Dear Saints of the NWIM Synod,
We made it! We have turned the seasonal corner towards Spring, passing through the festival of Candlemas (Feb 2). Halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox, Candlemas is a time when some Christians mark this passage by blessing all the candles in their homes and worship spaces. Do you have a favorite candle that marks a holy space?
In baptism, there is a way that each of us is a candle in the world. "Let your light so shine before others..." goes the charge at the font. We give the newly baptized person a candle to help them remember and kindle this flame for their whole lives. February is Black History Month in the US, and so this kindling of faith for us is also a call to learning, repentance, and bold change. We are blessed to have a resource to help us stoke this fire in our hearts for ending racism: the ELCA YouTube series called Talks at the Desk. Check out the trailer here:
As your DEM, I urge you to engage this series as an educational and faith formational offering. Watch the episodes with a group from your church or with friends. Light a candle as you discuss the episode and ponder what it kindles in you.
Soon (very soon in this liturgical year), we will trace a cross of ash upon each other's brows, a fire having been kindled and then burnt out to make this ash for our entry into Lent. Remember, we say. You are earth. You will die.
In other work as your DEM, I am learning about the movement throughout the church to think ethically about land and buildings. Times when death comes for a community and it is painful, or hopeful, or both. In the foreword to a book called Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition, Willie James Jennings writes about resurrection promise even in tough circumstances. "Death the wall has now become death the door." That sentence jumped off the page for me.
We will honor death as a door when we walk through Lent together. What might we shed, or let be burned away, so that we can meet the gift of new life on the other side of this season? I believe Talks at the Desk, and it's commission to the church, can help us discern how to renounce racism in order to dream, build, and live into the beloved community that Jesus offers all creation.
Light your candles, church. Kindle the flame and be courageous. Thanks be to God for the gifts of warmth and light, of truth and justice.
Liv Larson Andrews