I think that the time of Lent is meant to disturb us a bit, to jar our thinking and imagining beyond what we now know and affirm, into an unknown possibility.  Some small stone, or even an incredibly large boulder, could be moved out of the way.  Then a leap of faith, like a bolt of lightning out of a tomb, might catapult us into a resurrection!

(Collage created by Nancy Kellond, retreat with Christ UMC, Woodlands, Texas)

Increasingly disturbing and unsettling is the polarization everywhere around us.  Richard Rohr, in his meditation entitled “Trinity and the Law of Three”, speaks of a “binary system”, two things, this or that.  It is a linear view of a single plane and perspective.  There are always two sides, along with some wild hope of unity somewhere in between.  He mentions God as known in the Trinity…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.  This is a “ternary system”, composed of three parts.  And when the three parts come together, they form a fourth entity, the Trinity.  He uses the illustration of a braid.  Three strands come together and form a braid, something new.

God, as Trinity, is a relationship.  This community transcends the boundaries of two thoughts or opinions into an unleashed possibility of places to connect in spirit and in truth.  Could this be a resurrection?

My grandchildren have discovered the joy of using their creativity to take trash and form something new.  This photo is an example of the “traps” they made out of stuff in the recycling bin.

Travis’ creation on the left is an “alien trap”. Notice he uses love as the inviting attraction for the foreigner.  Out of Callie’s imagination emerged the “Leprechaun trap” as seen on the right.  A lollipop stairway is the lucky lure into a new home of happy faces.

My heart says this is not about two options for a trap.  This is an illustration of what two young creative minds can come up with beyond the predicted normality of childhood play.  Creativity is a gift from God, the Creator.  Our world, our Universe, is in need of creative thinking, an open mind to a “ternary system”, unbound, and set free to the possibility of a resurrection beyond the truths we hold so tightly clenched in our fists.  God has a way of doing a new thing.  Lent is about getting us dressed, making us ready for an Eastering!

nk

Pondering…

What would it mean for us to think beyond two viewpoints into endless possibility?

How are you nurturing the Creative God in you?