An Invitation to Lent
The word “Lent” is related to Latin cognates meaning long and slow (“lente,” “lento”). Like Advent, Lent is a speed bump in the year, inviting us into reflection, confession, and prayer, a time of remembering God’s costly love for us. We enter the season seeking God’s Light in the darkness of war, political tensions, environmental devastations, social turmoil around the globe, and seeking God’s Light, too, in the privacy of our own hearts.
In this Lenten, we are invited to contemplate God’s great love for us and our aching world. My Lenten sermon series “Numinous: Mystical Fire” will begin on the First Sunday of Lent on March 9th. And it’s a love story. We are drawn to the “Numinous” energy of God that is infused in creation and found everywhere. Throughout history artists have depicted circle of light surrounding or above the head of a saint or holy person to represent their numinous presence and “halo” effect on people.
The word Numinous” comes in many names: divine energy, energy of God, uncreated light, and original light. Carl Jung said, “Numinous is the only thing that will truly heal and transform us.” I hope we will walk together on this Lenten journey that will transform us. As Jesus demonstrated in his teachings and life that without the cross, there is no resurrection.
I want to share with you the words of wisdom from the leader of the Hopi Indians, White Eagle, who recently commented on the current situation we are going through as an American nation. His message is timely, and it’s a voice we all need to hear.
“This moment humanity is experiencing now can be seen as a door or a hole. The decision to fall into the hole or walk through the door is up to you. If you consume the information 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, then you will fall into that hole.
But if you take the opportunity to look at yourself, to think about life and death, to care for yourself and others, then you will walk through the door.
Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you are taking care of everyone at the same time.
Don’t underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Take the perspective of an eagle, seeing everything from above with a wider view.
There is a social issue in this crisis, but there is also a spiritual issue. The two go hand in hand. Without the social dimension, we fall into fanaticism. Without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and meaninglessness.
You are ready to master this crisis. Grab your toolbox and use all the tools available to you.
Learn resistance from the example of the Indian and African people:
“We were and still are being wiped out. But we have never stopped singing, dancing, lighting fires and being happy.”
Don’t feel guilty for feeling happy in these difficult times. Being sad or angry doesn’t help at all. Resistance is resistance through joy! You have every right to be strong and positive. And there is no other way to do this than to adopt a beautiful, joyful and radiant attitude. This has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). It’s a strategy of resistance.
When we walk through the door, we have a new worldview, because we have faced our fears and hardships.
That’s all you can do now:
– Calm in the storm
– Stay calm, pray daily
– Make it a habit to encounter the sacred every day.
– Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.”
~ Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle
Grace and Peace,
John
ASH WEDNESDY
Wednesday, March 5, 10 am – 4 pm, outside the Pastor’s Office
(Please drive up to the church parking lot to receive ashes following a brief ritual reading.)
Ash Wednesday kicks off the sacred journey of 40 days of Lent. Ash in the sign of cross that we receive on our forehead during Ash Wednesday service is to not so gently remind our overly inflated ego that we are finite: “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. From dust you have come, to dust you shall return.” Lent is a time of “Returning to the Lord” from our wayward living through “metanoia” (Greek word for “the re-directing,” “conversion,” or “transformation”) which is a changing of heart and mind that leads to change in our consciousness and behavior. Lent is a necessary journey that each of us has to embark if we want to experience Resurrection. Cross is prerequisite to Resurrection.
“Anyone who wants to be a follower of mine has to put aside self,
shoulder their cross, and follow me. Whoever holds onto their life will lose it.
But whoever lets go of their life for my sake and the Gospel will save it.”
~ Mark 8:34-35
