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Living Lent
My Messy House by Kathleen Norris
Repent by William Willimon
In Mirrors by Walter Wangerin
Cross |
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Lent means 'lengthen.'
Yes, lent comes from the Old English word 'lenchten' which became lengthen. Funny how smart those old folks were, for indeed the days lengthen, but so does our time with the Lord in prayer. Our time with an open Bible becomes longer. And so our minds open onto new hope, new possibilities. We begin to experience God's transformative ways as the Spirit expands in our newly dedicated hearts and minds. It is most appropriate for Christians in Lent is to reflect continually upon the meaning of the cross of Christ. The following will be most useful for that purpose, as well as teach the unintiated into what a deep Chistian faith is all about. At the Cross J. Heinrich Arnold Each of us must find the cross and Christ. We can search the whole world, but we will find forgiveness of sins and freedom from torment nowhere except there. Every believer knows that Christ went the way of the cross for our sakes. But it is not enough just to know this. He suffered in vain unless we are willing to die for him as he died for us. Christ's way was a bitter way. It ended in a victory of light and life, but it began in the feeding trough of an animal in a cold stable, and passed through tremendous need: through suffering, denial, betrayal, and finally, complete devastation and death on a cross. If we call ourselves his followers, we must be willing to take the same path. Christ died on the cross to break the curse of evil and vanquish it for once and for all. If we do not believe in the power of evil, we cannot comprehend this. Until we realize that the main reason for his coming to earth was to do this on our behalf - to free us from the powers of darkness - we will never fully understand our need for the cross. Christ's love is not the soft love of human emotion, but a burning fire that cleanses and sears. It is a love that demands self-sacrifice. My father writes: The Earth can be conquered in no other way than through sacrifice. Satan can be vanquished in no other way than through the Lamb. Jesus is the sacrifice who, being perfect, has been victorious over evil. In the sacrificial love of a lamb, Jesus has overcome the dragon, disarmed Satan and smashed his weapons on the cross. Thus it is impossible for Satan to prevail, with his instruments of darkness and death, against anyone who is one in faith with the crucified Christ. Here we see that if Christ's freedom is to become ours, we must be one with the crucified Christ. His cross is the center, the linchpin, of the struggle between God and Satan, and as such it must become the center of our hearts too. In the cross alone is victory! In the cross alone is purity! It is there that the hosts of evil are overcome; that Christ's love to each human being springs eternal and gives us peace. Unless these truths live in our hearts - unless they grip us in a deeply personal way and infuse our very being - they remain nothing but meaningless words. Jesus offers to give himself to each one of us to the extent that we become one flesh and blood with him. This is not a philosophy, but real food; it is life. It will change everything for someone who experiences it, and not only for that moment but for all eternity. When we know Jesus in the depth of our hearts, we will begin to realize (even if only to a tiny degree) what he went through for our sake. This means surrendering ourselves to him in prayer and quiet, confessing our sins to one another, and laying them before the cross in a spirit of repentance. Then he will accept us and give us reconciliation with God, a clean conscience, and a pure heart. In rescuing us from inner death and granting us new life, his love for us will spill over into our own hearts and give us a great love for him. Naturally it cannot end here, however. The experience of personal purification at the cross is vital, yet to remain focused on that alone would be useless. Christ's love is so great, it must lift our minds above our little struggles - and any preoccupation with our own salvation - so that we can see the needs of others, and beyond that the greatness of God and his Creation. The cross is so much greater than the personal; it has cosmic significance, for its power embraces the whole earth and more than this earth! There are secrets that only God knows, and the crucifixion at Golgotha is perhaps the greatest of them all. In his Letter to the Colossians (1:19-20) Paul speaks of its mystery and says only that it pleased God to let his full nature dwell in Jesus and to reconcile to himself everything on earth and in heaven "through the shedding of his blood on the cross." At the cross, then, not only earth but also heaven and all the powers and principalities of the angel world will be reconciled to God. Certainly not we, and maybe not even the angels, will ever fully understand this. But one thing we know: Christ overcame death, the last enemy, and through this, something took place that continues to have power far beyond the limits of our planet. See all articles by: Full Text of All Responses © 2005 The Bruderhof Foundation. Used with permission.
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