At the time of writing this for you all, we have only just begun the Lenten season. It has only just started to get busy for your parish clergy; be gracious to them all during this time, friends.
I find when I get particularly busy and need my brain to relax, nostalgia is a powerful tool. Personally, I turn towards the music and TV shows of my teenage/undergrad years and just let it filter in my brain for a while. If you had to see my Spotify playlist from my post-teenage years, many of you may be shocked at the amount of classic rock and metal that I listened to.
But it brings me into a safe place mentally.
We all have our safety nets: seemingly mundane or odd activities that we do because they re-centre ourselves. Whether it is the twelfth time doing the same 500-piece puzzle, or the hundredth listen through of a favourite album, there is something to be said about having a safety net.
However, when we think to what we are called to as disciples of Christ, safety nets are what we are told to avoid.
Think to the first followers of Christ: leave home and don’t turn back. Leave it all behind.
And then when Jesus was arrested, they had nowhere left to turn. They’d abandoned their old safety nets years ago, and now their new one was in federal custody.
Talk about a free fall!
As a Church, we are challenged constantly to search for the way forward and forget about our safety nets. We are called into the new and the foreign, and not to turn back. It is easy to want to turn back though. We like comfort! The same worn-out pair of shoes that would be useless in the current winter weather feel just right for any activity. We love that favourite t-shirt or sweater that has worn so thin that it would scarcely function as a rag.
Of my several guitars, my safety net is a Yamaha F310 that I’ve had for over 30 years—it’s beat up and splintered in places, but brings me back to when I was still learning my first chords.
As a Church, our safety net may be an 11am Book of Common Prayer Eucharist that we have memorized by heart. It might be the same five hymns that mean so much to us. It’s what’s familiar and comfortable.
It’s long time we got rid of our safety nets, my friends. The Church for centuries has called the faithful into uncomfortable places and yet has survived it all! The first church in the post-resurrection era lived with the constant fear of arrest, persecution, and conviction; yet it continued to press forward without looking for a safety net.
As our hearts prepare to celebrate in the resurrection of Christ, let us be willing to shed our safety nets as a Church, continue to step bravely forward, and trust that the only safety we need is the Light of the World.
