Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!
—Langston Hughes, excerpt from “As I Grew Older”
Langston Hughes once wrote of a dream blocked by shadows and a dream pressed down by walls that felt immovable. His cry feels honest for this season. There are real walls in our world. Real shadows. Rather than pretending the shadows are not there, Lent is about daring to believe that light can still break through.
What is the good news that still holds us? That was the question we asked last month. This month, I see the good news breaking through all around us.
I see it at tables where neighbors are treated with dignity and beauty. I hear it in the halls at church where honest people are wrestling courageously with faith and justice. I glimpse it in children creating art, youth building friendships, and adults practicing prayer that reshapes the heart.
Already during Lent, I am reminded that good news is luminous and it multiplies. Whether you are adding morning prayer to your day or a Lenten conversation to your agenda, I hope you are anticipating transformation to take place within you and within us. Remember that God is still shattering the shadows into “a thousand lights of sun.” And somehow, by grace, we get to participate in this holy work.
Where is God inviting you to break through the shadows this month? Where is God asking you to carry light, so you can bring forth good news for yourself and your neighbor?
May we hold on to the good news
and may God’s grace hold us as we
continue our Lenten journey.
In Christ,
—Pastor Michael