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This year seems to be doubling up on itself! I feel like the new year just started and here we are barreling through February and entering into Lent! I can’t seem to get my feet underneath me. As soon as we get moving in one direction something else happens that shifts that direction or slows it down. Now in some ways it feels that there has been one crisis after another, and I am always running a day late and a dollar short. I was thinking about an image of how I feel right now, not physically, but mentally and emotionally – and this is what I have come up with:
You might be aware of the story of Sisyphus; you probably at least know the story even if you don’t recognize the name. In Greek Mythology, Sisyphus was the king of Ephyra (which is now known as Corinth) and was full of hubris causing him to be crafty and deceitful, to the point where he even found a way to cheat death. Yet, in this he found a way to anger almost everyone including Zeus and Hades. In his eternal punishment, he was made to roll a giant boulder up a hill, but Hades, in his own craftiness, enchanted the boulder to roll away from Sisyphus so that he would have to start all over again the next day – fierce efforts in a fruitless endeavour.
Do you recognize that story? Well, that this isn’t exactly what I am feeling! I needed to tell that story to set the stage for my image. What I feel like right now is that I am standing not on a hill, but in a big field and there isn’t just one boulder, but a lot of boulders around. I want to get those boulders moving in the right direction, but I am not even sure where they need to go! Every time I start to move “a boulder” or feel like I am going to get a boulder moving in a good direction, I have to run over and push another boulder. Or I plan ahead and say that I need to get that boulder moving on such and such a day, and thinking I have time, I start working on other things. Then, before we know it, that date is upon us and I have to rush over and try and get that boulder moving. In doing so, I stop the progress of the three other boulders that I think I might get going!
As I was reflecting on this, it makes sense. We are drawing near to the one-year mark of our world’s battle with the Corona-Virus and it has been quite a year. While the learning curve has been huge, I feel like we have been moving boulders around a big field rather than making much progress with ministry. We have been in a holding pattern for the past year now and are focused on maintaining who we are rather than becoming the new creation that God is calling us to be. I am thankful for the work that we have done, but there is so much more that I want to do and see happen! But I struggle to see which boulder we should move and how do we keep the other boulders from stopping the good direction they have when we start working on that.
I guess that is what I want to see us start to work on at the church. I want to develop some missional clarity about who we are, what we are doing and where we are going. I want us to take a temperature check over these next six weeks, to see how we are doing in order to prepare for Easter. It is at Easter that the church receives the good news, and the transformative power that comes with that, to live in the light of the resurrection! Resurrection life is far from uselessly rolling a boulder up a hill, but it is more than running from one half started project to another, too. What do we need to do in our hearts and in our souls to get ready to welcome the resurrection power into our lives? What do we need to let go of? What do we need to confess? Do we need to empty ourselves of something (fears, sins, disappointments, delusions) so that we can be filled with that resurrection power?
The last thing that I want to be feeling when we get to Easter is that we have to leave three other boulders that I almost have going in order to go and help celebrate Easter. I want us all to be ready for that. That is what Lent is meant to do. It is meant to get us ready for Easter. Today, on this Ash Wednesday, we are joining Jesus on the journey toward the cross. I am not ready for Lent, but I will be ready for Easter!
The verse that will guide our Lenten Journey comes from 2 Timothy 1:7: “For the Spirit of God does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” We will be examining the fears that keep us from being ready, that keep us from thriving, that keep us from being in step with the Spirit. Join me on this journey. You can leave some of your boulders – lets get the boulders moving that will help us experience resurrection power this Easter. That is the Lent boulder that needs to get moving, now I just have to figure out which one that is.
