During college I spent one summer digging a hole in a Galilean hillside. Our archaeological team scraped and sifted the dirt inch by inch until the trench reached three meters deep. I remember sitting in the cool, earthy shade at the bottom of the pit and marveling at the clearly defined layers of earth exposed in the wall across from me. Over 2,000 years of history were revealed in layers of dirt accumulating three meters deep over time.
Our souls and our common life in a community are formed by accumulation over time. Different influences create layers and patterns in our psyche. We accumulate values, beliefs, patterns of thinking, habits, reflexes, assumptions, anxieties, fears, pockets of resilience and buoyancy, guilt, shame, scars and wounds. Sometimes we feel very coherent and clear in relationship with what makes up our soul and sometimes we feel chaotic, confused and unclear. At times we feel like a clear flowing stream and at other times like a puddle of mud.
Lent is a time to seek clarity, integration, and coherence in our inner life and our community life. God’s mercy and love give us the gentle light we need to look at ourselves with compassion and sort through the layers in search of new integrity. Spiritual practices help us exchange unconscious reaction and reflex for conscious virtue and healthy, life-giving habits. We learn the joy of leaving behind our shadows and emerging with our best selves into the delight of God.
We will teach tools for clarity this Lent during Sunday Forum Hour. Please join us for three sessions I will teach on Values Clarification. We will seek clarity for our individual values and for the values of the St. Martin's community as a whole. Our 125th Year is a good time to look at our corporate life in the light of God’s mercy and love, celebrating the gifts, confessing our faults and lifting up the values and virtues that will guide our life in Christ together.
