“If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday….and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.” – Isaiah 58:9b-11
Fellow travelers,
Over the course of the month of February this year we walk the bridge from the Season of Light to the Season of Lent. Lent’s threshold—Ash Wednesday—is February 18, but before we get there we become witness to Jesus, Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. The word used by Matthew to describe what happens on that mountain is “metamorpheo,” the root of the English word “metamorphosis,” which we use to describe the process by which caterpillars turn into butterflies.
The stages of metamorphosis—egg, larvae, pupa, adult—each have their own characteristics. And, in nature’s wisdom, each stage prepares the way for the next and no stage can be skipped over. The same can be said about the journey of Lent. After the feasting that accompanies Christmas and Epiphany (and Super Bowls), we pack away the decorations and take our cue from nature’s resting time. Returning to the core identity we were given in baptism, we journey with Jesus into the wilderness for a time of incubation; a fasting from those things which get in the way of our relationship with God and prevent us from seeing our neighbor also as “beloved.”
The Season of Lent reminds me of the “pupa” stage in the life cycle of butterflies. Forty days of incubation in the wilderness; an interior reorientation. But just as it may seem from the outside that nothing is really happening to a “pupa”, nothing could be further from the truth! During the pupa stage the caterpillar’s internal tissues, muscles, and organs break down into a kind of “soup.” Then, following instructions coded in their DNA, special cells called “imaginal discs” (love the name!) grow rapidly into wings and legs, eyes and antennae. Tracheal tubes (for breathing) expand; the gut shrinks in preparation for the adult diet, and the caterpillar molts one last time to form a chrysalis—a protective casing. This interior transformation is largely hidden from view. The passage from Isaiah 58 (above) reminds us that while transformation begins internally it is manifested externally.
As I’ve watched the unfolding crisis in Minneapolis created by the mass deployment of Immigration Enforcement officers (ICE) using deeply disturbing, violent tactics against immigrants and citizens alike—including the senseless murder of U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti—I’ve found myself profoundly moved by the community’s response there. Family members of mine living in neighborhoods where the ICE activity has occurred have shared firsthand accounts of ICE’s militarized takeover and the desperate cries of immigrant and citizen alike who’ve been caught up in ICE’s net. They’ve also shared the widespread, compassionate, and organized response of church communities, neighborhood groups, and other people of goodwill, who have come together in profound ways to challenge the inhumanity and unlawfulness of the federal crackdown and to support those who live in constant fear of being abducted, assaulted, or separated from loved ones.
Braving below zero temperatures, groups of dozens, hundreds, and in some cases thousands of Minnesotans, have applied their spirit-fueled imaginations to deliver meals, provide transportation, support immigrant restaurants, and lift their voices in song to support their neighbors—an inspired counterpoint to the worn out racist tropes, fear mongering rhetoric, and self-justifying rationale offered by the Administration. Sister congregations such as Holy Trinity Lutheran, Our Savior’s Lutheran, San Pablo Lutheran, along with others of many denominations, are doing all that they can to lift the yoke that presses down, like the heel of a boot, on their neighbors’ lives. As they offer ”food to the hungry and satisfying the needs of the afflicted,” light is rising in the darkness and gloom of the deep Minnesota winter. This is the Spirit of God at work—and the world is taking notice.
As we begin the journey of Lent together – the pupa stage of our spiritual life – our siblings in Minnesota are showing us what is possible when the DNA of Jesus Christ finds outward expression in the BNA of public witness: BE NOT AFRAID. There is much they can teach us.
With you on the Way,
Pastor Erik
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