Journey of Practice – Journey of Faith
Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
There was an old upright piano in our home growing up. As inquisitive kids, we learned very quickly how to play Chopsticks, a simple C major scale, and how to make as much noise on it as possible. It wasn’t until after high school that I began to teach myself to play more than simple tunes. When practicing scales, I was reminded by a teacher that “practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.” She was right, of course.
When we practice, we learn habits that become muscle memory. If we practice something over and over incorrectly, those incorrect habits become the memory we learn. Perfect practice did help my piano skills, but it’s difficult to transfer this kind of mentality to our whole lives as it is a way to foster anxiety and perfectionism that inhibits our ability to flourish.
It’s this kind of perfection that we strive for in our journey of faith, and yet we know that it isn’t attainable. When we commit to a journey of faith, we pray simply that we can continue to follow the way of Christ and the path set before us. We do our best to commit to a holy journey and a life that is faithful to the Gospel truth. Rather than perfection, we strive to live the lessons Christ gave us.
We know that perfection is unattainable, especially when we are tasked with praying for those who persecute or harm us. How could we even begin to pray? How could we begin to love them as fellow children of God? We aren’t perfect, and thankfully, we don’t need to be perfect.
When we pray for those who persecute us and seek to love those who do harm, it changes us. We know God will work on them, but our efforts are to liberate our own hearts and minds from the resentment we harbor. It frees us to seek justice, practice peace, show mercy, and live in kindness. We won’t be perfect, but we can begin.
We begin to be kind to ourselves and see ourselves as God sees us. This practice invites us to speak love to ourselves and forgiveness for those things we have done and left undone. This way of life is about changing our own hearts, and then we live a life that will change the world. It frees us to live fully into the life that God has given us and compels us to change the world.
We speak love and kindness, patience and grace, mercy and forgiveness to a broken and hurting world. Even if the scale we play finds a wrong note or sounds more like noise, our intention to make music glorifies God. Just as a scale begins with a single note, God calls us to simply begin.
prayer
O God, by your Word you marvelously carry out the work of reconciliation: Grant that in our Lenten fast we may be devoted to you with all our hearts, and united with one another in prayer and holy love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Daily Lenten meditations each have a companion morning prayer video offered by the same clergy. View the YouTube playlist to find this meditation’s companion video, or to watch others.