On Feb. 12, the president gave the State of the Union address where he outlined things that he felt had been done, should be done and needed to be done.
Leading up to this event there was a great deal of speculation about what the president would say and what the responses to what he said would be.
When the actual speech was delivered, there really was not anything said that was new or unexpected.
When one is talking about the world in which we are a part of and live in every day, it is difficult to tell us something that we don’t already know. The various media outlets ensure that the we are made aware of what is happening in the world around us although we tend to ignore it sometimes. The State of the Union address is still important in that it gives us pause and tends for individuals to call into question, “What is really going on around us?”
Christianity is now in the midst of what is called the Lent season. Lent began on Ash Wednesday and goes for 40 days leading up to Easter. This year Ash Wednesday was on Feb. 13 and Easter is on March 31. If you are good at math at all you will notice this is more than 40 days. That is because Sundays are not included in the 40 days. Forty is a number we see throughout the Bible. During the Great Flood it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses repented and fasted for 40 days when the Israelites constructed golden calf idol. In the New Testament Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. Forty is a metaphor for life and creation. That is because human gestation is typically 40 weeks.
For Christians, Lent season is sort of like a State of the Union address. We already know what is going on in our lives, but we often ignore it. Lent tends to lead the individual to examine what is really going on in their spiritual life and take a closer look at allthe stuff we have been ignoring for the past year.
Ash Wednesday calls us to repent and remember that we are mortals. Life is short. Life is precious and in the grand scheme of things, life is frail. In the midst of all the violence around us - the murders and the shootings - we must be reminded, people need to remember that LIFE IS PRECIOUS and we are here in this world for such a short time.
The Lent season puts this reality in front of us and confronts us and makes us take a closer look at how we treat our individual life as well as the lives of those around us. Through Lent we will take the journey with Jesus that leads to Jerusalem. At Jerusalem we will shout praises for him when he enters the Holy city and then turn around and shout crucify him. In the midst of all this we will be there when he overturns the tables and throws the moneychangers out of the temple. In this we see that our sinfulness is also being thrown out. Like Judas, we to will see that we have betrayed Jesus for the trivial things of this world.
Like the disciples in the garden we will find that we have sometimes been asleep when Jesus needed us the most. Like Peter we will see that, at times, we have denied knowing him. Through all of this we will find grace and mercy when Jesus cries out from the cross, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what the do.” On Easter morning we will celebrate.
For those of you reading this, may Lent be for you a time of self-examination, discovery, revelation and renewal.
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Editor’s note: Brian Timmons is the pastor of Pea Ridge and Brightwater Methodist Churches. He can be contacted at 925-0167 or by e-mail at [email protected].
Church, Pages 2 on 02/20/2013