Feeling Stuck? There’s Hope.
In the wonderful movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a television weather reporter named Phil Connors. At first, we only know that he is stuck for the fourth year in a row on the same assignment in Punxsutawney, PA, watching the same groundhog come out of the same hole to signal whether winter will ever end. He views the people around him as boring losers and himself as the only interesting character in his own life. Even he is frustrated by getting nowhere. He is leading a life without growth, completion, or fulfillment.
We learn, along with Phil, that his predicament is even worse than he thought. He is locked inside Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney and cannot escape. He is stuck in time, fated to repeat the same day over and over again, facing the same people, events, and personal challenges until he finally “gets it right.”
He may not be the only one whose greatest challenge has become to make each day a little different than the day before. However you find yourself on this long journey through the pandemic, I hope you are finding moments of that. This way of living is not forever, even if it feels like it. Yates is still leaning into what is ahead — and I want to invite you to lean in with us.
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday worship on February 17. This year, the service will be child-led and live-streamed. Special home worship kits (including ashes) will be available through drive-through pick-up times at the church in the weeks ahead.
At its heart, Lent is a time to reorient our lives to the source of our life and faith. Carving this time out of our schedules every year more fully prepares us for the miraculous, grace-filled celebration of Easter resurrection. It is living out in our lives the promise of Romans 6:1: “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be resurrected with him in a life like his.”
As we come closer to trusting that God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is doing a new thing for us and the world in Jesus Christ, the closer we come to “getting it right” ourselves, I think. Have courage and remain steadfast!
Grace and Peace,