This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed, cancel debts.
--Isaiah 58:6 (The Message Bible)
In the midst of the Lenten season, nature itself seems to reflect the themes of Lent. Some days are gray and overcast as a chill hangs in the air and mud seems to cover everything as far as the eyes can see. We wonder if the new life of spring will ever come.
Other days are bright and sunny with crocuses peeking from snowy flowerbeds and melting ice dripping from newly budding branches. These days are brimming with the hope of what is to come.
The earth seems to rest while at the same time preparing to burst forth with new life. In these rhythms and cycles, we are reminded that “for everything there is a season” – birth, life, decline, and death.
Lent provides a time to pause and reflect on this. As we consider our mortality and the cycles of our lives, consider how we spend our days:
¨ Do our lives allow glimpses of hope to peek through like crocuses blanketed in snow?
¨ Do they proclaim the promise of what will come when the reign of Christ bursts into full bloom?
¨ Are we open to the light that “will break out like dawn” healing and cleansing the gray and muddiness of our daily existence as new life in Christ springs forth in us and in the world?
The prophet Isaiah writes to a people who know about the messiness and muddiness of life and at the same time who trust deeply in the hope of the Lord. He assures them – and us – that our cries are not unheard but God is surely here. He admonishes them – and us – to live our days letting hope peek through as we demonstrate the touch of God in our words and our deeds.
Isaiah seems to define righteousness, and religious devotion, as the very act of living so hope may peek through for others. He challenges us in this Lenten season to consider that our devotion is not merely “giving up” for forty days. It is about experiencing transformed hearts and changed lives that are then seen in how we live with others.
May these forty days deepen our understanding of what we are called to do to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation and end oppression.
Lenten Blessings,
Pastor Candice
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