The Year of Living Rhythmically: #2
March 4, 2009
Brother Lawrence, a medieval monk from France, once remarked that people are to be loved, unconditionally, like trees in winter. So should we love and be loved. Not for what we can contribute, nor for any qualities that we possess unto ourselves, but simply because we are. This is a stark picture of God’s love.
The Lenten season is often viewed as a season of suffering. It is a season of abstinence, repentance and reflection. It begins on a Wednesday as an ashy smudge is smeared across our forehead and the words are repeated: from dust you have come and to dust you shall return. To the uninitiated these words sound anything but loving. They remind us of failure and frailty. These words, first spoken to Adam in Gen 3:19, serve to remind us of our death.
One of the central marks of the Christian person is hopefulness. It could be argued that a Christian without some sense of hope has lost her sense of what makes her uniquely Christian. Our faith is centered upon the idea of resurrection, both the first resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection of his people. How valuable it is then, to intentionally pause, reflect upon life before the cross and resurrection and be reminded of our sin and the reality of death. Lent is that time.
Suppressing, even if only ceremonially, our natural bouyant hopefulness, allows us to enter into a place of where we are once again stripped bare. With nothing to offer and nothing to do we simply receive, once again, the gift of God’s love. The words may sound cold but they are a sign of the love that brings deliverance.
It’s here that we are loved once again not for what we are, nor for what we could be and certainly not for what we do but simply because we are. Brittle and fruitless.
Like trees in winter.
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