March was a month of patience for my family.
First of all, this is because we’ve had a house full of literal patients. First, it was me and my sons. All of us tested positive for COVID in early March and were quarantined for a whole week (thankfully, with mild symptoms). Then, it was my wife and my sons. They tested positive for the flu in late March and were quarantined for another whole week (unfortunately, with fairly serious symptoms). As I write this we are all on the mend, thanks be to God. But it was a difficult month of being patients and learning patience.
In the midst of this, we have also tried to practice Sabbath during the season of Lent. Sabbath, you likely know, is a day of rest that honors the Lord. While we have dipped our toes in the waters of Sabbath over the years, my family and I have never made a formal Sabbath commitment. But we felt God leading us to do so this year for the 40 days of Lent. So, starting March 4, we have been “shutting down” on Friday nights for a solid 24 hours. We cycle laundry, go to the dump, pre-cook meals, clean the house, and remove notifications from our phones and other devices by 5pm on Friday so we can simply enjoy family time until 5pm on Saturday. We try not to be legalistic about it – after all, Jesus tells us that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” – so if we have to throw a load in the wash or run an errand, we do so. But by and large, we try and spend that time in rest, play, and worship together. Which, yes, also requires patience.
The root of the word “patience” is “suffering.” And the root of the word “suffer” is “endure” or “bear.” To have patience, then, is to endure or to bear hardship as it comes, in whatever form. Such hardship could be as denying yourself email or TV for a day. It could be something larger, like the sickness of children. Or it could be something even more dire than that – things we shudder to name and that impact entire communities, as we have experienced recently in Sylva. We learn patience when we move through such times with the twofold recognition that we can’t do it on our own, and thus that we are wholly dependent on God’s grace. Indeed, patience is a fruit of the Spirit for this very reason.
The good news of Lent is that our patience leads us somewhere – to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the cross, and, beyond that, to the beauty of the empty tomb and the victory of Easter. Our suffering and endurance opens us up to the good news of Jesus. This is why the early Christians talked about Sabbath as the “eighth day,” a day signaling that God’s new creation has now begun in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it’s why one of those early Christians, Paul the Apostle, was able to pen those triumphant words: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I hope you will join us in worship and life together this April as we continue to make our way down the dusty road of discipleship. In these difficult days, let’s pray for the Spirit to grow patience in us, let’s look out for each other, and let’s remain confident that the risen Lord Christ leads the way.
See you Sunday,
Blake
