A few years ago, a wonderful comedy explored the possibility that all of us, at one point in our lives or another, could experience a “do-over” in life. In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray portrays a cynical, burnt out weather forecaster given the mundane assignment of reporting on the annual Groundhog Day festival in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania.
You know that part of the story. Punxsutawney Phil peeks out of his hole, and if he sees his shadow, hides himself again in fright, bracing for six more weeks of hard winter. In the movie, that journalist discovers that he keeps waking up to the same Groundhog Day, fated to repeat it until he gets the living of his day right. He discovers that it’s more than saying the right things or having all the right moves. If tomorrow will be any different than today, then we need transformed character and a radically changed posture toward life.
It’s a funny movie that raises some good questions, too. How often as the sun sets have you wished for fresh start to that same day? What would you have done, or not done, differently? What would you have said, or not said? How would you have your attitude, disposition and very spirit changed? We all hear that hindsight grants us nearly perfect vision, but our tendency is simply to retreat to our oldest, most familiar, patterns and hope for the best – over and over again. Like that groundhog which peers out from her nest and sees her shadow, it’s easier to retreat to the isolating familiarity of hibernation until the chill lifts. There’s more to life than that!
February 18 marks the beginning of Lent, a traditional time of preparation for Easter. In Lent, Christians are invited to take an inventory of life and consider how God wants to work that life into what it was meant to be all along. We fast look at our material lives and ask how our consumption masks a deeper hunger. We pray and examine our spiritual lives and ask what barriers exist between us and a fuller communion with God. We seek reconciliation as we assess our relationships in family, church and community and ask what fences need mending. Life is hard. If you take an honest look at yours, you might only see a long shadow stretching from your feet to the horizon. Shadows inspire fear, and fear leads us to burrow back down to ponder what could have been if only we had done things differently.
Instead of retreating in guilt and regret to our old ways of coping, there is the possibility of something new. The guiding theme of Lent comes from Psalm 51:1: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” No matter what things appear to be now, God invites you to be transformed at your core, in your heart, by Christ. Our lives, and all we touch, can transform tomorrow into something quite different than today when we are instruments fully in the grasp of God. This is true for you, for me, for our church, our community and even our world…if we seek it.
It occurs to me that the only way to avoid focusing upon the long shadows of life is to turn toward the warm rays of the sun, look to the light, and to leave the shadows behind. This is my invitation to you. As we enter together into this time of examination, confession and hope, we do it as we face the rising Son. There are no shadows to fear there, only the warm rays of love which bring a hope that never fails.
Grace and Peace,