The Long Lenten Journey is Nearly Over...

Kim's post is part of our Lenten Water Project. Throughout this Lenten season our writers will be focusing on the subject of water and what that means to them. Please donate to our well-building efforts, and if you have something YOU would like to say about water, let us know and we'll post it here!

It is Holy Week, and the long Lenten journey is nearly over. We began that journey in the desert, where water is scarce and the wilderness is harsh. Still dripping from the waters of his baptism, Jesus was sent out into the desert, propelled by the same Spirit who had just come upon him in the form of a dove. He had no food, no drink, and only the devil for company. For forty days he was tempted by Evil incarnate, who did everything in his power to get Jesus to deny his identity as the beloved son of God.

Because Jesus defeated evil – not only in the desert, but on the cross – we are safe from the worst that Evil can do. During the Lenten journey, however, we come face to face with our vulnerability, beginning with an ashy cross that reminds us that we are dust. Yet God makes that journey with us, never abandoning us to hopelessness, never allowing us to be claimed by the sin that clings so closely.

Even in the desert, there are signs of hope. On the final Sunday of Lent, we heard the faint sound of water trickling. It started with the prophet Isaiah:

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.
(Is 43:18-21)

Then the psalmist replied with a song of hope:

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
(Ps. 126:1-6)

The journey is not quite over; we still must walk the path Jesus walked, to the upper room, the foot of the cross, and – thanks be to God – the empty tomb. Throughout the long journey, though, the God who causes water to spring forth in the desert is with us, reminding us that in the waters of baptism we are claimed once and for all, never to be abandoned, until we are raised on the last day and our joy will be complete.

Charles Wesley captured this whole journey in a single stanza of his hymn, “Jesus Lover of My Soul:”

Plenteous grace with Thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound;
Make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art,
Freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart;
Rise to all eternity.

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Kim Long is the Assistant Professor of Worship and Coordinator of Worship Resources for Congregations, at Columbia Theological Seminary, in Decatur, GA.