The other night I sat in on a small group here at Marble. It's called "The Forgiveness Project." I was invited to give the Christian perspective on forgiveness, along with rabbis who offered a Jewish perspective.

As I sat and listened and spoke and listened some more, I was struck again by how similar—and how different—Judaism and Christianity are. They share the same roots, many of the same values and goals, and obviously many of the same sacred texts. But they are different, too, and perhaps nowhere else is that difference greater than in their approaches to forgiveness. Both are elegant and beautiful. But they are not the same.

The reality of religious difference, when we see it, is striking. It prevents us from reducing religions by saying that "they're all really the same" or that "they're all different paths up the same mountain." Not only are they different paths—they might very well be climbing different mountains.

Does life come with an instruction manual?

A few months ago, I got an angry call from a woman who had seen our church ad on the subway that says, "Marble Church: Because life doesn't come with an instruction manual." The woman berated me: "the Bible is our instruction manual! What are you teaching over there!?"

I tried to appease her. She calmed down. But I hung up without clarifying what I believe: I agree with her general premise (the Bible is of fundamental importance for life), it's not a rule-by-rule, line-by-line guide for how to live. In the Protestant Christian tradition, we say that the Bible is sufficient revelation of God. It's not got everything for every circumstance... but what it does have is sufficient: for matters relating to God and salvation, it's enough.

We make the Bible too simplistic when we call it a playbook, or a how-to-manual, for life. Case in point: yesterday, I sat with a woman who is navigating a new relationship that has gotten wonderful--and serious--rather quickly. She's trying to figure out whether she can trust her emotions in the wake of past relationships.

Every morning, my 20 month-old son James wakes up at 5:30. It's early. He will not go back to bed. So I get up with him.

I give James a bottle of milk and a book or a toy. I walk over and open my Bible. I have a list of daily readings--two Psalms, Old Testment lesson, Epistle, and Gospel lesson. I try to read each one slowly, unrushed. I try to hear God's voice speaking to me. After I have read, I close my Bible and close my eyes... and I pray. I let the words come slowly, from a deep place... and I listen for God.

And then a book gets pressed into my leg. "Book?," the little voice asks. He wants me to read to him. Or he tries to crawl up in my lap. Or he bangs legos together, making it impossible to focus on the prophet Isaiah. Or he pesters me to turn on Baby Einstein.

My sacred moment is interrupted. It's hard to get back.

Lent, the 40 day period that precedes Easter Sunday, begins next Wednesday, February 25th.

Lent is a time that means nothing... unless you make it into something. It is a time when you might decide to do something about your own spiritual growth. When we want to learn a skill, we enroll in a course. If we want to get buff, we go to the gym. If we want to relax, we take a nap or a walk or see friends.

But somehow, many of us don't make decisions to grow closer to God. You care about God, but you're just kind of living and hoping that you'll pick up some God knowledge here or there. You're not making time in your busy life to learn and grow in faith.

So let Lent be different. What can you do? Here are a few ideas:

Who is the voice of God for you?

I know that's a bit of a strange question. But in a world in which very few of us hear the voice of God directly, we often rely on flesh-and-blood folks around us to be God's spokesperson.

That's a bit of what happens when we hear someone preach over a long period of time, as many of us have with Dr. Caliandro. His voice, his thought patterns, his prayers, his presence have shaped our understanding of God.

This week is Dr. Caliandro's last Sunday in the Marble pulpit. For more than 40 years, he has been shaping the way this community of faith understands God's will and presence in the normal course of our lives. He has preached with grace and humility and love. In many ways, Arthur's encouragement to us has been to quiet ourselves enough to hear God's still small voice speaking to us.

All of us are probably aware that somewhere in the Bible, Jesus says something to the effect that part of our job in life to "feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, visit those in prison" (btw--in case you're wondering, it's Matthew 25). Jesus says that each of us will be judged according to whether, during our lives, we did these things "for the least of these who are members of my family." He doesn't say how often, or that we can't do anything else... just that we need to be doing these things.

This is one of those Biblical passages that, in my experience, can either motivate you to action to do these things, or tie you up in knots of guilt because you don't or can't do them.

I'm writing this to you from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I'm spending a few days studying the Bible with a group of other pastors and trying to get better at my job.

If Santa Fe sounds exotic to you, don't get too excited—there's snow on the ground and it's about 30 degrees and we spend most of our time gathered around a conference table. The only time we get out is at night, for dinner. So aside from having better scenery and better chile rellenos, it's not that much different from being in New York with you.

I want to just take this minute to tell you again how important I think it is for any person who wants to understand and know Jesus (and I hope this includes you!) to read the Bible regularly. Read it and make it a friend and life partner.

The Bible is a crazy book. It's beautiful and terrible, self-contradictory and dated, but also the most relevant and personal thing you will ever read. The Bible describes a world that is both completely foreign to us, but also one that we know intimately.

Last year, I talked about a group called "Advent Conspiracy." They are an informal network of Christ-followers who are teaming together to try and re-interpret the celebration of Christmas in our culture. Their motto this year is "Give Presence." They want us to move away from giving useless gifts, and be more intentional about the ways that we show love, specifically by giving life to people who are materially very poor during the holiday season.

Now, admittedly, there's something egotistical about "re-interpreting" a worldwide holiday. I mean, who are THEY to tell me or anyone else how we should celebrate Christmas? It's really audacious. Kind of makes me mad.

Last Sunday morning, I had the good fortune to talk with a couple of young women at Marble who are in their late teens. They graduated from high school in the last year or two and most are enrolled in college here in the city. Some have been coming to Marble for many years and have been an active part of the church school. They are women who have entered a new phase in life--and they are struggling to make sense of the change and to see where they fit in the life of the church.

I invited them to try out Connection on Sundays and guess what they said? "You're too old."

I felt like I got knifed. Too old?  Me?  I'm 33 for crying out loud!

Did you know there was an election coming up?

It's been on all of our minds. This Wednesday night, October 29th, I want to invite you to come hear an amazing man, Dr. David Gushee—one of our nation's leading thinkers on the relationship of Christian faith and politics—who will be giving a free lecture at Marble. The lecture begins at 7:15, right after Wednesday night worship. This is a great way to prepare your mind and heart for the week ahead.

Last Sunday Connection had a great discussion of the topic. We began by talking about the nastiness of this campaign—like how disorienting it was to hear both candidates profess a Christian faith, then engage in what appeared to her as mudslinging and poor treatment of the other. We talked about how Christians are expected to engage with others in the political process.

I learned a few things: