We are now into our second week of Lent, the churchy word we use for the 30 days before Easter. We have a lot of “churchy” words in our community, as does every community and most often, not always, they are used to help us think deeper about our faith. Lent is one of those words. It comes from the word Lencten, Anglo-Saxon for spring and it has been traditionally a time of fasting and preparation for Baptism.
This year, as we journey towards the cross, we are falling into another traditional pattern of Lent, to remember key words and stories about Christ. This Sunday, we thought about the cross and how Jesus both predicted his death and commissioned us to take up our own crosses.
Pastor Ed conveniently titled this Sunday, “The Inconvenient Truth”. We reflected on Mark 8:31-38, and Ed talked about how it is for us to follow this commission and carry the cross Jesus has for us. He continued by stating that we come most alive when life is hard, when we are carrying this cross and live out this dangerously powerful ideal from Jesus.
I was struck by the stark contrast this perspective has against the nature of our 21st century American culture. When we look at the “ideal” life of our culture, we often are taught that we should be married with 2.5 kids, with a white picket fence around our perfect little house, on the corner of some nice street, with perfectly white teeth and driving a brand new SUV and having plenty of money to go around from our great jobs. We have plenty of friends, family and our marriage are always great. I could easily continue this scenario, but I don’t want to bore you and I think most of us could continue it pretty easily.
This is often the ideal, but never the reality. There are these subtle and not so subtle expectations around us all the time, to fulfill this mindset and live this perfect little scenario. However, life is so much deeper and vibrant than any of these expectations. We are human and we have burdens and struggles. We are broken people always needing a Savior. And to follow this commission from Jesus, to carry our cross, calls us often to sacrifice…to break the mold we are so often taught.
Carrying our own crosses often calls us to cross over these expectations and step out in a dangerous and volatile direction. Often it means for us to get a few splinters and have a little dirt on us. I think of the life of Jesus, the perfector of our faith. He was a homeless wanderer, a friend of the “not so popular”, single, often despised and rejected by the church hierarchy, a rebel against many of the norms, born to unmarried parents who ended his life killed by the death penalty.
I guess, as I think about who Jesus was, I wonder what splinters I have gotten recently for his sake? And I imagine the question we should be thinking is, which expectation am I really trying to fulfill?
Grace and Peace,
Micah
This year, as we journey towards the cross, we are falling into another traditional pattern of Lent, to remember key words and stories about Christ. This Sunday, we thought about the cross and how Jesus both predicted his death and commissioned us to take up our own crosses.
Pastor Ed conveniently titled this Sunday, “The Inconvenient Truth”. We reflected on Mark 8:31-38, and Ed talked about how it is for us to follow this commission and carry the cross Jesus has for us. He continued by stating that we come most alive when life is hard, when we are carrying this cross and live out this dangerously powerful ideal from Jesus.
I was struck by the stark contrast this perspective has against the nature of our 21st century American culture. When we look at the “ideal” life of our culture, we often are taught that we should be married with 2.5 kids, with a white picket fence around our perfect little house, on the corner of some nice street, with perfectly white teeth and driving a brand new SUV and having plenty of money to go around from our great jobs. We have plenty of friends, family and our marriage are always great. I could easily continue this scenario, but I don’t want to bore you and I think most of us could continue it pretty easily.
This is often the ideal, but never the reality. There are these subtle and not so subtle expectations around us all the time, to fulfill this mindset and live this perfect little scenario. However, life is so much deeper and vibrant than any of these expectations. We are human and we have burdens and struggles. We are broken people always needing a Savior. And to follow this commission from Jesus, to carry our cross, calls us often to sacrifice…to break the mold we are so often taught.
Carrying our own crosses often calls us to cross over these expectations and step out in a dangerous and volatile direction. Often it means for us to get a few splinters and have a little dirt on us. I think of the life of Jesus, the perfector of our faith. He was a homeless wanderer, a friend of the “not so popular”, single, often despised and rejected by the church hierarchy, a rebel against many of the norms, born to unmarried parents who ended his life killed by the death penalty.
I guess, as I think about who Jesus was, I wonder what splinters I have gotten recently for his sake? And I imagine the question we should be thinking is, which expectation am I really trying to fulfill?
Grace and Peace,
Micah
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