Highway 61 was coated with a thin layer of ice. I was approaching town and a deer stepped out to cross in front of me. I know you have seen this; and maybe your memory of such a sight is unpleasant because you have had a bad experience of collision and danger. I have been there too.
This time I was far enough away and not driving fast, so I was okay. But the deer was panicky and having trouble. Noticing my car, and I assume nervous because of the bad footing, the deer tried to run but kept slipping. She looked like those old cartoons of animals or people spinning their feet in take-off. But I wasn’t laughing. She made numerous attempts to get going, and finally got to the shoulder. She got her feet on some snow, and then as graceful as can be she bounded off into the woods to a safe distance.
There she turned back and looked at me. I wondered if she meant to say, “See, how graceful I am when I am in my own space.” If that is what she had to say, I agreed with her and thought she was indeed beautiful and elegant in movement.
She sparked my thoughts about the lessons that many congregations will hear in church on Sunday, Feb. 19. One lesson in particular held my highway mediation, Leviticus 19: 1, 2, 9-18. I don’t know about you, but often when I hear the name Leviticus I think of a book of the Bible that is difficult to finish because it refers to so many rules that are no longer current in the many Christian traditions.
But this chapter is a gem of spiritual wisdom. In verse 2 it says, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” And at verse 18 it says “You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” What a marvelous affirmation and challenge those sentences provide. And between those two statements Leviticus 19 says we shall not cause harm to the poor or the resident alien in our lands, and not steal, lie, swear falsely, defraud, or hold back wages, and not humiliate those with disabilities, or slander, hate, take vengeance, bear grudges, or practice unjust ways. What a strong and comprehensive guide those sentences portray.
I thought about the frequency with which people or societies ignore one or more of these injunctions. I thought about the slippery paths of life lived that way. We know that dishonesty breeds greater dishonesty. We know that hate spawns its own kind. We know from the playgrounds of our youth that those who pushed and shoved and bullied others not only caused unhappiness in many, but were themselves unhappy and tormented by the lifestyle they chose. The danger is being caught on this road to destruction without the traction to get off.
I thought of that doe and the elegance and agility she displayed managing the terrain she was meant to encounter. And I thought about the beauty and wonder of human communities when love of neighbor and the pursuit of goodness become the hallmark more noticeable than the undercurrent of dissent.
I know that there are some people who dislike just about any rule and feel too confined by any structures of common decency. But that is just too slippery a road. And the behaviors that emerge from lives without boundaries are at best awkward and at worst dangerous.
I am convinced however that when we listen to the guidance God does provide, when we find the goodness in the boundaries of thoughtfulness and mutuality such as we can hear in Leviticus, and the teaching of Jesus, lives are blest and communities cross even difficult terrain with grace.
God has provided a path with the traction we need, let us strive to walk in the way of the Lord. What a marvelous affirmation and strong challenge we will find.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Reverend Mark Ditmanson of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Marais.
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