Church newsletter pastoral column for St. Peter Lutheran Church, Greene, Iowa, for March, 2019.
An Uncertain Lent
Immediately the father of the child cried out,
“I believe; help my unbelief!”
– Mark 9:24
If there’s one thing to be learned from following the news, it’s that we live in a broken world full of uncertainty. There are plenty of reasons to be afraid. Our world can be shattered at any moment by tragedy, whether due to the actions of others (shootings, drunk driving, assaults, etc.)or by inexplicable chance (aneurysms, lightning strikes, cancer, etc.).
Uncertainty is uncomfortable.We like the world around us to be in good order, predictable, even controllable. I suspect it is human nature to ask, “Why did this happen?” after a tragedy so we can avoid it happening again. We want life to be stable, yet so often that’s not the reality.
This year during the season of Lent, our theme for midweek Wednesday services will be Embracing the Uncertain, based on a book by Magrey deVega. Each week, we’ll look at a story from the life of Jesus as he journeyed toward Jerusalem, toward the cross. These stories are set in the same world of uncertainty in which we live, yet they point beyond this world to the certain hope we have in Jesus.
Beginning with Ash Wednesday on March 6th, Lent is an invitation for us to engage the uncertainties of life, rather than ignore them.Lent provides space for us to accept our lack of control over this uncertain world. In the touch of ash on our foreheads and the promise “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” Ash Wednesday demands we accept the reality of our brokenness. It insists we recognize the painful truth of our mortality.
When we recognize the certainty of our own death, we gain the perspective to appreciate and engage life. When we embrace the reality that we are powerless to control the uncertainties of life, we can rely in faith on the hope of the resurrection. Accepting the uncertainty of our world and our lives, we are freed to believe and trust in the one certain truth: Jesus Christ, our Savior.
As deVega writes, “It is only by embracing the uncertain that we can fully acknowledge the power and the proof of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. It is at the empty tomb that we discover that the ground has settled, our footing is sure, and that there is only one source for a firm foundation on which to build our lives.
May this forty-day journey be for you and invitation to look deeply within yourself, to determine what resides in the uncertain—in the shadowy, untenable, and unreliable parts of your soul. May you identify that within your life which must be acknowledged, confessed, and ultimately, through the glory of Easter, overcome by God’s grace. Ready or not, welcome to this Lenten journey.”
Intrigued? Join us for Lenten worship on Wednesday evenings beginning March 6th–see the schedule in this newsletter. Want to go deeper? I’m also going to be leading a book study on Embracing Uncertainty Sunday evenings at 7:00, so let me know if you’d like to be a part of it.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Daniel Flucke