It's Wednesday today. In one week it's Ash Wednesday. It begins again. Atheism for Lent.
In 2022, I signed up for Atheism for Lent (AFL) for the first time. I am not sure what I expected or even what I was looking for at the time. These were my first thoughts into the journey of what is AFL.
"It seems that most of my inspiration, lately, comes from my time in the hot tub. Last night, as I ceremoniously said good bye to "God", I noticed that there was a very grey sky. No poofy clouds as such... just one big cloud cover of dismal grey. There I was, awaiting some sort of symbolic entrance into the "Dark Night of the Soul" and not even a dark night was there. Just some smokey like substance I couldn't even participate in."
Three years ago, I was invited into something. I had no idea just how much of that something would open up a different world and different direction for me. What started with a dismal grey cloud became a beautiful night sky that was filled with beautiful stars that were not just some cosmic mysteries, but eventually became my family. I had lost something and someone but it was in losing that something and someone, I discovered that one thing never left me. That one thing meets me on those nights I'm in the hot tub looking up at the stars. That one thing carries me throughout my day. That one thing still doesn't have a label for me, and I am perfectly okay with that. I am perfectly okay with not putting boundaries around my existence anymore. There is freedom in that. There is joy. There is love.
I came back to AFL for a few reasons. I did two years (2022 and 2023) and then took a break from AFL in 2024. Each of my lenten journeys in those three years is recorded in this blog. Lent has become a time for reflection, introspection, discovery, awareness, connecting and maybe even change. Lent invites me into spring. I was born in the season of Lent, I was married in the season of Lent. Lent is Spring and all the energy that Spring brings with new life is found within the season of Lent.
Lent ends on Good Friday and I still don't need Easter on this journey. I am okay ending with the loss and staying with it. That has become my reality in so many ways. I don't get a resurrection story with the losses in my life, so why have one during the season of Lent.
I am anticipating the beginning of AFL next Wednesday. I am excited for the community that comes with the journey. I think the community is what makes this journey so valuable. All of life is lived in community, so our journeys of discovery are also best lived in community. I am grateful for all the people that come along on this journey and I will listen to them as much as I will listen to the material given us.
Thank you Dr. Peter Rollins for giving us all this opportunity to spend this season in this space together. You have given us all a gift that keeps on giving.
(The cross at the beginning of this post is made up from words taken from each of my blog posts from the last three years.)
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