TLDR: Rev. Leesa experienced 3 different seasons of the church in one day while waiting the birth of her first grandchild. Lent brings us a time of reflection and reset.
Recently, I experienced all the most recent seasons of the church in just one day. Advent is a time of waiting. I have been patiently waiting for the birth of our first grandson. Then early on Tuesday, February 13, Blaze Lewis Brown entered this beautiful world reminding me of the season of Christmas when our Savior became God Incarnate. God Incarnate came to our earth in the most amazing way... as a precious baby. Next is the season of Epiphany. When we humans see or witness an epiphany, have an ah-ha moment. My ah-ha moment happened when I received the message that our healthy baby grandson had arrived! Grateful for the news that both baby and mama were healthy. What a relief! You see this birth happened in Alaska, the Last Frontier State. It is quite the challenge to be so far from the ones you love especially at a monumental time as this.
(Maybe that is why Jesus became God Incarnate so He could be with the ones He loves who were so far away. Just a thought.)
And now the season of Lent is upon us. Lent brings us a time of reflection and reset.
Time to reflect on what we are doing and how we can do things differently. Maybe we need to push the reset button and think about doing things in our life a different way.
Ronald Rolheiser, an author, theologian, and Catholic priest says,
“Celebration is a paradoxical thing. It lives within the tension between anticipation and fulfillment, longing, and consummation, the ordinary and the special, work and play. Seasons of play are sweeter when they follow seasons of work, seasons of consummation are heightened by seasons of longing and seasons of intimacy grow out of seasons of solitude.” He continues with “Presence depends upon absence, intimacy upon solitude, play upon work. In liturgical terms, we fast before we feast.”
Knowing our first grandson is here in the world without me is difficult. I must endure a brief season of fasting before I get to meet him and feast with the joys of spending time with this precious baby! Bill and I are headed north to Alaska the last week in February then we shall have a feast as we meet this new bundle of joy for the first time.
The same goes with Lent. We have this season of 40 days (not counting Sundays) before we get to celebrate our risen Savior and say the A word (alleluia).
No doubt the seasons of the church are an amazing gift. We get to experience wonderful periods of time learning more about what God has in store for us. The season of Lent helps us lean into learning more of our true nature, our self-centeredness and assists us into a time of our need for forgiveness; both the act of forgiving others and the ask of seeking forgiveness from God. This time of reflection reminds us of the feast waiting for us. It reminds me of the time waiting at the end of our 40 days and in a few weeks of being in Alaska!
Rev. Leesa+
