Lent 2022: Unless a seed falls - Conjunctions and faith

Alison Watt: Still — Art+Christianity (artandchristianity.org)

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John 12:24
He saw the strips of linen lying there, as a well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. John 20:7

conjunctions and faith

In John 12 Jesus slips in advance notice of a key spiritual truth, and it almost goes unnoticed. It’s one that many writers have remarked is written into the code of the universe. It’s what Richard Rohr calls the paschal mystery of life, death and resurrection. It’s a process that we typically shy away from, maybe with good reason we may argue!

The ‘unless’ grabs me. Here we have Jesus’ ‘unless you’ and there is its cousin ‘unless I’, as seen in Thomas’s condition ‘unless I see the wound in his side’. It’s around conjunctions like ‘unless’ that we will orbit through Lent. ‘But’, ‘yes’, ‘if’, ‘only, ‘when’ are touchstones. They are present in the crux of our wrestling. Around them liminal space gathers. They are at the heart of our decision making.

There is the journey to the door, then the pausing at the threshold, making a decision; and finally, the crossing over in to the other region, or else returning to base. Barbara Hepworth, sculptor

Our journeys are punctuated by frontiers; circumstances arise which make us pause for reflection (a disappointment, an opportunity, a choice). Here, and in Jesus’s ‘Very truly I tell you’ is the encouragement, instruction, invitation and imperative to cross over. Around this space* we are confronted with real questions, and are also offered the presence of the Holy Spirit: What might this dying entail and encompass? Why is it necessary? Must I? Will it always bring resurrection?

THRESHOLD Meditation

Let’s partner such conjunctions with a meditation, one where we imagine ourselves at such a threshold and hold this space. We are present to that place of struggle, be it around a decision or a strong emotion (panic, uncertainty, hope) say. It may be useful to visit an actual site that offers a threshold (a door, a gap in a wall, a bridge) and to be in such a suggestive place, wordlessly.

First, identify a junction in your life - it may be that you are experiencing a loss, facing a threat, anticipating a choice.

Second, see yourself at this threshold. Where are you - before it, holding it, crossing it, past it?

Thirdly, stay there a while. Can you hear your specific conjunction (your ‘unless..’, your ‘but..’, your ‘if..’)? Breathe through your emotions: receiving them into your core where the Holy Spirit dwells allowing Her to sift them. Let go what seems good and right to let go of. Wait with and for Jesus until movement comes.