Renewal

After a hard day’s work in the yard, digging, planting, weeding, and raking, nothing feels as good as a warm shower with the water beating down, refreshing and invigorating. In much the same way, the lectionary readings for the first Sunday of Lent, the story of Noah and the baptism of Jesus, point to God’s use of water to restore and renew the human relationship with God.

In The Flood story in Genesis [Genesis 9:8-17; also referenced in 1 Peter 3:18-22], after the people have broken the Law, God makes a new covenant with Israel and symbolizes their new identity through the rainbow. In the Gospel of Mark, as Jesus comes out of the baptismal waters [Mark 1:9-15], the Spirit descends, and a voice announces his identity as the Son of God.

During Lent, this time of renewal, as we see the days lengthen, let us re-enliven our identity in Christ by washing away some of the old habits of thinking, feeling, and behaving that keep us from a deeper relationship with God [Psalm 25].

The author of Mark’s Gospel writes that after Jesus is baptized, he spends forty days in the desert discerning the nature of his ministry and battling temptations, just as we do. In his blog, “Stories from a Priestly Life,” a retired Episcopalian minister reflects, “All temptation is to forget who one is,” i.e. to forget one’s purpose, connectedness with all of creation, and true self.

In other words, we cave into the old desires for pleasure, power, and rescue from pain in order to protect our vulnerabilities, which are often our needs for love and security. By numbing our feelings, trying to make the world as we would have it, and waiting for someone to deliver us from the inevitabilities of life, we think we’ll never experience pain or loss and grief. Perhaps, we won’t suffer as much pain or loss, but in the process, we won’t experience the full depth of God’s love for us, either.

To follow the way of Jesus includes examining the ways in which we have been hurt and have hurt others, to understand all the perspectives and contexts that bear on those situations, and then to bring compassion to ourselves and to others. In doing so, we can wash away the pain of the past in order open our hearts to God’s love, to the love of others, to our connection with all of creation, and to the joy of the gift of life itself. Then we can feel, think, and act in accordance with our true selves, our identity in Christ.

-Karen Lubic