Dear Faith Family,
On Sunday, we entered into the "movement of Lent" with Psalm 6 mapping for us what will be our course through the valley of death's shadows to the green pastures and still waters of Easter morning. Jesus, guarding and guiding us as we mourn and decry the shedding of the "old self's" weighty cloak in the expectant hope of life new, free, and forever. Which all sounds great...in poetic metaphor anyway!
Yet, as the first verses of the psalm describe, our journey through the Lenten season is no Sunday stroll! Even if we know we are just passing through "Sheol," entering the "vast sepulchral cavern," death's stronghold, a dark wasteland, and the hunting ground of a disastrous beast of prey (each of which is a meaning of Sheol in our scriptures) is vexing of body and soul, stunts faith's memories, and silences the echos of worship in our hearts.
If we are honest, we'd rather get to the free and forever life on the other side of Lent through any other pilgrimage instead of the one that leads us to the cross and grave of Jesus. And yet, as Jesus said (and showed), it is only through dying that we experience the real life we are after,
Truly truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
(John 12:24-25).
By following Jesus through the season of Lent, we choose to fall to the earth and die the "little deaths" from which new life springs forth.
You see, the road Jesus leads us down is not our end, but the end of all that keeps us from living truly. And while the shadows of death feel entombing, their grip always gives way to the upward movement of resurrection.
The good news for us is "that one has died for all; therefore all have died...that those who live might...live...for him who for their sake died and was raised. " (2 Cor. 5:14-15). Because Jesus went all the way, literally--life to death to grave/pit/Sheol to life again--we can (while still breathing) experience the exhalation,
O LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You restored me to life that I should not go down to the pit.
(Psalm 30:3)
During Lent, we are invited by Jesus to die so that we might live, to die to all that keeps us from a new, whole, and fruitful life--personally, collectively, societally. So, this week in our Lenten rhythms, choose to follow Jesus by asking the Spirit:
What needs to die? What within me (attitude, action, or affection) needs to die that I might truly live?
Ask and then listen without fear or judgment. Rest in the truth that new life comes through these necessary little deaths. Then share. Invite your spouse, DNA, spiritual friends, and/or Gospel Community into the journey alongside you. Jesus demonstrated that fateful night in the garden that we'll need the encouragement of such companionship on the way to our cross, entombment, and life anew.
May we come to know in our homes, workplaces, relationships, and for the good of our neighbors that "to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).
Love you, faith family! God bless.