We are entering once again into Lent, the 40-day journey to Easter, not including Sundays, that begins with Ash Wednesday. The word comes from the old English “lencten,” referring to the lengthening of days as spring approaches. Just as the earth is being renewed, so this is a time for us to reflect on the new birth we received in our baptism and prepare ourselves spiritually to walk with Jesus into his passion, death, and resurrection.
Yet this is anything but a quiet stroll.
For some the Lenten discipline involves giving up certain foods and luxuries to recall Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness. For others it involves taking on acts of love, service, and advocacy to embody Jesus’ own ministry. But in the larger picture we are called to repentance, which is not the admission of guilt but a complete reorientation of body, mind and soul away from whatever separates us from God, and toward the living Christ. Jesus is calling us to follow him, so his orientation becomes ours. It governs how we act and react, what our priorities are, how we treat our neighbors, where we invest time and energy, what we do with our available resources.
· We turn away from positions of privilege, and toward the poor.
· We turn away from systems of power that enrich those in control, and toward those on the margins who have are being oppressed by those very systems.
· We turn away from acts of brutality inflicted on people, and creatures, and the land for the sake of securing wealth and power, and toward those whose voices have been silenced.
The kingdom of God is not a place but a process. Lent invites us bodily into this process through which humankind will participate in bringing about the consummation of the entire created order, with the final defeat of Satan and the triumph of God’s love.
This Sunday we hear about how Jesus rejects the devil, although Satan’s defeat awaits us on Easter (actually, on Holy Saturday). But now process has begun by which that will take place.
For us, the reorientation of repentance allows us to participate in God’s great work in Jesus Christ. From this perspective we can clearly see the captive world with all its mansions and gates and the Lazaruses who are lying just outside them, mocked, rejected, and shunned. Only with this clear vision will we be positioned for true discipleship. Let’s walk into Lent, together.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Raabe
