Lent is a season of the church year when we are urged to think about growing in relationship with God and with one another. Here on this blog, we’ve looked at how we Resolve to do just that through Lenten discipline(s). We can sometimes fail and must Repent and Remind ourselves of the reasons for our Lenten vows and of God’s love.
This time of enforced, or at least encouraged, ‘social distancing’ we may find that we need to REVISIT ways we think about a lot of things.
Revisit what it means to Fast, as we are asked to refrain from gathering.
Revisit what worship looks like, as we hold online ‘virtual’ services.
Revisit where/Who our real anchor is, as we struggle with fear of the unknown(s).
Revisit ways we respond to crisis, as we reaching out or by only looking out for ‘me, me, me’.
Revisit ways to reconcile, as we understand how interconnected we are to one another.
To RECONCILE is vital to our life and faith. The roots of the word date back to the Latin reconciliare which implies forcefully bringing together. Current usage has lost the forceful aspect of the action. We now RECONCILE by restoring harmony or relationships and helping others come to an agreement. Then we face a crisis. Crisis makes us recognize how vulnerable we are, how we depend on each other, and how important it is to reconcile and find common ground.
All too often our actions can result in rifts in relationships with one another. Whether we mean to do so, or not, we can hurt someone’s feelings, overstep their boundaries, or cause discord. We need to take the initiative to RECONCILE and restore the relationship. To RECONCILE with someone may mean agreeing to disagree on some points, or issues. We need each other, whether we like to admit it or not.
Jesus tells us when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:23-24). Reconciliation is important enough to pause in our worship so we can return to a right relationship with one another.
We are to repair the damaged relationships between us as we grow in relationship with our loving God. This unusual time of using ‘social distancing’ meanat to protect the most vulnerable among us is a good lesson in putting others first. When we lovingly set aside our own agenda in order to not be in close contact, we are being God’s hands, even without touching hands. As we reach out with phone calls, cards, emails, and texts to friends, acquaintances, to our shut-in and lonely neighbors, to the first responders and hospital staff, we are being the Love of God.
Even as many of us are, by necessity, fasting from the Eucharist, the Lent 4 collect from the Book of Common Prayer reminds us that Jesus is the true bread and that as the Body of Christ, in union with one another, we are part of new life in the world.
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
LENT BOX
For our Lent box (a small box, plastic bag or storage container), get a packet of seeds and plant them. Seeds are a reminder that new growth begins hidden in the darkness of the ground. New growth of reconciliation begins in our hearts. As you plant and then wait for the seeds, you can remember that waiting in itself is holy. Time is necessary for growth, and sometimes time is necessary for reconciliation.
Living Lent
Plant the seeds and pray for new life for some relationship that needs healing.
Read this meditation by Karley Hatter of the De Pree Institute about Waiting as Power.
Revisit some of your regular practices in the light of ‘social distancing’. What can you learn?
Offer a prayer (the one in this meditation, or another) presenting yourself as a working to Reconcile what needs to be brought together in your life, family, work, world.
