I know that I have had a lot of conversations with people about the state of the world. Some people wonder aloud with me, “Does God even hear our prayers?”
This is a question that people have been asking for a long time.
In the first reading from Isaiah 58, the people are wondering why their fasting and prayers do not seem to be received by God. They complain, “Hey, how come you don’t notice what we’re doing?”
God responds by saying that, while the people are fasting and praying, they have entirely missed the boat. They’re performing the rituals but are not doing the essential work.
And what is the essential work? What kind of fasting and prayer does God want? Well, God tells us through the prophet:
Releasing those who are bound. Setting free the oppressed. Sharing bread with the hungry. Sheltering those who are homeless. Clothing the naked. Not turning our backs on those in need.
[Note: You will hear Jesus cite this passage in his teaching on the “Last Judgement” in Matthew 25 when he says that when we did it for the “least” among us we, in fact, did this for God]
God says that when we do these things, our light will shine forth and our wounds will be healed. And while God is concerned about our personal healing, God is very concerned about social healing. God wants our social wounds to be healed because these are the root of so much pain and suffering in the world.
Think for a moment about the social wounds that exist today. What ones would you name?
In my work as a counselor, I often think about what are called the “Social Determinants of Health (SDOH).” These are the non-medical factors that profoundly impact health, mental health and well-being. They include categories like income inequality, access to good education, fair wages, food security/insecurity, access to health care, etc. SDOH would also factor in realities like racism and sexism and how these undermine our health. Some health experts estimate that 50 – 80% of the health issues that people face are directly tied to SDOH factors!
Isaiah the prophet may never have known the words SDOH, but they knew that social fragmentation lives inside us. It breaks down our bodies and causes illness and disease, and it contributes to the alarming rates of depression, anxiety, loneliness and psychological distress we witness today. So to pray and fast for God’s kin-dom to come and yet ignore the realities in the world around us is really just an act.
Thus the “repair” of social wounds is where so much healing can begin. So when God is talking about “acceptable” forms of prayer and fasting, I think God was talking about “praying with our feet” and not just our words.
Today’s readings focus our attention back to the social nature of our faith lives. If our Lenten disciplines do not help us to more deeply engage and address social pain, we may be missing something essential about the season.
And this is what seems to bother God so much in the reading from Isaiah. The people have disconnected their faith life from the world around them, and so their practices lack life, lack light and lack the ability to heal and transform anything.
The Rev. William Barber, Jr – one of the nation’s leading voices for social justice in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr. – names what he calls the “five interlocking [social] breaches” that need to be addressed for us to be well. He says that we as a nation need to heal “systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, denial of healthcare and the war economy” and says that these are currently and often cloaked in “the false distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism” that, instead, justifies their existence.
He goes on to say that allowing these social ills to continue is a sure path to death. However, “repairing the breaches will bring revival [and life]. If you get rid of unfair practices…,if you are generous with the hungry, if you start giving yourselves to the down and out, then you’ll be known as repairers of the breach, those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate and make the community livable again.”
Making the community livable again – for ourselves, for others, for our non-human kin, and for the least. This is a path towards healing. This is a path that shines light. This is a path of transformation and is something worth taking up this Lent!
May our prayer and fasting lead us in this direction.
2 Comments
Sally Partner
The message is the same, from Isaiah through numerous New Testament passages, the Koran, and other readings. Take care of those in need, love your neighbor and treat them as you want to be treated, and all will be well.
Yet humankind is unable to absorb and live by that message. These days we are drifting further and further from it at least in the US, with every day yielding new travesties.
I am glad you are elevating the voice of Rev. Barber, who I believe is one of the most eloquent and thoughtful leaders speaking out today.
Thank you for this blog, Mike. I know it has to be a ton of work, and I appreciate your doing it.
George Dardess
Thank you, Mike.
I thought about those passages while listening the other night to Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez (on Democracy Now) talking about Jesse Jackson, playing clips from Jackson’s speeches, and interviewing those who knew him. Jackson exemplifies what can be done with one’s life to fulfill Isaiah’s commands. (So pitiful that M. Johnson refused to allow Jackson’s body to lie in state at the Capitol. And Johnson touts his “Christianity!”e)