As a church family, we are officially in the season of Lent! I have always been a fan of Lent. It feels like a very honest season. Advent is like this as well. Advent reminds us that a lot of life is… waiting. The season builds up our capacity to wait and to put our yearning towards God’s kingdom of love and justice. Lent reminds us that a lot of life is… death. Of course, all of us experience literal deaths of loved ones, but also there are little deaths around us all the time. Deaths of dreams, of expectations, of how we thought life would be. In our tradition, seasons of celebration (like Christmas or Easter) are always preceded by times of preparation (like Advent and Lent). It makes those times of celebration that much more meaningful when we have had devoted time to prepare ourselves first.
The great paradox of Lent is that being reminded of our own mortality is what it means… to live. Pretending like everything is fine and avoiding all difficult emotions is not living at all. Lent invites us to go deep within ourselves and find that God has been there all along.
We do not know how many days we have left, but for today there is breath in our lungs and it is a gift. Allow this season to open you in new ways. Frederick Buechner says that during Lent, “Christians are supposed to ask one way or another what it means to be themselves.” Ask the questions, embrace the ambiguity — find God in all of it.
I will share this poem by Jan Richardson to be a companion for you as we journey together through Lent.
Rend Your Heart
A Blessing for Ash Wednesday
To receive this blessing,
all you have to do
is let your heart break.
Let it crack open.
Let it fall apart
so that you can see
its secret chambers,
the hidden spaces
where you have hesitated
to go.
Your entire life
is here, inscribed whole
upon your heart ’s walls:
every path taken
or left behind,
every face you turned toward
or turned away,
every word spoken in love
or in rage,
every line of your life
you would prefer to leave
in shadow,
every story that shimmers
with treasures known
and those you have yet
to find.
It could take you days
to wander these rooms.
Forty, at least.
And so let this be
a season for wandering,
for trusting the breaking,
for tracing the rupture
that will return you
to the One who waits,
who watches,
who works within
the rending
to make your heart
whole.
—Jan Richardson
I love the image of Lent being a time to wander around in the rooms of your heart to find what might be there. I hope this image is helpful for you as we enter this season!
Blessings to you,
Rev. Janelle
