​Meditations on Lent - # 25
For many of us the Christian faith has been about the fear that a big, bad God is going to punish us for all eternity in the fires of hell if we are not saved by literally confessing Jesus as Lord and savior.  We were told that we were not saved by good works but were told to go and sin no more.  At some level many of us continue to test the God of our understanding.   Just this morning I had a text from someone who asks, “If Jesus doesn’t mind asking for his help why doesn’t he come through?  I will buy he may not cause suffering but he sure as hell allows a lot of suffering. And he loves me?”   Ann Lamott in her wonderful witty but also very human ways prays asking, “Would it be too much skin off your nose to….?”
In our own way many of us continue to test the God of our understanding while hedging our bets and repeating the words of such statements  of faith as the Nicene Creed. As we age we question this very limited understanding of God and often test him/her.  We cry out, “Where are you?  Stop the insanity of war.  Stop the suffering of all children but especially little Susie or Johnny.”  We rant and cry out.  We curse the God who seems to have become a couch potato or, worse, a protector of the greedy and powerful.  Even such saints as Mother Theresa had moments of great doubt as she bore witness  and ministered to those who had done nothing to earn suffering.
I wrote back to the man who texted me that I did not think that Jesus or God was the problem, nor do I think that we suffer because we do not used the accepted language of those representing organized religion.  I do know, of  course that often we make very good decisions and we make very unhealthy and even unkind decision.  Many people who made very unhealthy decisions are seemingly rewarded and many people who consistently make very healthy and loving decisions experience a lot of hardship and suffering.   We understand the cries of Job or the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son.  Life is often unfair and unjust.   No one deliberately orders up chronic illness,  the birthright of a poor or rich family, or an exceptional talent.  Yet, we are expected to live with the cards we are dealt.  Some suggest that we always get what we need to grow spiritually. This statement which may or may not be true is of little comfort when we cannot protect our child from either the violence of our home country or the emotional and sometimes physical violence at the United States border.  There are no welcome signs at the Southern border – or any other  border – of the United States and some other countries.  Platitudes or other nice sounding phrases are of no comfort to the parent whose child is snatched from them or who must send the teenage child to take their chances in a strange land which may not accept him or her.  
Visions of a kinder afterlife do not provide much solace or feel like a healing ointment to open wounds.  What can we say?  What comfort can we provide?  The father of the prodigal son embraces his youngest, returning son and offers reassurance of love and appreciation to his eldest.  Jesus embraces the ones who deny him or the one who  betrays him for 30 pieces of silver.   He embraces and does not lectures the prostitute.   As does the social activist Ruby Sales He asks, “Where does it hurt?” To the man who feels deserted by Christ I listen with love assuring him that the God of my understanding has already promised him that he is worthwhile; that  it is safe to trust that he can heal and make a safe home for himself; that he can let go of the abusive messages he has internalized; that we can listen to and love each other just as the God of my understanding listens with great love.   Ruby Sales did not erase all the scars of the young, abused woman to whom she addressed the question, “Where does it hurt?  She did give her a safe place to tell her story. She did offer a safe embrace. We do not make the world fair. We can offer comfort in the midst of pain and suffering. We do offer the truth that we do not have to believe the lies that we are less then. 
Written March 31, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org

​Meditations on Lent  #24
 
The Gospel lesson, the passage from Hosea and the Psalm which are suggested for Lenten Meditation today remind us of the danger of thinking that we are less than which often leads us to attempting to prove that we are more than.  In the Gospel passage -  Luke 18:9-14  - Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector.  The Pharisee attempts to convince the God of his understanding that he is better than the tax collector. He metaphorically beats his chest and give thanks that he is not like other people. The tax collector, on the other hand, would not even face the God of his understanding ,but asked for mercy because he knew he was a sinner.    In Hosea 14:2-10, we are presented with an unrepentant Israel while the Psalmist in Psalm 5:3-4 says he is quite aware of sinful behavior and tells the God of his understanding that he is right in his verdict and justified in judging.
 
