Lent and the Good Creation

Lent and the Good Creation

I pray that your Lenten journey has been renewing.  We are blessed to have this focused time to examine our lives, to set aside that which may be an obstacle to our faith and to take up a discipline / exercise that may grow our faith.  This year’s season of Lent has been a true joy for me.

I have particularly enjoyed the thread of “freedom” that has been so visible in the scripture readings for worship.  Especially the scripture about Nicodemus and the one about the woman at the well.  Both are so full of hope and transformation.  Following the thread of freedom in each text leads us to a place in the tapestry where true freedom is of God and not of humanity or creation.

Christians now and over time have reacted to this notion as if it were a continuum.  One extreme is to say that if true freedom is of God, then the things of this world (especially material possessions) are bad for us.  The other extreme is to affirm true freedom in God makes us free to have no worries about the things of this world.  I suggest that these two extremes are both false, primarily because they are self-centered in that they are focused on us and upon our relationship with the things of this world.

In the beginning, God judged creation to be good.  You and I, our neighbors and all the things of this world are inherently good.  Everything you know or have seen or will discover is great.  I am confident to write this for God has already said as much in the book of Genesis.  In addition, all the things of this world have the potential to point to God, to be in relationship with God, to serve the neighbor in response to God’s love.

Rather than the extremes of hate or love of all the things of this world, if we first love God and base all upon that relationship, then we will find much joy in the things of this world.  We will learn to use the things of this world to point to God, to discover God, to praise God, and to serve our neighbor.  The more primary our relationship to God, the more free we are.

I realize that this writing does not deal with the problem of evil and that problem may have crossed your mind as you read my article.  If there is interest, I will put pen to paper on that topic.  Till such time, let me encourage you that rather than be distracted by the problem of evil, be assured by the judgement of God that all God created is good.  

May your approach to Easter be an experience of freedom.  Freedom from the obstacles to your relationship with God and with neighbor.  Freedom from guilt and despair, from sadness and doubt, from anger and malaise so that you can experience the “good” that God sees in you and all the things of this world.