The idea of a caterpillar emerging during these early spring days is wondrous all by itself. The entire Northern Hemisphere has spent the last several months wrapped in a cocoon of darkness. Now, the grass, trees, flowers begin to emerge in all of their splendor. It should not be lost on any of us that this is the same for the Lenten time leading to Easter.
It is important to understand Lent from a variety of thoughts. Yes, it is a time of self-examination, repentance and reconciliation. It is not, however, a dark and dreary time. It is like the early spring, a time of growth in the cocoon of Lent directed at emerging with Christ on Easter and being reborn. He was wrapped in the cloak of death (to borrow from James Finley) and emerged as pure light and life.
Do you realize that we too are able to emerge as pure light and life? We all spin our own cocoons you know. We usually take years to wrap ourselves in our fears, failures, losses and guilt and then so many never emerge! Salvation is that moment when you realize you are reborn daily in Christ, that we can emerge from our self-designed cocoons and be the light that this world needs.
In recent years, the church as the body of believers (not a particular denomination) has become the emergent church. The thinking is that the church re-emerges about every 500 years as a new version of the body of Christ. The last emergence was called the Reformation. We most certainly need to re-emerge. This time as the mystical body of Christ that opens its arms wide to all of God’s wondrous children and all of Creation. It is only then that the church universal will emerge as the pure light Bride of Christ.
TMM