Once again, we the students. are reminded how silly it is to pretend that we are something other than human. No matter how hard we try to always do the next right thing we end up taking a shortcut, avoiding responsibilities, putting off some important tasks, screaming at our children because we have neglected our rest, or engaging in some other behavior which is we know is not kind or fair.  We are then faced with the choice of admitting we were wrong in blaming other people, places or things.  We even blame God. We might proclaim how much better we are than our neighbor.  We can list his or her sins which we are obviously much greater than ours.  We can also list all our good deeds as did the Pharisee even knowing that we are just attempting to prove our worth; proving that we are better than.   Of course, the irony or perhaps stupidity is that we somehow posit an all-powerful, all knowing God who does not notice what we are doing.  Perhaps even more importantly we are hoping we will notice our own duplicity.   Not too worry. We never fool ourselves even though we may momentarily fool ourselves into thinking we are fooling ourselves. Even as we are backing away from and disconnecting from  the God of our understanding we are hoping we can prove our worth and then draw close to ourselves and to the God of our understanding.
 
Some have suggested that self-righteousness is one of the greatest of sins because we are denying or avoiding our own humanness which leaves us alone with our pretense , alone with our “secrets”; so alone that we may then be forced to do something else to further separate us from the God of our understanding.    Yet, at any time, we can present ourselves to the God of our understanding knowing that we will be welcomed home as the hymn says “just as we are”.
 
Written March 30, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
 
 
 

​Meditations on Lent - #23
 
The three biblical passages recommended for this day of Lent talk of God’s disappointment, the importance of confession  and Jesus telling the teacher of the law the two most important commandments are :  1.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul all your mind and all your strength  and 2.  Love your neighbor as yourself.”    Jesus says nothing  about satisfying God’s anger or confessing one’s sins.   Yet, one must examine what keeps us distant from the “I am”; what prevents us from living in harmony with of all of creation.  
 
I  recently met with a man who has entered a recovery program for addiction to drugs.  His addiction has kept him distant from himself, his children, other family members as well as the God of his understanding.   Later, I was with a man who has been in recovery for addiction for one month.  He remarked that he continues to have trouble with trust and, thus, is fearful of the 4th and 5th  steps of the 12-step program which requires one to take a moral inventory and then stare it with a sponsor or other person.  Others were quick to assure him that there is nothing he has done or left undone which he needs to be fearful of sharing.  The nature of addiction is that it takes over one’s mind and life forcing one to behave in ways which are not consistent with one’s values or beliefs. As we all know, even without a disorder which directly affects the operational center of the brain, all of us humans have what I like to think of as brain misfires.  We allow a desire for immediate gratification whether that  be anger, eating something which is not healthy, acting out sexually,  greed or some other action to kidnap our command center.  When we behave in a way which is contrary to our moral values we feel alone and empty.  We feel distant from the God of our understanding.  It may seems as if other people and God have deserted us.  Yet, we are told that the God of our understanding, the God of Jesus and Abraham never deserts us. Gone is the punishing anger which  seems to be attributed to this God in the Old Testament.  In parable after parable  and sometimes in a very direct way Jesus teaches this radical concept of forgiveness and  reconciliation.   God never leaves us or punishes us.  He is always ready to welcome us home.  We merely have to accept His embrace – our place as an essential  part of the universe(s). When we allow ourselves to sit back down with the family we find it easy to treat others the same as God is treating us ; to treat others as we want to be treated.
 
It is the year 2019 A.D. and, yet most of us cannot seem to grasp the fact all humans behave better when love is unconditional. None of us respond well to punishment, shame, or rejection.
To allow ourselves to be loved with our hearts, with understanding and strength is tough when we are playing God or only hearing the fearful voice of some of the prophets or even the disciples.
 
The God of my understanding is the God of the “I am”. It is the God  which cannot separate our relationship with God from our relationships with ourselves or from our relationship with other humans. In fact, this God cannot separate love of God from how we love  all forms of life – all energy which comprises the universe(s).  There is only one commandment – to  allow love and to love.
 
