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Reflections on the Second Sunday of Lent

By Lola Wells

The readings for
this Sunday:

Genesis 12:1-4a

2 Timothy 1:8b-10

Matthew 17:1-9

I couldn't sign the paper. My right arm simply would not move. I thought I was through the worst of it. I had resigned my job, closed my apartment, sold, given away or put into storage all my worldly possessions except for those few things I wanted to take with me. I had said good-by to friends, had a drunken party with my car pool of 11 years and said good-by and good-by again to my family. I had in my purse a one-way plane ticket to a Benedictine Monastery in MN, 600 miles from the love and security of family, friends and professional life. But I couldn't sign the paper to sell my car!

Yes, I am well acquainted with the story of Sarah and Abram. It is a story of invitation and promise. The invitation is to leave the security of what is known and go toward what is unknown. YHWH promised Abram and Sarah that he would use them to found a great nation. A strange promise to a woman past child-bearing-age married to a man too old to father a child, or so human perception goes. I had the same invitation, and, according to my perception, I thought I understood the promise - I was going to be a monk!

Why go? I can't speak for Sarah and Abram. I can tell you why I went. I had always been hesitant to grab onto a dream, and this time I seemed to have the courage to do it. This courage did not come from me. It was YHWH/Jesus who both called me and empowered me to answer the call. This is the message in II Timothy. YHWH/Jesus saved me, calls me, and empowers me to keep to faith's journey. Jesus calls me to defeat death and vindicate life. That is a powerful statement, but it is my job assignment in this life. YHWH/Jesus empowers me to engage in kingdom work, to seek peace and pursue justice - in my life and community and world.

What is the promise? As he roams through the Gospels and Acts, Peter is one of my favorite characters. He always thinks he has it figured out, but it is not until sometime after the Resurrection that he gets it right. Here on the Mount of Transfiguration Peter does what I spent a lot of time doing in religious life - babbling and building. I thought the promise was the place and the monastic way of life, and I was hell bent on making it work. My dream was to become a monk; YHWH/Jesus’ promise was that I would find the Holy in myself, in others and in the world's devastations. When I have the holy desire to reach out to YHWH/Jesus, when I have the holy desire to reach out to the devastations that surround me it will be YHWH/Jesus who will tell me not to be afraid. And when, like Peter, I open my eyes what I see is Jesus, only Jesus.