Lent is: living.
I woke up while it was still dark this morning, my body refusing to return to sleep, twisting, turning from one side to the other, pulsing with pain. So through my restless, blinking, squinting eyes, I watched the sunrise. I watched Easter slowly dawn. I remembered the darkness of the night, the empty grave that met the women, the running to and from, and to and from again. My feet tingled, tangled under the sheets. I finally crawled out of bed, peeled back a curtain, and read this prayer in the sun, slowly settling across the page, shining, silky-pale through the window and the screen: Bearing our curse, becoming sin, you loose us from both the burden of the law and from our lawlessness. You bruise the serpent’s head, and snatch us from its grip. You open the way to resurrection, shattering the gates of hell. You slay the one who held death’s power, give comfort to those who honor you. You give the holy cross by which our enemy is slain, by which our li...