Thursday, February 2, 2012

There is much value in Liturgy... but...

Lately I've caught my mind wandering to the existence and practice of liturgies and traditions in the Church. Partly I think because I've been realizing how little I really know about the liturgical calendar and when all the Christian traditional celebrations are. Growing up I had never been part of a church that put a heavy emphasis on following the liturgical calendar strictly... all I really knew of was Christmas, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter (and Thanksgiving of course).

There is something interesting I've found... Even though the liturgies are set to dates on the Calendar, the liturgical seasons do not quite line up with the Seasons of nature. Honestly, think about advent and Christmas, the coming of new life and a new year; yes it lines up loosely with what is established as the new year date... but if you really just pause to think about it, it is far from lined up with the rebirth of life in nature with the coming of spring.

This thought process got me wondering about what God is telling me in this time of winter being gone but spring being yet to come, this sort of lull, and as well as what winter should mean to us on a deeper level. I mean, what does the season of winter do anyway? It's cold, it kills plant life, it kills many animals; it is all together rather harsh and unlikable. A dear friend of mine complains about the winter weather all the time. And on a certain level I agree with her. However, being thick-skinned and able to endure the cold, I think by sheer exposure and curiosity I have developed a deep fondness for the season. I used to chalk it up to my somewhat masochistic tendencies, or my missing the snow since I had spent the last 10 winters before the last in Florida where snow can only be seen on the coldest night of winter and from the upper levels of city skyscrapers. But looking back, even then I enjoyed every bit of winter I could get. Walking outside in the 30-40 degree weather in Florida's coldest winter nights, or even laying out under my tree star gazing in the same weather.

So then what is it about winter that I love so much? What drives me to go outside for a 20 minute walk in the cold night air when I can't seem to think straight, understand my feelings, or even gather my thoughts? I think, today, I've begun to realize what it is.

Winter reminds me of my utter dependency on, need, and desire for God.

It came upon me while walking around campus this afternoon. I was looking up at the trees and the beautiful silhouetting that they were transformed into by the sun peering barely out and over the edge of a cluster of thick but somewhat translucent clouds. Right then and there I realized I really love the way the trees look during the winter. Why? They're dead and barren, right? There's no green but only brown... and yet I love them? I came to the realization that I loved them for their symbolic meaning.

But what exactly do I mean by their symbolic meaning? I'm going go off on a slight but notably important tangent. Just now I saw a couple and their toddler getting ready to go outside into the chill of winter, so of course the parents need to put the child's outer wear on him. What I saw next was exactly what my soul was searching for to put into words the way which the dead winter trees reminded me of my dependency on God.

The trees are bare in the winter (given the exception of evergreens of course). There was one overpowering image and thought in my head as I looked up at the bare tree branches stretched out toward the beautiful blue and grey sky with the sun just out of reach. Instead of branches I saw hands, I saw thousands and millions of hands reaching up toward the heavens, reaching in hope and waiting for the coming of spring, during which new life will spring forth to clothe them anew with fresh, beautiful, green leaves.

Just like the father putting the toddler's sweater on, with the child reaching his arms up clumsily but humbly in anticipation of being clothed, so too does the sun shine down on the trees, melting away snow while the trees reach up toward the sun, their life giver, and await the clothing of leaves. This is exactly as we are to be before the the Lord in how we present ourselves. Often times we assume we are big kids and ready to clothe ourselves and perhaps we get the clothes on but perhaps we also don't realize the shirt is backwards or the buttons are out of order.
          “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
           “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34
 The winter trees and chill remind me of how much I need God. So much of our lives, beyond just clothing and shelter, are in God's hands. So come before Him like a toddler, lifting hands up high like winter tree branches, and be willing to wait in humility for his grace and providence.

- JerBear