Friday, March 25, 2022
The Rev. Rob Stevens
Halfway through Lent
We are almost halfway through our season of Lent. What did you give up for Lent? What did you take on for Lent? What is Lent anyway? Lent is the season before Easter. Lent comes from the old English word lenten, meaning "spring" -- not only a reference to the season before Easter, but also an invitation to a springtime for the soul. Forty days to cleanse the system and open the eyes to what remains when all comfort is gone. Forty days to remember what it is like to live by the grace of God alone and not by what we can supply for ourselves. So whether you gave something up, took something on or are new to the concept a good question for us all might be…“What is the point?”
Relationship is the point. God longs for us. Lent is a time to renew, to restore and discover our relationship with God. Lent is a season to explore what might be standing in our way. Lent is an opportunity for intentional work on our relationship with God.
I, with our tradition, invite you this Lent to examine your life. Where are you out of balance? Are you always running here and there and rarely finding a moment to breathe, let alone pray? Perhaps Lent could be a time when you make a stand against frenetic activity and carve out a bit of time for yourself and the still small voice of God. Or maybe you have enough time to yourself, and quiet time is not a luxury, but a much too present part of life. Perhaps Lent could be a time when you make a stand against loneliness and seek out opportunity for service and study in groups like the Common Table or our Lenten Sunday evenings.
Wherever you are on your journey of faith, Lent is offered as a gift to you. Often, Lent is portrayed as solely an obligation or as a “bummer.” Resist the voices that reduce Lent to some sort of purgatory that we must endure. The myth the world supports that Lent helps to unmask is that relationships are easy. It is all about relationships AND relationships take an extraordinary amount of work and attention to be whole and healthy. Lent is the reminder that we all need to do that work.
Building whole, healthy relationships, whether with God, our families, or our next-door neighbor, requires that we are present and reveal who we are not only to the other person, but also to ourselves. This can be the toughest part. The mask or image that we project for others is often so tightly engaged we forget who we really are. We get caught up in what people or systems expect and those expectations define us rather than our true identity as a child of God.
My prayer for this community and indeed for the whole world is that as we continue our adventure into Lent we will embrace the opportunity to examine our lives and remove our masks in front of God, each other and ourselves and live fully into the gift that is our life.