Dear Friends,
I forgot what month we were in the other day. Coming off a hectic week and preparing to preach, I found myself suddenly thinking that I needed to buy my wife a Valentine’s Day present. Except… it’s March. Throw this past weekend’s time change on top of this particular brand of disoriented fatigue, and the result is that I’ve been saying one of my favorite phrases a little more often recently: Time Is Fake.
To be fair to both me and chronology, time is far from straight-forward or concrete. Like many things, it’s an invented system that we’re bound to, one with some markers in the world, but a lot of imposed and cultural meaning. If I were an astrophysicist or similar, I could further complicate time, but yo know what I mean. That’s sufficient for our purposes. Why, then, at the same time, would I point to time as a blessing?
“The Good for Nothing Tree”
In this week’s Gospel, we encounter Jesus making the sort of fraught declarations that characterize the time shortly before the crucifixion, warning the crowds about those who died terrible deaths. “Were they more serious sinners than you are? Had they done worse things?” Certainly not, Jesus assures his listeners. Not having suffered such ends yet does not mean they are immune to it. It just means their time hasn’t come yet. Jesus is giving them time and space to repent of their sins.
To drive home this idea, Jesus turns to one of the less commonly discussed Parables: that of the fig tree. The fig tree has not borne fruit, and the landowner wants to cut it down, but his gardener appeals patience. “Give it another year to bear fruit. It might yet do so.” We are so like this tree, situated in the in-between, in the not-yet of our faith. We could still be a good-for-nothing tree, or we might bare good fruit.
In a moment of almost-perfect timing, we’re being blessed with a new book by the brilliant scholar but also extraordinary children’s book author Amy-Jill Levine. The author of other favorites on the Parables like “Who Counts?” and “The Marvelous Mustard Seed,” Levine and frequent collaborator Sandy Eisenberg Sasso have coauthored a new children’s book about this troublesome tree. Titled “The Good for Nothing Tree,” the book is a lesson in patience and emphasizes how we all grow at our own rates and in our own ways. When we are inpatient, we can miss out on the very best things. You’ll want this for your own library!
Preparing for Holy Week
I know we’re only headed into the third Sunday in Lent, but if you’re (a) someone who works in a church or (b) someone who simply needs to do more than basic turn on the printer prep work, you’re going to want some time to get ready for those busy days. So, what’s on your radar?
Palm Sunday
If, somehow, you don’t have your (free) palm coloring pages from Illustrated Ministry yet, you can grab those here!
Go on a nature walk! We are moving towards rebirth and Easter. Go on a walk and look for signs of those new beginnings like flowers beginning to buds or the sound of bird song.
Plan an Easter Surprise! Is there someone in your family, neighborhood, or congregation you’d like to surprise on Easter morning? Take a cue from the empty tomb that lies before us to plan a surprise. Maybe you’ll deliver a spring plant to their doorstep or fill their yard with Easter Eggs. Maybe you’ll make cards celebrating their presence in your life.
Maundy Thursday
Some churches offer a Maundy Thursday service for children, but others don’t. Whether or not you have access to one, you can live out many of the key traditions together at home.
Wash each other’s feet! This is the most well-known part of Maundy Thursday worship, and it’s easy to set up so that children can lead the practice. Take a cue from Montessori-style setups and create a space where it’s okay if water gets on the floor, where children can reach what they need, and where they are able to demonstrate not just responsibility, but most importantly, care.
Make your space special: My favorite part of Maundy Thursday worship in church is the stripping and washing of the altar. Look at the space where you normally eat together. If there is normally a table cloth or placemats, remove them and put them in the wash. Prepare the table simply. If your table it normally more plain, consider setting it with simple, but nicer materials than you might usually. The key is to make the space different.
One thing at a time friends! We’ll tackle the rest of the Triduum next week.
Peace,
Bird