The season of Lent, if nothing else, reminds us that it is not a comfortable faith we have chosen.
Youth Ministry consultant Mark Yaconelli tells of his son's decision to become a Christian - a decision quickly retracted because, as the observant young boy put it, "Dad, Jesus gets killed." As Christians, we may get our warm-fuzzy season of Christmas and our triumphant Easter morning, but in between, each year, we're asked to face the reality of death and defeat.
In the art gallery at Princeton University, there hangs one of the more gruesome crucifixes I've encountered. The body of Jesus is emaciated, veins bulging, covered in blood. His body looks very human. I found myself drawn to this crucifix during times of personal struggle, times when the world didn't make sense, times of darkness, times like Lent.
In that crucifix, I saw a pain that touched the core of my humanity. It reminded me that that is exactly what Jesus' death did - touched the deepest pain at the core of our humanity. It was more than the Sistine Chapel's depiction of the hand of God touching the hand of man. It was God entering into our pain, walking in our fear, crying out with our voices.
Make no mistake, it is a dangerous faith we profess. It is a faith of blood and death. But in that danger, death, and defeat, we find the God who is there with us in all the pain, fear - and yes, danger - it takes to be truly human.
We did not want it easy, God, but we did not contemplate that it would be quite this hard, this long, this lonely. So, if we are to be turned inside out and upside down, with even our pockets shaken just to check what's rattling and left behind, we pray that you will keep faith with us, and we with you, holding our hands as we weep, giving us strength to continue, and showing us beacons along the way to becoming new. Amen. (prayer by Anna McKenzie)
Amy Morgan
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