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Dear Companions in Christ, February 2008
What do you say to the question, How are you? Do you answer honestly? Or do you
give the customary answer and simply say, I’m fine, even though nothing could be
farther from the truth. What about the question, Are you ready? Again, there is
the choice to answer honestly or to simply offer the usual response: Yes, I’m
ready. Well, if anyone were to ask me, Are you ready? I’d have to answer
honestly and say, No, I don’t think I am ready. So then the question follows,
for what am I not ready?
The answer is this: I’m not ready for Lent. Why am I not ready? Well, because
Lent comes unusually early this year, on February 6. This early arrival is
proving to be a challenge for me: a challenge to my schedule; a challenge to my
preparations for our Lenten worship services; even a challenge to my willingness
to accept all that an early Lent means, because I want to shout, I need more
time! I don’t have everything done! I’m just not ready!
Have you ever felt that way? Unprepared for something — an arrival, an event, or
some news you’ve received? Even when we know someone is coming or something is
going to happen, we still find ourselves unprepared. We could know weeks or
months in advance, as we do when planning weddings and anticipating a newborn’s
birth — we could know years ahead of time, as we did with the arrival of a new
millennium in the year 2000/2001 — yet all too often we find ourselves declaring
that we just aren’t ready!
What, then, does it take to “get ready,” to “be prepared”? Honestly? I don’t
have a pat answer. There are things that will happen to us in this lifetime for
which we never will be ready, no matter how much we prepare: the unexpected
death of a loved one, the unwanted news of a serious health concern, the
unanticipated loss of a job, the unforeseen devastation of natural disasters
such as Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, or the unthinkable tragedy we
experienced with the South Asia Tsunamis of Christmas 2004. Yes, we can make
preparations: we can make sure our final arrangements are in order and keep our
life insurance policies up to date; we can learn about resources available to us
and know which health care professionals to contact when health concerns arise;
we can build a “nest egg” of financial resources for emergencies to tide us over
until we are back on our feet; we can have back-up plans and disaster kits ready
in the event of storms or floods; and we can know all the escape routes away
from devastation to a safe haven. Yet despite all we might do, are we ever
really ready?
Yes and no. Yes, in that we’ve done what we can, we’ve done what is humanly
possible for us to do. No, in that so much is beyond our control, and while we
are of this earth we will never completely know what will come next. This is
when we must turn to the One who does know, who does hold all of our tomorrows
in loving, gentle hands. I think of Jesus praying in the Garden. He had done all
he could to prepare for what was to come, yet he was not ready. Not until he
spent time with his Father. Not until he placed his future in his Father’s
hands. Not until he gave his trust, his love, indeed his very life into his
heavenly Father’s safe-keeping. Perhaps even then Jesus may not have been
entirely ready. But that no longer mattered, because God was ready. And God
still is ready. For us, and for all that matters to us.
So ask me again if I’m ready. This time I’ll say yes! Yes, I’m ready, because I
know God is ready. God is ready today, tomorrow, and for all tomorrows.
Including the tomorrows of Lent.
Pastor Wanda |
