Here we are again in the ever popular, growing by leaps and bounds season of Lent. Woo-hoo! Now we can all gather together in solemnity that we might grow closer to Christ through the tightening of our foreheads. And they wonder why no one even wants to get the point of Lent. In order to do my part (which - of course - nobody asked for) to prepare the way for our Lord at Easter, I want to take the next few weeks to focus on Christ and his death and resurrection. . .aaaaand, yes, our own mortality. After all, we are only human. I think this quote my be a good way to kick things off:
Viewed as a theological relic, the cross does not disturb our comfortable religiosity. But when the crucified risen Christ, instead of remaining an icon, comes to life and delivers us over to the fire he came to light, he creates more havoc than all of the heretics, secular humanists and self serving preachers put together.*
How little we experience of Christ all because we are so afraid of what might be in store for those who venture into the unknown depths of God. Thus we create our own religiosity which allows us to be comfortable with ourselves and safe in our beds. But there is a thief that is coming for us in the night anyway. A close friend of mine refers to such practice as "navel gazing" for it is no more worthwhile than believers who sit around and stare into their own belly-buttons. By rehashing the same old and tired traditions of a particular season we do little more than navel gaze, thus confining ourselves to spiritual ignorance. After all, there are many who need to know that the Lord is good but refuse to taste. . .
. . .and therefore cannot see.
*Brennan Manning, The Signature of Jesus (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1996).
1 comment:
Could we not come up with a better title for this particular post?!? And I can only guess who came up with the whole navel thing...
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