highlights the interconnectedness in this meditation.  UBUNTU means “ I am because You Are” another translation reads, “My Humanity is tied to Your Humanity”. Both of these interpretations set the stage in our minds to think about how we have been relating to our neighbors that we see daily and neighbors we haven’t met all over the world. 

More opportunities present themselves to be transformative in the lives of others as we lean into what Jesus is instructing and also what is offered to us by following through. I love that J.C. provides both instruction and reward for being faithful to the word.

The affirmation in this text is a love note from Jesus, that says: “Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

David in Psalms 23 also references an overflowing cup, goodness and mercy that aligns with the ease that is assured to us when we live these sacred texts and that is a most wonderful affirmation to carry with us this week. 

Affirmations for our week: Choose one of these to repeat daily, or create your own affirmation based on the text. Let’s keep in touch this week to support one another in this practice. I so enjoy that our Parish is on this collective retreat through these blog posts and with the many lenten season offerings we have. It is an honor to offer my meditations as part of this season with extreme gratitude in my heart for each and every one of you reading this.

I practice grace daily. 

I am divinity and humanity, simultaneously.

I practice reciprocity.

I practice forgiveness daily.