“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”  - Jesus, John 12:2

“Whenever Christ calls us, his call leads to death.”  - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When I think of Lent, I think of mud. 

In my very first pastoral call, I served two wonderful congregations in north-central Kansas. My wife Lisa and I lived in the country in a parsonage that sat on a gravel road.  Every year as winter would turn to spring, that road would get soft and sloppy and our cars would be constantly caked with mud.  Because the season of Lent takes place in the spring, the image of mud will forever cling to my Lenten imagination like it did to my car and my shoes in those formative years of ministry.

The softening of the Kansas gumbo also signaled that it was time for planting. The parsonage had a large garden plot that a dear fellow by the name of Charlie would help me till every spring. In that moist, freshly tilled soil my wife Lisa and I would plant potatoes, tomatoes, sweet corn, beans, peppers, and flowers; all in eager anticipation of harvest to come.

The word “Lent” comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning “Spring.” Lent is meant to be a time of spiritual renewal and rebirth that leads us to our celebration of Easter.  But in order to get to resurrection, we need to spend some time in the mud. The traditional Lenten practices of self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love are intended to till the soil of our lives and lead us from death to new life.

I’ll never forget the last time that Charlie and I stood in the freshly tilled garden soil together. We talked about his cancer and the toll it was taking on him. Just a few days later on Ash Wednesday, I traced a muddy, ashen cross on his forehead with the words: “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Those words, thick with meaning, got stuck in my throat.  Later that year, a grave was dug in the cemetery behind the church building and we placed Charlie’s body in the muddy ground in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to new life.

Jesus states that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” There is no resurrection without death. This year, we’re going to use this muddy season of Lent to reflect on those things in our lives that must die and be buried so that our lives can bear much fruit; fruit that the apostle Paul describes as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Pastor Michael Peck

Holy Cross Lutheran Church