I am using John Wesley’s Holy Club examen questions to examine my own life.

#8- Did I give it (the Bible) time to Speak to me today?

The Bible has been speaking to me, even though I’m not formally studying it like I should. The accumulated studies of the past have given me a familiarity and comfort with the scriptures, to the point that I see their contemporary parallels all around me. I journaled earlier today about Marco Rubio as one of the tax collectors. That’s M’s idea, and it is brilliant. I wrote about Levi and Zacchaeus and what that might mean for Rubio.

A while back I thought of Isaiah before the Throne of God with Seraphim flying all around him. Then, I thought of the charge given to Isaiah by God – the message of God’s giving up on the people – or giving them over to their own self-made devices. But today I’m thinking of the earlier part of the scene where Isaiah confesses “I’m a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips!” Then the Seraphim swoops down and cleanses Isaiah’s lips with a hot coal. I’ve often felt like one “among a people of unclean lips,” who speak falsehoods and threats. But now I feel the need to have my own lips cleansed. That requires a confession of my own uncleanliness. The need is to heed God’s plea: “who will go for us?”

Rev. Barber was arrested for Praying in the US Capital. That’s the moment! He was going for God. He must not stand alone. Clergy are being called to deep service in defense of the vulnerable. Local to me are the H/L members of the church & community. Close to me too is the integrity of the faith. One of the roles of the Levites was to manage the covenant between God and Israel. So too, clergy of today must “articulate the longings of the people” (MLK, from “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”).