Journey Toward Freedom

Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God—God of my salvation—and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it; you are not pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God. Psalm 51:14-17 CSB

I don’t have an exact statistic on this but I’m sure at some point in life every person on Planet Earth has bought something with the magic words, “easy to assemble.” There is nothing more invigorating and soul-binding than a couple opening a box containing their new furniture piece and spreading out the 16 million pieces all over the living room floor. Most likely you fall into one of three categories: those who start assembling the pieces without reading the manual, those who meticulously read the 30-page easy-to-assemble manual before starting, or the one who pays the $150 for Home Depot to assemble. Long after the estimated time of assembling, you finally admire your finished product, only to find an extra bolt. How did we miss this?

Normally a missing bolt can be overlooked unless you are 16,000 feet in the air! The passengers and crew on Alaska Airlines flight 1282 found out exactly how important four bolts were on January 5 of this year.  As the plane was ascending to reach cruising altitude, a loud blast was heard as the door blew off. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause of the door blowout was four missing bolts on the Boeing 737 Max 9. Thankfully, no passenger was sitting next to the door.  “Whatever final conclusions are reached, Boeing is accountable for what happened. An event like this must not happen on an airplane that leaves our factory. We simply must do better for our customers and their passengers,” said Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun in a statement. (CNN Report)

Four little missing bolts resulted in a near-fatal disaster, reminding us how the insignificant becomes significant in life. We are now in the season of Lent, a time of preparation for Easter. In the same way as Advent prepares our hearts and minds for Christmas, Lent is a time for focusing our minds and hearts on the life-changing Easter celebration. “Historians generally agree that the 40-day period before Easter, known as Lent, emerged shortly following the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. The earliest observances of Lent seem to have focused particularly on the practice of fasting. Council records suggest that the fast applied at first mainly to new converts as a period of repentance and reflection before baptism at Easter. In any case, Lent quickly became a general practice churchwide.” (Christopher Hunt)

I don’t come from a stream of the Christian faith that practices Lent, but I think there is some richness and beauty in this ancient practice that can stir a hunger within our souls. In our journey toward Easter, this can be a time to reflect, prepare, and hold gently this season in our souls. Whether we practice fasting from food, media, or anything else, it can be a reflective time of preparation.

Augustine spoke of “rightly ordered loves,” which puts the LORD first as the foremost love of our lives. Everything else in our lives; family, work, or any activity, all become secondary to Christ. Lent, in whatever form or fashion we undertake, awakens in us a heart towards God. “Our heart is restless until it finds its rest in You.” (Augustine’s Confession)

Jay Ferguson expresses it well regarding Lent. “Lent isn’t mentioned in the Bible; it’s not a scriptural command to observe. Our freedom in Christ, the sufficiency of His blood for our righteousness, means we don’t have to engage in rituals to earn favor with God. Yet, the Church is Christ’s bride, and by God’s grace, we are deeply connected to something so ancient, so much more profound than the ephemeral nature of our cultural context. Like Sabbath, or fasting, or other blessings from the Lord, these things aren’t commanded, yet they make us more whole when we engage.”

Our Eastern Orthodox family uses the term “bright sadness” to describe this season of preparation for Easter. Though this is a fairly new term for me, I am coming to appreciate it within the context of preparing for Easter. In the days leading to the cross there was a heaviness about the time but with an under-current of hope and faith. “There is a sadness because we turn our gaze inward in a more intentional way, reflecting on our sinfulness and the unimaginable suffering and brutality of the death Jesus willingly submitted to for our sake. But our sadness is clothed in light, because our sins are not indelible marks forever separating us from God’s love, and our suffering is not pointless cruelty inflicted by an impersonal god.” (Ann Koshute)

Bright Sadness holds in tension the sadness of the Cross and yet the bright hope of the resurrection. John captures this tension of sorrow turning to joy as part of the Passover Festival dialogue with Jesus’ disciples. “In a little while, you will no longer see me; again in a little while you will see me.” Jesus continues in his thoughts on sorrow/joy tension. “When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world. So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you.” –John16:16,21-22 (CSB)

Many of you may find yourself in this season of tension having experienced the sadness of loss and yet trust in the bright hope of Easter. All of us are at some place in our lives holding the tension of deep contentment with deep sadness.

How do we hold the tension of sadness and hope? The Psalmist asked the question that only Easter can answer. “How long LORD? Will you be angry forever?” “God of our salvation, help us, for the glory of your name. Rescue us and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake.” (Psalm 79:5,9)

LORD, as we travel this season of preparation, help us to keep our focus on You, for only at the cross will we find freedom.

God is great!