To be reminded…
Aunt Becky and Uncle Bill flew in this week to attend Holy Spirit School’s Grandparents and Special Friends Day this week. The excitement of visitors and the joy our kids have of showing them around is something we have been missing until this moment of waning pandemic concerns. Many of these amazing and once-taken-for granted moments seem to be surfacing. Our vestry met fully in person for the first time this week (I will not miss the awkwardness of zoom meetings). We have our Blessings in a Backpack annual fundraiser tonight. Many of our ministries are coming back like first Sunday breakfasts and Prayer Shawl gatherings. I find I am breathing a bit easier and rediscovering a once well-honed ministerial rhythm.
I don’t believe Lent could come at a better time for us. Repentance is an overt theme of this upcoming season which I am hopeful will have a different tone for us this year. Repentance has always had an implied apologetic posture in which we seek to acknowledge our imperfection in the face of a desired wholeness only found in God. The state and desire are real, but as you may have heard in past Lenten discussions, repentance is actually about reorienting ourselves toward God. As has been said, no matter how far we go, it only takes one step back. To clarify, this is not about getting that one step just right or the intrinsic value of that one step being tied to its difficulty or sacrifice. I often think of that one step as being reminded of who we are in God’s eyes. We are loved and treasured. We are so valuable that God gave Himself for us in Jesus.
This is why we start the Lent season with a reminder of what we are and what we need on Ash Wednesday. It is also why we finish Lent with Holy Week and Easter in which all that we need is fulfilled in what Jesus has done for us. As we find ourselves in moments that feel like resurrection as described in my first paragraph above, I pray that we will allow the coming Lenten season to be a time in which we are reminded of who we are in God’s eyes. No amount of the sort of separation we have experienced from the pandemic can prevent the ultimate renewal and fulfillment promised by God’s grace.
We love you and God loves you,
Josh Condon+