Rectors Reflections March 2006

Only God is permanent.

“Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return” are the words from our Ash Wednesday liturgy, which we hear each year while the sign of the cross is marked on our foreheads with ashes as a reminder that no earthly thing is permanent. Lent is the time in the Church Year, the forty days, when we especially consider our mortality. Lent is also when we consider the ultimate sacrifice of the Incarnation: God fully entering human experience even to experiencing death on a cross. Yet Lent is not simply a time of reflection on the frail, ephemeral nature of earthly life, but rather a time to contemplate the extraordinary gift and presence of God in the midst of all life – Jesus of Nazareth, facing all that we must face, in order that death may be overcome forever in Him.

Lent is also a time when we seek to die to ourselves, to our selfishness, to our sinfulness, to our self-will run riot, in order to live to God, because it is only in living to God, that we find life and life’s meaning in the midst of suffering and death. This is why that Christians have traditionally sought to make personal sacrifices during Lent – spiritual disciplines that can bring us into greater awareness of our total need for God. These little acts on our part are not about earning God’s grace or favor, but rather about our need to rely more completely on the source on life.

Like Jesus, we too, as his disciples, can set our faces to Jerusalem, the city where he had to face the deepest forces of sin and separation, betrayal and suffering, and ultimately, his untimely and totally undeserved death. But we don’t face these facts of human experience alone, nor do we face them without hope, because we are the people of the Resurrection. We know that “Christ also suffered for sins once for all, for the righteous and for the unrighteous, in order to bring [us] to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18 With God we can face all that is death, because God is life. Only God is permanent. “And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” 1 John 5:11

Discipline and sacrifice do not come naturally or easily to me, but I always welcome the season of Lent. It is a time of focus. I try to use the time as an opportunity to ponder more single-mindedly God ‘s purposes for my life. As I gaze on the image of God’s love for all humankind – Jesus on the Cross, I find myself caught in the gaze of God’s love for me personally, and I realize that my life’s meaning is only in being found, loved, and saved by God.

That is the Good News, and God needs each one of us to reveal this news to the world. It is through our concrete actions of love and sacrifice that others are touched by the ultimate love of God. God has no other hands than our hands, no other human hearts than our hearts. Thus Paul speaks of completing the sufferings of Christ. That’s why Christians seek to live sacrificial lives, giving to others and living for others. Lent is a time to be recalled once again to that purpose for our lives. My prayer for all of us is that we may keep a Holy Lent, and grow deeper in the knowledge and love of the Lord this year, even as we grow more committed in our love for each other and for a broken world.

In Christ’ love,

Meredith+