The God of my understanding has not deserted either of the young men with whom I talked yesterday. Both are having a difficult time imagining a God who knows they are human and still loves them unconditionally.  God does not require confession, but God does require that we bring our entire self to the relationship.  If we are attempting to hide who we are we cannot draw close to God. The confession is to ourselves. God already knows who we are.
 
This is the challenge.  Run to the embrace of God.  Run to embrace your neighbor.


Written March 29, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 
 
 

​Meditations for Lent - #22
 
The recommended Gospel reading for this day of Lent is Luke 11:14-23 and one of the Old Testament lessons is from Jeremiah 7:23-28.
 
Jeremiah talks about the fact a house divided against itself cannot stand. In the passage from Luke, Jesus, perhaps thinking of the passage from Jeremiah or perhaps just observing how humans tend to function, reminds those he is teaching that a divided kingdom or household will fail.   He also says to illustrate this point that “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. “ These lessons and other similar ones have often been used to suggest or even declare that all those who do not claim the God of the Old Testament or the trinity of Jesus, father and Holy spirit as their Lord and Savior  will be doomed to eternal Hell. 


In the movie Come Sunday. Bishop Carleton Pearson, Bishop of an evangelical mega church in Tulsa, Oklahoma began to question why the God of his understanding would send adults and children who had never heard the Christian message and whose God had a different name to hell for eternity..    He concluded that the exclusive, punishing God he had been preaching and who would only save those who specifically  professed faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior was a monster.  He did not  believe that the God of his understanding was a monster and said as much in church. Eventually many in his congregations,  other Evangelical ministers and the man who claimed this African American as his adopted son, Oral Roberts, decided he was not fit to be minister and disowned him.   Yet, he held tight to his belief that the God in whom he believed and who he worshiped, the God who had sent his son to teach a kinder, all forgiving, embracing message was not a pubescent teenager who got his or her feelings hurt because someone did no call him/her by a certain name or give him/her credit for Grace.  Eventually  Carleton was accepted as a minister of a large  Unitarian church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
 
My understanding is that when Luke reports that Jesus says in Luke 11: 23 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” he is talking about actions.  I think that that when one engages in behavior which is consistent with the teachings of Jesus we are with him.  When one has the courage to love one’s enemy, to treat one’s neighbor as one wants to be treated, when one forgives someone else or ourselves for acting as a fallible human, when one rejects those others as less than;  as not one’s brothers and sisters one Is not with Jesus; one is not gathering with him.    When one does these things, one is gathering with him.   When in Ephesians, Titus and Romans  one is told that one is not saved by works or works alone but by Grace, the student is being  told one does not earn worth because of good works but it is only when one accepts that that one is worthwhile – that all are worthwhile  - that one  truly does good works.  It is then, as the Buddhists might suggest. that  one can love unconditionally without expectations. 
 
I was talking to a young man this morning about my belief that we cannot develop a system for measuring who has the most sin points or the most good works points.  We all have hurt ourselves, others and mother earth.  I have no idea how to assign points or take away points for actions of  each of us.  Ironically it is when accept that we are all equally worthwhile that we are able to be our most unconditionally loving.   It is then that we can gather with Jesus and follow his example.
 
