Through Stained Glass: Lent Word a Day -- Glory, Good, Awake

Yesterday's word was awake.

Today's word is good.

Lent is a season of awakening. This year, it is a season of paying more attention to the goodness in life.

What's that line from St. Irenaeus?

The glory of God is [a human] fully alive …

So good.

Be yourself. You are God's beloved. Nothing separates us from God's claim. The Apostle Paul says that in Romans.

What brings you to life? What parts of yourself do you deny because of perceived expectations? What lies do you need to stop listening to become fully alive? What in you is longing to say 'yes?' If you need to say 'no' to something to come alive – to be your most authentic self – then say 'no.'

Did you know there's a backend to that quote above? Yup, there is. It goes like this:

…but the life of [a human] is the vision of God.

Life is a gift. We are because the Divine – God – the Universe – is what's happening. What is happening is Love. Two of our own shared a sentiment along these lines this week. I can't stop thinking about it.

"War, racism, economic injustice, and the climate crisis all stem from the illusion of separateness. But the truth is that we are not separate." Jack Kornfield wrote these words.

The Trickster tempted Jesus to separate himself from the world in the wilderness. Each time, three times to be exact, Jesus resisted the temptation – recognize how he is a part of it, creation. Jesus, we might consider, moved toward his humanity – our humanity – suffering. He left the wilderness and began his ministry, which consisted of tending to those who suffered the most while inviting those who explicitly or implicitly inflicted the injustices to rethink what it is that brought about such conditions.

I think of Isaiah on Ash Wednesday – and the line about "the life of [a human] is the vision of God" – and how we are the ones we've been waiting for. The call of God is to all of us. To all creation. To move towards one another – bearing witness to the suffering of creation [including humans] – and undoing whatever it is that's feeding us the lie that we are not each others' keeper.

When I awoke this morning – the ground was covered in three inches of snow. It made me smile. I became happy. It meant I had one more opportunity to go into the woods and see my more-than-human friends in a way I may not until eight or nine months from now.

I saw Robins being Robins. I stood beneath a Grandmother Oak, losing her leaves. I fell to my knees and took a picture of four White Tail Deer. Then, Two Canadian Geese being Canadian Geese.

Glory in creation being creation. Goodness in the muted breath of the woods. Today, I awoke to what Paul was saying in today's epistle when he wrote, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"

I'm part of the world. The world is God's temple. I can't be separated from God's glory or goodness. Fully alive, awake to the vision of Love – binding us together, moving us towards each other.

Step by step. Glory.

Breath by breath. Good.

Morning by morning. Awake.