Saturday, December 31, 2011

Lent in Christmas

I saw the Valentines for sale in a drug store.  I hear Easter Candy can be found in stores now too.  And its not even New Year's Day!  Oh well, not really worth lamenting or ranting, but interesting to notice.  Interesting as I spend the morning of New Year's Eve finishing up some Lenten meditations for an upcoming diocesan publication.  And in my email there is a note from a staff member that we need to get our Lenten program planned and publicized.  And indeed we do.

Much of life is like this, imagining ourselves in the future, getting ready, even living there to some extent, however out of sync it may be with everything around us.  This is one way to think about what I mean by "poking around the ruins of Christendom."  Many of the institutions, understandings, and practices that carried and supported the Christian Church and Mission are collapsing and dying before our very eyes.  Christian charity calls us to care for the dying with dignity and respect.  At the same time, Christian hope calls us to imagine God's future, to get ready, and even to live there to some extent.

Many of us will spend the rest of our lives doing this very thing.  If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, it can be a rich and rewarding time.

No comments:

Post a Comment