In contrast, this year as Lent starts I'm thinking about faith and church as providing a safe place to admit struggles, sins and shortcomings. The degree to which that ideal is realized of course varies. But I think the degree to which I'm able to make those admissions is largely based in my faith. And I think I need to let my faith help me make more of those admissions.
It's not about condemnation or self abasement. It's not about taking on undue guilt of one form or the other. It's not about an emphasis on the negative.
It's about being able to stop being defensive. It's about being able to be honest. It's about being able to let go. It's about the liberation and life that can enter oneself and one's relationships when we're able to admit our role in problems and conflicts instead of building up walls of defense from which we throw grenades of blame.
It becomes about living the liturgy in daily life.
- What if I asked my spouse to remind me through Lent that we are dust and to dust we will return?
- What if in the midst of an arguement I set aside blaming the other (even if they are to blame for something) and admitted my role in the problem?
- What if we regularly exhanged peace at home?
- What if we understood our dinner table as a place to seek and identify with Jesus, the meanings of his life, death, resurrection and the Spirit in and surrounding us?
- Would we go in peace to love and serve? By the time Easter comes, would we find ourselves rejoicing in the power of the Spirit?
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