Written March 28, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org

Meditations for Lent - #21
 
The recommended readings for this day of lent is Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9, Psalm 147:12-13,15-16 and Matthew 5:17-19.   I. attempted to read over these passages carefully  and with an open heart.   Anyone who knows me know I am I not big on following rules just to follow rules.  Even if someone suggest that it is God’s rule or law I am not likely to be impressed until and unless it makes sense in my head. True, if it does not make sense I will talk to others who may have more information or more insight than I have yet garnered.  If it still does not make sense I may attempt to find out the etiology of the rule or law  to ascertain how it came to be a rule or law.  One could, for example, consider rules prohibiting masturbation or same sex behavior. There was a time, pre-microscopes, when it was believed that there was a shortage of sperm and many children and mothers died in childbirth. That was also a time when one might need a large family to gather or farm for food.  One certainly did not want to waste the limited number of sperms which was thought to be available.   Given those “facts/beliefs”  one would outlaw masturbation and same sex  behavior because it wasted seed.    Eventually it was discovered that most men had a host of sperm, we were able to decrease the number of infant and maternal deaths and the need for physical labor decreased.  There was no longer any basis for the rules prohibiting masturbation or same sex behavior.  The problem is, of course, that once a rule becomes part of a religious tradition it becomes God’s rule or law. One cannot question the divine.  Yet, in Matthew 22 Jesus has more to say about commandment or rules.  When asked what is the greatest commandment he replies:  “’ the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it,. Love  your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  For me this is one of the most important teachings of Jesus.  No matter what I do I must ask myself the following questions:

• As far as I can determine, does this intended action upset, destroy or otherwise harm any other part of the whole – of the “I am” which is God.
• How does this intended action affect others?  Is this intended action the way I want to be treated?

If the answer is no to either of these it is undoubtedly not something I need to do.   Of course, being human I am going to sometimes let my emotions get the better of me or not foresee the consequences of my action.  In that case I must be willing to promptly and humbly admit my mistake and, when possible, made amends.
 
My spiritual intention is never about obeying rules other than these two.   Of course, if I judge a potential action by these two rules I am not going to harm others intentionally. I may take/borrow something to feed someone .  I might take shelter in someone’s home to keep from freezing. I might risk arrest to protest mistreatment of others. I might attempt to hold  an organization accountable. I might attempt to prevent some other harmful behavior even it that behavior is legal.   I must, however, always ask:
 

• Is my intent love?
• Is there another approach which could be just as effective?
• Is my secret motive to gain attention or notoriety?
• Am I feeling self-righteous?
• Am I attempting to break a rule just to prove I can?

 
In other words, how honest can I be with myself and with others about the purpose of my behavior.   Jesus is alleged to have said I came to accomplish the purpose of the law of Moses and the prophets.   Within the context of the time in which Moses and the prophets were living what was the purpose of the law?  That is up to us to prayerfully discern with each other.   Obviously it would be much easier to just have a long list of commands or rules, but that would not  necessarily satisfy the conditions that Jesus teaches.  Still, we are not called to do what his easiest but what satisfies the God of our understanding.
 
 
 
Written March 27, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
[email protected]
 

​Lenten Meditation - #20
 
I realized this morning that I had inadvertently used today’s suggested Gospel reading for the basis of yesterday’s meditation.   At first I was  mildly aggravated with myself for my mistake.  Ironically, I had  just written about forgiveness; about Jesus telling Peter he should forgive 70 x 7 times.  I do not think it was the voice of the Angel Gabriel  lovingly laughing and suggesting I apply the lesson of forgiveness for myself; that I not make a big deal out of my mistake.  Yet it was  a wise voice.   Yesterday the recommended lesson was the story in Luke about the angel Gabriel coming to Mary to tell her she was to give birth to Jesus.  One can only imagine how one might feel if one was visited by the angel Gabriel and told one was going to give birth to this child who was to have the responsibility which was given to Jesus.  We would probably ignore it or blame it on indigestion.  
 
It seems that  often we are visited by a wise voice which repeats advice which we may have given to our child, someone we mentor or a co-worker.    Frequently, when I am talking to an adult who says that they are confused about what path to take or how to approach a problem I ask what they would advise a child or someone else. Almost always, the person with whom I am talking knows exactly what to say or do.  When I bring their attention to this fact, they often laugh.     We all have access to that wise voice.  Is this the voice of God, an angel or that part of us which has been described as God with us  and within us;  that part of us which is a part of the divine; that part of us which does not complicate this life journey or particular situations. 
 
