Lenten blog | March 14, 2024

π-Day and Waiting for God

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 March 14th:  Psalm 51:1-12; Isaiah 30:15-18; and Hebrews 4:1-13.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Today is π-day because the first three digits of defining the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter is 3.14 and today is March 14th, often abbreviated as 3/14.  We need to wait another 91 years for those exceptional π-days when this calendar coincidence extends to the next two digits.  This will occur on March 14, 2115, which can be abbreviated as 3/14/15.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

So far π has been calculated to nearly 63 trillion digits and yet the sequence continues without any discovered repetition or pattern.  Π is an irrational number.  It is beyond a precise definition.  It is an extremely close approximation at 63 trillion digits, but it could go another 63 trillion and still not be exactly defined.  The straight line of the diameter and the curve of the circle cannot be reconciled.  Their ratio can only be approximated.  A circle can be cut into smaller and smaller straight-line segments, even 63 trillion of them, but even with such precision, the smallest straight line cannot capture the curve of a circle.  And thus by definition it is incalculable.

Some believe that mathematics exists within us and that the objects of mathematics are our creation.  Other mathematicians theorize that mathematics exists outside of us and are discovered.  Either way, an irrational number such as π that is based on something as pedestrian as a circle and its diameter help us to imagine the profound mysteries that can surround us unnoticed in the ordinary.

Religion can be imagined in similar fashion.  Something as ordinary as walking into a church can lead to unnoticed mysteries.  Our sanctuary will be open from noon until 3PM on Good Friday.  I love those hours in a quiet church on the day Jesus died.  There is something special about a sacred space.

A clergy friend mentioned recently the power of being prayed for.  She spoke of the fact that as a clergy person she prays regularly for others and at worship, but that it was amazing to be prayed for herself.  The ordinary and the extraordinary as one.

The Bible sits, I would wager, in each of our homes, and yet who reads it?  The author of Hebrews today exclaims, “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  The Bible shares the still-speaking Word of God.  The mystery of such a thing is not locked into the printed words, but is released through them.  God did not only speak in the past tense.  God continues to speak, but that ordinary book unopened on the shelf helps us to hear.

Faith like an irrational number such as π must be revealed.  It takes time and effort, patience and desire.  Lent asks us if we are willing to look that intently.  The prophet Isaiah writes for us today, “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you … blessed are all those who wait for him.”  I once went on a college retreat to a Trappist monastery in Spencer, MA.   Trappists are monks who take a vow of silence.  When they speak, it is intentional.  One Trappist monk spoke to our group over four decades ago.  What he said has remained with me ever since: “Learn to waste time with God.”  God waits for us and blessed are those who wait for God.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.