Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Lent
When I was a kid, my dad often put a "fuel additive" into our family auto's gas tank once or twice a month. The purpose of the concoction was to stop knocks and pings, improve acceleration and generally to act as sort of a preventative tonic for the fuel system.
Does this image offer a metaphor for how many of us treat our relationship with God? We drop into the spiritual filling station (a.k.a. "church") and hopefully get some sort of boost that will enable us to face the week ahead. With this model of religion/spirituality as add-on, it's important to get the best quality additive dispensed by the most efficient delivery system -- the hope being that a quality product will mean fewer trips to the station over time, thus freeing up more time in our schedule for other pressing issues.
I'm wondering these days if the spiritual life isn't more about subtraction than addition. What are the things we could release that would lighten our burdens and help us recover the spring in our step? What if our call isn't to try to "do" one more thing for God? What if God is calling us to let go of our fixation with activity and production? What if we could simply be aware of God's presence in our lives? Of God's unending love for us?
I wonder if our spirits are sluggish and non-responsive simply because they are clogged and overburdened by our unwillingness to let go of all the "stuff" we think we have to haul around with us from day to day. What would it be like to release some of that goop -- the hurts, the anger, the grievances, the unrealistic expectations (of ourselves and others), or our perpetual desire for perfection?
Has Lent lightened our load? If we're more burdened now than when we began the journey, perhaps we've missed the point:
Jesus said, "Come to me all you that labor and are heavy burdened and I will refresh you. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28,29
When I was a kid, my dad often put a "fuel additive" into our family auto's gas tank once or twice a month. The purpose of the concoction was to stop knocks and pings, improve acceleration and generally to act as sort of a preventative tonic for the fuel system.
Does this image offer a metaphor for how many of us treat our relationship with God? We drop into the spiritual filling station (a.k.a. "church") and hopefully get some sort of boost that will enable us to face the week ahead. With this model of religion/spirituality as add-on, it's important to get the best quality additive dispensed by the most efficient delivery system -- the hope being that a quality product will mean fewer trips to the station over time, thus freeing up more time in our schedule for other pressing issues.
I'm wondering these days if the spiritual life isn't more about subtraction than addition. What are the things we could release that would lighten our burdens and help us recover the spring in our step? What if our call isn't to try to "do" one more thing for God? What if God is calling us to let go of our fixation with activity and production? What if we could simply be aware of God's presence in our lives? Of God's unending love for us?
I wonder if our spirits are sluggish and non-responsive simply because they are clogged and overburdened by our unwillingness to let go of all the "stuff" we think we have to haul around with us from day to day. What would it be like to release some of that goop -- the hurts, the anger, the grievances, the unrealistic expectations (of ourselves and others), or our perpetual desire for perfection?
Has Lent lightened our load? If we're more burdened now than when we began the journey, perhaps we've missed the point:
Jesus said, "Come to me all you that labor and are heavy burdened and I will refresh you. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28,29
posted by FrGaryB | 9:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home