Meditation One

John 1:1-14 RSV

Ash Wednesday

“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”  John 1:5

Stephen Covey, the well-known author of the book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” suggests that when we begin anything, we do so “with the end in mind”.  So where does LENT end?  It ends with Easter and the powerful event of the Resurrection.  We who seek to take this journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter morning need to do so with the end firmly in mind.  We are a “Resurrection People”, people of faith who know that the darkness of death is not the conclusion, rather the eternal light of life is.

So as we begin this LENTEN journey, let us recall the power of this event in our own lives.  God has revealed through Christ that Resurrection is a response to death whenever and however it is experienced, and death comes into each of our lives in many different ways.  While some of our experiences of death may be the physical loss of someone, each of us also encounters death in other ways as well.  There is death when we face a divorce, lose track of a friend, get downsized or fired, move to a new place and start over again, face a life threatening disease, lose our hearing, or surrender some aspects of life because of aging, to name only a few examples.  But in each of these instances, Easter reveals God’s demonstration of the promise of a new life beyond these experiences.  After each of the moments of death we encounter, whatever they may be, the promise in Christ is for a new beginning and an emergent life beyond the loss we have experienced.

On Good Friday, humankind attempted to demonstrate our power to eliminate God’s gift to humanity.  On Easter morning God laid before us God’s response.  As Luther would proclaim “God will win the battle”.  The beginning of this journey called LENT needs to start with that end in mind.  We are a people whose faith is that God can enable each of us to be triumphant over any and all deaths we will experience in our own lives.  We, too, will be resurrected again and again in the midst of our experiences of darkness and loss.  While the passage from John quoted in this meditation is most often thought of as a Christmas passage, it nonetheless affirms the truth of Easter!  In our lives, because of Christ, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not and never will overcome it.

Prayer: Lord, as today I begin my journey toward Easter make me ever aware of how your promise of resurrection continues to create new life in my own.  Amen

Reflection Question: Where have you experienced resurrection in your life?