“None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.’”
- 1 Corinthians 2: 8-9

The season of Lent is upon us. The season of Lent was initially a time of preparation for baptism in the early church. As the years passed, it became a time of penitence, fasting and prayer. The focus is on the Passion of Christ, which culminates on Good Friday.
I have often regarded this season as a microcosm of life. The focus is God. Jesus lives a life in complete obedience to the will of God. His life is lived in perfect harmony with God yet it involves joy and sorrow, triumph and tragedy, life and death. This is the story of all of our lives laid out in just 40 days. It is a reminder that the most devoted of God’s people still deal with the ups and downs of life. It is also a reminder that we do not go through this life alone. God walks with us.

As I was writing this my sister called to say that my father had fallen in his apartment and had to be taken to a nursing home. My dad is 92 years old and lives with my mother in an apartment in a retirement facility. He has Alzheimer’s disease and so my mother has to take care of most of his daily needs. He generally enjoys his life with Alzheimer’s and is the first to acknowledge that he doesn’t know what is going on and is just fine with that. He and my mother have been married for 64 years and I know that this separation is not going to go well for him or my mother.

My father worked hard all his life to provide for his family, which included six children. My older sister died just a short time after she was born. I never met her. My parents made sure we attended church and Sunday School and in so doing shared with us their faith. I only remember family devotions during Lent and Advent, but when they retired and moved back to Wisconsin they had devotions together every morning. My father built the last home we lived in out in California. By saying he built it I do not mean that he hired a contractor to do the work. He and our neighbor were the designers, builders, roofers, plumbers and cabinetmakers. They only hired out the electrical work because the state required it. My father was the undisputed head of the family and no one argued with his rules. (Although I think my sister, the only girl, got away with a lot!)

My father was a strong man and now he has to have help walking and eating. He needs assistance in the bathroom and when getting dressed. He needs oxygen and his hands and feet are beginning to swell. I know what all of this means and that the end is inevitable and near. This will likely be the last Lenten season for my father. He may not make it to Easter. But I trust in the truth of the story we tell. I believe that this Jesus came that we might face the end of our lives with a strange confidence that does not make sense to the rest of the world. I will move through this Lent trusting that God has prepared for my father, for me, for all of us something we have never seen; something we have never heard; something which we cannot even conceive in our hearts.

Savor this Lenten Season – it is life.

- Pastor Bill