I love to travel. I love everything about it—the planning, the anticipating, the exploring, and the inevitable learning about places new to me. I even embrace the unexpected snafus that often happen on trips (most of the snafus anyway). But what I have come to realize in my many decades of traveling all over the world is that arriving at the destination was rarely the high point of these adventures. My strongest memories come from how the journey unfolds.
Lent, the 40 days before Easter, is often referred to as a journey, moving us closer and closer to the cross. Journeys, like trips, take time. They involve changes to our regular daily patterns, and often require a bit of planning. However, journeys are more than just a trip to a new destination or weekend getaway. They too have a beginning and an end, but a journey focuses on what comes in between. Journeys are not as much about getting to a destination as they are what happens on the way there, and how we are changed as a result.
The words from these few verses in Hebrews give us a glimpse into what is distinctive about a Lenten journey. As we move closer and closer to the cross, we hear first and foremost that this journey is not one we take alone. The great cloud of witnesses has taken this journey before, accompanies us now, and will surround us as our journey continues. This great cloud of witnesses does more than cheer us on from the sidelines, it makes it possible for us to stay on course, step by step, all the while lightening our load from the burdens we carry and the sin that clings so closely.
Journeys like this have many moments of distractions and doubts. By keeping our eyes on Jesus, pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who endured the cross, disregarded its shame, endured hostility for the sake of joy, we may not grow weary or lose heart.
We can because he did.
We can because he does.
Jesus is not the destination.
A life with Jesus is the journey.
What has your journey been like this Lenten season? What burdens have you been carrying that can be lightened by such a great cloud of witnesses? How has focusing on the one who sits at the right hand of God, shaped you?
Dr. Kristine Stache
Associate Professor of Missional Leadership
Vice President for Strategy and Innovation
Wartburg Theological Seminary
