Powerlessness
/Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves.
-from this Sunday’s collect
If there’s one idea during the season of Lent that keeps knocking at our doors, it’s the reminder that God is God and we are not God. It’s a reminder that we are really quite powerless in this world, and, as it says in a familiar childhood hymn, “We are weak but Christ is strong.” Lent reminds us that if we are to manage to live a life of faith, we must turn away from believing in our own self reliance and put our trust and our lives into God’s strong, eternal hands. The collect this Sunday is a great example when it reminds us that we have “no power in ourselves to help ourselves.” It then goes on to ask God to ‘keep us outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul.”
This collect is particularly relevant to our lives this week. You can’t turn on the radio, tv or computer without getting more and more news about the spread of the corona virus, which despite our best efforts, continues to travel and develop among us. Despite quarantines, sold-out face masks and gallons of hand sanitizer - and even the best, most advanced medical care - sometimes something as tiny as a virus can still get the better of us. I think the volume of panicky news we’re being bombarded with on this topic demonstrates our collective fear of powerlessness. We are horrified that we have so little power in ourselves to help ourselves in this situation. It is a hard truth to face: when push comes to shove, only God knows what we will be given on any particular day.
This reminds me of the words I say on the first day of the season of Lent, when I put ashes on someone’s forehead. “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It always amazes me that every person who comes to Ashes To Go responds to those words with a smile and a thank you. Thank you? I just reminded you that you are finite and that you will surely die. Thank you?
It also brings to mind the medieval monastics, who would sleep every night in the pine box that one day they’d be buried in. They did it to keep the reality of their deaths close to their minds and in their constant awareness. They knew that remembering that we are dust and to dust we shall return makes us able to seize the day and follow God courageously while we still can.
What does our society’s general fear and denial of death do to our day to day existence? Does it contribute to us taking our lives for granted? Does it keep us from getting to those things we know we need to do but keep putting off? Does it keep us from telling those we love how much they mean to us, as if this might be our last chance to say it? Does it confuse our priorities, making some things that are really not as important take precedence over the things that are? Does it trap us in our fear of what might happen instead of living into the day we’ve been given?
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
