Unlimited

A Reflection on the Psalm for March 29th, 2020:
Fifth Sunday of Lent

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Psalm 130

R. With the Lord there is steadfast love and great power to redeem.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! 

R. With the Lord there is steadfast love and great power to redeem.

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. 

R. With the Lord there is steadfast love and great power to redeem.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning. 

R. With the Lord there is steadfast love and great power to redeem.

For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities. 

R. With the Lord there is steadfast love and great power to redeem.

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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

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I have always liked Lent.  


I like the rhythms offered by the church calendar and the marking of time. The celebration of Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, is made all the sweeter each year by the weeks leading up to it where we retreat into the wilderness with Him for a bit.  During Lent we reflect on how much we desperately need a resurrection. I like that once a year we are given space and time to remember that, though Jesus has come into the world, there is still pain, there is still longing, there is still difficulty. Yes, Jesus was born as a baby — God With Us — shared His message of love and hope for all people, and has risen from the dead. And yes, we are Easter people. And yet, all the brokenness of the world has not yet been restored to the way God intended it to be. There is still pain and suffering. Lent is an invitation to sit with this tension, this in-between space we find ourselves in.  


To be honest, I find Lent to be a huge relief. I really appreciate that Lent gives us permission to acknowledge the pain and suffering we see around us all the time. This year we find ourselves in a Lent like no other I've ever experienced. In a few short weeks, 2020 has offered us peak Lent:


Isolation
Fear 
Anxiety 
Unrest 
Despair 
Uncertainty 
Deprivation 


Yes to all of the above. 


I've been following one of my favourite Christian writers, Kate Bowler, as she reflects on this particular season of Lent. She recently said Lent is an invitation to give ourselves permission to acknowledge that we are limited. Isn't that true? We can't fix it all. We can't do it all. We don't have all the answers. We can, however, work within our own limitations and love the people in front of us; use the energy we have to do what we can for the people we can, and shine some Light into the darkness. We can also rest assured that though we are limited, God is not. And with Him, as the psalmist says today, there is steadfast love and redemption.  


And, eventually, one way or another, Easter is coming. 


There is an empty tomb.  
Life conquers death. 
Light drives out darkness.


Yes, we are finite. We are limited. But we are loved and we are held by a God who is neither.


Thanks be to God.




Morgan MacKenzie
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Photo by Matthew Tkocz on Unsplash

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