Pastor's Corner

Lent, the journey of Hope

We are focusing on Hope, as the theme for this year. “Unlocking the power of hope.”

I'll never forget the day I heard that a friend that I have known and admired for years had suffered an emotional breakdown earlier in his life.

Immediately, I felt compelled to express my concern and felt like doing something to help him. But he was embarrassed. To him, the breakdown represented the low-watermark of his past. I've discovered that my friend isn't alone. Like me and many others we often think we should mask our painful pasts lest people think less of us. But the truth is, the more we peel back the veneer, the more others' respect for us grows.

I love the way the old King James version renders the words of Isaiah: “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD; look unto the rock, whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged” (Isa. 51:1). What excellent advice!

Isaiah's words come from a context where God showered grace upon an impossible situation. The prophet is writing to Jews who could easily forget their dark and dreadful beginning. He is urging them to remember how their nation got its start. It all began through the life of one man, Abraham, who lived in the idolatrous land known as Ur of the Chaldeans. What a hellhole of paganism! Out of that dark and dreadful existence, Abraham emerged at the age of 75, along with his wife, Sarah, age 65. And from those two came Isaac, the promised son.

As we read the narrative it reveals to us that, “Abraham was only one man when I called him, but when I blessed him, he became a great nation” (Isa. 51:2). From the pit of paganism, that one man became the father of the faithful. What hope that gives to us all! None of us has a lily-white past, and before we get all obsessed with ourselves, it's a good idea to take a backward glance at “the hole of the pit” from which Christ has lifted each and every one of us. Admitting our pasts keeps us all on the same level isn’t it? — We are all recipients of grace.

The heroes of faith that we admire in the Bible have holes from which they were dug. With Moses it was murder. With Hosea it was a failed marriage. With Joseph it was a dysfunctional family. With David it was lust. With Rahab it was prostitution. Some of God's most effective and respected people have crawled out of the deepest, most scandalous holes anyone can imagine. And it was that which kept them humble, honest individuals.

Through our ministry together over the years I have seen individuals, whom God had lifted from their impossible situations (“the hole of the pit”) with his message of grace. As the result many became channels through which God made his grace evident to others. As we take Isaiah's advice and look at “the hole of the pit,” we find no place whatsoever for pride. But we do find renewed passion to communicate God's grace to a world that's lost its way.

No matter which pit we might have crawled from, Jesus’ forty days in the desert serve as a lens through which we can see our forty days of Lent in a new light. A journey of Hope, a journey to deepen, strengthen our relationship with God, and see more clearly how that relationship is played out in our daily lives.

In many ways, the very journey into the desert was a sign of Jesus’ trust in God. May we enter in this time of Lent with the same sense of trust and hope in God’s presence and graciousness? Have a great Lenten journey of Hope.

Best wishes from your friend and pastor,
Pastor Samuel King-Kabu

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Roger Kenner & Jette Blair.
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St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church - Montreal