Lent Day 20: Check-in: How's your Lent going?

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

~Luke 13:18-21

Homemade bread in my kitchen.

It's the twentieth day of Lent (we don't count the Sundays--they are always the feast of the resurrection), and it seems like a good time to check in. How are you doing? Specifically, how is  your Lent going? 

I confess that I am a little overcommitted right now, but I am still finding this a beautiful and encouraging time of the church year. I love the season, and the ways it focuses us and helps us to remember who we are and whose we are. 

I love that we have Wednesday evening supper and worship at our church (you can watch last night's service--just shy of a half hour--here). In fact, today I was fantasizing about doing it all year long. (Don't worry UPC soup-makers. I know that's too much for our resources. Like I said, fantasy.)

I love the devotional we are using this year, from the marvelous Kate Bowler. It's called "The Hardest Part: Hurt We Carry, Hope We Find," and it's very, very real. Talks about fear, and illness, and frustration, and the WORLD NOT BEING THE WAY IT SHOULD BE (all caps mine). And it is not a downer, simply honest and lovely, and you can get it here. (Hey, half a Lent is better than none. And you could read one devotion in the morning and one at night.)

And I love the people. The people who are traveling together this Lent--my congregation, my family, my colleagues, my friends, in real live and virtual life. Their curiosity, their gratitude, their absolute honesty. It's such a privilege to walk together.

I want to say it's a Lenten world, right now, but I like Lent too much to attribute bad things to it. But every day we read horrifying news--looks like the social security administration is close to collapse, I see. And people are afraid, very understandably. 

I believe it is community that will save us. Church community, retirement community, communities of colleagues, communities of friends, communities of the resistance, all these communities and more. We need one another. 

I read the best thing in our devotional this morning, again, the brilliant Kate Bowler, who is a professor of Church History, her specialty being, the American church. She writes,

The cultural narrative we are told is that we should be able to handle it all on our own or “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.” But let this historian tell you what this really means. 

*Sounds of a historian rolling up her sleeves.* 

In the early 19th century, bootstrapping originally meant trying to do something ridiculous, like lifting yourself up by your own hair. It’s impossible. So maybe we should simmer down imagining that our individual selves can carry the world on our shoulders. It takes a village to raise a child, and a community of faith to sustain being human.

We can't do it all on our own. Nor should we try to. Asking for help is human, and vulnerable, and absolutely required. Go ahead and ask. Ask your pastor. Ask your church. Ask your friends. Ask the Office on Aging. Ask your congressperson or senator, or state representative or senator. Ask your doctor. Ask.

Asking is like that little seed Jesus talks about. It's a small thing that grows and grows, because it grows community. And I truly believe that in community is where we all need to be, right now.

Tell me about your Lent. Tell me how you are doing. Tell me if you need help finding community, and I'll do everything I can to help.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.