From the Pastor

A Lenten Reflection on a Life Well Lived

Lent is a season for reflecting. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a time to reflect on both our morality and our mortality. The Lenten season ends on Easter Sunday, as we celebrate and remember Jesus’ resurrection. What takes place in those days between Ash Wednesday and Easter is nothing more and nothing less than life.

This Lenten Season, we are going to take a look at Jesus’ last week and Jesus’ last words, and discover lasting wisdom that will impact not how we die, but instead how we live. What did Jesus want to say and what did he do at the end of his life’s journey? What matters most?

Life is a precious gift from God. The way we spend our time matters. We sometimes don’t learn about a person’s life until their memorial service or in the written obituary.

Brett Younger, pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York, argues that obituaries would be far more interesting if they told the truth. He offers the following examples:

“Bob grew up middle class and was so proud that he invested all of his time, energy and life to work and eventually become upper middle class.”

“Marsha was known as a bit of a talker; but no one could remember her saying anything that really mattered.”

“Harold ignored his own family, but liked to brag that he had seen every episode of The Office twice.”

And what do you think about these obituaries?

“Louise loved her children and everyone else’s too.”

“Robert, a beloved mailman, was less focused on the mail and more focused on the men and women along his route. A public servant and a personal friend.”

“Flora saw something beautiful in every person. When she said, ‘I will pray for you,’ she meant it. When she asked, ‘How are you doing?’ She really wanted to know.” 

“Judy was one of the most cheerful and hopeful people I have ever known. Her joy was not dependent on what was going on around her or happening to her.”

Lent is not a season about death and dying, but one about life and living fully.

Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” As he was preparing for his departure, he offered words to his disciples that were meant to teach them not how to die, but how to live and how to love. He wanted not only to instruct them, but to inspire them.  So, if we listen this Lenten Season, we will learn what really matters.

Our Town is one of my favorite plays. Thorton Wilder’s heroine, Emily, passes away far too early at age 26. She asks the narrator’s permission to re-live one day of her life—one of her own choosing .

Emily chooses to re-live her 12th birthday. There it is again, just as it occurred. Her mother is preoccupied over the stove. Her father comes in from the train, worn out from a business trip. Only Emily is aware of the preciousness of the passing moments. She says, “Mama, just look at me, Mama…It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another.”

Before passing back into eternity, Emily says, “Goodbye, Mama and Papa. Goodbye to clocks ticking and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And newly-ironed dresses and hot baths, and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.”

She looks back at the narrator and says, “Does anybody ever realize life while they live it…every, every minute?”

During this Lenten Season, Jesus invites us to realize life, and to discover life to the fullest.

So, let’s listen together and learn together how to live together and love together…

– Chris George, Senior Pastor