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We Can See Light

We Can See Light

... sometimes the hardest part of the darkness is when you can begin to see the light ahead.

by Sheri Clifton on February 03, 2021

A year ago we had no idea what was coming as we came around the bend of mid-March straight into pandemic life. In the initial days and weeks hope was strong. We made the best of it all. It seems like every week we pivoted to do something differently than we’d ever done it before and we experienced that surge of energy to do so. We made plans for when “things return to normal” only to have to continually modify or cancel those plans as “normal” didn’t return. It wasn’t long before fears and frustrations, weariness and sadness, heartache and disappointment made hope harder to carry. Loved ones were getting sick. Loved ones were dying. Our lives were changed without our consent. With the added weight of the storms in our nation - hurricanes and wildfires, racial tensions and political turbulence, this year of pandemic has impacted each of us in different ways, but none of us has been left unaffected. We’ve had good days, bad days, great days, terrible days and all the days in between through the summer, through the fall, through the winter, and now so close to spring again. We’ve gone through the darkest part of the year. We feel the seasons changing. We experience the light of day lasting longer; hope rises once again.

Though the darkness we’ve been in is getting lighter, we aren’t quite out of the dark, yet. Last week I read that sometimes the hardest part of the darkness is when you can begin to see the light ahead. In that space you just want to get to the light so badly that it becomes even harder to wait, harder to be patient, harder to exercise self-control. And even though you can see the light, it’s hard to gauge how much further you have to go before fully emerging from the darkness.

With the arrival of the vaccines and the promise of spring, some of us are feeling more and more hopeful. We’re so tired of being patient, so weary of COVID restrictions, so eager for some sense of relief and freedom. We’re so close, but we aren’t there yet. Staying the course of the journey, exercising self-control, making choices that are good not just for ourselves but for one another - this is how we will get to the light without trampling over one another, without putting one another at greater risk, without missing what is still on our path out of this darkness.

It’s not lost on me that we are already talking about Easter. Easter is our ultimate sign of hope, harbinger of light, and promise of life. It’s also not lost on me that we still have to journey through the season of Lent before we can step into Easter. I suspect many of us wouldn’t mind skipping Lent, giving up Lent for Lent, this year. Maybe we feel like this whole year has been one long season of Lent, especially since that’s where we were when it all started. I also suspect that Lent this year may be as important as ever for us - a season to repent, reflect, and reset; to make room for renewal, restoration, and remembering who we are as God’s beloved children. It will look different for each of us, but it is available to all who are willing to make the journey.

Our sermon series this year is The Land Between: Finding God in Difficult Transitions, based on the book by Jeff Manion. I hope you’ll join with us as we move through Lent. We can journey together toward the hope, the light, the life that Easter brings.

Be encouraged,
Sheri Clifton

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