St. Alban's Reading Room

Ash Wednesday basics...

Have you ever given a swimming lesson..or taken one?

If so, you'll remember that when the new swimmer is anxious, shivering, taking short breathes while holding every muscle taut, it's nearly impossible to float. The body as a tightened, closed ball sinks gracelessly into the water. 

But if the new swimmer is able to stand tall and spread her arms, take a deep breath or two and then calmly step into the pool at a warm, shallow place and lay back, using all the natural bouyancy of the body and the support of the water, she is able to float and breathe and then slowly move her hands. Relaxing one's muscles and stretching open one's body leads to breathing deeply and finding yourself afloat. The swimmer swims.

Grace is a lot like that...a natural bouyancy. A counter-force to the posture of tightness, closedness, denial, fear, troubled...the posture that sinks us.

There's quite a bit of talk of sin in today's worship and in Henri Nowen's moving opening words.

Henri seems to suggest that we're paralyzed by the guilt we feel over our sins. That may be true.
But if our sin is essentially a disharmony between our choices and God's hopes, I think we're more likely paralyzed by our defense of our turf, our posture of tightness and control, our self-focused denial of God's grace and distrust that God's hopes have us in their frame.

Paralyzed we sink gracelessly below the waterline.

Lent is a time to be new swimmers...looking clearly at our choices while taking deep, wholesome breaths and trusting in the bouyancy of  Grace.

Tim+