Second Sunday of Lent
Listen to Him
How is your Lent going? What is different for you about this year’s observance of Lent? Have you left anything familiar and taken the risk to become “new” in any way? Our readings for this 2nd Sunday of Lent suggest some possibilities for change and newness.
Abram and Sarai leave everything they have ever known and venture into unknown territory. Risk and uncertainty compel them to steadily trust in God’s promise to bless them in countless ways. They listen and act.
Likewise, Paul writes to Timothy, reminding him that he has received a gift from God that must be “stirred into flame.” Teaching the words and example of Jesus means rejection and hardship at times. Nevertheless, God gives grace to live a holy life, to live and love with passion for God’s will. Timothy and his companions listen and act.
Finally, Jesus takes three of his favorites to the mountain-top, there to hear God’s voice and to experience brilliant, almost blinding light. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Knowing their fear, Jesus comes down and touches them saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.”
How are we experiencing God’s radiant light? Do we feel the warmth, the brilliance? To “rise” means to be engaged in listening to what God is asking of us. And we probably are craving the removal of the many fears that possess us—the fear of the coronavirus, the fear of divisive politics, the fear of conflicts and wars throughout the world, the fear of abusive relationships, the fear of failure in our risk-taking.
We ask for steadfast light in our lives. We ask that we be purified of all that keeps us from experiencing the luminous beauty of light. May the sparks of fire become brilliant flames of love in our midst. And may we listen and act trusting that God leads us too to new creation, to conversion, and to transfiguration.