The Second Sunday in Lent, March 16, 2025

Today’s scriptures invite us to reflect on self-transcendence in times of crisis. Process theology
is profoundly kataphatic and inspires an “affirmative” live out loud mysticism. While process
theologians recognize the apophatic nature of spirituality – God is God and we aren’t; God is
always more than we can imagine; all our theological concepts are limited – process theology
affirms that God announces God’s presence in our hearts, minds, and the ambient world of non-
human life and nature. The heavens declare the glory of God, and so do the cells of our body
and a child playing basketball. As the hymn says, “only the brightness of light hideth thee.”
Abraham worries about his legacy. He is fixated on what Robert Jay Lifton describes as
“biological immortality,” leaving an heir to carry on his name. The child of a slave doesn’t
matter to him (sadly). He wants a child through his wife Sarah. While we can debate issues of
ethics, conquest, and chosen nation status, all of which are as real as today’s Israel-Palestine
newsfeed, a reimagined vision of covenant is one approach to take to the First Testament
reading. Faced with his limitations, God shows Abraham the heavens, asks him to count the
stars. His life is part of a larger story. God covenants with Abraham, despite the apparent facts,
to create a people from his descendants. In the limitations are our opportunities. In the dead
end, a way is made. God’s aim is the “best for that impasse,” and it may seem modest at the
moment, but choices to follow God moment by moment, lead to great outcomes. When we open
to God, God opens the door to possibilities.
We must, in this time of conflict, go beyond small visions of covenant. God’s covenant with
Israel, despite the history of the Habiru people and their descendants, is to a light to the nations,
serving God by showing others God’s vision, and not self-aggrandizement or colonization. God’s
covenant is universal and personal and touches all of us. We are all part of God’s covenant of
universal and adventurous beauty, addressing each of us intimately, and calling us to embody
adventure, peace, goodness, love, and beauty in our daily interactions.
The words of Psalm 27 hit home in this time of national uncertainty, in which the future of
American democracy and US foreign integrity is in doubt, and many of us feel powerless to
effect change in the world. We fear DOGE twenty somethings meddling in our private data and
social security if we step out of line. We image the brutality of ICE and the apathetic incivility
of national leaders, many of whom claim to be Christians. We see a man without moral compass
elevated as savior by these same Christians. I can feel the spirit of Psalm 27: when evildoers
assail our nation and want to devour what is best about our country, we lean – not of denial but
out of hoped for agency – to God’s amipotent (Oord) insight and energy. God is God and the
prancing prevaricators and disruptive demagogues are not! “God is my light and salvation – of
whom shall I be afraid.” The Psalmist sees self-transcendence as the source of courage and
agency. Lifted up to the heavens and placed on higher ground, the Psalmist can face the threats
of life with courage and creativity.

In the midst of limitation, and the realities of our own fear and hopelessness, we can look beyond
the moment. The threat is real, but we have resources. In the grandeur of the universe, we
remember that our foes are mortals and like blades of grace will wither. We are mortal, too, but
in our mortality and humility, we matter. One positive act at a time can heal the world moment
by moment and expand the light of God that overcomes the darkness and chaos of those hellbent
of destruction. In God’s light, we see light and a path forward. We shall overcome, and in God’s
love, all shall overcome.
In Philippians, the apostle describes the first followers of Jesus as citizens of heaven, not the
Roman empire, which seeks to destroy them. Paul is not counseling withdrawal or quietism, but
spiritual self-transcendence which liberates us from fear and awakens our responsibility to be
God’s companions in sharing the good news of the path of Jesus, which outlasts the Caesars,
Hitlers, Putins, and Trumps. There is a wider perspective, the mind of Christ, and awakening to
the wider perspective frees us from the limitations and anxieties of this troubled time.
In the Gospel reading, death is looming for Jesus, but Jesus’ heart is filled with love. “How often
have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and
you were not willing!” God is the mother hen. God is the fellow sufferer who understands. The
Great Empath who heals. The God Jesus embodies is not all-powerful, but all-empathetic and
all-inspiring. The Energy of the Universe, the Heart of the World, does not destroy but works in
our lives, inspiring us to companion with God and one another to heal the world.
These are difficult times. But the whole of scripture was written in difficult times. All our
passages this Sunday occur in times of crisis and uncertainty. We cannot ensure that our cause
will be victorious, but we can seek the higher place, the self-transcendence that takes us beyond
self-interest to world loyalty, and empowers us to claim “this little light of mine” as agents of
healing, justice, and beauty.

Bruce Epperly is Theologian in Residence at Westmoreland Congregational United Church of
Christ, Bethesda, MD (https://www.westmorelanducc.org/) and a professor in theology and
spirituality at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is the author of over 80 books including:
“Homegrown Mystics: Restoring the Soul of Our Nation through the Healing Wisdom of
America’s Mystics” (Amazon.com: Homegrown Mystics: Restoring Our Nation with the Healing
Wisdom of America's Visionaries: 9781625249142: Epperly, Bruce: Books) “Jesus: Mystic,
Healer, and Prophet “(Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet: Epperly, Bruce: 9781625248732:
Amazon.com: Books), Saving Progressive Christianity to Save the Planet”( Saving Progressive
Christianity to Save the Planet: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999215: Amazon.com: Books), and
his most recent book, “God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology,
Spirituality and Social Change.” (The God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on
Theology, Spirituality, and Social Change: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999291: Amazon.com: Books The God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality, and
Social Change: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999291: Amazon.com: Books