Lenten Season

The season of Lent may be the most emotionally charged season of the Christian year. It

is a forty-day journey (not counting Sundays) when we watch the tight-knit community

of Jesus and the Twelve form and grow in what it means to be faithful to the loving God

Jesus tenderly called Abba. Jesus confronts and overcomes temptation in the loneliness

of the desert. As he faces the cost of his mission of salvation, Jesus’ prayer reveals both

his agony and his trust. My Father, if it’s possible, take this cup of suffering away from me. However — not what I want but what you want (Matt. 26:39). We see in Jesus the faithfulness we desire and the trust to practice it in good times and tough times.

There is practice and there is failure as the disciples face their own temptations and as

they are sent out to serve, heal, teach, and proclaim the reality of God’s kingdom on

earth. Lent is a time of deep reflection as we consider the desert places of our own lives

and the practice and failure that meet us in our own quest for faithfulness to the God of

love, peace, and justice.

Growing conflict with religious leaders and the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a

beast of burden are but signs of what is to come in the days ahead. Moving from the ex-

hilaration of crowds honoring him as Jesus rode into the city to the stark reality of his

crucifixion is a whiplash of emotion. The highest hopes of the triumphal entry were

completely crushed by the agony and brutality of the cross. Loud shouts of joy turn to

cries of grief as the light born with Jesus is extinguished, plunging the world into the

severity of utter darkness.

The season of Lent gives us time to remember our own humanity and our own mortality

as we observe the lives of the Twelve, who were seeking to be faithful followers of Jesus

in a world not unlike our own. Both Ash Wednesday and the Crucifixion do not tell the

entire story. There is more to come. And what is to come is so dazzling that the strug-

gles in a troubled and violent world and the utter darkness of the crucifixion are ren-

dered helpless. They are no longer the threat they once appeared to be.

May you grow in your relationship with God, through Christ, during this

season of Lent.

Rev. Dr. Steve Fitzgerald

March 2025