Dear Friends in Christ,

I’d been feeling guilty that as the end of Lent approaches and Holy Week peeks over the horizon, I haven’t even identified, let alone begun, a specific spiritual practice to focus on this Lent. In the past I might have said morning or evening prayer or compline every day; or read a pre-selected book by a renowned spiritual leader; or studied a specific book of the bible; or journaled or something. This year, as I sat on my porch every day with my morning cup of coffee, I struggled to make sense of all the pain and suffering in the world, all the division and conflict; praying and asking for God’s strength, looking for hope, seeking the Good News, wrestling with how I am called to act. The other day, I realized that was my Lenten spiritual practice. This year it feels enough to just get through each day without giving up hope; to keep looking for God in the midst of the horrors going on in the world; to greet each day with faith that the challenges of our lives wouldn’t in fact overwhelm us, because God is in charge, and God’s purpose will be done; to believe that what we do, no matter how small, matters and makes a difference.

Lent is winding down before it seemed to get started. This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, when we walk with Jesus through the struggles of his final days and the horrors of his arrest and crucifixion. I have been pondering what it means for the season of Lent to come to an end when the whole world feels like Lent right now. Because let’s face it, while the Church likes to confine confronting our mortality, acknowledging our mortal sins, seeking repentance, and turning back to God to a mere six weeks, in reality, this is our constant reality. Lent is long, and dark, and hard, and it is supposed to be, because it reminds us that life in the world can be long and dark, and hard, and does not stop being hard when Lent ends. During Lent we get to reflect on all the ways in which this world opposes God’s purpose and tries to thwart God’s plan, and to feel all the feels this engenders. Lent reminds us that we live in a fallen broken world that only God can redeem. None of which is confined to the six weeks of lent but is a cycle that repeats over and over again.

Lent is an opportunity to practice not giving in to despair and disillusionment when life like now feels untenable, but to turn back always, repeatedly, intentionally to God, and seek God’s grace in the midst of pain and struggle. Because Easter is just over the horizon. Lent always ends in the resurrection; the reminder that no matter how bad things seem they are never beyond God’s redeeming grace. Thank be to God!

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jane