A Lenten Reflection by Mahala Miller
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
I enter this season of lent without any desire to engage in deep contemplation or slow down. Personally, I am in a season of grief and uncertainty. Then, there are the challenges we face as a nation in this moment of widespread injustice and pain. It feels too hard to sit in the now, so I find myself resisting the Lenten call.
When I was an adolescent, I experienced a mental health emergency that required hospitalization. At the time, I was caught up in the pressures of being a straight-A student with a full course load of advanced-placement classes. I was devastated that my parents and healthcare providers forced me to spend several months in treatment. I resisted the call to stop, wait, and heal then, too.
Despite my resistance, my parents and doctors insisted that I spend time away from my responsibilities. Healing my mind and body required rest, contemplation, and self-examination. I had to learn how to nurture myself rather than harm my body. I am aware that access to this care was an immense privilege. More than a decade later I am also awed that my parents and healthcare providers heard my call and answered it when so many people’s shouts of pain go unanswered. That was holy.
As I completed treatment and prepared to re-enter high school my youth minister led a small blessing ceremony for me. I sat in a circle, surrounded by church members who had loved and guided me since I was a baby. We closed the ceremony with a laying on of hands. This was a physical reminder that I had the warm, healing presence of my community elders alongside me during this challenging transition. I was not alone.
Too often, we focus on our individual lives and experiences, especially people like me who are white and middle-class. Even if we consider the pain of our own bodies, we often ignore the ways that we are part of one social body, whether we refer to that as our community, our society, or as the body of Christ.
Perhaps it is easier to come together in joy and celebration, whether at Jubilee Sunday or on Easter. However, church connects us amidst the pain and uncertainty, too. Worshipping together is an opportunity for physical co-presence, as we raise our voices together in song or pass the peace. We do not face the call of lent or of this historical moment alone, rather, we answer together as the body of Christ. As a community, we can reach out in support, listen for each other’s pain, and help one another overcome resistance to the Lenten call to stop, wait, and heal.