Lent is over

So, Lent has been over for awhile now. I'm asking myself how I did with my Lenten project, and I think I did pretty well. If you measure by results, the fact that J and I joined St Andrew tells you something. If you measure by output, although I didn't manage to post every day, I posted quite a bit. And I think I told the story pretty well.

A lot of the credit for my "success" has to go to other people though, like J, and Holly and St. Andrew, and people like Jim Wallis and Diana Bass. I've been looking for God for a long time and never finding him because there was this language barrier. I was like a tourist in a foreign country and the locals were nice but I couldn't understand the directions they were giving me. I'd end up going the wrong way, ending up in the wrong place and thinking to myself "This is not where I belong." And then having a hell of a time finding the way back to my hotel.

But these people I listed above, they make sense. They are speaking of Jesus and the gospel in a way that I can understand, that resonates with me in the deepest recesses. Yes, the world as we have been given it is beautiful, and we are destroying it. Yes, there is terrible poverty and injustice and the powers of the world turn a blind eye to this suffering. Yes, there is prejudice and racism and hatred, and the powers of the world thrive on these things because they fuel the building of walls, the military machine, and territorial and economic conquest.

And it's been like this for a long time. Jesus fought against these things during his brief lifetime on earth, and he urges us to fight against them today. Not to wallow in our own sins. Not to preoccupy ourselves with securing our personal salvation in heaven. But to bring heaven back down to earth, to renew paradise, to fight for the salvation of all humanity from poverty and oppression in the face of terrible opposition. "On earth as it is in heaven."

I was watching a video last night about Christian Aid, and their motto is "We believe in life before death." Yes!! Yes, that's it. That's what's always been missing for me before. And I finally found it on my lenten journey, thanks to all the loving people I met along the way who have worked hard themselves to find the truth in the gospel, to redefine the problems and to seek real solutions.

In one of my earlier posts I think I mentioned that I didn't understand the concept of Jesus being my personal savior, or what I needed saving for. Now I think I know.

Thank you, Jesus, for saving me from a life defined only by my needs, my desires and my problems by your beautiful example and powerful witness against poverty and injustice. Grant me strength to walk in your way and to live beyond myself, to work for the uplift of others who are suffering and neglected, to make this world a better place, even as you saw it could be. Amen.