Lenten Reflection - Day 7, March 8

While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Mark 14:22-25

Additional Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:17-28

I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland. (This is obviously a fictional tale, as there have been no such “winter wonderlands” in Kentucky this year!) Six inches of snow had fallen during the early hours of the day. Now, at 6:30 am the land outside my window had blue and lavender casts. It looked serene; it was magnetic!

I found myself being drawn throughout the day back to the window: watching, waiting, almost as if I was expecting something, anything, a change to have occurred between each visit. By noon the sun was high in the sky, shining radiantly and reflecting brilliantly off the snow. The blues of the morning landscape had gone, replaced now by the shining, sparkling white crystals. Then at 4:30, late in the afternoon, the glistening and the shadows combined to create a mesmerizing ivory blanket.

I remembered today my old Sunday School teacher’s explanation of forgiveness, that as a result of Jesus’ cross, our dirty sins will be washed away and we’ll be made “white as snow.” If you think about this image, you might understand it like I did for many years – that God’s forgiveness makes us blank. Our sins have been erased and nothing was left, just an empty white space.

But what if being made “white as snow” means more than being made clean; what if it also means being transformed into this intensely interesting, beautiful creation? A snow-covered day can teach us how we’re seen by God, washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus … pure. It can also teach us more about being the church in the world today. As followers of Jesus, having accepted God’s forgiveness, the church is to be like this brilliant reflection in a cold, dreary season of history – the kind of stuff you can’t take your eyes off!

Prayer: Father, thank you for forgiveness in Jesus. In your mercy, you take the dirty, ugly stuff of this world and you transform it into true beauty. Remind us today that snow doesn’t create any light of its own, it simply reflects. Allow us to reflect the glow of your grace and the warmth of your love into our world today. Amen.