Word for Word 3/21/18

Lent + Holy Week = sackcloth-n-ashes, deprivation/sacrifice/abstinence/fasting, prayer, prayer-n-more prayer, additional Bible reading/study, service/alms-giving, dirgey music, foreboding/darkness… Sound like ‘fun’ to you?

The way some people view Lent you might think they’re headed for a severe depression but that’s not the goal at all! The goal is to follow the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” to a new and better ‘you’ in a deeper and better relationship with God. And of course the ‘light’ we’re to be following is “The Light of the World” i.e. Jesus the Christ.

Christianity is not about 24/7/365 “penitence” (remorse/regret/sorrow). On the contrary, it is about LIVING with joy and hope and promise - that’s what we find at the end of the tunnel in the Light! Yes, we need to reflect on how we fall short of imitating Jesus from time to time  - Lent is only 40 days (and it doesn’t count Sundays) - but we’re not supposed to get down on ourselves or compare ourselves to others so that we feel unworthy or hopeless. We reflect so we can see how to improve and do an even better job at being the hands-n-feet, eyes-n-ears, voice-n-love of Jesus in this world. It is to be a joyful exercise even if Lenten practices seem to be ‘dark’!

It’s no coincidence that the Resurrection came in the spring time - a time of new birth and new life. The world colors up in the spring with new grasses-n-blooming flowers, all the birds-n-critters are giving birth to their young and the days are longer with more warmth-n-sunshine/light.

However, the Resurrection can bring joy and hope and promise throughout all the seasons of nature and all the “seasons” of our lives. So even in the midst of gloom-n-doom and the coldest-n-darkest emotional days we experience on this earth we can count on the Light to always be shining at the end of those tunnels of deprivation, dirges and ashes.

Taking the time Lent offers to build a deeper and deeper, better and better relationship with our Lord and Savior can ensure that we will not succumb or be overtaken by the darknesses of this world but instead remain strong and steadfast in knowing what our eternal future holds: joy, hope, promise, peace and love! These are the things we can experience in the Light right NOW, and they are the things we will experience to an unfathomable degree in our eternal life in the very presence of the Light.

So live in the Resurrection. Live in an “Easter” state of existence in the LIGHT even if darkness seems to surround you. It is only temporary and joy-n-love are at the end of the tunnel, now and forever!

John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Rev Kim Gates
St. Paul’s and Forest Mills
United Methodist Churches