Today is the last in the Lent series of praying for the World, Church, Nation, Social Order, Natural Order, and Family as suggested by prayers at the end of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and the Episcopal Church’s 2021 Lent curriculum: Life Transformed: The Way of Love in Lent, which is exploring the seven disciplines of the Way of Love.
It’s Palm Sunday, also called the “Sunday of the Passion” because we hear both the narration of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we hear the story of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion. It’s fun to wave our palms and welcome Jesus as “the one who comes in the name of the Lord”. But we are reminded that it was the same crowds that shouted “Crucify”. So quickly can our allegiances change.
One minute we are affirming our baptismal vows to “seek and serve
Christ in all persons” and “strive for justice and peace among all people, and
respect the dignity of every human being.” But in the ‘real’ world, we feel
free to criticize and to ignore and even assault those same humans made in the
image of God. Paul is right, I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil
I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. (Romans 7:19).
This year of pandemic and unrest has made us intensely aware
of our need for family and friends. Some of us have been made aware of the
divisions in our families over politics or mask-wearing or other issues. Too many
have lost family members or friends to the disease we were only beginning to know
about a year ago. We have been separated from our church families and our
biological families. We have had the opportunity, forced upon us, to recognize
how important these relationships are.
It’s true that we may disagree over politics or lifestyle or
just hair style. Perhaps we need to pause and ask if what we find strange or wrong
or silly is, in fact, our family member’s way of living out their God given
gifts and living into the image of God in them. Now, we have the hope of
vaccinations and an end to some of the isolation. Families are thinking about
how they might be able to hug grandparents and one another again. We can rebuild relationships.
Today the Lent curriculum jumps forward to Easter
announcing, “Easter! What an amazing moment it must have been to be one of the
women who went down to the tomb that first Easter morning. They came expecting
death and sorrow…Their expectations were blown away. This encounter with
Jesus changed them so much that they were compelled to GO back to their fellow
followers and proclaim the good news. Their testimony would eventually
spread to every corner of the earth so that wherever we go, the love of God
will meet us there…Our job now is to follow the examples of those women and go
into the world proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. Let this be the season
that you go and live the full gift of the resurrection.”
This pandemic has helped us look at what ‘church’ really is. Maybe we've redefined what the "Family of God" is. It's not just those who show up in pews weekly. We’ve seen there are many ways to ‘Go’ into the world to proclaim the Good News.
There has been the opportunity to evaluate and reevaluate what might really be
important in our corporate lives and in our outreach and in our personal lives.
Some churches are already back in their buildings, others are making plans for
hybrid (online and in-person) services, and some are cautiously optimistic that
worship can resume on Easter.
We are coming to the end of Lent, a time when we are
encouraged to look at our life, faith, and practice. What will we carry forward
into Easter, and into a post-COVID world? We are a diverse assortment of gifts
and ideas and hopes and dreams. But like this image, we are in our biological
and church, and even community ‘families’, we are all called to honor and love
one another.
The Lent curriculum asks, “How will you GO and tell the story of the empty tomb out loud?” Think about that this week.
How will you honor the God-image in each person you
encounter, whether they are related to you by blood or just by being human?
What sorts of positive things and activities will you take
as we move into a post-COVID world? What part of the last year has been
surprising or life-changing?
If you wrote a letter to yourself at the beginning of Lent get it out and read it in a prayerful way. Are there changes or transformations
in your life?
