I took a class in January titled, “Death and Resurrection: Risk as a Faithful Practice of the Church.” The title, content, and facilitation of the class were provocative and unusual to say the least. The primary class goal was: “To engage students in biblical and theological reflection on what faithful risk looks and feels like.” It became clear to me rather quickly, this class would be unordinary, and would stretch and challenge me in many ways.
Risk-taking is something we typically try to avoid. Through the assigned readings, class discussions, and unconventional activities—like rock climbing—I realized that taking risks and acting faithfully might be two sides to one coin. We take risks and act faithfully every day. When we leave our homes each day, we have no idea what we might encounter on the other side of the door. Getting into our cars and driving is another risk most of us engage in daily. Eating in a restaurant is definitely risky business, because we don’t really know what’s going on in the kitchen. Life is risky and a faith journey.
Individually and collectively, the disciples took life-altering risks when they were called to leave behind everything they had ever known. They left their families, friends, professions, and traditions to follow Jesus. Jesus’ entire life on Earth was risky business. From the very beginning, Jesus’ life was on the line as he was a threat to kings, traditions, cultures, and religious leaders. Knowing that a perfect sacrifice was the only way to redeem humanity back to God, Jesus knew that death and resurrection were the risks he was born to fulfill. There it is. Death and resurrection are the way to living a faithful, God-pleasing life.
Traditionally, during the Lenten season, we give up or set aside habits or things we perceive as hindrances to spiritual growth and living faithfully. This year, rather than giving something up or setting aside a habit, perhaps the 40 days of Lent might be a time of genuine and deep contemplation and spiritual discernment, a time to stretch beyond our comfort zones, a time of transformation. The 40 days of Lent might be a time of dying for everything that keeps us from living more fully, more faithfully into the person God created us to be—as individuals and as the body of Christ.
One risk we are all invited to take corporately this Lenten season is to come together and participate in reading and discussing White Awake: An Honest Look at What it Means to be White by Daniel Hill (see page 3). Each of the five Sundays in Lent, the Facing Systemic Racism Ministry Team will lead a book study examining Hill’s awakening to the reality of white culture—finding his deepest sense of identity in Christ, breaking free of his implicit racial bias, and working to help others recognize the same within themselves. As we engage in the risky business of prayerful and faithful study and self-examination, may we put to death everything in our lives, comportment, relationships, and Christian witness that are not Christ-like and risk being transformed and resurrected to
life anew.
—Pastor Patrice