lenten blog | March 18, 2024

We're still in Winter?  It feels like Spring.

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for March 18th:  Psalm 119:9-16; Isaiah 43:8-13; and 2 Corinthians 3:4-11.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Today is technically the last full day of winter, technically because Spring does not officially arrive until tomorrow at 11:06pm when the day is nearly complete.  I have a friend who is a meteorologist.  I think he was the one who alerted me to the difference between the astronomical Spring that arrives tomorrow at 11:06pm and the meteorological Spring that arrives on March 1st.  The astronomical Spring occurs in the Northern Hemisphere when the Sun crosses the celestial equator going south to north.  Meteorological Spring is the three months of March, April and May when it feels Springlike.  The meteorological seasons are based on how it feels based on annual temperature cycles rather than on the position of Earth in relation to the Sun.

The former is based on the hard facts of the earth and sun’s location and orientation.  The latter begins when it starts to feel Springlike.  Astronomically it is winter, but already it feels like Spring.  Today is the last full day of winter, but anthills are showing up in my yard, the daffodils around the house are getting closer to blossoming and you can often get by with a sweatshirt outside rather than a winter coat.

Today Paul shares with us a wisdom that springs from his own experience.  Paul calls himself an apostle, one sent out by Jesus to proclaim the gospel.  His apostleship is different from that of the Twelve, the disciples who followed Jesus during His earthly ministry.  Acts 1 offers a traditional definition of an apostle as one called forth from those who accompanied Jesus from His baptism through His ascension. 

Paul never met the historical Jesus.  Paul’s conversion is based on an ecstatic experience of the glorified Jesus of heaven.  Additionally, Paul’s gospel is a departure from that of the other apostles.  Paul is referred to as the apostle to the gentiles, the non-Jews, because Paul separates faith in Christ from the explicit practice of the Mosaic Law.  His provenance and proclamation both lead to confrontation with contemporaneous Christian leaders.  However, the reality of Paul’s spiritual encounter with Christ was judged by him and the earliest Christians to be profound and authentic, otherwise we would not be reading a selection like 2 Corinthians today.

Paul’s personal experience affects his teaching.  He realizes that Christ’s ministry continues past the cross.  Jesus is not a physical presence, but remains a powerful spiritual one.  Jesus continues to speak.  And Jesus remains present through the sharing of the Holy Spirit.  Where the Spirit is active, there is a vitality and innovation that constantly renews and reforms the church.  Thus, Paul writes for us today, “To be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 

He draws out the imagery of commandments written in stone as unchanging while the new covenant is “of spirit” and “the Spirit” and “gives life.”  This is what we call the still-speaking Word of God.  It is the reason that change is tradition in our faith.  It is why we consider the past, but are not locked into it, as we express the faith in every new today.  That freshness and relevance come through a lived faith, and thus to all of us together as church Paul calls us out “to be ministers of a new covenant.”  As we live into the Spirit the Spirit then breathes through us, freeing us from an unnecessary devotion to the idol of literalism, to the “letter [that] kills,” so that the church may minister to and teach with relevance in every generation. 

Lent is our chance to live more deeply into “the Spirit [who] gives life,” to wonder how the words on the pages of the Bible share the still-speaking Word of God, to wonder how Christ crucified lives in and through us for today.  Just as it is beginning to feel more Springlike even though today is still winter, we can’t let what feels to arise and reflect the Spirit today be rejected because it’s of the wrong time.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.