Read: Isaiah 58:1-12
Commentary Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow
With the beginning of Lent, it will be almost three years to the day when the world was thrust into a global pandemic.¹ Words don’t have the capacity to describe what we have all been through: death, loss, anger, isolation, sorrow, and confusion—but also discovery, introspection, adaptation, and hope.
While it is tempting to try and find “silver linings” that have emerged from the pandemic, I caution us not to do so. There has been far too much pain, suffering, and death to try and negate the suffering with comparatively minimal benefits to the world. Instead, I choose to describe this time as revelatory. The pandemic has revealed much about ourselves, our communities, and the world. We have discovered that adaptation to technology is possible, creativity in curating worship is abundant, and many things that we thought were too important to change about the Church, were, in fact, not. Again, no silver linings, but certainly welcomed revelations about who we can be and become.
This passage from Isaiah does not go easy on us. It poses difficult questions that force each of us to dig deep and ask questions about ourselves and the communities of which we are a part. While it is easy to blame “them” for the problems of the world, we are being asked to explore how we may have played ambivalent witnesses or unintentional accomplices in creating the deep pain that has been brought to the surface of our world.
The revelatory nature of the past few years forces us to face questions, not only about whether hate or love will have the last word, but about how we will be part of a different story for the future. This is where we are inviting one another to sit this Lenten season, in and with the questions, no matter where the answers may lead.
Reflect: As you begin the Lenten season, what are you seeking? What is God seeking? What actions or practices will you commit to?
*reprinted with permission from A Sanctified Art
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