Lent 2024

BY THE REV. SARAH FISHER

When I was a young child, I was afraid of the dark. I had a Winnie the Pooh nightlight, and at bedtime we would turn it on, keeping my fear at bay as the darkness of the world settled around me for the night. As adults, we trade in our fear of the dark for adult fears, those places of fear and brokenness that can, at times, infiltrate our lives. 

Recently I was reminded that often when we feel alone and afraid, like we are stumbling in the dark, we imagine that God is hidden and that Grace has gone away. But the deeper truth of our faith is that it is in the very darkness, in the unknown of the tomb, in the deep of the earth that God dwells and grace goes to be reborn. Nowhere is that more clear than in the mystery that stands between Good Friday and Easter Day. While we know death and resurrection in a different way than Jesus did, being human means that most of us will experience that space of walking in the darkness, unsure of where Grace has gone. The promise, the hope that undergirds us, is that Grace is never gone, but rather is being transformed, being reborn in the deep darkness. 

For many of us, one of the greatest spiritual crises we face is our relationship with money. We wonder if we will be able to retire, how we will send our children to college, and even how we will pay our monthly bills. Sometimes it feels easier to ignore these fears. But what if, in this season of Lent, we were willing to face the wilderness of our fear, to wade into the darkness of that space and invite God into that place of anxiety? Perhaps, if we took an honest assessment of where we are spiritually, as well as financially, we might discover seeds of peace growing, and the grace of hope beginning to bloom.

The Rev. Sarah Fisher is rector of St. Catherine’s, Marietta, Georgia.