Lint, Lent and Life

Lint, Lent and Life
Those of us who wash and dry clothes are intimately acquainted with lint...the fluffy stuff that fills up the filter and prevents the free flow of air. Our spiritual lives often are equally cluttered with the lint of living that keeps us from reflection, honest self appraisal, and regular communion with the Holy. The liturgical season of Lent offers us an opportunity to clean the lint from our souls so that we might celebrate Easter with fresh, clean spirits.
Many images used at Lent make us uncomfortable... remind us of past religious abuse... confront us with our own set of limited knowledge and our own failings... It can be a dark, barren, internal time where we face ourselves honestly with judgement for things done and undone... where we experience confession and repentance individually and as a church family. Difficult as this time can be, it can also be the richest, most rewarding time of the church year as we reflect and prepare for the new life of Easter. Two images are central to a full understanding and appreciation of Lent.
The first image is the cross. This one symbol perhaps more than any other is the most painful and mysterious of our Lenten experience. It reminds us of suffering and death... raises theological questions about the sacrifice of life in atonement for sins... brings us to our spiritual knees as we try to find an appropriate meaning for taking up our own crosses in our own lives. It is not a happy symbol that is easily understood. The cross is a paradox where death, sin, darkness and sacrifice intersect with our own life experiences of loss, grief, anger, sin and pain. Our cultural norm is to view life on the bright side and discount the power of the painful. Lent rubs our noses in the imperfect... the pain... the wrong choices... the darkness...in the shape of the cross.
The second powerful image for Lent is the chalice... the cup used in the Passover supper before the crucifixion. It also is a paradox. As we pour the wine out, the chalice is emptied. The chalice can also be filled again and again. So we empty ourselves, we pour out our lives for one another and are filled again as we gather around the table for communion... communion meals that grew from the last meal Jesus shared with the disciples. We empty ourselves of our past darkness and we are filled with the new life and light that comes when we honestly own who we are during Lent. The new wine cannot be stored in the old wineskins... it will spoil. The new life cannot come until the old wineskins of our lives are replaced with new containers... new outlines for who we hope to be.
I will be marching towards Jerusalem, expecting and praying for the transformation and new life that comes when the old self dies and a new self comes into being. I want to clean out the lint that is keeping me from having an open, free flowing relationship with the Holy and with others. My prayer is that I will be able to keep a listening ear to hear how God is speaking... clear vision to see where I have missed the mark... an open heart ready to receive the forgiveness that only requires me to recognize the need I have as an imperfect being for wholeness. Thanks be to the God of second, third, and fourth chances.