First Sunday in Lent, Year B

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all…in order to bring [us] to God.
—1 Peter 3:18
 
In order to bring us to God. Here is the invitation of Lent in a nutshell—the gift of a season journeyed toward God that comes by way of…dying.
 
Don’t let this be a morbid thought. Life has always come this way—a virtuous circle of life that is always brought on by death. Our own suffering, then, is not meaningless. Just look outside and let the tree buds and crocus and daffodil shoots testify. How did they get there, if not by way of a previous death?
 
Consider the gospels and their slant toward faith. Mark was the first, written sometime around the year 65. John was the last of the four, around 90 or 100. Two full generations between them. And how different they are as the souls who shaped them tried to figure out how to respond to shattered expectations that Jesus had not returned, as they shaped a new coherence, an enduring faith amid radically shifting times!
 
Today we have the benefit of wisdom across cultures that is easily available to us. That’s what Cindy Lee is offering in her book Our Unforming. This is, of course, not new to us. We’ve already been doing our work. Here Lee captures some key observations that may help us in our own reforming. From a linear to a cyclical understanding of time. From a default toward sameness to difference. From the transcendence of the individual to the collective and communal.
 
Perhaps one of the greatest gifts of the unraveling of the moment and this season of history, perhaps the greatest gift of this Lent is the gift of moving us toward metanoia, conversion, the changing of our minds. That we would lean on God instead, that we find God once again for a new generation.
 
…in order to bring us to God. Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Genesis 9:8-17 † Psalm 25:1-10 † 1 Peter 3:18-22 † Mark 1:9-15
 
About the Art: Moyers, Mike. Reminder, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57154 [retrieved February 11, 2024]. Original source: Mike Moyers, https://www.mikemoyersfineart.com/.
 
About the artist:
For years, I have illustrated, designed and directed many book covers, ads, logos, commercials and campaigns. However, my deeper side is the life of a fine artist. I love to paint with the palette knife to keep my work loose, textured and bold. You will see that I paint all kinds of subjects. My deepest passion, however, is to use fine art to communicate matters of faith.

I firmly believe that art is a communion with the soul. Through my art, I strive to make known the beauty and wonder of life and faith. The pieces are inspired by things that have touched my life in a meaningful way. They range from plein air and impressionism to abstract and conceptual. My hope is to successfully communicate those inspirations so that you might be touched as well.

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