Lenten blog | april 1, 2025

Capital T Truth and small t truth

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for April 1st:  Leviticus 25:1-19; Psalm 53; and Revelation 19:9-10.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

When New Years Day was moved closer to the winter solstice, where the days began to grow longer, there were some who held on stubbornly to the old New Years Day, the one closer to the spring equinox.  In other words, when New Years Day became January 1st rather than the old April 1st, some refused to accept the change.  Those recalcitrant April Firsters were called pejoratively “April Fools.”  The mocking attitude morphed into the pranks and deceptions that one must be wary of still to this day.

Change is not always easy, but trying to stop change is downright impossible.  For example, there were groups in England who opposed the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century.  There may or more likely may not have been a person named Ned Ludd who led this effort to stave off change.  His followers, the Luddites, engaged in acts of sabotage, including smashing machinery, in an attempt to resist the mechanization of the textile industry.  Obviously, their efforts failed ultimately.  Change is not easy.  It is not always for the good.  However, change is inevitable. 

We are living through a time of fundamental change right now.  The upheaval is impossible to not notice in our domestic and international politics.  It’s there in the economy too, and it will soon be impossible to not notice.  Bill Gates of Microsoft fame has made the educated and informed prediction that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will take over many of the jobs that humans now perform, and that this technological/sociological revolution is only a decade away.  This is both incredibly scary and hope-filled.  The disruption that this will cause is huge, but at the same time the advances and insights it offers are immeasurable.  I pray that this AI revolution takes both into consideration and that it will be regulated accordingly.  I do not think, however, that this change can be stopped.

As I often mention in our online Bible study group, we are looking for Truth with a capital T and sometimes this means moving past truth with a small t.  We look for lasting Truths that outlive the temporary truths of the author’s time.  This past Sunday, for example, we read and I preached on the parable of the Prodigal Son.  The father’s love for his two sons is astounding, and when it is applied by Jesus to God it is transformative.  That God is love is a Truth.  The fact that the father so loves his sons but still owns slaves is an historical fact of the time, but an anomaly to the modern ear that listens for a message of unconditional love.  To maintain the Truth of the parable, we need to move past the truths of that historical period.

When change erupts, it is essential that we recognize the Truths that inspire and guide us so that they may remain regardless of how everything else changes.  I’d like to now finally get to one of today’s texts.  Leviticus speaks of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years.  The former occurs every seventh year:  “The seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land.”  Farmers know the science of rotating crops and letting the land rest.  This wisdom was part of Israel’s religious law.  On the Sabbatical Year, the land was allowed to rest and be restored.  The small t truth of ceasing all cultivation every seven years is not what is essential.  Rather the capital T Truth that our faith continues to demand is that we care for nature so that nature may care for us.  Nature is a gift from God to be nurtured not exploited. 

The Jubilee Year is even more radical.  Every 50th year, says Leviticus:  “You shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, or reap the aftergrowth, or harvest the unpruned vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat only what the field itself produces.” 

Do you hear what the Law requires?  On the 50th year, if someone was forced to sell their property due to financial hardship, it was to be returned to them on the Jubilee Year.  Everyone was to return to their property.  This prevents the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few.  Wealth is held for a time and then returned.  It is not amassed and used to establish generational inequality.  This is the revealed Truth of God’s concern for the welfare of all people:  “You shall not cheat one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.”  I cannot imagine how this would work in any practical sense.  I remember visiting my grandparents’ house in Westfield.  They had eight children.  I have no idea how that number has expanded exponentially from that point forward.  On the Jubilee Year do all of us return to that small house and ask the current owners to leave?  The small truth of the Jubilee Year is impossible to keep in any practical sense, but the capital T Truth that we must share the wealth and care for one another is God’s lasting revelation.  This is beyond political monikers.  This is what Holy Scripture reveals.

On this April Fools Day, let us realize that change is inevitable, that it is actually foolish to imagine otherwise.  However, these are especially the times when we need to know and hopefully cherish the enduring Truths that are our essential principles so that they may remain intact regardless of the changing truths of any given time.

And during Lent, as we gaze upon a crucified Saviour, let us contemplate what Jesus is revealing as abiding Truths.

If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.

If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.