The study of theology and philosophy is great fun. Sometimes it can lead to a deeper understanding of what it means to live a purposeful life.  Yet, all too often , this human has used theology or philosophy as an excuse to complicate the very simple lessons of teachers such as Jesus, the Buddha and others.   Most life issues are not that complicated.   I was recently talking to a friend about the fact that the 12-step program first introduced by Bill W and Dr. Bob presents  a step by step guide to healing and facing life on life’s terms. There is nothing in the 12 steps which is inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus or other wise teachers.  It begins with step one about powerless over addiction.  Step one, of course also reminds us that we are powerless over other people, place and things including chronic illnesses such as addiction.  Once I accept that I am powerless I can see what my next step in this spiritual journey needs to be.  I can focus on how I want to respond to my powerlessness.   I can focus on allowing myself that peaceful state of acceptance and allow that inner voice to guide me to the next step of which might be to ask for help, to focus on loving unconditionally or some other path over which I do have control.  When I allow this process to unfold I always do well because I am in touch with  my humility, strength and talents.  
 
Today I will strive to listen to that quiet, wise voice without complicating it with philosophical or theological analysis. 
 
 
Written March 26, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 

​Meditations on Lent - #19
 
The Gospel lesson for today is Matthew 18:21-35. This is a familiar Gospel lesson for many of us.  First Peter asks Jesus how often one must forgive.  Jesus replies seventy times seven.  The Jesus tells the story of the king who forgives the debt of his servant. The servant later beat and imprisoned someone who owed him money.    In turn the King imprisoned the servant whose debt he had forgiven and demanded that he pay the debt for which he had been forgiven.
 
As is true for most of the teachings of Jesus and other wise people, the lesson is pretty clear.  Treat others as one wants to be treated.   Nothing could be simpler.  Yet most of us humans  find it difficult to follow this rule.   Forgiveness even one time does not come easy for us.  Forgiveness seventy times seventy is unthinkable.    We are very fond of justifying our failure to treat others as less than, worse them or as undeserving of another chance.   We may even think of ourselves as  undeserving of forgiveness.  Yet, if we  received a second chance we often do not give that gift to others.   If someone is kind to us and forgives our debt (financial or emotional) we may be initially grateful and even extend the same kindness to others, but often it is not long before we are back to self-righteously judging others and demanding that they honor their debts or pay for their mistakes. 
 
I have often wondered why it is that us humans find it so difficult to remember our own humanness.  Perhaps it is not a matter of remembering. Perhaps it is our old enemy fear.  Fear of what, we might ask.  Fear of not being worthy of unconditional love. Fear of others finding out how human we are. Fear of just not being enough.  It is easy, at some level, to convince ourselves that we are better than so we do not feel less than.  It is easy to label others and convince ourselves we are not as bad, immoral or undesirable.   It is easy to convince ourselves that our brain will always work well and we would never, ever do action X.  It is easy when we are working or have access to other money that to believe we would never default on a loan. 
 
Jesus challenges us to face the fallacy of our thinking; to face the fact that we are often powerless over people, places and events; to accept that it is a moral imperative we remember that we are our brother’s (and sister’s) keeper; to remember very worthwhile people can have financial problem or be challenged in other areas of one’s life.  He challenges us to forgive seventy times seven.  He challenges us when someone is kind to and forgiving of us to play it forward.
 
 
Written. March 25, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
 
 
 
 
 

​Meditations on Lent - #18
Sunday Musings
 
This Sunday I will attend a fundraising lunch at the Soup Kitchen to help support two transition houses for men and women in the early stages of reclaiming their lives from active addiction.   It seems fitting to me that location is the Soup Kitchen which daily serves meals and provides a welcome gathering place for those who are homeless or otherwise in need of a hot meal and a place at the table with others who may be feel alone and forgotten.  Many of the folks at the transition houses have been homeless and alone.  I am also reminded of all the refugees fleeing violence and poverty who need a welcoming hand, a hot meal and a safe place to rest.   Even those who today appear well off may be just a step away from  being homeless.   The recent partial government shutdown in the United States reminded many that many government workers live paycheck to paycheck.   Some who are contract workers have no  benefits, no savings account and will not be paid for the time off.  
 
Among the homeless may be doctors, lawyers, former business owners, teachers, highly skilled union professional carpenters, ironworkers,  brick layers, machinists, and others. 
 
In the framework of the Christian religion the Gospel reading for today is found in Luke 13:1-9.  Our attention is first directed to Jesus asking, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners that the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Then Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree which was not bearing fruit.  The owner wanted to cut it down but the man who took care of the vineyard asks him to leave it for another year to see if with tender care it will bear fruit.
 
On this Sunday in Lent we are reminded that none of us have the right or the knowledge to judge another.  No matter how we have hurt ourselves, our families and others we deserve to be nurtured back to health.  There are no exceptions.   If I listen carefully to myself and others I will hear that “all should be forgiven and given a second chance except ….”  Many of us like to think that we could never  be a homeless person. We could never commit that crime. We  could never hurt a child. We could never be an addict, a sexual offender, a greedy business person, a violent aggressor, or a self-righteous, arrogant person.   Yet, we are only a step away.
 
This morning without reading the Gospel lesson or anything else; without any conscious thought I wrote that my spiritual intention for today was to be more intentionally humble.   It is easy for us humans to think we are better than or not as bad as or could never , but the truth is that this wonderful brain of ours which forms thoughts and directs our bodies to action can be affected by a great many factors.  We are all only one misfire away from an action that “we swear” we  would never do.   We are all one step away from being the person we most despise.   We can easily be that Galilean or that fig tree.
 
Today I will strive to notice when I am judging others; when I am being self-righteous; when I am forgetting that it is Grace if I am not yet today that person I would judge and despise.
 
Written March 24, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org

​Meditations on Lent - #17
 
The Gospel reading for today as suggested by the Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur in their daily meditations for Lent is Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
 
The theme in this Gospel lesson is the same one to which our attention has been drawn time and again in this Lenten season; the value of the lost sheep; the value of the prodigal son.  Can anyone seriously suggest to Jesus, “Alright, enough of his lesson. Let’s be realistic.  I cannot have a thief or a murderer staying in my home. I have to think of the safely of my family.”
 
Dr. Jessica Wrobleski, professor at Wheeling University, tackles this issue in her book The Limits of Hospitality.   There are times when one has to focus on the health of oneself and  family.  I have known good individuals who gave away all their jelly beans and were not able to take care of themselves, much less their family.  We have probably all known the social worker, physician or clergy person who always had time for the stranger but has no time for anyone in the family.  We have all heard the stories from the family of the carpenter, plumber or electrician who never had or made time to make important repairs to the home they shared with their family.   We all know the person  - perhaps us at times – who is good at relationships as long as one is in charge or have all the power in a relationship. 
 
Jesus reminds us that there comes a time when one needs to leave one’s parents and siblings.  There are also times when one needs to leave one’s family for extended periods of time to perform an important job for the larger community.  Yet there is also a time when one needs to say no to the larger community, to that patient, the person who needs spiritual guidance, or to the larger community.   Certainly, we all need to gather to find the lost sheep or the make a celebration dinner for the prodigal child who comes home.  Yet, what if the prodigal child is still an active addict? What if the prodigal child is acutely mentally ill and cannot allow themselves to get help?  What if one is physically sick all the time from not taking care of oneself?
 
We may notice that the father calls his servants to prepare the feast. The father is the one who rushes out to welcome his son home with an embrace and a kiss but it is the servants – the we – who prepare the feast.
 
Sometimes we take these lessons so literally that we think we have to do it all ourselves.  Sometimes we need to remind ourselves  and those in need to use the “we” of the community.  One may need to guide the person to the “we”.  At times, it is important to give a person a ride to other members of the “we.  Sometimes one may need to make a phone call to check on available resources.   There are times, however, when one has to let go of the belief one has to do it all oneself.
 
