Lent
February 15, 2018
Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. –1 Peter 3:18-20
Lent has begun, and I seem to see it all around. I watch PBS’s new series; We’ll Meet Again, that tells the stories of people whose lives intersect in meaningful ways after which they lose contact. Years later one seeks the other out to reconnect. In one story involving the Mt. St. Helen volcanic eruption, a scientist on the mountain emphatically orders a young intern to leave as he deemed it unsafe and she did. He chose to stay and continue to relay information about the volcanic activity and was killed. The information he provided probably saved many lives besides hers. The intern wanted to connect with his family thanking them for his saving her life.
My church book club is currently reading, Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan. The true story of a teenager in Italy during World War II sent to his church’s camp to get him out of harm’s way while his hometown was bombed. He was born to ski, and the camp was in the mountains. Sent there to be safe, he was soon escorting Jewish refugees and downed pilots over the mountains to safety. He not only risked his life taking mountain novices over treacherous land, he also faced certain death if the Nazis caught him and that is just the start of his story. He lived to tell it though as his memories were the basis for the book. A cradle Christian his teen years introduced him to living as part of the body of Christ in very real ways.
Lent is a time when we walk with Jesus and his first Disciples down the road to the cross as he offers his life for our salvation. Living fully as a part of the Body of Christ is our walk toward creating wholeness following the example of Jesus in a fragmented world.
Prayer: Lord, open our hearts and minds to experiences of Lent as we relive Jesus walking closer and closer to the cross. Amen.