The season of Lent can be summed up in two words: remembering and anticipating. Lent offers to its observers a chance to embark upon a journey of both remembering and anticipating. At the same, there is within these two acts a dynamic intersection of the human and the Holy. It is a time to walk with Jesus and identify with him and a time to learn from him and get a glimpse of God and God's Kingdom.
By nature, Lent calls us to remembrance. We are called to remember Jesus in the desert tempted by Satan, we are called to remember Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, and we are called to remember the events of Jesus' final week. All of these images, stories, and lessons have the capability to flood our senses. At the same time, though, we are called to remember who and where we are, in light of our human condition, our relationship to God, and our place in God's Kingdom. To flesh that out a bit more--Lent calls us to remember that we are but human, and therefore, sinners, Lent calls us to identify with the tempted Jesus, and Lent calls us to remember that we have been invited to participate in the Kingdom of God in this world, as well as the eternal world.
At the same time, Lent is also a time of high anticipation. For those that know the story, the journey of Lent begins with the ashes and continues through trial, torture, and execution, but ends with an empty tomb. The anticipation of Lent is also due to the fact that, for many, Lent provides a more intensive time of focusing upon God and drawing closer to God; in other words, it is a time for satisfying the true hunger that exists in each of us. Finally, Lent is a time of anticipating how we are going to God's revealation this time around. The stories may be familiar, but they speak to us in different ways at different times. There is an excitement in knowing that God is going to speak something to us, if we pay attention and listen.
Jesus often used parables to speak a word about God's kingdom to those who would listen to him. This Lenten season, we are going to be focusing on those parables and upon what Jesus has to say to us through them. Those parables are still relevant and Jesus seeks to teach us today as he taught his disciples so long ago. My hope and prayer is that, through Jesus' parables, we might experience Lent in a different way this year; that we might experience God in a new perspective. May the grace of God in Jesus Christ lead us through this time and may we see with fresh vision what it is that Jesus speaks to us this day!
Open my spirit, O God, that I might see and hear the revealing of yourself to me today and through these days of Lent. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment