Parallel Seasons
The season of Lent is a season of repentance and self-examination. It is a time of preparation and discipline. It comes every year just like the other liturgical seasons. However, the word lent is an Ole English word that means spring, which also comes every year, and after a long winter it feels like resurrection.
Resurrection is a word that is associated with Easter, and we associate Easter with spring far more than we associate Lent with spring. That might be because Lent starts in the winter and is usually coming to completion in the spring. It is as if the liturgical seasons and the climatic seasons are overlaid upon one another but are not completely aligned.
Even with the lack of full alignment, the climatic seasons of winter and spring still help us understand the liturgical seasons of Lent and Easter. The winter was dead and dark and challenging. It required a great disciple to endure. Lent required us to die to self, to reflect on the dark sides of ourselves. We were challenged and it took discipline to endure. The spring brings us life, and light. It brings us warmth and relief. Plants and flowers are blooming around us. Easter brings us new life and light. Our hearts begin to warm up to the reality of a God who loves us, who delivers us, who is faithful, and who will always come through no matter how dismal our situation appears to be.
It feels so good to have the ‘winter of our discontent’ behind us, and to return to the spring of our youth. It’s time to allow our hearts to open to the joy of Easter and resurrection.
— Pastor Gary
