Create in me, a clean heart, O God. Let me be like you in all my ways.
The song based on Psalm 51 rings in my head especially as the season of Lent approaches. These two short sentences sum it all up. Lent is a season that perhaps more directly than any other season, directs us toward our spiritual goal: to be holy, to be like God. Sometimes it seems so far away, it’s almost as if I give up at times. But Lent will never let me forget. Turning my (our) eyes toward Jerusalem is an ever-present reminder, call, and motivator. This forty-day period leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection is such an intentional, grounding time. Do we get all the way there in forty days? NOT ME! Maybe some…but the point is to get closer.
One of the things I’ve learned as I’ve tried to change some behaviors in my own life is that the reason that I didn’t change them sooner or easier is that I DON’T WANT TO LET GO…of something that I’m used to, I’m in the habit of, that seems to satisfy something even for the moment. However, these patterns rarely move me closer to what I TRULY want, whether it is health, peace, better relationships, or my spiritual journey.
Lent is an opportunity to let go… To choose to give up some of our patterns, even some of our “likes”, some of the things we turn to and hold onto, but not just for the sake of sacrifice. But for a MUCH GREATER GOOD! To become more like God, to come closer to God. For only in God is there true rest and peace, true joy.
You may have heard that Methodism’s founder, John Wesley, talked about the spiritual position of “perfection.” When we think of perfection, we think of “flawless,” which might cause us to just brush aside Wesley’s aspirations. Of course, we will never be flawless. But the meaning of “perfect” in Aramaic, the language of Jesus, means something closer to “whole,” or “healed.” THIS is what Wesley meant. Having the complete mind and heart of Christ. To be whole, to be healed.
Remember when Jesus asked the man who had been lying beside the pool at Bethsaida for 38 years, “do you want to be healed?”
In some ways that is the question of Lent. In asking us to give something up, Jesus is asking “do you want to be healed?” Do you want to come closer to me, do you want to be whole, do you want my heart of peace and my mind of love?
For me, it is always YES. I can’t and don’t do it on my own. Lent calls me back. To give something up is to turn toward God, to put something closer to Jesus in its place. To let go of a pattern or practice (even one I LIKE) can turn my feet onto the path where I TRULY want to go. Let us walk on this path together.
“Only when I am so close to God that there is NOTHING in between
will I ever know true rest or peace.” Julian of Norwich
O God,
Open our eyes that we may see the needs of others;
Open our ears that we may hear their cries;
Open our hearts that we may feel their anguish and their joy.
Let us not be afraid to defend the oppressed, the poor, the powerless,
because of the anger and might of the powerful.
Show us where love and hope and faith are needed
and use us to bring them to those places.
Open our ears and eyes, our hearts and lives,
that we may in these coming days be able to do
some work of justice and peace for you. Amen.
Peace,
Pastor Christi
Leave a Reply