Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of another season of preparation for Resurrection Sunday. 40 days from here until Easter morning (Sundays aren’t counted, as they’re “mini celebrations of Easter”). Tonight, we will gather with all ages, toward the end of our Wednesday night programming. We will have a short service where we acknowledge none of us is God (unless the resurrected Jesus shows up). We will remember the times throughout scripture where God prepares His people for something new.
In the story of Noah’s ark, the rain fell for 40 days (Genesis 7:12). They were being prepared for a reality “washed clean” of a disobedient past, and offered a fresh start for a humanity wounded by separation from God. As God’s people were set free from living as slaves in Egypt, they wandered in the desert for 40 years while God prepared them to recognize their new identity as belonging to Him. The Kings of Israel – Saul, David, & Solomon – each reigned for 40 years, as God prepared His people for each new season. Before He began His earthly ministry, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert for 40 days to wrestle with temptation in the same ways we wrestle still today in preparation to become our Living Hope and Salvation (healing).
So each year, the Christian calendar purposefully invites us to set aside these 40 days of preparation for what God may have in store. It doesn’t require a long look at the world around us to recognize we need a fresh celebration of Resurrection Life in Jesus this year. Let me clarify for a moment also: The world doesn’t need a fresh or catchy or choreographed or laser-lit celebration of Easter. The world needs the Body of Christ (The Church global) to experience a refreshed heart for living in ways that proclaim, affirm, testify, experiment with, and catch the beauty of Resurrection Life. It’s a life that sees Jesus (God who is Love made flesh) enthroned over all things in all dimensions, and dwelling in us now by His Holy Spirit. A resurrection that declares there is nothing, not even death itself, that can prevent or separate us from such Love.
When we are secure in such Love, we are free to forgive as we’ve been forgiven. We’re able to stop climbing for or clinging to power. We’re able to say, “I don’t know, but let me discover together with you.” We’re able to release those we feel are indebted to us. We’re able to give to a need without considering what we get in return. We’re able to pursue shalom (fruitful living in peace) even with those we disagree with. We are able to offer a harborous disposition, even to strangers. We’re able to pursue face to face community where individuals can be fully known and fully loved, even when weaknesses are confessed. We’re able to be honest about where we fall short, in order for the Light of God’s Love to shine bright enough to remove all shadows of shame as we grow and are strengthened.
Today is a day we declare – to live in these ways (as our “knee-jerk” first response, stronger than willful deciding) will require some preparation. These ways are not the ways of the world around us. These are not our reflexes…yet.
So during this season, we deny ourselves some things or take on holy habits in order to reshape our hearts. Our goal is to invite & depend upon the Holy Spirit, but to also cooperate with the Spirit in ways we know would be helpful to transforming our minds and hearts. To position ourselves to receive the grace of God in powerful ways that often echo the ways we’ve seen God pour out such grace before.
Toward this goal, I’m trading my smartphone for a dumb phone for the next 40 days. The phone salesman was confused when I began asking about a “downgrade” from my iPhone 12 Mini to a Cricket Flex flipphone. I haven’t been on social media for a couple of years now, and yet my mind is still “wired” in ways that developed over years of unhealthy habits. In moments of boredom or reflexive moments of “needing to know” something, it’s often a habit to hop onto my device for a moment. One moment of Wordle or looking up a hockey score easily becomes checking my e-mail, which becomes feeling the need to respond to something or feeling the insecurities of not being able to respond in the way someone desires (hospital visits, longer Biblical questions, prayer needs, etc.).
It’s not going to be easy, but that’s kinda the point. I started earlier this week in order to have time for working out any potential kinks. Group messages are a mess, and some messages I just don’t receive at all. But anyone who needs me urgently can still e-mail me (and I’ll get it when I’m sitting at my desk eventually) or get a hold of me as needed. But already I’ve found myself not reaching for my phone (hello, silence) in times of waiting. I am looking forward to how these changes encourage habits of being fully present, focused in times of necessary device usage, and rewiring those dopamine receptors to find healthier sources.
May God use these moments in each of our lives to prepare us for New Creation living by His Resurrection Life, available in the Holy Spirit even now…
words from wick 