March 1st, 2026 -Second Sunday of Lent
“Ring the bells that still can ring/
Forget your perfect offering/
There is a crack, a crack in everything/
That’s how the light gets in.”
~Leonard Cohen, Anthem
Dear Friends,
In the gospel of this second Sunday of Lent, we hear about the Transfiguration in which Jesus appears in magnificent light conversing with Moses and Elijah. It was so great an experience that our good friend Peter wants to build tents to capture it. I know I would want to do that as well. It must have been so beautiful, a sign of the continuing presence and power of God in the world he created.
But Scripture scholars reflect that it occurs to prepare the disciples for the agony of the Crucifixion. You cannot have the “glory” of the Transfiguration without the “gory” of the Cross, no joy without sorrow, no healing without pain, no victory without struggle, no life without death!
Life is always a little cracked, and sometimes we experience really big cracks, those experiences which break our hearts and fill us with pain, loneliness and anxiety. Thank God for his Son Jesus, who in his journey reminds us that the darkness will never ultimately win, that the passing darkness will always lead and help us to the light, that even in our struggles, light can break forth even when things seem most dark. When we walk close to Jesus, and like Moses, Elijah and Peter have a good conversation with him, he will remind us he is with us always, even to the end of the world.
Have a blessed Lenten week, looking for light, being the light, enduring the dark, and being close to Jesus as he moves from Agony to Ascension!
