So we have begun the road of Lent. Part of me says the word ‘journey’ has been overused in the church, so I try to think instead about walking a road, as Jesus and his friends did. Jesus was their ‘rabbi’, their leader and teacher and he called them his friends. They were as close as any friends could be, and they walked the roads together. Turning around, changing direction, call to introspection – these were some of the things Jesus encouraged them to do. Lent, in our Christian context, encourages us to do the same.
On February 22, I started in a new congregation – and yet not “new”. I spent five years with them as their music director, and as a candidate for ministry, and was ordained twenty years ago from that church. So it feels almost like a ‘full circle’ in many ways, even as we begin a new and different Lenten road together. For the beginning of this road, I made small purple gauze bags containing one purple stone and one clear stone. The instructions were to sit, at the end of each day in Lent, and consider whether or not they had done something in that day which constituted a ‘turning around’, a ‘new beginning’. If yes, they would take out the clear stone, and meditate for awhile. If they felt they still needed to spend more time in thinking about what it means to ‘turn around’ and ‘go in a new direction’, then they would take out the purple stone and meditate for awhile. I stressed that this was entirely voluntary, and that there is no ‘checkup’ along the way, but rather that it is a personal Lenten meditative discipline for themselves only.
The little bags disappeared like hotcakes, with people picking up more than one, for a friend, or for someone who was unable to be in church, or for someone they knew who would like it. I sometimes think we really underestimate our congregations. They do want to explore spirituality, and respond to something different, and simple, which helps. Such a simple thing – a little gauze bag and two stones, and yet the response is always so strong.
And so as we walk this road, may we reflect on the meaning of “turn around”, and “go in a new direction”.
