Pastor Sue Koenig
Graceham Moravian Church
(3/1) In our part of the world, the Church’s season of Lent comes in spring when farmers are beginning the work needed in their fields before the first planting. The rows will be plowed, and the soil turned over to be exposed to the light of the sun. The vegetation remaining from last year’s crops, and green shoots of new growth, will be used to enrich
the soil into which this year’s seeds and seedlings will be planted. God has entrusted us with the care of the earth; and the earth, well-cared for, sustains creation. "We are to keep God’s good creation, as a shepherd keeps sheep, gently and attentively; and like the shepherd, who in extreme cases, lays down his life for the sheep, we imagine the gardener is to give his life
for the sake of the garden." [Gen. 2:15-17: 3:1-7]
Lent opens for us fields of grace in which to turn over our earthen hearts that they may be exposed to the sun and prepared for the growth that God will bring, including growth in faithfulness to our role as the "keepers of God’s creation."
In many congregations, Lent comes in with a trumpet blast, with the cry of the prophet Joel on Ash Wednesday, and the imposition of ashes on the foreheads of those gathered for worship, over whom are spoken the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near– a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again
after them in ages to come. (Joel 2:1,2)
Yet even now says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. (Joel 2:12, 13)
Joel calls God’s people to repent in order that they may avoid further disaster and live on fertile lands forever. They are facing devastating swarms of locusts, an invasion by a "great and powerful army" of insects, brought about by their unfaithfulness. If they return to God, their lives and land will be spared.
As Joel announces the coming of the day of the Lord, the Lenten season takes on a solemn and penitential tone. Yet even so, the call to return to a gracious, merciful, and loving God invites us to see Lent as a season of grace, and one in which we are invited to join God in the healing of the world.
Lent is not the time of "bad news" before the "good news" of Easter. It is a time of grace when people of Christ reflect on their mortality and sin, as well as on the creative and recreative power of God.
Reflecting on our mortality in light of God’s creative power grounds us in resurrection hope, and even makes it possible for us to appreciate a bit of humor as we consider dying. The late Donald Hall was the national poet laureate from 2006 to 2007, and a recipient of the National Medal of Honors. In Death, from his book, Essays After Eighty, he
writes, "It is sensible of me to be aware that I will die one of these days. I will not pass away. Everyday millions of people pass away – in obituaries, death notices, cards of consolation…but people don’t die. Sometimes they rest in peace, quit this world, go the way of all flesh, depart, give up the ghost, breathe a last breath, join their dear ones in heaven, meet their
Maker … Some expressions are less common in print: push up daisies, kick the bucket, croak, buy the farm, cash out." (My father’s friends, "went away from here," and were "planted" at their internment.) Hall died in 2018 at the age of 90. Every day he waited for the words to come – words that would "balance frankness about losses with humor and gratitude."
Reflecting on our mortality deepens both our gratitude to God and our dependence on God for the gift of life and creation. It is sensible for each of us to be aware of our finitude. This life will end, and yet, from God’s creativity, grace, mercy and love, life springs forth from death. In Christ’s death and resurrection, our dying is a dying to new
life in and as a new creation.
Reflecting on our mortality and sin gives us opportunities to examine our lives and ask critical questions about how we will use the time we have; repent from past and present actions that separate us from God, one another, and God’s good creation; to seek forgiveness and reconciliation; and participate in God’s healing, restorative, and recreative
work in the world.
Rabbi Simcha Bunim (1765-1827) is credited with the "Two Pockets" saying I first heard in seminary, and of which I am reminded every Lent. "Everyone must have two pockets, with a note in each pocket, so that he or she can reach into one or the other, depending on the need. When feeling lowly and depressed, discouraged or disconsolate, one should reach
into the right pocket, and, there, find the words, "The world was created for me…" But when feeling high and mighty one should reach into the left pocket, and find the words: …"I am but dust and ashes."
Lent summons us to turn away from thinking too highly of ourselves, and to reject, "the temptation to sin against the intrinsic value of God’s good creation" by reducing creation’s value to its worth to human beings. It is a time, as the prophet Joel makes clear, for the people of God to collectively turn from sin, repent and lament, and return to God.
At the sound of an alarm God’s people respond in faith, not panicking or despairing, but turning back to and joining God in bringing healing and renewal in the earth. It is time for a faithful response to the alarm that is being sounded in this day of the Lord by the U.N. and World Vision and many other voices, as billions of locusts in swarms of 80 million invade Kenya,
Somalia, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, destroying crops and threatening the food security of 13 million people; our own day’s invasion by a "great and powerful army" of locusts. One such swarm can eat in one day the food that would sustain 35,000 people. Recognizing the role of human sin in the degradation of the earth and the consequences of our unfaithfulness as "keepers" of
creation, we return to God, joining God’s work to heal and restore the earth.
The Moravian Church adopted a resolution in 2009 that affirms that "Christian mission includes caring for God’s earth and all creation;" and acknowledges that "human activity has contributed to the degradation of the earth in its land, seas and atmosphere, and that this is contrary to the will of God." It goes on to say, "We believe that this
degradation limits the attainment of the fullness of life that God wills for all creation, and is a sin for which we should seek forgiveness. We recognize that urgent response is now required in the face of the catastrophic consequences of climate change caused by this environmental damage and the disproportionate suffering this brings to the poorest in the world…" With the
sounding of an alarm and the call to repentance, the church also offered ways in which congregations and members could join God’s recreative and restorative work in the world, "…by following sustainable practice in their lifestyles…" including "…conservation and careful consideration of how we use resources in church life and at home; active involvement in community
initiatives aimed at sustaining and renewing the environment; and taking action on global environmental issues."
This Lent, may the cry of the prophets and the sound of the alarm move God’s people to repentance, and enable us to balance frankness about the suffering of the earth with gratitude for its goodness, and rejoice that we serve a gracious, merciful, and loving God who summons us to give up panic and despair, and join God in the healing of the world.
To learn more about Graceham Movavian Church, visit them on Sundays for worship at 8 and 10:30 a.m.; and Sunday School for all ages at 9:15 am.
Read other articles by Pastor Sue Koenig
