To see the readings, click here: http://www.usccb.org/nab/031211.shtml

I find that first reading really uplifting. It's like I hear big swelling, awe-inspiring music coming up behind it as it is read inside my mind. The big "boy gets girl, good conquers evil, all's right with the world" movie theme music.

It's funny, I never think of Lent as a time of spiritual encouragement. I think about Lenten readings as castigating and convicting, of challenging and warning. But this one is full of hope and inspiration. It makes me feel like God is saying, "You can do it! I know you can!"

I know there are a lot of people in the world who are highly motivated by the threat of negative consequences. There is abundant evidence that this is true. But I'm not one of them. I will work a lot harder in the hope of something positive. In fact, it is striking me as I write this that probably, this is one of the reasons I've always struggled with Lent. It always felt to me like it was more about God shaking his finger at me and saying "Bad girl! Bad Susan!" than about something positive.

Our pastor actually kind of addressed this point in his sermon last Sunday. He said Lent is about discipline, but that it isn't a negative -- it is something healthy that helps you grow. That made sense to me -- it's just like how we discipline our children so they will grow up with right values and like we follow a discipline at the gym or in practicing piano, so that we form right habits that will take us to our goal.

Now, today's Gospel is more challenging, but still in a gentle way. You have to actually stop and think about it to realize what is being said. Jesus says to Levi "Come and follow me," and "Leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him." Wow! Who do you know who has just left everything behind to go and follow Jesus? Not many people. In my heart, I'm not sure if I would admire someone who did that or just think he was crazy. I'd like to say I'd look up to him, but in reality, I'm not so sure. That's a challenging passage.

And then we get to what is probably considered the real meat of this text: Jesus says that he he has "come not to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners." But taken in context with other sayings of Jesus, it becomes clear that we are all sinners. Those seen as most righteous in his day are shown to be among the greatest sinners. And I would argue that that is as true in 2011 as it was then. Often those who make the greatest show of propriety and righteousness are the ones with the darkest cesspool of sin to hide. And hearkening back to yesterday's texts, it does seem that God has a particular dislike for self-righteousness!

This feels more rambly and less on target than my first couple of postings this Lent. I hope there is something in here that has some value to someone. I guess personally, I will end by re-reading that beautiful piece of poetry that is the Isaiah reading and letting it lift me up and carry me forward. And I can hope that in Isaiah's words, I "will be renew [my] strength, and [I] will be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails."