Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I recently heard Lent explained as a time to “reset” our hearts to receive the gift of Easter…An opportunity to clean out our “backpacks” as it were. Granted this was from a children’s message I heard during worship at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church in Fuquay-Varina (where your council worshiped on Sunday, Feb. 22 at the close of our retreat), and obviously it is a metaphor. But I think it works. Our proverbial “backpacks” are filled with all kinds of things that weigh us down: old partially eaten sandwiches and homework we forgot to hand in and water bottles that are now moldy, on and on and on. Or grudges, guilt, anger, insecurity masked as superiority, a need to be right all the time, fear of the “other” which causes us to demonize them and on and on. Things that it would be helpful to clear out and let die, so that there is space to receive the coming resurrection.
Pope Leo, talking about the Lenten practice of fasting offers a list of things we might abstain (or fast) from during Lent. Things (to continue the metaphor) we could clean out of our backpacks/hearts. For example, he suggests we refrain from words that hurt our neighbor and avoid: rash judgement, slander, speaking ill of those who are not present, hateful rhetoric that tears down, manipulative language, language which calls itself “Christian” but does not reflect Jesus. He continues: “Let us ask for the strength that comes from the type of fasting that extends to our use of language, so that hurtful words may diminish and give way to a greater space for the voice of others.”
All of our backpacks are filled with so much noise that it is difficult to hear the voice of God, and we find ourselves weary with trying. During this time of doing “less” and listening more, of letting die those things that keep our ears stopped and our hearts fearful, maybe we accept the invitation of Jesus: “Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens//backpacks, walk alongside me and learn from me for I am gentle and humble and you will find rest.” In so doing, perhaps, the noise of our own fears will give way to listening more closely to what Pope Leo calls “the cry of the poor and of the earth” making us ready and eager to use words of hope and healing that “contribute to building a civilization of [resurrection] love.”*
God’s peace and much love ~
+ Pr. Sara
*All quotes from Pope Leo’s Lenten message.