Perspectives with Rev. Sue McCullough

 

Ahhh  Spring Time has Arrived

My favourite season of the year is spring. With it comes the promise of new life. With it comes the freshness of the tender new leaves on the trees, the greening of the grass, and the return of the migratory birds.

Before we experience that part of spring, it seems that we must endure yet another snow storm!

As I sit by the window of my study the snow is falling relentlessly. It feels like it is bringing heaviness on a world waiting to burst forth with new life. 

Once this snowfall has subsided and the thermometer finds its way into the higher temperatures, we have to find our way through the muck and mire of melting snow and defrosting ground. It seems that before we get to the beautiful part of spring we must encounter the messy part.

I suppose it kind of feels like the heaviness of our Lenten journey – that dark, heavy place we journey through as we approach the new life that Easter brings to us. 

We all know that after the forty days of Lent we will rejoice in the resurrection. However, we must first find our way through those forty days. 

In our Anglican tradition, we are called to observe a “holy Lent by self-examination, penitence, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, and by reading and meditating on the word of God.” (Book of Alternative Services, p. 282) 

Most of this is done with a relative amount of ease if we commit to it. The hardest part for me (and for most), where I find the muck and mire, is in self-examination. To truly look deep within ourselves is one of the most difficult things we can do and most of us avoid it. 

But to find new life, we must look within to find what we need to let go of, what part of the old life is in the way. Then we will, with the help of God, be able to receive the new life in the resurrected Christ.

The snow will pass as will the forty days. In the meantime, as you journey through Lent make a commitment to create room in your heart, soul and life for the gift that God has for us. At the end of both the snow and the forty days we will find new life as only God can give us.

 

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