Dear friends,

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of composting. I toyed with starting to do it in New Jersey, but we were afraid that the smells of food waste outside might attract our neighborhood bears. We saw enough of them without putting out bait!

I know – it seems like a weird thing to be fascinated by. But I’ve always been drawn to the idea of not only reducing the waste I generate by living through my daily routines, but even more by the idea of finding new value in that waste. What was waste – through a process that, because of my ignorance, seems to me to be mysterious – gets transformed into something new that is beneficial in new ways.

As I write to you this week, we are in the final, waning days of Lent. And by the time you read this, we will be deep in the heart of the Triduum – those holiest days from Maundy Thursday, through Good Friday, and into Holy Saturday that give us our last moments of preparation for Easter and Resurrection joy.

It’s a strange time to write and reflect, because our practice of faith is sort of in a time that’s like mid-compost. Our old and used-up ways of looking at the world are, through a mysterious process, being reformed and transformed into something entirely new – something with new, profound value; something that will feed starving souls.

As we make our way into this, our first Easter together, I invite you to consider that. Consider the idea that God is actively working within you to break down the useless leftovers of hurtful faith traditions that you may be holding; and consider that God can, through the power of resurrection and love, transform them into something new and powerful.

That is the Easter hope and that is the promise of Resurrection.

Blessings,
Jon+