Forgiveness and New Life

As I approach the end of Lent, I look back on all that has transpired these few weeks.  Where have I seen signs of new life?  A consistent theme for me has been forgiveness.  As most of us know, forgiveness wears many faces.  I have been confronted with two situations that have invited me into the dance of forgiveness in some form or fashion.

One relatively minor incident came from an email message that I had sent to someone who works on some of the antique things in our house.  I immediately got a message back: “please have some respect and email at a more business like time.  I would never contact you before 10 AM!”  I responded that it would never happen again thinking that she would never again hear from me period!  Well, something that she had worked on and had guaranteed began to have problems.  I really didn't want to give her my business but I didn't want to pay someone else just because of my pride.  I contacted her.  I was a little uneasy when she showed up.  As she approached the door she was all smiles.  She could hardly get one foot in the door before she began apologizing.  She explained what had been going on with her along with a whole list of her faults.  She looked at the furniture and kept apologizing.  At one point she just grabbed me to hug me.  I said, “it is over – in the past!”  I found myself wanting to find more work for her to do,  she was so repentant.

The second attack came from a closer connection.  I was attacked brutally in an email by what he assumed to be true.  I was numb for a while.  After a few weeks I decided that it was up to me to do something if I ever wanted to move out of this bondage.  I set up a time for us to meet in a public place where I could explain my side of the story.  That day came and I said that I was sorry for the hurt that he had experienced.   I was very open and honest to the point of tears.  He continued to berate me complete with the veins of his neck almost bursting through.  He left.  I followed after a few moments, moving home very slowly.  I was quite sad, not having the happy ending that I had hoped for, but was able to move on in my life, putting this behind me.

These are two very different stories of forgiveness and they both brought new life.  In the first, I will continue to get my furniture worked on and I believe that a genuine friendship was birthed.  In the second, I did what I needed to do and am now moving on.  Both situations took me out of bondage and brought me to new life.  Forgiveness is a very real part of our moving into the resurrection.  The Dean has challenged us all to look for signs of new life during this season, “Our world needs people who can come alive!”  Where have you been seeing signs?

Dormancy

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;  a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up (Ecclesiastes 3:1-3).

Saturday, March 2, was a cold day. As the temperature fell fast and the snow fell faster, 12 youth and 4 adults bravely headed outside to work in one of Seedleaf’s community gardens. Participating in 30 Hour Famine, our students were fasting and praying for an end to world hunger while participating in local community service. On this day, one-third of our group had been assigned to work outside.

The first group worked diligently and deliberately to remove cover-crop and weeds and to rake the raised beds. The second group brought in a cardboard barrier, followed by a layer of dirt. A third group planted onions, turnips, and parsnips. We were clearing out and making way. In a few months, new vegetables of all kinds will spring forth from ground that was, on this day, frozen dead and cold. 

Yesterday, as I looked out, I was convinced we were done with cold and dead ground. My jonquils were bursting forth and my primrose was filling in. The sun was shining. Yesterday was a good day. I like spring - the new life part, the resurrection part. The days when dead looking trees experience new buds, butterflies come out of cocoons, and flowers form overnight. Those days my heart warms and my soul learns to fly like a newly born fluttering butterfly.

Today, I awoke cold to a dusting of snow covering my spring flowers. The sunshine peaked through for a moment, and then the sky returned to grey. I like the new life part, but I don’t do as well with the death part - those days when the ground is frozen, those days snooze is a better option because the shower will be too cold, those days when I am so spiritually frozen I am not sure whether I will thaw out again. I do not like those days, but nonetheless, they are as important as the new life days.

In God’s infinite wisdom, nature teaches us everything about death, dormancy, and new life. In Christ’s ultimate example, we see the radical implications of the transition from death to resurrection in the tomb. In the astuteness of our church Father’s and Mother’s we are given Lent as a time to reflect on those dark place of our lives so that we might be reborn. Yes, glimpses of new life are all around us. The resurrection is certainly on its way. But dark places are important too. The dead winter grounds of our soul prepare us. They rest us. They make way for new life. I may not like it, but God knows I need it.

A Powerful Combination

By Rev. Brent Owens

When I walk past the baptismal font it is my habit to dip my fingers into the holy water because it connects me to my baptism. With the cool, clear, holy water I trace the cross on my forehead and I cross myself. This reminds me to carry the cross and my baptismal vows out into the world.

I served at the 7 a.m. service on Ash Wednesday several weeks ago. As a result, at our noon service there were already ashes on my forehead. As I walked past the baptismal font, I instinctively traced a cross on my forehead with the holy water, mixing the water and the ashes. This got me to thinking. When we mix ashes and water together in the right amounts, it makes lye, which is an alkaline chemical that can cause burns.

Water and ashes, two powerful symbols of the Church, can burn when brought together! At first glance we might think that the reaction between ash and water is dangerous since it can burn. It may very well be dangerous, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Burning can be symbolic of the flame of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The flame of the Holy Spirit can give us passion for new and wonderful things for God’s kingdom. Burning can also be symbolic of purification. When we eliminate impurities, all that remains is what is desired. So, when gold is placed in the refiners fire, the impurities are burned away, leaving only what is good and valuable. And so it is with ashes and water when they are mixed with us in the holiness of God’s church.

But then I started thinking again about the result of mixing ashes and water together. Lye is a vital ingredient in making soap. All soap, from the crudest back yard home made soap, to the finest French triple milled perfumed soap, uses lye. And so when we mix the ashes of Lent and water of baptism another kind of purification takes place. It is a cleansing of our true being, our soul.

But we must also recall that the application of holy ashes and holy water is not all that is required in our Lenten journey to return to God. Ashes and water are important ingredients, but it is up to us to take the first step in our Lenten journey, and the next step, and the next. Our destination is God, but it is the journey with ashes and water on our foreheads that will transform us.

We are now well into Lent. Where are you in your journey?

Brent+