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Click here to follow the
"The Lives We Actually Have—Daily Online Guide."
Sometimes we wait. Spiritually, I mean. We just wait. And wait.
Maybe something will happen? In the meantime, our days are complicated by feelings
that don’t seem altogether very spiritual. Deep annoyance. Rehearsals of
old fights. Anger at friends who are, in our defense, pretty frustrating
sometimes. Our bodies ache. We are consumed by somebody else’s problems,
and we are fairly certain their lives are rushing toward despair. So we wait.
At least I do. I assume that in some future day I will feel the truth of
my spiritual belief that God is with us. That God never leaves. That God’s
presence is best (and I can’t prove that this is theologically true) on bad days.
When life is headed downhill, I tend to wait.
When Lent rolls around every year, we are offered a chance to stop waiting.
We are in the part of the story when Jesus is an arrow pointed straight at his own end.
He will die. But first he will suffer and be betrayed; religious and political
structures will conspire and conform to great evil; nothing will be peace on earth or
goodwill to all humankind. No wise men and starry nights. It’s misery.
And it should make us pause. That is where we meet Jesus. We meet him on
his way down. Lent is our annual rehearsal of the cosmicmoment when Jesus’
suffering and death and resurrection will change how we experience death.
Death will not be the defining truth about us. Someday we will be freed
from the gorgeous and horrible limitations of our human lives, and we will live
forever with God ... which is VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO IMAGINE. But it’s the truth.
But first Jesus suffers and dies. We walk with him. And he walks with us.
Jesus will walk with us through whatever kind of Lenten day you are having. The lovely one.
The garbage one. The one that barely seems like it counted at all. As we toggle
through every kind of emotion—boredom, devastation, happiness, irritation—we want
to say—
BLESS THIS LENT!
This study started on Wednesday, March 08, 2023. Fellowship time begins at 6:30 P.M. with study from
7:00–8:00 P.M. Click here
to join the meeting via Zoom.
Contact Rev. Emily with your questions ...
emily@salemunitedmethodist.org
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