Winter drags on…I am rather tired of winter. I’m not much good at cold weather, grey skies, biting winds, snow shoveling, waiting for the car to warm, bundling up, Kleenex, coughs and the like. It is easy for me to want to rush right into spring, warmer weather, bluer skies, gentler winds, cleansing rains, warm sun, and outward signs of life.As we begin our Lenten journeys, I remember that Jesus asked all listeners to consider the cost of discipleship. It must have given the original listeners as much pause as it gives to us today to hear the words, “If anyone would come after me, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.” We tend to look toward the ultimate goal without appreciating all the moments in between the beginning and the triumph in the end.
Following entails journeying. The end of our journey may well be a cross, and we need to determine whether or not we will bear it, but in the meantime, let us not miss all of the encounters daily brought our way. Jesus led a life of encounter. It is in the measure of these encounters that we determine what is important to us, what we will stand for, and ultimately what we would be willing to die for.
There is an old sailor’s saying that goes, “When you reach the end of the rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” Jesus was ever alive in the moment. So much so that when he was near death, his last words on the cross were those of a bedtime prayer taught to Jewish youth in their childhood. “Into your hands I commit my Spirit,” was recited much like, “Now I lay me down to sleep.” It was with this simple childhood prayer that he tied a knot and decided to hang on. I believe it was in the recognition of deepest winter. It was a time for Jesus that held grey skies, biting winds, not many signs of new life. In his deepest encounter with lifelessness, Jesus committed himself to God’s care as a child going to sleep at night, aware that the journey would continue with the birth of a new day.
As we journey together this Lenten season, may we truly appreciate our daily encounters with the deepest winter. For at the end, when spring breaks, we may stand truly amazed with the rest of creation that in spite of cold and biting winds, life pushes up in the new day having been about its business unobserved.
Staying warm,
Pastor Clark
