Second Sunday of Lent
Courage to Listen and Wait
Abram was enveloped by a deep, terrifying darkness. Peter, John, and James enter a cloud that casts a shadow over them and they become frightened. Abram is led out of darkness by “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch.” Peter, James, and John glimpse the brilliant face and dazzling clothes of their friend and leader, Jesus, who is conversing with Moses and Elijah. It is a glorious conversation. They want to stay with him. The shadowing cloud is a reminder that the mountaintop where truth is revealed is not a place to stay. Their call, and ours, is to “listen to him.” That call requires that we bring the revelation that Jesus is God’s chosen one to all of humankind.
Most of us are able to name many fears that possess us today—the fear of war in Ukraine and what is happening to separated families and the loss of home and possessions, the ongoing fear of the coronavirus, the fear of divisive politics that deny dignity to human beings, the fear in abusive relationships, the fear of failure in risk-taking.
During our Lenten Mission this week, Mark Hart invited us to courage, to keep walking forward in the midst of fear, to let the Lord be our light and salvation. (Watch night one here and night two here.) Reflect on the words of Psalm 27 that we pray this Sunday:
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?
The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid?
Hear, O Lord, the sound of my call; have pity on me, and answer me.
Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
Your presence, O Lord, I seek.
Hide not your face from me; do not in anger repel your servant.
You are my helper; cast me not off.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.
We ask for courage. We ask to grow in our capacity to listen and to wait. 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 to new creation, to conversion, and to transfiguration.