There are limits to how much one can give. There are no limits to how much love one can extend to the lost sheep or the prodigal son/daughter.   My prayer is that I always strive to set limits because I am realistic about my ability and not because I am judging the lost sheep or the prodigal son/daughter.  I want to always know that I could be the lost sheep. I could be the prodigal son.   The God of my understanding never refuses me Grace.  The God of my understanding may say, “No, I am not going to make that glass of water float to you.  No, I am not going to make that employer look for you.  No, I am not going to force you to spend time with me.”  The God of my understanding says, “Here I am. When or if you are ready I am here to walk with you, but not to walk for you.”
 
Written March 23, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
 
 
 
 
 

​Meditations on Lent - #16
 
I am blessed to work with many people whose life has been kidnapped by mental illness including addiction:  addiction; addiction to alcohol, drugs, sex, power, food, status, or stuff.   Many have seemingly earned the title of criminal, loser, predator, worthless, user, hopeless or some other label which makes it easy for many people to assume they are not worth saving or even knowing.   Yet, many of these very same people reclaim themselves and go on to work miracles in our communities.  Just this week I was at the Lee Jones Miracles Happen Treatment Center for addiction.  This center was begun by two  men who themselves had struggled with addiction  and earned many negative titles.  Yet they both became leaders in the treatment of other addicts and in training other leaders in the field of addiction treatment.  Their influence continues to extend far beyond the borders of the state in which they were so active. 
 
In the Gospel lesson for this day of lent, March 22, 2019, the Sisters of Saint Mary of  Namur direct our attention to Matthew 21:33-43.  In this passage Jesus tells another parable to remind the disciples that “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;”   The 12-step recovery program was begun by two broken men, Dr. Bob and Bill W who became the cornerstone of a worldwide recovery program (I am fully aware some attributed the founding of the program to some others,  but I have no intention of participating in that argument.  Suffice it to say that Dr. Bob and Bill W were cornerstones of the 12-step recovery program.)
 
Daily I encounter individual and families who turn their life around; individuals and families who may have brought a lot of destruction to their own lives and the lives of all those they touched  Many have given up on them and like the stones that the builders rejected tossed them out of their lives and sometimes out of their communities. I  have known individuals who are barred from entire communities for life.   The community is convinced that no good will ever come about because of these individuals.  Yet, some of them will go on to be leaders in all areas of the life of our communities.
 
One never knows or at least I never know which broken stone will become the cornerstone which will rebuild lives.  Just the other day I was talking to a colleague.  We both shared that even after our 80 plus combined years of experience in working in the mental health and addiction fields,  we are not able to predict who is going to finish treatment and who will get kidnapped again by addiction or other mental illness.   We never know when a broken stone will become the cornerstone  of not only the recovering community but of the entire community. This is true no matter what symptoms of brokenness individuals and families bring to my office or the treatment center when I volunteer.  This  has also been true for those in prison with whom I worked. It is equally true for those “healthy” colleagues for whom I work as a clinical supervisor.  I never know which are the broken stones who will soon be the cornerstones for their facility or their community. Those who seem to “have it all together” are often those who are the most broken.  Those who are the most broken are often the ones who becomes the cornerstones.  I attended the Celebration of Women event at a local university this week.  5 women including the keynote speaker, Jessica Lynch, former POW, spoke about overcoming their brokenness. Mental illness, acute physical injuries, racism, the suicide of a spouse, sexism,  or other traumatic emotional and physical injuries threaten to destroy these women. They all have gone on to become amazing cornerstones of the community.
 
I am sure that I and others will be again tempted to judge the broken as the least able to become cornerstones .  Yet, Jesus and the example of many in our community remind us that we are all more than our brokenness. We must never discount potential miracles; the potential power and resilience of those that appear too broken to become cornerstones.
 
Once again, during the season Lent I am reminded that the crucifixion is not the end but the beginning.
 
Written March 22, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett, LPC, AADC
Coachpickett.org