The earth turns and tilts; days lengthen; spring tiptoes in. Birds and daffodils seem a little confused right now, but soon enough the season will find its confidence, and nature will bring out its best and brightest fashions.
The holy story also turns from the angled (and angeled) winter light of Bethlehem to the long bright days of Galilee and Judea. Let your eyes adjust. There, do you see? The Teacher—see him?—the one who scatters words and gathers crowds, the one who heals the broken and irritates the healthy. The Teacher has something to say to you.
How does the new season find you? Broken? Healthy? A little of both. As spring awakens nature from its long nap, so Lent pokes and nudges us from drowsy routines and lazy assumptions. Are you happy? Bored? Do you have questions too long unanswered or answers too long unquestioned? It’s time to search the Word and the world and see what you find.
During Lent we give ourselves permission to question and pray, to listen and speak, to seek and be surprised. The one speaking grace calls his people to himself. What has he to do with you right now?
We’re on our way to Easter, 40 days and a breath away. What difference can a season make? Here’s your chance to find out.
You can learn more about Lent at Glenn right here.
On the Sundays in Lent, we’ll start in the wilderness and end in a garden outside a tomb. And along the way, we’ll listen in on Jesus’ conversations with an interesting bunch of people. There’s Nicodemus, man of status and learning, who comes to Jesus under cover of darkness. A Samaritan woman, avoiding the glare of neighbors, meets him in the glare of noonday. A man born blind experiences light and darkness in an all-new way. And Mary and Martha question their friend from the shadows of grief. Oh, and Lazarus steps from the darkest of dark into the light of a new day.
Conversations, questions, doubts, revelations, light and life.
This Sunday, as I said, we’ll start in the wilderness. There, Jesus has a little talk with Satan, who does his best to help Jesus see the light.
Have you been to church lately? Now’s a good time. Don’t wait for the fullness of spring. Already, new life stirs.
In Christ,
Mark