Lent

The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Psalms 24:1

For months now we’ve been in the winter. Everything is lifeless. No leaves on the trees. No flowers in the fields. Short days with limited sunlight. There are a few days of warmth, of sunlight, a few birds puttering about, but for the most part the woods just seem lifeless. Go outside now and look across the field and you’ll likely see a purple hue. Look out into the woods and you’ll see the first buds of dogwoods and redbuds. Everything is still dead and yet something is happening. This is the final push before the spring time. The earth is preparing for Easter.

Even if the people of the world are ignorant of this great environmental upheaval or want to stop it somehow it doesn’t matter. It’s coming one way or the other. If the people of earth don’t participate in Lent, the earth itself still will. As we enter into Lent we’ll experience the ups and downs of the spiritual struggle, much like the bipolar temperatures and weather of springtime. Violent storms will shake our windows and bring possible damage, but they will prune the dead limbs and saturate with the water it needs to fuel it’s glorious reawakening. It’s the war before the Resurrection, the deluge needed for the cleansing, the wilderness and temptation every Christian should endure. This time of year always reminds me of in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus was confronted, “

“And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.“—Luke 19:37-40

Even during Corona when certain elected officials and other groups were vowing everything to be shut down for Easter Sunday it didn’t matter. There were the good and faithful Churches that celebrated Pascha and participated in the divine rhythm of the very universe and there were those who hid away by and powerlessly denied it. Even the rabbits came out of their holes on that Easter morning.

Take a moment and lets all stop for this season and do a little something to prepare for the coming of the Christ our King and our God. Skip a meal, abstain from fleshly desires and pursuits and go to Church, go into the woods, go into the wilderness and seek to purify the deadness from our own lives. As the trees and flowers bloom, so let our souls blossom and reflect the glory of God. The entire earth is experiencing a life and it’s very easy and natural for us to go with the flow. Not with the flow of the sinful world, but with the flow of nature and the King of Heaven and Earth. Even if nuclear bombs drop, if Churches are dynamited, if people are fired from their jobs the Bright Resurrection of Jesus Christ will still come. Holy Fire will descend in Jerusalem. Purple flowers will line the fields in anticipation and the trees will grow leaves so that they may wave in the breeze as we wave the palm leaves on Palm Sunday.

By the time Pashca gets here the days will be longer. The sun will shine brighter and longer. Deer, rabbits, opossums, skunks, birds, racoons will all have a nest/hole full of babies. There will be color and life more abundantly in the woods. All of creation will sing with us, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!”

Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.